CAROL MARINELLI - Hot Single Docs - Waiting For You - St Piran's - Prince on the Children's Ward

‘Oh, for God’s sake, will you listen to yourself? “This is between Allessandro and I,”’ Tasha mimicked his tone. ‘What are you going to do, Josh? Challenge him to a duel? Pistols at dawn? This is the twenty-first century. Get over yourself.’

‘This isn’t your business, Natasha.’

‘Well, excuse me—’ she emphasised each word ‘—but I was the one naked with him, not you. I think that makes it my business, not yours.’

Josh gave a low growl. ‘You were naked with him?’

Yes, and she had no idea how it had happened. Clearly at some point during the burn of chemistry, her brain had disconnected itself from her body. But she didn’t want to think about that right now. ‘So what if I was? What is your problem? You do not just barge in here and tell me what to do. Do I ask you what’s happening in your love life? Do I lecture you or ask you who you got naked with last night? When I saw you coming out of that on-call room a couple of weeks ago, having had a night of hot sex, did I demand to know who was in the room with you?’

Alessandro raised an eyebrow. ‘Hey, Josh, you had a night of hot sex? Good man.’

‘Shut up!’ Brother and sister spoke simultaneously and Tasha stabbed Josh in the chest with her finger.

‘I wanted to ask who she was, but I didn’t because I respect your privacy and your ability to make your own decisions. I understand that you’re an adult. If you want to have a one-night stand in the on-call room, that’s up to you.’

There was a tense, frozen silence.

Josh’s face had turned from scarlet to grey. ‘It wasn’t a one-night stand. And this isn’t about me, it’s about you.’

‘Precisely.’ Tasha folded her arms and pursed her lips. ‘Which makes it my business, not yours. If I want to sleep with a man, I’ll sleep with him. I don’t need your permission.’

Josh’s shoulders sagged and suddenly he looked exhausted. ‘Fine.’ His voice was brittle. ‘You’re right, of course. I apologise.’

Startled by the sudden change in him, Tasha frowned. One minute he was yelling at her and the next he looked as though his brain was on another planet. ‘So—when I need a knight in shining armour, I’ll text you.’

Alessandro started to laugh. ‘I hate to break it to you, Josh, but I think your baby sister is all grown up and slaying her own dragons.’

Josh was still looking at Tasha. A tiny muscle flickered in his cheek and he shook his head slightly, as if trying to focus. ‘Just as long as you know he will break your heart,’ he said shakily. ‘You’ll fall in love, because that’s what you do, and he’ll smash you to pieces. I don’t want that for you. I don’t want you loving someone you can’t be with. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.’ There was an anguished note to his tone that killed Tasha’s anger like water on flame.

Instinct told her there was more to her brother’s words than a throw-away comment.

I don’t want you loving someone you can’t be with.

Suddenly she knew that his explosion of emotion was driven by something deeper than her own indiscretion. Something much more personal.

‘Josh...’ Her voice faltered. ‘I—’

‘I’m just telling you to be careful, that’s all.’ Cutting her dead, he blanked the emotion and walked to the door. ‘I’ll leave the two of you alone. I’m sorry I interrupted. And who am I to give advice on relationships? It’s a subject I know nothing about.’

His departure was more painful than his arrival.

Tasha felt her heart clench. Her brother was suffering and she sensed that his anguish went much deeper than concern about her.

Was this about the woman in the on-call room?

‘Wait!’ Tasha sprinted after him. ‘Don’t just walk off—for crying out loud, Josh, will you wait?’

He kept walking, talking over his shoulder as he strode through Alessandro’s double-height living room. ‘I need breakfast. I’ve been working all night. I have to get back to the hospital.’

‘I’ll make you breakfast.’ Catching up with him, she caught his arm. ‘The kitchen here is like a spaceship and I can do amazing things with eggs. Please.’

‘I need to be on my own.’ He shook her off and she saw the emptiness in his eyes as he detached from her. ‘I’m sorry I disturbed you.’

Tasha felt a flash of exasperation but this time it was fuelled by real concern for her brother. ‘It wasn’t like that, Josh—honestly, it was nothing.’ She didn’t know what it was and she hadn’t had time to work it out, but at the moment her priority was Josh. ‘I want you to stay. I haven’t seen you properly since I arrived. Let’s chat. Catch up.’

‘Sit down, Josh.’ Alessandro’s slightly accented drawl came from behind them. Tasha realised that while she and Josh had been arguing Alessandro had hauled himself from the bed and was now gripping the doorframe. His shirt—the shirt she’d ripped—hung loose around his body, exposing his bronzed muscled chest. ‘I’m going mad trapped in this place. I need male conversation.’

Tasha gave a faint smile. ‘Men don’t have conversations. They just exchange sporting results.’ But she was relieved that Alessandro had added his voice to hers.

Josh looked undecided and the look he gave Alessandro was cold. ‘I should go—’

‘There’s a wealth of difference between what one should do and what one chooses to do,’ Alessandro drawled. ‘Sit down. Your sister isn’t a bad cook, providing you keep her away from chilli.’

Tasha opened her mouth and closed it again. This wasn’t the time to give him a lecture on the emancipation of women.

Josh relaxed slightly. ‘Are you going to promise not to touch my sister again?’

‘No.’ Alessandro’s tone was calm and he lifted his hand as Josh’s eyes flared. ‘But I promise to stop if she asks me to. Fair enough?’

Josh’s mouth was a tight line. ‘I don’t think—’

‘Hello? I’m over here!’ Exasperated, Tasha waved at both of them. ‘You don’t need to talk about me as if I don’t exist. In fact, you don’t need to talk about me at all. Let’s just drop the whole subject.’ She was relieved to see her brother sprawl on the deep leather sofa.

As he ran his hand over his face she realised that he hadn’t slept in a long time.

The sunlight pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows simply accentuated the shadows under his eyes and the pallor of his skin. Why had it taken her so long to notice how awful he looked?

Because she’d been too busy getting her clothes on.

‘So...’ She sank down on the sofa next to him and curled her legs underneath her. ‘You look wrecked.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Have you been working nights or something?’ Even as she asked the question, she dismissed it. Josh never had any trouble coping with work volume, so it couldn’t be that. Which meant it must be a woman. But the split with Rebecca had been mutual...

Using a process of elimination, she mentally ticked off the options and decided that it had to be something to do with the woman he’d had in the on-call room.

She’d thought at the time that he was behaving oddly.

Suddenly she wished she could send Alessandro into the kitchen so that she could question her brother in private.

‘So how’s the leg?’ His expression slightly less black, Josh looked at his oldest friend. ‘Are you healing?’

‘Yes, but not fast enough.’ Alessandro limped over to the other sofa and sat down. He’d mastered the art of keeping his movements as smooth as possible to reduce jarring. ‘I’m hoping this cast will be off soon, then I can get back to normal duties.’

‘Palace giving you a hard time?’

‘They are not amused,’ Alessandro said lightly, a sardonic smile on his face. ‘I’m supposed to be earning my keep, not “lounging” around here.’