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She lurched away from the table, praying her legs would hold her and her stomach wouldn’t disgrace her as she raced for the guest bathroom. She made it just in time to hurl the almost non-existent contents of her stomach. To continue to dry heave as she heard a perfunctory knock before Joao entered.
She squeezed her eyes shut for a few shameful seconds before opening them to glare at Joao, who was pacing the bathroom, his phone glued to his ear, his features grim.
‘What are you doing?’ she demanded weakly.
‘Doing what I should’ve done last night and summoning the doctor,’ he said tensely.
About to tell him not to bother, she was hit with another bout. The hair that had loosened from its knot during her panicked flight from the table unravelled. Before she could reach up, strong hands gathered the tresses, holding them back from her face as her stomach lurched.
Drowning in humiliation, she barely heard Joao hang up. But she felt his fingers brush her temple in soothing strokes as she moaned weakly and attempted to stand.
Strong arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her onto the vanity. She accepted the glass of water he handed her, unable to look at him as she rinsed out her mouth, but when a cool towel dabbed at her forehead, providing merciful relief, she couldn’t help but glance into his eyes.
He didn’t speak but his gaze was narrowed, teeming with turbulent questions as he administered to her. She chose to face the primary question head-on, her heart suddenly hammering wildly against her ribs.
‘It’s just a stomach upset.’
His eyebrow spiked again. ‘Is it?’ he stated coolly.
‘What else could it be?’
His lips compressed, and his lashes swept down as he stepped away to run the hand towel under the tap. She watched his fingers curl around the towel, tried hard not to imagine them on her body as he returned to stroke her brow.
‘The doctor will provide the answers we need, I’m sure.’
‘But I feel fine.’
‘Then you won’t mind humouring me. Do you feel well enough to move?’ he asked, his tone almost gruff.
Frowning at the peculiar throb in his tone, and the building tension in his body, she nodded.
He tossed the towel away. About to hop down, she gasped when he gathered her in his arms, hoisting her high against his chest as he strode out of the bathroom.
‘I’m perfectly capable of walking, Joao,’ she objected, only for a new weakness to assail her, this time from the warmth of his body and the virile, masculine scent of him, which, unlike the unfortunate breakfast choice, she wanted to inhale in greedy, fervent gulps.
‘You’re trembling and for the first time since I’ve known you, you’re less than one hundred per cent put together,’ he said, his eyes flicking up to her unbound hair, which now trail
ed over his arm in unfettered waves. ‘That tells its own unique story.’
‘I’m sorry to disappoint you,’ she said a little tartly, then bit her lip.
He laid her down on the large sofa in the living room and flicked open the single button that held her jacket closed. ‘It’s not an accusation, Saffie.’ Again, his voice pulsed with a unique timbre that sent waves of bewildering need to her belly.
Before she could distance herself enough to decipher it, a knock came on the door. The butler answered it and in walked a bespectacled man, introduced as Dr Chang.
Joao rose, shook hands with him before proceeding to take command of the situation.
Quietly astonished, Saffie listened to him list everything she’d eaten and drunk in the past twenty-four hours. Only when the questions got personal did Dr Chang turn to her. ‘If you wish privacy, I can—’
She shook her head. ‘It’s okay, we can speak...’ She paused. Somehow, divulging that she and her boss were intimate didn’t emerge easily. She cleared her throat. ‘But as I told Jo—Mr Oliviera, I’m fine. I’m sure whatever this is will pass soon.’
‘Saffie.’ His tone was tense, wrapped with that surprising concern again. ‘Answer his questions, por favor.’
She realised she was fiddling with the hem of her jacket and immediately linked her fingers in her lap.
She concentrated on the doctor’s cool touch on her wrist as he took her pulse, counting back to answer the question about her last period.
Quick calculation done, she opened her mouth to relay it, then froze as a bolt of shock went through her.
