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She had. Without thinking, and entirely by instinct, her lips had formed the shape of a kiss when she’d jolted against him. When he’d started walking again the kiss had been planted on his neck.
He hadn’t felt it. He couldn’t have. One quiet murmur of approbation told her that he had.
By the time they got to the farmhouse her cheeks were flaming. He leaned over the row of sandbags, protecting the small flower garden in front of the house, and let her down on the other side.
Maybe his hand was just travelling in that direction, in a movement of uncharacteristic awkwardness. But his fingers brushed against her cheek and Mimi looked up into his face.
The cocky grin she’d expected wasn’t there. Instead, a look of silent pain and uncertainty. Had she been so caught up in her own feelings of rejection that she’d missed his unspoken feelings?
‘Rafe, I’m...I’m sorry.’
‘What for?’ He glanced round at the farmhouse behind her. They had a job to do and right now the people inside were probably watching them.
‘Whatever it is, it’s all right.’ He straightened up. ‘You’re standing in a puddle.’
‘Oh. Thanks.’ Mimi stepped to one side quickly.
‘Got your phone?’
‘Uh?’ She felt automatically in the pocket of her trousers. ‘Yes.’
‘I’ll go back to the car and get the bag. Have a quick look at the patient and call me if there’s anything else I need to bring over.’
‘Okay. Will do.’ Mimi turned and saw that a woman was opening the front door of the farmhouse, smiling at her. She smiled in return, walking towards her without looking back at Rafe.
* * *
Mimi had wanted to keep going, but when she’d received a call from the ambulance controller saying they were no longer needed tonight Rafe had stopped her from arguing.
‘She said they were managing, right? We need to pace ourselves; we both have another week’s work ahead of us. Isn’t there something you need to do?’ Rafe couldn’t think of a single thing that he wanted to do more than spend time with Mimi. Certainly not a meal, eaten alone, and a bed at the hospital. But he supposed that she might have a greater range of options.
‘Not really...’ She turned away from him and got into the car. As she did so her phone rang.
‘Charlie?’ Something seemed to be going on because she frowned. ‘Yeah, okay; that’s fine. I’ll do it. Text me the address, will you?’
She turned to Rafe. ‘I don’t suppose you could give me a lift to the hospital, could you? I need to pick up my car.’
‘Yes, of course. What’s up?’ Rafe had been planning on going back to the hospital. Last night had been an exception.
‘Couple of friends of Charlie’s. Their house is in an area that’s prone to flooding and he told them to come and stay with him if they needed to.’
‘And they need to?’
‘Yes. He’s getting a room ready for them, and he wanted to know if I could go over there and pick them up. My car’s got a much bigger boot than his.’
‘They’ll be bringing as much as they can with them, I imagine.’
‘Yes.’ She was squeezing her fingers together in what seemed like an agony of indecision. Rafe wondered whether she was also wiggling her toes.
‘My SUV can fit a fair amount in. We could fetch your car, dump the medical gear back at yours and go together.’
‘Would you? I...didn’t want to ask... But if the house is flooded...’
Rafe started the engine. ‘That’s what we’ll do then.’
* * *
Mimi could barely see his SUV in front of her on the road, it was raining so hard. It had taken almost an hour to get here, but she’d called Janet and Matthew to let them know that they were on their way. When Rafe pulled up outside the house, the door opened and Matthew ran out and knocked on the window of her car.
