One Night With Dr Nikolaides. Tina Beckett
at that moment.
All of a sudden her knees went weak and everything flew off balance. Theo’s arms were around her in an instant, swirling her into the doorway in a fluid move that would have put a tango dancer to shame.
When she opened her eyes all she could see were his lips. And that teensy little scar her tongue itched to reach out and—Stop it! She sucked in a shallow breath, horrified to notice that her breasts were pressing against his chest. They obviously had a mind of their own. Little minxes.
Theo didn’t move. OMG. Did he...did he like it? Like her?
Her brain went into overdrive. Was she going to have to rearrange a thousand vows never to succumb to the likes of Theo Nikolaides for the very clinical and reasonable sake of finding out just once what it would be like to...? Oh... Oh, my... His thighs were pressed against hers. His hips... He was very, very close. She felt the soft exhalation of his breath against her mouth and wanted more than anything to part her lips and taste him.
She risked a glimpse up into his eyes.
What she saw in them conveyed a thousand messages. Hope. Interest. Desire. A bit of confusion.
Little wonder! She was feeling about as confused as they came. For starters...why was he holding her in this doorway after she’d swooned like an idiot?
“Aftershocks.”
“I’m sorry?” Cailey shook her head, only to hear a collective gasp come from the trauma unit as another one hit.
Theo’s hold tightened around her, his tall, lean form curling protectively over her, his hands cupping her head against the rigid doorframe as they waited for the tremor to pass.
When it did he stood back and, as if nothing had happened at all, reached out to tuck a few strands of her disobedient hair behind her ear.
“Are you all right, love? Do you need to take a break? We’ve got relief doctors coming in from the mainland in about...” his eyes traveled to a nearby wall clock “...twenty minutes or so.”
Love? Since when did he call her “love”?
He stifled a yawn.
“I think if anyone deserves a break it’s probably you,” she said, pleased with her stern tone. Then she reached out to give his arm a you’ve-worked-hard squeeze.
Big mistake.
Go away, tingles and butterflies!
“You look tired, Cailey.”
“No, you look tired.”
He rolled his eyes. No kidding, the gesture said. Of course I’m tired, but I’m in charge.
A strange need to coddle him seized her. He was great at looking after others, but who looked after him?
Good grief. She wasn’t letting herself fall for him again, was she? But then perhaps she had never actually got up again after the first time...
“Cailey...”
“Theo?”
He crossed his arms and fixed her with a classic big brother look. “You should get some rest.”
She crossed her arms too, beginning to enjoy this back and forth banter. Never mind the fact that being sassy helped her hide the wave after wave of emotion pummeling her mind, her guts, her heart.
Longing. Desire. Heartache. Lust.
She’d thought she’d lain all those things to rest when she’d boarded that plane bound for London all those years ago.
“Tell me, Cailey, who exactly do you think is going to look after the clinic if I leave?”
His expression of triumph spoke volumes. He thought he’d nailed it.
She glanced past his shoulder and smiled as a group of a dozen-plus doctors shouldering medical kits walked through the double doors leading into the trauma area. Fresh-faced. Ready to work.
“They will.”
“What?” Theo turned around and registered the change of events.
“So I guess that’s settled, then. We’ll both take a break.”
* * *
“Where are you staying?”
Theo was as surprised as Cailey when the question popped out.
She glanced at him, and their eyes caught and held tight.
She was always more than your kid sister’s friend.
“I haven’t really organized things yet. My brothers are crazy busy with the rescue crews.” Cailey looked away, a slight flush blooming on her cheeks as she mumbled, “And I don’t really think there’s room at my mum’s now that—”
“What?” Theo took Cailey’s shoulders in his hands, forcing her to look at him. “Is Jacosta all right? Is her home intact?”
Cailey shrugged, tears filming her dark eyes. “She says so, but I’ve not seen the flat myself.”
“Flat? I thought you lived in a house?”
“We did, but...” Cailey looked away, a few poorly hidden tears falling from her eyes as she turned.
“But what?” His chest felt restricted against the strain of his lungs. “Has my father not been paying her retirement pension? Do you want me to speak to him?”
Bloody man! The most tight-fisted billionaire he’d ever come across. Not that he knew scores of them, or anything, but he knew enough to know that money made a man more of who he was at heart. Good, greedy, kind, cruel...it didn’t matter. Money was an enabler, and if he thought that for one second—
“No, it’s not that. When I left for London she sold the house.”
She swiped at her eyes, her expression one of pure defiance. There was a story there, but Cailey wasn’t pausing for him to ask any questions.
“The place she’s in now is diddy. But it’s fine. She’s fine. We’re all fine. The Tomaras clan is, as it always has been, perfectly happy. Earthquake aside.”
She quirked an eyebrow, adopted a faint smile and looked up at him, unable to hide the shadows of the past shifting across her features like a slow-moving storm.
Clearly not all of the Tomaras clan was happy.
“All right, then. If there’s no room for you to stay with her, you’ll stay with me.”
“What? No.” She took a step back and held up her hands. “No. Completely unnecessary. You’ve got—”
“Pish-tosh.”
He plucked the old-fashioned English expression from his days at medical school in London. Why had their paths never crossed there? She should have called him. Or Erianthe, who was still there.
He swore silently under his breath. He should have kept a closer eye on Cailey. From now on he would. “You’re my responsibility.”
“Er...and why is that, exactly?”
“Because I said so.”
Winning answer, Romeo.
Unsurprisingly, Cailey looked unconvinced.
What was he going to say? That he didn’t want his father to see her without him there to protect her? It was true. It was also true that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he thought for one second Cailey’s family had been forced to downsize because of anything his father had done.
Somewhere deep inside that sinewy heart of his, he knew his father loved him. Even if he was “just adopted.” But he also knew Dimitri’s vow to make him pay for not becoming