and long conversations, and certainly no explorations into someone else’s past, except he found himself wanting to know about a younger Nina, found himself asking how she’d fared when her parents had died.
‘It was rough for a while, but I got there.’
‘How?’
‘I had friends.’ She gave a tight shrug. ‘Couch-surfed for a while …’
‘Couch-surfed?’
‘Slept on friends’ sofas.’ He watched her face burn and then blue eyes met his. ‘I nearly ended up on the streets.’
Jack could perhaps see why she was so angry at times, why she struggled so much in her efforts to keep families together—given the impact it had had on her life when she’d lost hers. ‘So how come—?’
‘I’m not going there, Jack,’ she interrupted.
‘Sure,’ Jack said. Usually it was him pulling back, usually it was him closing off and refusing to discuss things.
And so they chatted about other stuff when he really wanted to know more about Nina. He simply didn’t know how to play her, because when he glanced at his phone and saw how late it was, had it been anyone else, they’d have been back at his apartment and safely in bed.
Safely in bed, because that was what Jack knew and did best. He wasn’t used to that awkward moment when they climbed into his car, because usually both parties knew exactly where they were headed.
‘No, thanks,’ she said to his oh-so-casual offer of a nightcap at his place. ‘It’s already late and I’m the duty worker tomorrow night.’
So not only was Jack not used to going to back to her place, neither was he familiar with a smile at the front door and no invitation to come inside.
‘Thanks so much for tonight,’ Nina said. ‘It was nice to clear the air.’
‘Oh, we haven’t cleared the air yet,’ he said, and he gave her the kiss that he should have last night.
Not a gentle kiss, a very thorough kiss, a kiss that meant business.
She should have resisted, Nina thought as she kissed him back. She should have at least made some token protest, but there was something very consuming about being kissed by Jack, something that would make you a liar if you attempted to deny the effect, because like the man himself it was a top-notch kiss, and, like the man himself, very soon it went too far.
His mouth had left hers and had moved to her neck, his hands pulling her hips into him, and he was just as turned on as she was. He made sure Nina could feel it and then his voice was low in her ear. ‘Am I going to be asked inside?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Can you be persuaded?’
He kissed her again and, no, she couldn’t be persuaded, because she trusted her heart to no one and certainly she’d be a fool to trust it to a man like Jack.
She pulled away. ‘I’d better go.’
She was playing with fire here, Nina knew it. So she stepped back a little and went into her bag for her key.
‘Nina—’
‘Thanks so much for dinner.’
And she gave him a smile, stepped into the safety of her flat and closed the door on him. On them.
No matter how she might want to, Nina was so not going there.
These next few weeks were the most important of her life and she was not going into them with a head messed up by Jack Carter. And he would mess it up.
His reputation preceded him.
And she had her family to think of.
OVER THE FOLLOWING days Nina avoided Jack. She didn’t return his calls and when he stopped her in the corridor one lunchtime and asked if she wanted to go out that night, she gave a vague reason as to why she couldn’t, was polite and smiled and then quickly moved on.
Unused to being rebuffed, Jack didn’t like it one bit.
Still, even if he had to face her in a few moments, right now there were more important things on his mind. Jack, Alex and the oncologist Terence were going over the planned course of treatment before speaking with Mike, and on one thing Alex remained resolute.
‘I want it made clear to the father that there are no guarantees. I don’t want him to be given false hope. Really, we’re just trying to buy Tommy some more time here, because even if the chemo does shrink it, I don’t know that surgery will be an option. It would be incredibly risky—most surgeons wouldn’t touch it.’
‘But you take on patients that others wouldn’t,’ Jack pointed out. ‘That’s why Angel’s needs you.’
They stopped the discussion as there was a knock on the door, but Jack knew full well what was getting to Alex. Still, he wasn’t going to discuss it in front of Terence, and now the oncology nurse had arrived to sit in on the discussion with Mike.
‘The father’s outside with the case worker,’ Gina said.
‘Okay.’ Jack nodded. ‘Tell them to come in.’
Nina didn’t blush when she saw him, Jack noted, and, yes, her coolness towards him was grating, her dismissal when he called or spoke to her seriously irked him—perhaps because he wasn’t in the least used to it. Still, right now the focus of the meeting was Tommy and his father and preparing them for the difficult months ahead.
‘It’s basically a marathon that we’re asking you to run,’ Terence explained. ‘It’s an aggressive tumour and we’re hoping to reduce it, but it’s not going to be easy …’
‘We’re up for it,’ Mike insisted.
‘We need you fully on board,’ Terence reiterated a little while later, because Mike just kept nodding at what ever was said. ‘Any bruising or bleeding, a raised temperature, even a cold and Tommy is to be seen urgently.’
‘Of course.’ Mike sounded annoyed and it was then that Jack cut in.
‘You need to listen to this carefully.’ Jack was firm. ‘Last week you were hiding Tommy’s injuries from the hospital.’
‘I didn’t know what was happening,’ Mike admitted. ‘I thought you were out to take him away from me.’
‘Well, we’re not,’ Jack said. ‘Tommy needs you now more than ever, but we are all going to have to start trusting each other and being honest each with each other, and I’m telling you straight up that I will not accept any outbursts with my staff like the one I witnessed last week, no matter how emotional things get.’
‘There won’t be any more outbursts,’ Mike said, and he looked at Nina. ‘I’ve apologised to Nina, and I apologise again.’
‘Mike’s going to do the men’s anger and emotion course that the pro bono centre runs,’ Nina said. ‘Aside from what happened in Emergency, I think it will be very helpful for Mike to have that resource in the months ahead.’
And on the meeting went. Terence had to get back to the ward but Mike had more questions.
‘But if the chemo works, surgery might get rid of it.’
‘It’s a possible option,’ Alex said carefully, ‘but the lesion is in an exceptionally difficult location.’
‘Have you done surgery like this before?’
‘I’ve done similar,’ Alex said, and Jack stepped in.
‘Each case is unique.’ He was as calm as always, Nina noted,