Special Deliveries Collection. Kate Hardy

do them,’ she sighed.

      ‘Not yet,’ Jed yawned. ‘I’ll just give you your tetanus shot.’

      ‘I’ll go to my GP.’

      ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Jed said, already opening a trolley and pulling out a syringe.

      It was then that Jasmine had to say something.

      ‘I’ll do that.’ Jasmine smiled. ‘You can do the cultures.’

      ‘I’ll do the cultures,’ Penny said. ‘You go home, Jed, and think about shaving.’

      Jasmine said nothing, not a single word as they headed into a cubicle and Penny unbuttoned her blouse. She just handed her a wad of tissues as Penny started crying.

      Penny was, as Jasmine knew only too well, petrified of needles.

      Not a little bit scared, completely petrified of them, though she didn’t blink when sticking them in others.

      ‘If you breathe a word of this …’

      She was shaking on the seat as Jasmine swabbed her arm.

      ‘No, wait!’ Penny said.

      ‘For what?’ Jasmine said, sticking the needle in. ‘Done.’ She smiled at her. ‘You big baby.’

      ‘I know, I know.’ Penny shuddered. ‘Just give me a minute, would you? Go and set up for those blood cultures.’ She had snapped straight back to being Penny, except this time Jasmine was smiling.

      Jed didn’t think about shaving.

      He had a shower and tried not to think about Jasmine.

      And then he pulled on some running clothes and ran the length of the beach and told himself to just concentrate on work.

      Only this time it didn’t work.

      And he saw where she lived and her car pull up in her carport and he saw Jasmine minus an armful of Simon but holding a bottle of champagne, which confused him, and he tried to continue to run.

      What on earth was he going to say to her if he knocked at her door?

      At least nothing would happen, he consoled himself, as ten minutes later he found himself doing just that, because given he wasn’t exactly fresh out of the shower, there would be no repeats of yesterday.

      Except she was fresh out of the shower when she opened the door and he prided himself on the fact that he did not look down, that he somehow held her eyes, even though her dressing gown did little to hide her womanly shape.

      ‘Bad timing?’

      ‘A bit.’

      ‘Well, I won’t keep you from your champagne.’ He didn’t want to make her laugh, except he did so, only he wasn’t here for that.

      ‘It’s in the fridge.’

      ‘Good.’

      ‘A present.’

      ‘That’s nice.’

      ‘Well?’ Jasmine demanded. ‘Which Jed am I talking to this morning?’ And she looked at him standing there, and she knew who it was—the beachside Jed, the man who made her smile, the Jed who had made his first appearance at work just a few hours ago.

      ‘I like to keep my work and personal life separate,’ he offered as way of an explanation, only it didn’t wash with Jasmine. Penny did too but she was a cow both in and out of work. Yet with Jed sometimes she felt as if she was dealing with two completely different people.

      But she liked this one.

      Really liked this one, and, no, maybe they weren’t going anywhere, maybe it was just all a bit much for him, she was a mother to one year old after all, but that he was here, that at this hour of the morning he stood at her door, when sensible shift workers should be firmly asleep, proved the undeniable attraction.

      ‘I just wanted to say that I am really sorry and that it won’t happen again. There’ll be no more inappropriateness.’

      ‘And it won’t happen again at this end,’ Jasmine said. ‘Nothing inappropriate …’

      Jed nodded and turned to go, except she didn’t want him to. She was tired of running from the past, tired of saving for the future—she just wanted a little bit of living for now.

      ‘At least, not at work.’

      And for two years Jed had kept things separate. Despite some temptations, he had kept fiercely to his rule.

      But Jed’s rules had never been tested at this level.

      Had they not kissed yesterday he might have been able to walk away.

      Had he not tasted lips that were exactly suited to his, he might have headed back to the beach and then home.

      But more than that, her blush and eye roll and ‘sorry’ last night, her total lack of pursuit or demands meant more to Jed than Jasmine could possibly know.

      Bottom line?

      They wanted each other.

      Not a little bit of want, it was a morning after a sleepless nights want. It was twenty-five hours since yesterday’s kiss and for twenty-five hours it had been on both of their minds.

      He walked into the hallway and his mouth met hers.

      And his chin was even rougher than yesterday.

      And yesterday, though their kiss had been fierce it had been tempered on both sides with bitter restraint.

      But now they could have what they wanted.

      Each other.

      For now, at least, it could be as simple as that.

      She didn’t care that he was damp from running. He smelt fresh and male and she knew what was under that T-shirt, and as she pulled it up and over his head she didn’t just get to glimpse, she got to feel, and, no, he wasn’t annoyed at the intrusion this time.

      He tugged at her dressing gown as his mouth was everywhere—on her lips, on her neck and on her breasts. Meanwhile, she pulled at his shorts, because he was pressed so hard into her, and they pulled apart just enough to get to the bedroom—they weren’t in the treatment room now and they quickly celebrated the fact.

      She wanted to see what she had felt and she manoeuvred his shorts and all things unnecessary and he kicked off his running shoes and stepped out of them and they were naked in seconds, and seconds from impact.

      ‘Condoms.’ She was on the floor, going through his shorts.

      ‘I don’t run with them.’ Jed laughed.

      She was at eye level with his crotch as she knelt up and pressed her lips to him, pleased with a brief taste. Too selfish to continue, she dashed to her tiny bathroom and pulled the cupboard under the sink apart for condoms that were somewhere in a box she hadn’t sorted in ages.

      She was uncaring as Jed watched her bottom sticking up as she searched in the cupboard and her breasts jiggling as she turned round and it was safer that he go back into the bedroom.

      Oh, my.

      It was all Jasmine could think as she walked back towards him, because he was better than anything she had fashioned in her mind. He was incredibly fit and toned. She should have been shy as she walked over, but shy was the furthest thing from her mind and anyway, he didn’t wait for her to finish walking—both of them were happy to collide.

      He was just so into her body, so wanting, and he didn’t need to worry about speed or things moving too quickly for her because as his hands slid between her thighs and met her heat she was moaning and he was pushing her onto the bed, with Jasmine wondering where her inhibitions had gone.

      She had hundreds of them, Jasmine reminded herself as he knelt over her and