brought?’
‘Three days’ worth!’ Hugh said, putting the basket down on the kitchen table. ‘Nothing is too much trouble for you, my love,’ he teased. ‘We’re the talk of the hospital, you know!’
‘I do know!’
Since they had announced on Facebook that they were in a relationship the hospital grapevine had gone a little bit wild, but the main comments had been What took the two of you so long? Or About time.
‘We’ll be old news soon,’ Hugh said.
They unloaded the shopping into the kitchen and Emily gave him a little tour of downstairs but halted him as he went to head upstairs.
‘Where are you going?’
‘Nature’s calling.’
‘There’s a loo downstairs,’ Emily said, because she hadn’t even made the bed upstairs and she had knickers and bras all over the bathroom.
Why the hell had she fallen asleep?
‘How many bedrooms does it have?’ Hugh asked. ‘Seriously, Emily, that was a very long drive.’
‘Two,’ Emily said, but didn’t offer him the use of the spare one. She had, till he’d arrived, felt a bit guilty about making him drive all the way back tonight, but now she was rather relieved that she had been so firm about it.
He looked tired but there was a certain energy to him, a side to him she didn’t really see at work. Usually Hugh wore dark blue scrubs, sometimes she saw him in a suit, but it was the outside-work Hugh that tended to get them into trouble, and now she was starting to see why.
Jeans were just jeans until Hugh decided to wear them. She couldn’t help but notice his bum as he put some food, champagne and wine in the fridge. His top was gunmetal grey and possibly, possibly a bit too tight, or rather too tight for Emily’s liking because she could see the stretch of lean muscles and when he turned around it confirmed his stomach was deliciously flat.
No, it was the fridge contents that were delicious, Emily told herself as her face burnt under his gaze.
‘You’re sunburnt,’ Hugh said, misreading her flaming cheeks.
‘Just a bit.’
‘More than just a bit,’ Hugh said. ‘You’re going to be in absolute agony tonight.’
‘I shan’t, and anyway,’ Emily added, deciding to deal with the spare-room issue he had raised, here and now, ‘if I am in agony you won’t be here to witness it.’
‘Then we’d better get started,’ Hugh said, regretting her choice but for now accepting it. ‘Right, let’s kick things off.’
He sat at the kitchen table and pulled out his phone. ‘Come and sit on my knee and we’ll take a photo of the two of us.’
‘Stop it!’ Emily started to laugh. ‘There’s no way that I’m sitting on your knee. Why don’t I just take a photo of you and then put it up and you can do the same of me?’
‘We’re supposed to be a couple,’ Hugh pointed out. ‘Come on, don’t be shy now...’ he teased.
It wasn’t shyness that was the issue! Emily perched on his knee and tried to deny just how gorgeous he felt to her naked thigh.
‘I’m not some pervy uncle,’ Hugh said, pulling her higher up his lap, but when his hand met her suntanned, oiled thigh and Emily wriggled to get a little bit more comfortable for the picture, he amended that statement. ‘Whoops, maybe I am!’
That made Emily laugh, just enough that a very nice photo was taken and Emily remained on his knee as they examined the image and then Hugh updated his status.
Emily has sunburn in June, he typed, and then, before posting he thought for a moment. ‘Should I make a joke about you being a Scottish rose or something?’
‘No, because then Alex really would know that we were faking it,’ Emily said. ‘Just leave it at that.’
Hugh posted his status and very soon a couple of his friends had ‘liked’ the image.
‘We should do a few like that,’ Hugh said, but Emily would prefer that they didn’t. She was still on his knee and it felt very nice to be there. She could feel the heat of his palm on her thigh and the solidness between
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