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‘Finally!’ Jasper pulled off his gloves, mask and gown, putting them in the appropriate bins and heading out of Theatre with Jennifer not far behind him. ‘Have we beaten the sunrise?’ he wanted to know as they walked towards the changing rooms.
‘Uh…I think we might have but not by much.’
Jasper stopped outside the door marked MALE and looked at her. ‘Listen, Jennifer, I know this is no doubt against the unwritten rules we seem to have made and I don’t want you to feel pressured at all but…would you like to come over for breakfast?’
‘Over?’
‘To my house.’
‘House?’ Her brain seemed incapable of rational thought and it didn’t help at all when his lips started tugging upwards.
‘Sure. We’ve both been up all night long and could do with some breakfast.’
‘Breakfast?’
Jasper’s lips beamed into a full-blown smile and she wished they hadn’t. ‘Yes. Obviously spending a busy night in and out of Theatre affects your powers of speech—or at least the power of forming sentences. Breakfast. The meal you eat at the beginning of the day?’
‘Hmm.’ She nodded slowly, still totally mesmerised by his smile.
‘Anyway, the girls would like to see you and after breakfast we could wander down and see if Mr Attenburgh is happy for you to see the house.’
‘Oh!’ Jennifer covered her mouth with her hand. ‘The house! I’d totally forgotten about the house and my appointment.’
‘I didn’t. I called him before going into my first theatre case and told him we’d reschedule.’
‘Thanks.’ She sighed, unable to believe she’d forgotten. She’d tried several times in the past fortnight to view the house but various obstacles and problems had kept delaying her. Now she simply wanted to get it over and done with. If it was as perfect as Jasper seemed to think, hopefully she’d be able to settle and move in quickly.
But first things first. Jasper had asked her over to his house for breakfast. Her first reaction was to accept instantly but her second was to weigh up the pros and cons. His nearness was starting to do things to her she wasn’t sure she could control in such a personal and comfortable setting and that in itself was scary enough. Control had been her close friend for many years but it was also sort of exciting to have that little bit of spontaneity in her life. Besides, not only would she have the opportunity to see over the house and get that crossed off her list but she’d get to see Jasper’s girls again. She’d enjoyed playing with them when they’d been at Sara’s house and she had to admit she was becoming more curious about Jasper Edwards—the man, not the surgeon.
Jasper could see her internal struggle. ‘I’ll make you pancakes,’ he offered temptingly.
Her eyes glazed over for a moment, then he saw the beginnings of a small smile. ‘Really?’
‘I make them light and fluffy.’ He almost had her. He was reeling her in and he was loving every moment of it.
‘They’re my favourite.’
‘There you go, then. I’ll even do bacon and eggs to give breakfast a bit more of a…sizzle.’ He waggled his eyebrows up and down as he spoke and Jennifer looked away, surprised when she felt her cheeks suffuse with colour.
‘Don’t, Jasper.’ Her words were barely audible but he heard.
‘Don’t what?’
‘Tease. I…I didn’t mean to say that.’
‘What? That I make you sizzle?’
‘Stop it.’ Even his words, the way he was looking at her now made her start to sizzle once more. If she was totally honest with herself, she would accept that she wanted to spend more and more time with him and she wanted to do that as far away from her life at the hospital.
‘Why?’ Jasper checked the corridor, pleased to find it still deserted. He reached out and placed his hand lightly on her shoulder. When he spoke, his tone was soft, intimate. ‘You’re the first woman who’s ever said that to me. That I make her sizzle. I liked it.’
When she didn’t say anything else, he gave her shoulder a little squeeze before dropping his hand. ‘It’s just breakfast, Jen. The girls will be there, so will my parents. It’s not as though it’s a date or anything. Think of it more as eating food together in a non-hospital environment.’
‘Like the other night?’
‘Exactly.’
He was right. She was over-thinking things again, something she’d promised herself she’d try not to do. She wanted to have breakfast with him, she wanted to see his girls again and she wanted to take a look at the house. Spending all of that time with Jasper would be an added bonus…and to top it all off he’d called her Jen. Wasn’t that the first sign of acceptance? The move from colleagues to good friends?
