Midwives On Call: From Babies To Bride

Aiden stared at his brother. He’d thought he could handle the anger but that was when he’d thought it was going to be about the accident that had wrecked a young life—not about him honouring a vow to look after the only person who’d ever been so important to him.

This hurt, dammit. Enough to make him feel angry right back at Nate.

‘I’ve only ever done what I could to help. You were ten years old.’

‘And you’re still treating me like I’m ten years old. I’m twenty-four, man. I’m grown up. I’ve got a girlfriend.’

How on earth had this all come out after sharing the news that he’d gone on a date with the cute midwife?

‘And there’s no way I’m going to play by your stupid three-dates rule.’

So that was it.

‘You do know it’s stupid, don’t you?’

‘Works for me.’ Aiden’s voice was tight. At least, it had.

‘I’m going to live by myself one of these days,’ Nate continued fiercely. ‘I’m going to try out for the Murderball team and if I get in I’ll give it everything I’ve got. I’m going to make the best of my life. I don’t want to end up like you.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Shut off. Scared of losing control.’

‘People get hurt if you lose control.’ Surely Nate knew that better than anyone after what had happened.

‘So? That’s life.’ Nate shook his head. ‘Get over it and start having some fun. Like me.’ The crooked smile was a plea for understanding. Forgiveness, too, maybe, for saying some hard stuff?

The lump in his throat made it hard to suck in a breath. Okay, he was hurt but, man, his little brother had courage, didn’t he? He was so proud of him.

A window got pushed up along the veranda and a dark, spiky head emerged. ‘You coming in for dinner, Nate?’

‘Sure.’

‘You want to stay, Aiden? There’s plenty.’

‘Nah … I’m good.’ He needed some time to think about what had just happened. That his brother had grown up and just let him know in no uncertain terms? Or that he thought he had, anyway. He still needed his big brother, even if he didn’t think he did. More than ever, in fact, as he strived for independence. Did he think he could do that without a lot of help? Even if he wasn’t welcome, there was no way Aiden could back away from his responsibilities here. He might just have to be a bit cleverer in how he looked after Nate.

‘Hey …’ Nathan stopped the movement of his chair. He looked back at his brother. He looked a lot younger all of a sudden. Worried. Aiden could see him swallow hard. ‘We okay?’

If he’d needed any evidence that his brother still needed him, it was right there in how vulnerable Nate looked right now. Aiden didn’t hesitate. ‘Sure.’

But it was an awkward moment that could go either way.

Aiden did his best to smile. ‘You were right, man. She was off the scale.’

Nate’s grin tugged at his heart. ‘So she gets a second date, at least?’

‘Already sorted. We’re going to the beach.’

‘Maybe me and Sam can come, too.’

Aiden snorted. ‘No way. I only invited Sophia.’

CHAPTER FIVE

MELBOURNE IS FAMED for the ability to produce four seasons in one day with its fickle weather. It was also capable of pulling something astonishing out of its meteorological hat—like a blazingly hot day in April when it could just as easily have been more like winter than summer.

How lucky was it that it was like this for date number two when they had agreed that the beach was a good place to go? Sophia stood on the pavement outside the picket fence of her cottage at the appointed time. She was wearing her bikini as underwear beneath her jeans and shirt and she carried a beach towel in her bag—just in case it was warm enough to swim. The thick jacket she had on over her shirt earned her a few curious looks from passers-by but she was just following the instructions that had come with the plan.

Had her choice regarding the mode of transport been a mistake?

‘The van’s old and clunky,’ Aiden had told her as he walked her home from the bar and they’d planned this date. ‘But it does have walls. If you’re brave, you can come on the back of my bike.’

‘You get to use your work bike at home?’

‘No. I’ve got one of my own. A Ducati. A red one.’

‘Red, huh? What colour is the van?’

‘White. Boring, boring white.’ He wanted her to choose the bike. She wanted to see the approval in his eyes when she made the right choice.

‘Then it’s no contest, is it? I pick red.’

But her stomach did an odd little flip as she saw the sun glinting on the red metal of the huge bike as it rolled to a halt in front of her.

Or was it Aiden’s grin as he lifted the visor of his helmet that was doing it?

He unclipped a second helmet and held it out to her. ‘Are you ready?’

Sophia had to suck in a big breath. Was she ready? This was about way more than a long bike ride, wasn’t it?

Those unusual light brown eyes were doing that dancing thing again. A look that implied mischief. Fun …

She reached for the helmet as she nodded and returned the grin. ‘I’m ready.’

It was a long ride. Leaving the outskirts of Melbourne behind, they took to the open road, heading south. They bypassed the large town of Geelong and sped towards the point where the harbour met the open sea—the quaint seaside village of Queenscliff.

‘It’s gorgeous,’ Sophia exclaimed as they parked the bike and took off on foot to explore. ‘Look at the turrets on that house!’

‘We’re lucky it’s not a weekend. With weather like this, it gets really crowded.’

‘You’ve been here before?’

‘It’s a great destination when I want to get out on the road and blow a few cobwebs away.’

‘It certainly does that.’ Sophia made a face as she threaded her fingers into the end of her hair where the waves brushed her shoulders. ‘I should have tied this up. I might never get the knots out. I didn’t even think to bring a brush. It probably looks like a rat’s nest.’

Aiden stopped walking. They were outside the door of a bakery and a woman came out, laden with paper bags. She had to walk around them but Aiden didn’t seem to notice because he was only looking at Sophia. He caught her hand and pulled her fingers out of her hair. Then he flattened her hand gently against her head with his still on top of it.

‘Forget about it,’ he told her. ‘You look gorgeous.’

And then he bent his head and kissed her. Right there on the footpath, half blocking the door to the bakery.

Sophia had relived the softness of that first kiss in a bar a hundred times by now. Had conjured up the tingle of anticipation and the curl of desire so many times that she’d been sure she had magnified it out of all connection with reality.

Turned out she hadn’t.

This was even better. It still had the restraint that being in a public place required but there was a new depth to it. A familiarity. The knowledge that they both wanted this and it was going to go somewhere else. Very soon.

‘Excuse me.’ The voice sounded annoyed. Breaking apart, they could see why. A young woman with a twin pushchair had no chance of getting past them to the door.

Aiden smiled at the mother as he murmured an apology. He held the door open for her but it was obvious she had already forgiven him.

‘No worries,’ she said, smiling up at him. ‘You have a great day.’

‘Oh …’ Aiden’s glance went over the top of her head, straight to Sophia’s. ‘I already am.’

The woman turned her head and her smile widened. Her gaze told Sophia exactly how lucky she was. Then she winked and disappeared into the shop. The smell of something hot and delicious wafted out as the door swung shut.

‘Hungry?’

‘Starving.’ Sophia took a step towards the door but Aiden shook his head.

‘Bit crowded in there. I’ve got a better idea.’

He took her across the road to the fish-and-chip shop. A short time later, they were walking down the hill and away from the shops. Aiden held the big white paper parcel in one hand and Sophia’s hand in the other. He led her across the railway lines and onto a track that took them to a grassy spot with a view through the trees to the water. The meal was still hot and absolutely delicious. A woman walked past on the track with a dog and then a whole family with a toddler in a pushchair and a small child on a bike, but nobody came to share their patch of grass or even looked their way. It felt as if they were almost invisible.

‘This is perfect.’ Sophia licked salt off her fingers as she looked away from the pelicans and swans gliding peacefully on water still enough to mimic glass.

‘Mmm. I find it pays to put some effort into planning date number two.’ Aiden turned away from the view with a smile.

‘One of the rules? I’ll—um—have to remember that.’

Not that she was likely to remember anything other than the look in Aiden’s eyes that she could already recognise as the intention to kiss her. She barely even noticed the colourful cloud of parakeets landing on the fig tree that was shading them as Aiden leaned towards her.

The cloak of invisibility was still around them but Sophia would have forgotten about the rest of the world anyway as soon as Aiden’s lips touched hers. Or maybe it was the moment she felt things change as the intensity kicked up several notches. Aiden’s hand cradled her head as he pushed her back to lie on the grass. Their tongues danced, the pang of lingering salt a delicious foil to the sweetness of escalating desire. She felt the touch of Aiden’s fingers beneath the hem of her shirt, a trail of fire on the delicate skin of her belly, and the heat when it reached her breast was enough to make her gasp into his mouth.

He pulled away with a groan.

‘You make me forget where I am,’ he murmured.

‘You’re on date number two,’ Sophia whispered back. ‘I think it’s okay to get distracted. Isn’t it?’ she added, feeling her eyes widen.

‘Yes, but there’s a time and place for everything. And this probably isn’t the place for what I’m thinking about right now.’

Sophia’s inward breath was audibly ragged as she sat up. She’d been thinking along similar lines and she certainly hadn’t wanted him to stop. Anybody could have seen them. Like that woman with her dog, who was coming down the track towards them again, presumably on the homeward stretch of their walk. The dog—a very cute miniature schnauzer—ran towards them and the woman called it back with an apologetic smile.

‘I doubt there’s enough time anyway.’ There was a wicked edge to Aiden’s smile as the woman disappeared along the track. ‘It’ll get cold around here when the sun goes down.’

He wanted a whole night with her? The thought made Sophia’s toes curl. But this was a daytime date.

Oh, help … What if there was a rule about not going any further until date number three? What if this three-dates business was just a build-up for a one-night stand?

Hard not to believe that it would be worth waiting for, if that was the case.

‘We have options,’ Aiden added. ‘You get to choose.’

‘Oh?’ Maybe one of those options included going somewhere really private. Sophia grinned. ‘Fire away. I like choosing.’

‘Option one: we could take the ferry over to Sorrento to get dessert. There’s a shop there that has the best vanilla slices in the world and we might get to see some dolphins on the way.’

Sophia nodded thoughtfully. He really had planned this date carefully. Or—the thought sent a chill down her spine—was this a standard number-two date?

‘Option two is a swim. The water is probably arctic but it’s warm enough to dry off on the beach and, by then, it’ll be about time to head home.’

Home? To his place? After getting almost naked and lying in the sun for a while? It wasn’t hard to make a choice.

‘It would be a shame to come to the seaside and not have a swim.’

‘I knew you were brave.’ The kiss was swift but sweet. ‘Let’s go.’

The walk made the day seem even warmer and by the time they went down the sandy stairs to the endless white beach with a misty lighthouse far away, they were more than ready to pull off their clothes and brave the curl of the surf. The beach was a popular place to be but most people were sunbathing. Some sat in beach chairs, reading, and others were having picnics or playing ball games. There were children paddling and building sandcastles but there were very few people swimming.

And no wonder. The first splash of water was cold enough to make Sophia shriek but Aiden simply laughed and dived through the next wave. She jumped up and down as she went further out, getting more of her body wet each time, and suddenly it wasn’t so bad. And then Aiden surfaced right beside her and his smile made her aware of the silky caress of the sea water over her entire body.

‘This is gorgeous,’ she called over the sound of the waves. ‘I love it.’

‘I knew you would,’ he called back. ‘You’re my kind of girl.’

They couldn’t stay in the water for long and they were both shivering as they towelled themselves dry but then they lay on their towels on the soft sand and there was enough warmth in the sun for the chill to ebb slowly away.

For the longest time, they lay there, absorbing the warmth. Side by side on their backs, saying nothing. And then Sophia felt the brush of Aiden’s fingers and his hand curl itself around hers.

‘I really like you, Sophia.’

‘I really like you, too, Aiden.’ Sophia’s eyes were still closed and her smile grew slowly. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this happy. Even the noises around them—the roll of the waves and the shouting of children enjoying themselves—only added to this feeling of contentment. ‘I think this has been the best second date I’ve ever been on.’

Aiden tightened his grip on Sophia’s hand. This was by far the best second date he’d ever been on as well. The only thing wrong with it was that it would have to end soon. They were almost dry and they needed to get dressed again because the heat of the day would start dropping rapidly before long. They had a long ride to get back to the city as well and by then it would be evening. They both had an early start for work tomorrow but did that really mean that it had to be over? Sophia believed that he’d planned this whole date after they’d agreed to go to a beach. She didn’t need to know that he’d kept his options open and hadn’t planned it to continue on into the evening, did she?

‘It’s not over yet.’

He heard the words come out of his mouth and they felt … right. Of course it couldn’t be over yet.

‘Oh? What else is in the plan?’

He could hear the smile in Sophia’s voice. And something more. A willingness to go along with whatever he wanted?

He wanted to take Sophia home. To his bed. Okay, they both needed to get to work early but there were a lot of hours between now and then. Why shouldn’t they make the most of every single one of them?

‘Well, I was thinking …’ Aiden propped himself up on one elbow. Maybe he didn’t need to say anything here. He could just kiss her again. And then he could look into her eyes and he’d know whether she was happy with the new plan.

He let his mouth hover over hers for a deliciously long moment. Feeling the tingle of their lips not quite touching. Knowing just how much better it was going to get in a nanosecond.

And then he heard it. Faintly at first but getting steadily louder.

Sophia’s lips moved under his. Tickling. ‘What is that?’

‘My phone.’ He didn’t want to answer it. Dammit … all he wanted to do was kiss Sophia but her lips were moving again. Smiling?

‘It’s a siren?’

‘Yeah, I know. Cheesy. My kid brother chose it for me.’

And it could be that kid brother who was calling right now. Highly likely to be, seeing as they hadn’t spoken yet today. In fact, they hadn’t spoken very often for a few days now. Ever since that tense conversation about Aiden smothering Nate because of his misplaced guilt.

He still wanted to kiss Sophia more than answer it but something else was making his skin prickle and he recognised that sensation.

Guilt. He barely knew this woman and suddenly she was more important than his brother? What was he thinking?

‘I’d better get that. Sorry.’

‘No problem.’

A soft breeze had sprung up, making it colder. Or maybe he just had more skin exposed as he sat up and rummaged in his coat pocket for his phone. Sure enough, the caller ID said ‘Nate’. Aiden swiped the screen.

‘Hey … What’s up?’

‘Guess.’

‘I can’t. You’ll have to tell me.’

‘I went for the team trials today.’

‘Yeah? How’d that go?’

‘I got in, man. I’m in the team.’

That’s … fantastic.’ The smile that pulled at his lips was genuine. ‘Great news. I reckon it calls for a celebration.’

‘Too right. We’re having a few beers back at our place. Thought you might want to drop by.’

He was listening to Nate but he was looking at Sophia. She still lay on her back, shading her eyes from the sun with her arm. Her hair was still damp and looked almost black where it lay against the pale skin of her shoulders. He couldn’t help his gaze travelling further. Over the rest of that gorgeous, soft-looking skin and the perfect proportions of her small, slim body.

He’d never wanted anybody this much.

He’d have to take a rain-check on that celebratory beer with Nate because otherwise he wouldn’t get to take Sophia home and make love to her properly.

Slowly …

Or maybe not so slowly the first time …

His throat suddenly felt dry.

‘You still there, man? Where are you, anyway?’

Impressions flashed through Aiden’s brain with the speed of light. That note in Nate’s voice when he’d made that suggestion so casually that he ‘might’ want to drop by.

Things hadn’t been quite right between them since that conversation the other day. And if he didn’t join in the celebration of Nate making the Murderball team, it could be interpreted as not being supportive of his brother as he achieved one of his long-held ambitions and that could push them further apart. What then? Would Nate choose not to even tell him when he was moving out of the house to try living independently?

His brother was trying out his wings and surely that meant that now—more than ever—he needed support. Aiden had to be there for him one hundred per cent.

How could he even entertain the idea of letting a woman get between them? It wasn’t as if she’d still be in his life in a week or two from now but Nate would be. He would always be in his life and he’d always take priority.

‘I’m still here,’ he said. ‘Bad line. I’m out of the city but I’ll be back soon.’

‘No worries. You went for a ride? You on a date or something?’

‘Yeah … Queenscliff.’

‘Oh … of course. This is your number two with Sophia. Hey … hope I’m not interrupting anything.’ His laugh made a lie of his words but didn’t quite ring true for some reason.

‘Not at all. Just went for swim, would you believe?’

‘Well, don’t hurry back, man. Enjoy yourself. Catch you soon.’

The beeping signalled that Nate had hung up. The note of disappointment in his words was still there, though. And the odd edge to the laughter as he’d tried to make light of things.

Aiden dragged his eyes away from Sophia. Closed them, in fact.

‘Not a problem,’ he heard himself saying into the silence of a dead line. At least he could sound reluctant now. As though there was something he really had to do even though he didn’t want to. ‘I’ll get there as soon as I can.’

Sophia was already pulling her clothes on by the time he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

‘Sorry about that.’

‘It’s not a problem.’ He could hear the note of determined cheerfulness in her voice as she echoed his own words. ‘We’ve had a lovely day. If there’s somewhere else you need to be now, it’s okay. I understand.’

She might understand but he could see the disappointment in her eyes and he felt like a jerk. He could say it wasn’t that important and the only place he needed to be for now was with her.

But Nate was disappointed too. He’d have that in the back of his mind all evening if he stayed with Sophia.

The feeling of being torn was unpleasant. The desire to tell Sophia he only wanted to be with her was strong enough to ring warning bells.

It wasn’t supposed to feel like this. It was supposed to be fun.

For both of them.

And it wasn’t any more, was it? How could being between a rock and a hard place ever be considered fun?

He pulled his clothes on, feeling the added unpleasantness of the sand in his shoes. He watched Sophia roll up her damp towel and shove it in her beach bag.

‘You dry enough? It’ll be cold on the bike, otherwise.’

‘I’m fine. I’ve got my coat.’

The coat wasn’t enough to make her feel fine.

Not at all.

Maybe it would have helped if they’d been able to talk but there was no way they could do that on a bike. Sophia held onto Aiden’s waist and kept her face hidden against his back. Damp tendrils of hair still flicked her face and her skin was cold enough to make them sting.

How had that happened?

One minute she’d been feeling more blissful than she could remember ever feeling and then it had all gone wrong, the atmosphere lost thanks to the intrusion of a phone call. He’d just been about to kiss her. To tell her the plans that meant the date wasn’t over yet.

Why hadn’t he just ignored the call? Why did he have a stupid siren call tone that made it impossible for anyone to ignore? Just as impossible as it was not to think it was probably another woman who’d been calling him. Was he already lining up the next contender in his three-dates game?

What was so fantastic about the news he’d received? Was whoever she was available? Tonight?

It wasn’t fair. Their first date hadn’t really counted and date number two had just been sabotaged.

So much for getting out there and having some fun.

This wasn’t fun at all any more.

Did she even want a third—and last—date?

There was plenty of time on that long, cold ride to turn that question over in her head. As she made her stiff limbs co-operate in climbing off the big, red bike in front of her house and her fingers work well enough to undo her helmet and hand it back, Sophia was sure that this was goodbye and she had decided that she was quite happy about that.

She was, in fact, more angry than disappointed now.

But then Aiden caught her gaze and held it.

‘I’m really sorry about this,’ he said. ‘If I could get out of it, I would.’

There was something in his gaze that told her he was being absolutely sincere. That he wanted to be with her—maybe even more than she’d wanted him to be. And that it was something really important that was dragging him away.

She wanted to tell him that it didn’t matter. That they still had one date left so everything would be okay. That it was no big deal.

But the words wouldn’t come out. She managed half a smile. A shrug that said, Yeah, it sucks but that’s life, isn’t it?

And then she turned away and went into her house without a backward glance, leaning her forehead against the closed door until she heard the sound of a motorbike’s engine being gunned and then fading into silence.

‘What are you doing here?’

Aiden held up the six-pack of beer. ‘I heard there was a bit of a celebration going on.’

Nate had been the one who’d come to open the door when Aiden had rung the bell. The wide hallway of the old house was empty behind him.

‘You ditched your date to come here?’

Aiden’s shrug said that it was no big deal but Nate shook his head and his huff of sound was disgusted. ‘Man, you’re an idiot. How d’you think that made Sophia feel?’