She traced her fingertips over his back, his shoulders, his arms, and felt Nick’s hands doing the same. It was heavenly. This was how happiness felt. A never-ending embrace, the scent of freshly soaped skin, the heat emanating from his body and warming hers, like the sun . . .
Nick’s mouth brushed against her ear as he murmured, ‘Is this the kind of thing you meant?’
‘Exactly the kind of thing I meant. Thank you.’
‘Hallie, listen, don’t thank me. But there’s something I need to tell you.’
Her hands were still hypnotically stroking his chest. ‘Go on.’
‘I don’t know if you wanted to carry on further, but I just have to say, I have a girlfriend.’
Hallie blinked. ‘Oh. Right. You didn’t mention her before.’ And she stupidly hadn’t asked.
‘I know. I didn’t want to sound . . . well, you know, as if I was boasting about my great life while yours isn’t so great. Her name’s Emma and we’ve been seeing each other for the last couple of months. She’s a lovely girl. I suppose what I’m trying to say is, I’ve been faithful to her and I wouldn’t want to upset her, but if you want us to continue . . . well, I will.’
‘You would? You’d do that for me?’
Nick exhaled. ‘Oh Hallie. It’s not like I wouldn’t enjoy it too. But it’s your choice.’
She smiled and brushed his cheek, touched by the offer and by his honesty. ‘Thanks, but it’s fine, really. Just this is fine. And it wouldn’t feel right, making you do that to Emma.’
To her surprise, it was the truth. At the back of her mind, too, she’d kind of wondered if sleeping with Nick might feel like cheating on Luke.
Yes, it was a weird thing to think, but she couldn’t help the way her brain worked.
‘You know, Emma’s such a nice person, she might even understand,’ said Nick. ‘I’ve told her all about you. She knew I was coming to see you today.’
‘I think that would be a really big ask. Don’t worry. This is enough.’ In all honesty, poor Emma-in-Australia probably wouldn’t be thrilled about the fact that they were lying practically naked together in bed.
‘OK. We can just stay here like this.’ Sliding his arm around her, Nick said, ‘Rest your head on my shoulder. Just relax. I’m not going to let you go. Remember this is how we used to fall asleep?’
Smiling, Hallie nodded. Now that she knew nothing more was going to happen, she was actually far more relaxed. This was nice, this was what she’d missed, the sheer comfort of physical contact. She closed her eyes and nodded again, feeling Nick’s hands gently stroking her shoulders and the back of her neck as she drifted off to sleep . . .
Luke knocked on Hallie’s front door. It was five o’clock and dark outside, and the house seemed silent too. There was no sign of movement. Had she gone out? Maybe he should just slide the book through the letter box . . .
Above him, curtains were pulled back, and silhouetted against the dim light in Hallie’s bedroom he saw a figure that . . . well, it wasn’t Hallie. Taken aback, Luke saw that it was male. More to the point, it wasn’t wearing many clothes. OK, he certainly hadn’t been expecting this.
The figure indicated that he was coming down. There was the sound of footsteps descending the stairs, then the door was pulled open and Luke saw that he’d at least bothered to fling on a T-shirt and jeans. His hair was tousled – he’d evidently been asleep – and his face was distantly familiar.
‘Hi.’ His expression was questioning, his tanned feet bare.
Luke swallowed. ‘Hello. Is Hallie here?’
‘She’s upstairs. Asleep. Do you want me to wake her?’
Luke hesitated, then shook his head. ‘It’s OK, don’t worry. I just dropped by to return this.’ He held up the paperback with the pale blue cover. ‘Hallie lent it to me last week.’
‘Right. Well, no problem, you can leave it here. I’ll make sure she gets it.’
‘Fine. Tell her I thought it was excellent. Really informative.’
Hallie’s visitor took the paperback and looked at the cover, which featured sand running through a glass egg-timer. The title of the book was Smile Through It: A year on the transplant list.
‘Can I ask?’ said Luke. ‘Are you Nick?’
‘Yes, I am.’
‘From Australia?’
‘I came back.’ Nick was clearly wondering if he should recognise him. ‘Have we met before?’
Luke shook his head. ‘No. Hallie showed me a photo of you, that’s all. I’m Dr Hilton, her GP.’