Australian Affairs: Claimed

She had never thought of herself as a particularly passionate person. She had put her lacklustre love-life with Charles down to a mixture of long-term familiarity and the exhausting demands of their careers. But in Jake Chandler’s arms she had been transformed into a wild woman with even wilder needs. She thought again of what would happen if she gave in to those needs. So many young women her age enjoyed casual flings. It was part of life these days. She was becoming a bit of an anachronism with her white picket fence and pram mentality. Why couldn’t she have the same freedom as other girls her age? It wasn’t as if she had to fall in love with him. He was hardly likely to fall in love with her. Could she be brave enough to step out of her comfort zone and live a little?

Jake’s phone rang and he answered it via the Bluetooth device on the steering wheel. ‘Jake Chandler.’

‘Hi, Jake, it’s Tiffany. Remember me?’

‘Tiffany…’ He scratched his jaw. ‘From the gym, right?’

The woman gave a tinkling laugh. ‘That’s the one,’ she said. ‘Are you up for a drink some time?’

Kitty rolled her eyes and looked out of the window, a fist of jealousy clutching at her insides. What a silly fool she had been to think he would wait patiently for her to make up her mind.

Of course he wouldn’t wait.

He probably had a waiting list of potential lovers. She was just a temporary diversion from his usual list of candidates. Her temporary appointment at St Benedict’s gave him a perfect get-out clause—a three-month affair with no strings.

‘Yeah, why not?’ Jake was saying. ‘How about tomorrow at Brad’s place? Shall we say around nine?’

‘Lovely,’ the woman said. ‘I’ll look forward to it.’

‘See you then, Tiffany,’ he said. ‘Ciao.’

Kitty threw him a look of disgust. ‘You could have at least waited until I was out of the car before you planned your next seduction.’

‘We’re just meeting for a drink,’ he said.

‘You don’t even remember who she is, do you?’

‘I can picture her,’ he said, frowning as if trying to recall. ‘Blonde hair, long legs, nice smile.’

‘Have you slept with her?’

‘Not yet.’

Kitty’s insides clenched again. ‘What’s stopping you?’

‘There’s the little matter of a thousand bucks, for one thing,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to lose a bet like that unless I’m sure it’s going to be worth it.’

Did he think she would be worth it? Kitty wondered. Could it be possible that he found her just as exciting and tempting as she found him? It had certainly felt that way while he was kissing her. She had felt the powerful charge of his desire. His body had left an imprint on hers she could feel even now.

‘And the other thing is I like to be the one who does the chasing,’ he added.

‘Isn’t that a little old fashioned of you?’

He flashed her a quick grin as he swung his car into the car park. ‘Look who’s talking, Miss Nineteenth Century.’

As soon as the car drew to a halt Kitty opened the passenger door. ‘Thank you for taking me,’ she said stiffly. ‘I hope I didn’t disrupt your plans for tonight too much.’

‘It was fine,’ he said. ‘I enjoyed myself.’

‘Goodnight.’

He waved a hand. ‘‘Night.’

CHAPTER TEN

‘STUPID, stupid, stupid,’ Kitty berated herself as she cleansed her face in her bathroom a few minutes later. ‘What were you thinking?’ She grabbed a bunch of tissues and savagely wiped off her cleanser. ‘Miss Nineteenth Century. What a jerk!’

The doorbell sounded.

Kitty tossed the tissues in the bin and went down to open the door—to find Jake standing there with her violin case.

‘You forgot something,’ he said, holding the case out to her.

‘Oh…’ She took it from him with a sheepish look. ‘Thanks.’

‘I called my mate about your car,’ he said. ‘I told him I’d drop it off at his workshop once I get the battery charged.’

‘Thank you, but I don’t want to put you to any more trouble.’

‘No problem,’ he said.

Kitty went to close the door but he put a foot out to stop it from closing. ‘Aren’t you going to ask me in for a coffee or something?’ he asked.

‘I’m sure you’ve had much better offers this evening,’ she said with a speaking look.

‘Phone’s been running hot, but I thought I’d have a quiet one tonight.’

‘Good for you.’ She pushed against the door again. ‘Do you mind?’

His gaze ran over her teddy bear pyjamas. ‘Am I keeping you out of bed?’

‘Not at all,’ she said. ‘It’s not even eleven o’clock.’

‘Then let’s have a nightcap,’ he said. ‘You owe me one for driving you all that way tonight.’

She stepped back from the door. ‘You said it wasn’t a problem.’

‘It wasn’t. But then I found your violin case. The least you could do is offer me a drink for delivering it to your door.’

She blew out a breath of resignation. ‘What would you like?’ she asked.

‘What are you having?’

Kitty hoped he couldn’t see the milk and choc-chip cookies she had laid out on the table for her supper. ‘I was thinking about a glass of wine,’ she said, surreptitiously blocking his view of the kitchen. ‘Do you like red or white?’

‘What have you got open?’

‘Nothing as yet,’ she said. ‘I’m not a big drinker.’

‘Then don’t open anything on my account.’

‘I have a bottle of red one of the patients gave me,’ she said. ‘They dropped it off the other day.’

‘It’s nice when they do that,’ he said. ‘We patch them up and move them on, but now and again someone recognises what we actually do.’

Kitty handed him a glass of the wine. ‘It’s one of the downsides of working in A&E,’ she said. ‘We only see them the once and they move on.’

‘I think it’s one of the good sides,’ he said. ‘You don’t have to get too involved.’

She studied him for a moment as he took a sip of his wine. ‘Your professional life has a lot in common with your private one,’ she said. ‘Both are full of brief encounters where no feelings get involved.’

‘Works for me.’

‘Don’t you get tired of that sea of nameless faces coming and going in your life?’

He took another measured sip of his wine. ‘Nope.’

‘But it’s so selfish and…and so pointless,’ she said. ‘How can you not feel something for the women you sleep with?’

One of his shoulders rose and fell in an offhand shrug. ‘Guess I’m not built that way.’

‘So it’s just sex,’ she said with a disparaging look. ‘Nothing more than inserting Item A in Slot B.’

His mouth tilted. ‘I have a little more finesse than your charming description allows,’ he said. ‘But then, perhaps your own experience has somewhat limited your outlook.’

Kitty felt a blush steal over her face and neck. ‘I have enough experience to know that sex is not just a physical connection,’ she said. ‘It’s a deeply emotional experience.’

‘Clearly your boyfriend didn’t find it so emotionally satisfying, otherwise why did he find someone else?’

She threw him an arctic glare. ‘I think it might be time for you to leave.’

He held her look with a cynical glitter in his eye. ‘You need to grow up, Kitty,’ he said. ‘You’re a young, fanciful girl in a woman’s body. Life isn’t a fairytale. There are no handsome princes out there who’ll declare undying love for you and carry you off into the sunset. There are no fairy godmothers to make everything turn out right in the end. There are no genies in bottles, no magic spells, and sure as hell there are precious few happy ever afters.’

Kitty folded her arms imperiously. ‘Are you done?’

The air crackled with electric tension as dark blue eyes warred with grey.

‘No,’ he said, eyes glittering as he closed the distance between them in one stride. ‘Not quite.’

She took a step backwards as he came towards her but the sofa was in the way. She gave a little startled gasp as his strong hands gripped her by the upper arms, pulling her to him. Her body jolted with sensual energy when it came into contact with his. It was like a dead battery being plugged into a power source. Currents of energy flowed through her, kick-starting her senses into throbbing, pulsing life. His mouth came down and blazed with furnace-hot heat against hers. As the kiss progressed in intensity raw need licked along her flesh like trails of runaway fire. Desire pooled in her belly, hot and liquid, melting her to the backbone. His tongue thrust boldly into her mouth, commanding and conquering, demanding and deliciously, dangerously male.

For a moment, a mere nanosecond, she thought about resisting. But the feel of his tongue weaving seductively around hers was her undoing. She wound her arms around his neck, leaning into his kiss, giving back, responding in an unabashed way she wouldn’t have believed possible just a few days ago. Red-hot need rose in her like a hungry beast waking after a long hibernation. It roared from deep within her, great primal bellows of unmet wants that refused to be ignored and denied or suppressed any longer.

Her fingers delved deep into the thick pelt of his hair. His hard chest wall abraded her breasts as she pressed herself closer and closer. She felt the swelling ridge of his erection against her feminine mound, a tantalising reminder of his power and strength and her primitive need to yield to it.

One of his hands pressed against the small of her back and the other went to her hair, his fingers splaying against her scalp as he kissed her deeply and urgently.

Her tongue played cat and mouse with his. She brazenly teased and tantalised him with darting, flicking movements of her own. He took control back from her with another shift in position. His hand went from her hair to her breast, cupping it possessively, his palm moulding its contour with sensual expertise.

Kitty was breathless with escalating need. She hadn’t realised her breasts could feel quite so sensitive. The nipples were tight, and aching for more of his touch. As if he read her mind, or indeed her body, he glided his hand up under her pyjama top and captured her naked breast. Lightning bolts of desire zapped through her body at that shamelessly intimate contact. Her nipple budded into his palm; she felt the delicious pressure and wanted more. His thumb moved over the tight nub, back and forth in a mesmerising motion that set every nerve singing.

And then, most shocking of all, he bent his head and took her nipple and its areola into his hot, moist mouth. She clung to him as the world spun, soft little whimpers coming from deep inside her throat as his tongue stroked her into mindlessness.

He moved to her other breast, taking his time over exploring it, teasing it with his teeth and tongue. A shiver scuttled over her flesh—how could her body not have known such exquisite pleasure existed? How could she not have felt such earth-shattering sensations before?

He worked his way back to her mouth, lingering over the sensitive skin of her neck until he claimed her lips once more. This kiss had an undercurrent of desperation to it. She felt his need building, a rampage of want that thundered through his blood. She felt the potent power of him surging against her body. It awoke a primal need inside her to open to him. Her body pulsed and vibrated with a longing so intense it made a mockery of anything she had experienced before. She had never felt such powerful, all-consuming desire. It took over every thought. It blocked out every resistance. It was as if he had unlocked a part of her being she hadn’t known existed.

How could it be her hands greedily seeking his naked chest underneath his T-shirt?

How could it be her mouth responding to his with such reckless abandon?

How could her body be rubbing up against his like a shameless wanton?

Suddenly it was over.

He put her from him almost roughly. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’

Kitty took umbrage at his attitude. ‘Me?’ she asked. ‘You started it!’

He raked a hand through his disordered hair, his breathing still heavy and uneven. ‘I know, and now I’ve stopped it,’ he said.

She crossed her arms over her chest. ‘I would have stopped it before it went too much further.’

His eyes were like a laser as they held hers. ‘You were taking your merry time about it, sweetheart.’

Kitty shot him an icy glare. ‘You caught me off guard. It’s late and I’m tired and not thinking straight.’

His lip curled mockingly. ‘Still think sex is all about emotion?’

She felt her cheeks radiate with colour. ‘We didn’t have sex.’

‘We weren’t far off it.’

‘I would never have let you make love to me.’

He came up close again, capturing her chin between his thumb and forefinger, his eyes holding hers in a hot, tense little lockdown that sent a shudder of reaction all the way down her spine. ‘I could’ve had you flat on your back and screaming all the way to heaven and back and you damn well know it,’ he said.

Kitty felt the echo of his incendiary statement deep in the pit of her belly. She wanted to make him take those shamelessly coarse words back. God help her, she wanted those shamelessly coarse words not to have a grain of truth in them.

She wrenched out of his hold, rubbing at her chin as if it had been stung. ‘You are a loathsome, diabolical, arrogant man,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘I detest men like you. You think you can have any woman you want, any time you want, but you can’t. You can’t have me.’

His mouth still had that slant of mockery in place. ‘You really shouldn’t have thrown down such a delightful little gauntlet,’ he said. ‘Now I’ll have to prove you wrong.’

She held herself stiffly: arms folded, back straight, mouth tight. ‘You’d be wasting your time.’

‘I don’t know about that,’ he said as his gaze ran over her indolently. ‘It’d sure be fun trying.’

Kitty glowered at him. ‘What about your bet?’

‘Some rules are made to be broken,’ he said. ‘Anyway, everyone already thinks we’re doing it. Why not do it for real?’

‘I’d rather die.’

‘You’re afraid, aren’t you?’ he asked. ‘You’re afraid of being out of your depth in a relationship. That’s why you chose a boyfriend you’d known for ages. He was safe and predictable. You could control things with him. But that’s not what you need.’

‘I hardly think you’re the person to tell me what I need,’ she tossed back. ‘You barely know me.’

‘I know you well enough to know that behind that starchy schoolmistress thing you’ve got going on is a young woman who longs to let her hair down,’ he said.

Kitty gave a scathing little laugh. ‘And I suppose you think you’re exactly the person I should let it down with? Thanks, but no thanks.’

He strode across to the door. ‘Let me know if you change your mind,’ he said. ‘You know where to find me.’

CHAPTER ELEVEN

‘WHAT’S wrong with this place?’ Julie asked outside Brad’s bar and grill the following evening, when they were scouting for somewhere to have dinner.

‘I’m not going in there,’ Kitty said, turning up her nose.

‘What’s wrong with it? It looks nice, and they have live music.’

‘It’s a pick-up joint,’ Kitty said. ‘Let’s go somewhere more sophisticated.’

‘But I’m thirty and I’m single,’ Julie wailed. ‘I need a pick-up joint.’

‘Well, I don’t.

‘You’re single too,’ Julie said. ‘Or has that changed since we last spoke?’

‘I hate men,’ Kitty said, scowling. ‘They’re so shallow and selfish.’

‘I know, but that’s part of the attraction,’ Julie said. ‘We’re so giving and selfless. It’s that whole opposites attract thing. Hey, isn’t that your boss?’

Kitty put her head down. ‘Keep moving,’ she said. ‘We’ll find another place further along.’

‘God, he’s even hotter than I remembered,’ Julie said. ‘Maybe he’ll join us. Why don’t you invite him?’

‘He already has plans,’ Kitty said, tugging at Julie’s arm. ‘Come on.’

Julie shrugged off Kitty’s hand. ‘I’m going to thank him for checking me out,’ she said. ‘I should’ve thought to drop in a bottle of wine or something. I bet he would’ve appreciated that.’

‘He wouldn’t have remembered who you were,’ Kitty muttered.

‘Hi,’ Julie said as she blocked Jake from moving any further along the footpath. ‘I’m Kitty’s cousin. You saw me in A&E a few days ago.’

‘How could I forget?’ Jake said with a smile. ‘How’s the ankle?’

‘I’m off the crutches, as you can see,’ Julie said. ‘How is Kitty shaping up?’

‘She’s proving to be quite an asset to the team,’ he said. ‘We wonder now how we managed without her.’

Kitty glowered at him. ‘We mustn’t keep you,’ she said. ‘Come on, Julie. Dr Chandler has an important date.’

‘She cancelled,’ Jake said.

‘How dreadfully disappointing for you,’ Kitty said.

‘You win some, you lose some,’ he said with a dismissive shrug. ‘Plenty more fish in the sea.’

‘So you’re putting your line out again this evening?’ Kitty asked with a pert look. ‘Good luck with that.’

He smiled a lazy smile. ‘What about you?’ he asked. ‘A hot night on the town?’

‘I wish,’ Julie said, rolling her eyes. ‘Why don’t you join us?’

‘I’m sure Dr Chandler has much better things to do than keep us company,’ Kitty said.

‘I’d love to join you, but I’m meeting someone,’ he said.

Kitty curled her lip. ‘That was quick.’

‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Nothing like the right bait. Works like a charm.’

Kitty looped her arm through her cousin’s. ‘Don’t let us keep you.’

‘What was all that about?’ Julie asked when they had walked on a bit.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You were spitting chips at each other,’ Julie said. ‘I could’ve cut the air with a knife.’

‘That man has a revolving door on his bedroom,’ Kitty said in disgust. ‘He’s the biggest playboy imaginable. He had the gall to set up one of his shallow hook-ups while I was sitting right beside him in the car.’

‘What were you doing beside him in his car?’

‘It’s a long story.’

‘Tell me.’

‘He took me to my orchestra rehearsal,’ she said. ‘My car broke down.’

‘That was nice of him.’

‘He only did it to rub my nose in it.’

‘What do you mean?’ Julie asked.

‘He gave me a lecture about buying secondhand cars,’ Kitty said. ‘Honestly, you’d think I’d committed a crime. And that was on top of the dressing down he gave me about water restrictions. How was I to know you’re not supposed to use a hose to wash your car?’

‘I should’ve told you about that—sorry.’

‘It’s not your fault.’

‘It’s not his fault, either.’

‘Yes, it is,’ Kitty said. ‘He just loves to lord it over me. He doesn’t like the way I pay attention to detail at work. But I don’t have his depth of experience or confidence. I can’t just waltz in and diagnose everyone just like that. I need to feel my way.’

‘I’m sure he’s only trying to help you,’ Julie said. ‘He seemed quite positive about your being a part of the team when I asked him.’

‘He doesn’t think I’m up to the task,’ Kitty said. ‘He thinks I’m scared of being out of my depth.’

‘But you are,’ Julie said. ‘It’s what I was telling you the other day. You’re a classic control freak. Sooner or later you’re going to have to realise you can’t control everything in life. Anyway, how boring would that be?’

‘I’m perfectly happy with my life the way it is,’ Kitty said.

‘I wish I could say the same,’ Julie said wistfully. ‘I wonder if I’ll ever meet someone who wants the same things I do.’

Kitty squeezed her cousin’s hand. ‘That’s the fairytale, isn’t it? We have to believe, otherwise what hope is there?’

* * *

Jake checked his watch yet again. It wasn’t the first time his brother had stood him up. He had been left waiting on numerous occasions, but he could never bring himself to leave until he was absolutely sure Robbie wasn’t going to show. He always gave him a chance to redeem himself. The psychologists would probably call it enabling behaviour, but what else could he do? Robbie was his flesh and blood. He hated to think of him out on the streets, desperate for food or shelter. He had to do what he could to protect him.

‘Got a dollar, mate?’ A voice spoke from a bundle of rags on the sidewalk.

Jake fished in his pocket for some money. ‘Why are you on the streets?’ he asked, dropping the coins in the tin.

‘Got nowhere else to go,’ the man said, quickly pocketing the money.

‘What about shelters?’

‘Cost money.’

‘What about your family?’

‘Don’t have no family.’

‘Everyone has family,’ Jake said.

‘Not me,’ the guy said. ‘You?’

‘Yeah,’ Jake said. ‘They drive me nuts.’

‘That’s what families do.’

Jake took out his wallet and peeled off a few notes. ‘Here,’ he said, handing them to him. ‘Find yourself a hotel or something. Don’t blow it on drugs or drink.’

* * *

Kitty padded out to her kitchen early the following morning for a glass of water before her shower. She pulled up the blind on the kitchen window and saw Jake in his own kitchen on the opposite side of the courtyard. He was standing in front of his open refrigerator—and he was naked.

Her eyes drank in the sight of him, all bronzed and buffed, every muscle toned and taut with good health and vigour. He looked as if he had just stepped off a marble plinth in a museum. Not a gram of fat on him anywhere, just strong lean planes of hard male flesh.

She gave a little gulp.

He closed the fridge and turned and saw her staring at him. A slow smile spread over his features. He raised the carton of juice he was holding in a salute and mouthed, Good morning.

Kitty pulled the blind back down with more haste than efficiency. She clutched the edge of the sink, breathing hard. What must he think of her, gawping at him like that? Had he done it on purpose? Did he make a habit of wandering around naked in full view of the neighbours? So what if she was the only neighbour residing here just now—he had no right to flaunt himself like that!

Then she remembered his hot little hook-up. He probably had her there, still lying languorously in his bed after a bed-wrecking night of sex.

She stomped off to the shower, but as the water flowed over her in stinging little needles she thought of him having a shower next door, no doubt sharing it with his lover. Was he soaping up her breasts? Was he kissing her neck and décolletage?

‘Grrrrggh.’ Kitty reached for a towel and scrubbed herself dry. ‘I hate that man!’

* * *

Kitty was on her way to her car to drive to work when she remembered Jake had arranged to deliver it to his mate’s workshop. Just as she was about to call a cab on her mobile, he appeared from round the corner.

‘Want a lift?’ he asked.

Kitty couldn’t control her fiery blush. ‘Please don’t put yourself out any further,’ she said. ‘I can easily call a cab.’

‘At this time of the morning?’ he said. ‘It’s bedlam out there. I just fought my way through it with your heap of rust. Only just made it too. I think the radiator’s about to go on it as well.’

‘I’m sorry you’ve had such a trying start to the morning,’ she said.

His dark blue eyes glinted. ‘My morning started out just fine.’

Kitty opened the passenger door and bundled herself inside, cheeks still burning hot. Did he have to embarrass her even further?

‘How did your night on the town go?’ he asked once he was behind the wheel.

She threw him a flinty look. ‘It was probably excruciatingly tedious compared to yours.’

‘I don’t know about that,’ he said, checking for traffic as he pulled into the street. ‘I’ve had better.’

Kitty glanced at him but his expression was unfathomable. ‘Are you going to see her again?’ she asked.

‘Who?’

‘Your hot date last night.’

He changed lanes before he answered. ‘Maybe. It depends.’

‘On what?’

He glanced at her wryly. ‘Why the sudden interest? Are you thinking of joining the queue?’

‘Don’t be daft,’ she scoffed.

His mouth slanted in a smile. ‘Frightened you might get trampled in the rush?’

Kitty pressed her lips together and refused to say another word until he pulled into the hospital car park. ‘Thank you for the lift,’ she said.

‘I’d offer to run you home again, but I have another commitment straight after work,’ he said.

‘I’ll make my own arrangements,’ she said.

‘Here’s my mate’s card,’ he said, reaching for a business card from one of the dashboard compartments.

‘You can give him a call to find out when your car will be ready.’

Kitty felt the brush of his fingers as he handed her the card and her belly gave a little flutter. ‘Thanks…’

His eyes meshed with hers, dark and intense and knowing.

Could he feel the sexual energy she could feel? Did it make his skin ache to feel her touch? Did his lips tingle at the memory of hers moving against them? Did his blood roar through his veins at the thought of holding her in his arms, moulding her to him, making love to her?

‘I like how you had your hair this morning,’ he said.

Kitty put a hand up to her neat chignon. ‘My…hair?’

‘First thing,’ he said. ‘It was down and all tousled. That just-out-of-bed look really suits you.’

‘You caught me by surprise.’

He gave her an indolent smile. ‘Ditto.’

‘I’m going to work,’ she said, swinging her bag over her shoulder. ‘I’ll see you inside.’