Prognosis Bad Timing Read online

  And how this kiss was never, ever going to be enough.

  She wanted more. She wanted to see all of him. Touch all of him. Feel him deep inside her. There were no thoughts of tomorrow or Dana or her job. It had been four long years and his kisses were like sweet wine on parched lips. She couldn’t think straight. Just feel. Just experience. Just drink up every drop.

  She dragged her mouth away. ‘Inside.’

  Charlie’s breath came in harsh gulps as he muttered, ‘Yes,’ against her mouth. Whisking the keys out of her fingers, he made short work of the barrier. Hell, he’d have kicked it in if it had been required.

  ‘Which way?’ he demanded in a gravelly voice as he pushed the door open.

  She pointed and Charlie swept her up in his arms, cutting off her startled yelp with his mouth as he shut the door with his foot. Christ...her kisses were a mix of sweet and sinful, and he knew she’d be like that in bed, too. He could think of nothing else.

  He had to have her — now.

  Charlie strode quickly towards the indicated room, kissing her roughly until his shins met her bed and he threw her down onto the duvet. Light from a streetlamp outside entered through the high window above the bed and she looked utterly debauched, lying there, thoroughly kissed, on the mattress.

  Her mouth was swollen and moist, tendrils of her auburn hair had escaped the clasp and her skirt had ridden up her thighs. But he needed more. He needed her shirt open and her skirt rucked up.

  He needed to see everything.

  Lowering himself to the mattress, he planted a knee between her legs, groaning as she ground herself against the bulk of the intrusion. He pushed his knee hard against her and his dick went to granite at the moan that escaped her lips. Then, grasping her shoulders, he rolled, pulling her over top of him.

  That’s when his head hit a hard plastic object which roared to life, throwing a kaleidoscope of colours around the room. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star blared out in a piercing electronic voice.

  It was like a bucket of cold water. The bucket of cold water he needed. The fact that her body was lying on top of his, pressing and rubbing in all the right places, was temporarily forgotten.

  Jesus. What the hell was he doing? He couldn’t be doing this.

  Charlie sucked in a ragged breath before moving abruptly out from underneath her, displacing her rather inelegantly.

  ‘Sorry,’ Carrie said, groping for Dana’s favourite toy, her body already lamenting the distance. The buzz inside her cells grew to a roar, demanding to be sated.

  ‘No...I’m sorry...’

  Charlie ran a frustrated hand through his hair. What the hell was he doing? What the hell had happened to his iron-clad self-control?

  He couldn’t do this.

  He still had over a week before he went for his final test. And even if he had been stupid enough to make one exception in his self-imposed celibacy, he didn’t even have a condom. And she was holding his financial strings.

  Oh and she had a kid. He had to get out of here.

  Now.

  Carrie found the ‘off’ button and the silence was suddenly deafening as she rose from the bed and placed it in the basket beside the bookshelf. She could tell by the way Charlie’s gaze kept sliding to the door that there would be no more kissing tonight.

  She cringed, thinking about how easy she’d been. How desperate she must have seemed. But still every cell in her body hummed with arousal.

  ‘I’m sorry...’ Charlie apologised again, his breathing still ragged.

  God, what a mess. She looked so lovely, so desirable in the subdued light and he wanted nothing more than to push her back on the mattress and finish what he’d started. He had to clench his fists to stop himself following through.

  ‘I have to go. I can’t do this.’

  ‘It’s okay, I understand.’ Carrie injected a briskness into her voice that required supreme effort.

  Sure, this liaison wasn’t wise but damn him to hell. Why did he have to tease her with the possibilities, and then snatch them away before she’d experienced their full potential?

  Charlie drew a shaky hand through his hair. Arousal, hot and demanding still flushed through his system but she’d gone back to being Ms Pinstripe again.

  Ms Untouchable.

  For a moment there he’d had Ms Tie-Dye back and she’d morphed into Ms Touch-Me-Everywhere, and it had been wonderful. Self-loathing competed with the heat of his arousal. ‘I don’t think you do.’

  Carrie shrugged. ‘It was a reality check. A lot of men freak out over getting involved with single mothers.’

  Charlie opened his mouth to deny it and then shut it again. This thing between them was crazy. His life was on hold. And even if it came off hold next week, he didn’t need anything heavy in his life.

  Not for a very long time. Perhaps never.

  And what did he have to offer a single mother and her daughter? He sure as hell didn’t have any great parenting examples to draw on. Maybe it was best for her to think the worst of him?

  He reached out to touch her shoulder, dropping his hand when she took a step back. ‘I really am sorry.’

  Carrie heard the genuine note of regret in his voice and couldn’t bear it. She was frustrated and she just wanted to be alone with her foolishness. ‘Please leave.’

  He seemed to hesitate for a beat or two before turning and walking out. Carrie didn’t watch him leave, didn’t move until she heard the front door clicking shut, then she kicked off her shoes and threw herself on the bed. Pulling her legs up to her chest she wrapped her arms around them trying to ease the ache between them.

  Damn him. Damn Charles Wentworth to hell.

  How stupid was she? Had she learnt nothing from the whole Rupert disaster? How could she fall for the attentions of another posh doc? Another man who ran at the thought of a child.

  Thank goodness for Dana’s toy. If they hadn’t been interrupted she had no doubt that she would have gone all the way with Charlie and that would have been monumentally stupid.

  What the hell had she been thinking?

  She had to work with him. Probably put him out of business if the books were anything to go by. It was unprofessional. Probably unethical.

  It sure as hell was a complete conflict of interest.

  Gah! She buried her face in her knees. How was she ever going to face him again?

  But face him she did. In her usual no-nonsense, tackle-things-head-on, hard-headed businesswoman manner.

  ‘Morning, Charlie,’ she said briskly on Monday morning, striding into his office, standing her briefcase on his desk. ‘Don’t say anything. Just listen. Friday night was a mistake. We both know it. Let’s just mark it down to temporary insanity and forget it ever happened. OK?’

  He blinked. ‘OK...’

  ‘Good.’ Then she picked up her briefcase, pivoted on her heel and strode out of his office.

  Charlie stared after Carrie for a long time. He was still staring when Joe waltzed in with two mugs of coffee, throwing himself down in the chair opposite.

  ‘One week to go,’ he said cheerily.

  Charlie refocused on his friend’s face. ‘What?’

  ‘One more week,’ Joe repeated, pulling up a chair, propping his feet on the desk and leaning back. ‘You know. The blood test.’

  ‘Oh, that.’

  Joe sat up straighter. ‘Yes, that. You know the Hep B thing? The thing that’s thrown you for a loop, put your life on hold for six months?’

  ‘Mmm.’ Charlie said, preoccupied by thoughts of Carrie’s moan when he’d pressed his knee hard against the apex of her thighs. Thoughts he was supposed to be forgetting every happened.

  Joe cocked an eyebrow. ‘OK, what’s up?’ He blew on his drink and took a sip.

  Charlie didn’t consider not telling his best friend what had gone down. Joe had always been his sounding board. ‘I ended up in Carrie’s bed on Friday night.’

  Joe coughed and spluttered as he struggled to swallow another sip
of his coffee. ‘What? I hope you’ve started carrying condoms again.’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘Hell man, did you...?’

  ‘No. We were interrupted...thank God.’

  Joe whistled. ‘So I guess it’s going to be weird around here now?’

  ‘Apparently not. She’s just marched in here all prim and proper and announced that it was a mistake. That we should forget it ever happened.’

  ‘Well, that’s very mature of her.’

  Charlie saw the amused twinkle in his friend’s eyes and shook his head. ‘Pain in the butt. Both of you.’

  Joe laughed. ‘So it was good, huh?’

  Charlie threw his friend a quelling look. ‘That’s not the point.’

  ‘Come on, man. Between the breakdown of your marriage and the divorce and the Hep B thing it’s been a long time between drinks for you. It must have been sweet.’

  Heat bloomed in Charlie’s loins at the stir of memories. Sweet as fairy floss. ‘That’s not the point,’ he reiterated.

  Joe sobered and placed his coffee on the table. ‘Look, you have to break the drought with someone when your tests come back negative. Why not Carrie? She’s a helluva woman. Pinstripes, dude. Pinstripes.’

  Charlie looked at his friend with exasperation. ‘What did I tell you when Veronica and I split up?’

  ‘You were never doing the whole commitment thing again as long as you lived?’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So, Carrie has commitment written all over her. She has a four-year-old child. I don’t know the first thing about being a father, a good one anyway, let alone to a child that’s not my own.’

  ‘Rubbish. You’re great with kids. Just take whatever your father did and do the opposite.’

  Charlie rubbed a hand over his forehead. ‘You’re not listening. She’s not a drought-breaker kind of woman. She’s hot roast dinners and Netflix woman.’

  ‘Who just happens to look hot in pinstripes.’

  ‘Jesus, Joe. Work with me here.’

  He laughed. ‘Relax, dude. I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself, don’t you?’

  Charlie shook his head. ‘No. That’s the point. She has commitments, big commitments. She can’t just be a quick roll in the hay. I can’t think about sleeping with her without looking at the bigger picture.’

  Joe shook his head. ‘How the hell you grew up to be so honourable in your family I have no idea.’

  Charlie ignored him. ‘I think she’s been pretty messed up by her ex. And she’s auditing me, for goodness’ sake. She could put me out of business.’

  ‘Ahh...living on the edge.’ His goofy smile told Charlie he was savouring the prospect. ‘A turn-on, isn’t it?’

  Charlie sighed and shut his eyes, letting his head flop back. ‘You’re incorrigible.’

  ‘Okay, okay, no Carrie. But promise when the tests come back negative we’ll have a night on the town. Like the old days. You just need to get back on the horse, man. Find an outlet for all those pent-up tadpoles.’

  Opening his eyes, he stared at his oldest friend. Maybe Joe was right. Maybe it was just the abstinence making him crazy. Not the memory of how good Carrie had felt, her softness pressed against him or her fiery response to his kisses. It had been a long time between drinks for him.

  ‘You’ve got a deal.’ Charlie held out his hand and they shook.

  The phone rang and Carrie resolutely ignored it. Her concentration had been shot all afternoon and she had half an hour to go. It stopped ringing and she thanked Charlie silently who must have picked it up outside. Angela had left a couple of hours ago and the responsibility of answering the phones fell to Charlie.

  The door opened and Carrie braced herself for the impact of Charlie’s presence. His face and that hair and his mouth and those shoulders she’d gripped last night.

  Why? Why, oh, why was her body betraying her over this?

  He’d practically run screaming from the room when the reality of Dana had intruded into their sexual bubble. He could never be a part of her life. Their lives. Their lives.

  Hers and Dana’s.

  Single mothers couldn’t afford the luxury of thinking only about themselves. She knew that. And men had never factored into the picture - not since Rupert. The last four years had been about Dana and building a career to support her daughter, to make her daughter proud. She hadn’t taken her eye off that ball once.

  Until Friday night.

  And now there was this whole other world out there. And she was horny and...lonely, damn it.

  Picking up the wall phone, Charlie held it out to her. ‘Your nanny’s on the line.’

  Carrie frowned. Why hadn’t Susie rung her mobile? She pulled it out of her bag to discover it on silent mode and six missed calls on the screen.

  Freaking hell.

  Rising, she took the receiver from him. Instantly she could hear Dana screaming in the background. ‘Susie?’

  ‘Carrie, I’m sorry to ring you at work, I tried your mobile but it kept going to your messages. Dana’s fallen and cracked her chin on the pot plant and I think it’s going to need stitching.’

  For a crazy second Carrie’s heart stopped. She could hear her daughter’s distress and her maternal instinct roared into overdrive. Nothing had ever happened to Dana other than the odd bruise. ‘Is she OK? Did she hit her head? Was she knocked unconscious?’

  ‘No,’ Susie said reassuringly. ‘She’s fine. She’s just worked herself up because of the blood. I’m afraid this is one situation where nanny kisses aren’t going to cut it.’

  ‘Is it bleeding a lot?’ Carrie tried not to let Dana’s crying or the image of her blood oozing out everywhere affect her decision making.

  Charlie quirked an eyebrow, moving closer to her, concern in his grey gaze. Absurdly she wanted to huddle into his chest and draw strength from his tall, lean frame. She wished she was at home. What the hell was she doing here with books that were a mess and a man who had turned her on then fled.

  A man who had rejected her?

  ‘Not anymore, but it did. The wound isn’t very big but it’s really gaping.’

  Carrie’s brain quickly sorted through the possibilities as she watched Charlie draw nearer. By the time she got home and they went to either the GP or the hospital it would be another hour. Susie would have to take her and she could meet them there. But it was getting close to rush-hour.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Charlie asked quietly.

  Carrie put her hand over the mouthpiece, her hand trembling slightly. ‘Dana needs stitches in her chin.’

  ‘Bring her here. I’ll do it.’

  She stared at him blankly for a few moments. “Really?”

  ‘At this hour of the day your nanny will probably be able to make it here quicker. Unless you’d rather someone else did it?’

  Carrie continued to stare. It wasn’t that. It was just...unexpected.

  ‘Trust me, I do a lot of stitching. I stitch like a pro. My father’s right, I should definitely be a surgeon.’

  He gave her one of his slow sexy smiles and the confidence in his eyes shone like a beacon. The same confidence she’d seen at the accident scene and when he’d dealt with the overdose.

  Carrie held his gaze as she spoke into the phone. ‘Bring her here, Susie. Dr Wentworth has offered to do the suturing.’

  He smiled. ‘I’ll go and get set up.’

  Carrie paced the front lounge area, the thump of music from the jukebox grating on stretched nerves. Where were they? It had been nearly half an hour.

  ‘Mummy!’

  Carrie heart contracted with an almost painful boom as Susie walked through the door, clutching a bloodied and bandaged Dana in her arms. Her daughter’s T-shirt was spotted with dried blood and there was a smear of it on her forehead. She grabbed Dana off the nanny and squeezed her tight.

  ‘I hurted my chin, Mummy.’

  Carrie laughed. ‘Well, you obviously didn’t knock your noggin.’
She pulled out of the embrace to inspect her daughter’s injury. It was covered with a sticking plaster so the damage was hard to assess. ‘Come on, let’s go see Charlie.’

  ‘Charlie?’ Dana’s eyes lit up like light bulbs. ‘From the crash?’

  ‘Yes.’ Carrie laughed. ‘Charlie from the crash.’

  Carrie’s heart contracted at the happy hug Dana bestowed on her as she made for the treatment room.

  ‘Ah, here she is, my little Sleeping Beauty.’

  Dana giggled at Charlie and warmth flushed through Carrie’s body at how naturally her daughter responded to him. She only hoped Dana felt the same way after Charlie had injected local anaesthetic into her wound site.

  ‘Hi, Charlie,’ Dana chirped.

  ‘Hello, Sleeping Beauty. What have you been doing to yourself?’

  ‘I felled over. Susie says I never look where I’m going.’

  Carrie’s laugh was joined by Charlie’s warm chuckle. ‘Grown-ups are such spoilsports. Not looking where you’re going is so much more fun.’

  Dana giggled again. She looked so small sitting on the big bench, her legs dangling over the edge, her white sandals with red butterflies swinging back and forth. Her blonde hair was pulled up into two bunches sitting high on her head, a yellow ribbon around each one.

  She looked at Charlie - at the world - with such trust in those big blue eyes and Carrie felt irrational mother’s guilt rear its ugly head.

  If she’d been there maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

  ‘OK, now, I need to have a look at your chin. Do you want Mummy or me to pull the plaster off?’

  Dana looked solemnly from one to the other. ‘Mummy,’ she announced.

  Carrie smiled and kissed Dana on the head. ‘Fast or slow, baby?’

  ‘Fast,’ Dana replied.

  Carrie peeled up a corner of the plaster. ‘OK, ready...steady...’

  ‘Go!’ Dana pronounced.

  Carrie ripped it off quickly without a peep from Dana. She’d always been a stoic little thing. ‘Ugh,’ she said, looking at the gaping hole beneath. ‘That definitely needs fixing.’

  Dana nodded. ‘Naughty pot plant.’