That ridiculous bike of yours is a bloody health hazard – when are you going to grow up and get a car?
Grow up, that was another firm favourite. The annoying thing was that the Heath I’d known when Iwasgrowing up hadn’t been a hypercritical tosspot. When I was a kid, he was my champion. He’d defended my quirky ways to my brother and my parents back then saying I was one of a kind, unique. He’d smile whenever he saw me like I brightened his day, like he enjoyed being around me.
It all seemed to change after he graduated from medical school. I didn’t see him much while he worked in London, but when he moved down here to Dorset a couple of years ago – following in the footsteps of his sister Verity and Max, who had moved their architecture firm here – his whole attitude towards me was different. Yes, to everyone else he was still the same posh, charming, smooth-talking Heath, but with me he was the complete opposite of what I remembered. He’d sooner scowl at me than smile. And my quirks, now that I was an adult, seemed to annoy him – these days he was even more critical of me than my parents were. And that was saying something.
It wouldn’t be so hurtful if I could just write him off as one of Max’s idiot friends and ignore him, but Heath’s opinion mattered to me. I’d spent most my teenage years fantasising about the time when Heath would stop seeing me as a little girl and finally realise thatIwas the woman for him. It was a desperate, almost physically painful yearning, an obsession. I didn’t care about celebrities or boy bands – I only wanted Heath. So, although I tried to relegate him to idiot status in my mind, it was difficult to shake that sense of longing, that admiration. Especially when in real life he was an actual hero. As an emergency department consultant Heath was saving lives every day. It was tricky to dismiss a person who was so widely admired for such solid reasons. That’s why his low opinion of me was so upsetting and maybe another reason to consider leaving the country for a while. Maybe Bodhi was right?
“I’m not being ridiculous,” I said through my teeth. “I want to go home. If you won’t take me, then I’ll phone Mia.” I started levering myself up off the seat so I could drop to the ground below (I was not looking forward to my feet making contact with the road again, but this was a desperate situation). Before even one of my toes could touch the tarmac, Heath lifted me up into his arms against his chest.
“What the hell are you–?”
“Shut up, Midge.” His voice was tight with anger. What did he have to be so cross about? Okay, so it was an inconvenience for him to come out and get me from the middle of nowhere, but he should have just told Max to bugger off if he hadn’t wanted to do it. “You are not putting your bloody feet on the ground again. Have you no sense of self-preservation? You’re a total liability.”
I pretty much always managed to hide my hurt feelings from Heath when he was dismissive or critical. My go-to reaction was more often than not a one-finger salute or a swift elbow into his rock-hard abs. But after being harassed by a bunch of druggie ne’er do wells followed by a good five-hour trek through a terrifyingly spooky forest, I found that I wasn’t able to muster the same response. My feet were aching, I hadn’t eaten in over sixteen hours, I was covered in dirt, I was pretty sure a bird had crapped in my hair, and I was so tired I felt like I was swimming through custard. Heath deposited me on the backseat, and I took in a stuttered breath as my nose started stinging. My humiliation was complete when I felt a single tear spill over my eyelashes onto my dirty cheek. Heath froze as his eyes shot to mine. His face went out of focus as more tears filled my vision.
“I just want to go home,” I said in a small voice. To my shock, one of his big hands came up to frame my jaw and his thumb swept away another tear as it fell. I blinked to clear my vision and his face swam into view. He looked almost like he was in pain as he watched me. It didn’t make any sense.
“Alright, Midge,” he said, his voice now so soft that I couldn’t quite believe he was the same man from a moment ago. “I’ll take you home.” He pulled the seatbelt out over me, leaning across to plug it in like I was still a child. His clean male scent laced with expensive aftershave filled my nostrils as his body reached across mine and I took in a sharp breath. When he pulled back, I glanced down at his previously pristine shirt, now streaked with dirt.
“Oh no,” I said in horror, my hand covering my mouth. “Your shirt.”
He opened his mouth, closed it again, and then let out a loud exhale. “I don’t care about the fucking shirt, Midge. I wear pyjamas all day anyway, remember?”
“But don’t you have that meeting with the Chief Exec this morning?” Perfect Penny put in helpfully from the back. “Isn’t that why you’re wearing a–”
“Right,” Heath said, shooting Penny a warning look and finally moving back from me so he could slam the door closed. “If you won’t come in, I’ll drop you at home now and we can sort the feet later.”
I didn’t question him at that stage. To be honest, I didn’t have the energy. Heath and Perfect Penny started talking in low voices to each other, no doubt about Very Important Things. I let my forehead rest on the window. My shivering subsided as warm air blasted from the console in the back. Exhaustion swamped me like an immense wave, and within a minute, I’d fallen asleep.
The next thing I knew, I was being jostled and then hit by a cooler blast of air. One large arm was under my knees, the other around my back, and as I was being lifted.
“W–what?” I muttered as that familiar scent filled my senses again and I felt my body press against crisp cotton over a muscular chest. I blinked my eyes open and focused on Heath’s tanned throat as he turned from the car and started striding towards my building with me in his arms. I glanced back at the Land Rover over Heath’s shoulder to see Perfect Penny still sitting in the front passenger seat. She was watching Heath carrying me with her head tipped to the side – her expression was not angry as you would expect, if anything she looked curious.
“I can walk,” I told Heath, wriggling as if to get down. He simply tightened his grip on me and held me more firmly against his chest.
“No, you cannot.” His jaw was clenched so tight now that there was a muscle ticking in his cheek. “Will you stop squirming? Keys?”
I gave up my struggle to get down and pulled my keys off the chain I kept around my neck. Heath dipped down so I could open the door and then shouldered it wide before walking into the corridor like he owned the place and to the staircase leading to my flat.
“Oh, hello ,dear,” Bryn’s voice came from his door. I glanced over to see him standing in his doorway, eyebrows raised in his wrinkled face as he watched Heath and me making our way up the stairs. “I say, young man! What do you think you’re doing with my Yaz?” He waved his stick after Heath. “Yazmin, are you okay?” His voice was a little panicked. Bryn worried about me as much as he relied on me.
“I’m fine, Bryn,” I called back to him. “Just hurt my feet. Heath’s going to dump me in my flat.”
“Dump you?” Bryn’s eyebrows were in his hairline now. He took a few wobbly steps into the corridor. “Now see here.I’lllook after Yaz, young man. I don’t want some fly-by-night gadabout taking advantage of her.”
“Gadabout?” Heath whispered, his voice trembling with amusement.
“Just humour him, please,” I whispered back. Bryn didn’t need to get excited with his heart condition. Heath turned halfway up the stairs, still holding me in his arms.
“I assure you, sir,” he said with grave sincerity. “I wouldn’t dream of engaging in any gadabout activities around Yazmin. I’m merely helping her to her accommodation. Then I shall take my leave. You have my assurance that I am a complete gentleman.”
Bryn huffed, and his eyes narrowed on Heath. “I could’ve carried her up,” he called out. Then he wobbled slightly and clutched his stick harder, which rather went against that statement but Heath, to his credit, gave him a sombre nod of agreement, not letting out the laugh I knew he was holding in. “Fine, fine, on you go.” Bryn waved his stick at us again, causing another slight stumble, then started back to his flat at his slow pace. Heath then jogged up the remaining stairs.
“You can put me down now,” I told him in a strained voice when we reached my door. Being held against his chest in my weakened state was all a little too much. I was worried that I’d either burst into tears again or, worse, snuggle into his already ruined shirt. He lowered me to the floor and, without looking back at him, I made quick work of the lock and pushed my way painfully inside. Before Heath could follow me in, which I could see he had every intention of doing, I turned back and pulled the door to, with only space enough for my face to peer out.
His hand was resting on the wood, but he didn’t push it open.
“Thanks,” I muttered. More words seemed beyond me at that stage. He scanned my dishevelled appearance from the top of my bird’s nest hair to my bare feet again and frowned.
