Page 72 of Booked for Summer

‘Then what’s wrong? Areyouin trouble?’

‘Sort of.’ Lauren’s voice was a whisper, like she was trying not to be overheard. ‘I need some advice, sis. I did something really stupid last night and I’m freaking out right now. I don’t know how to handle it.’

Jade shook herself awake. Lauren had come to her for advice. This was not the time for her brain to still be in sleep mode. ‘Whatever you did, we can work it through together.’

‘I slept with one of the guys I work with.’

Her heart, in overdrive since the start of the call, began to slow. ‘You woke me at seven in the morning to tell me you had a one-night stand?’

‘I forgot what time it was for you, okay? It’s my lunch hour and it’s the first chance I’ve had to phone you. One-night stands might not be a big deal to you, but they are to me. I don’t do them.’ She groaned. ‘At least I didn’t, and I don’t know why I suddenly decided to so something so frigging stupid.’

It was hard to stay annoyed when Lauren sounded so distressed. She might wish she’d called for her help with something else, something lessfrigging stupid, but the fact was, her sister hadn’t phoned her mum, or her friends. She’d phoned her. ‘Sorry, that was me inI’ve just wokenGodzilla mode. I’m wide awake now. So, give me some details.’ An awful thought occurred to her. ‘Is this something you wanted to happen? I mean he didn’t force you?’

‘Quite the opposite,’ Lauren muttered. ‘We were at a party, I’d had maybe two glasses of wine, tops.’ She sighed. ‘He’s one of the nurses in A&E. I’ve seen him around, hard to miss him really because he’s tall and well built and, um…’

‘Handsome? Cute? Sexy?’

She let out a deep sigh. ‘All of those.’

‘Aw, Doctor Lauren Taylor, youlikethis guy?’

There was a long pause on the other end. ‘I don’t know,’ her sister said finally. ‘I mean I don’t know him well enough to know, do I? I spent a few hours talking to him at a party and then lost my mind and went back with him to his room. And yes, the party was in his house, which he’s still sharing with friends, because that’s how young Ned is.’ She groaned. ‘God, even his name sounds young. He’s nearer your age than mine.’

Jade smiled. ‘You mean he’s a whole three years younger than you?’

‘Fine, I know that sounds dumb, but I don’t do this. I’m… sensible. I date mature men, and I only sleep with them after I’ve got to know them, which takes at least five dates.’

Aware her sister was genuinely struggling, Jade reined in her annoyance at the implication that anyone who didn’t follow Lauren’s methodical dating process was, by her definition,notsensible. ‘We all act stupid when we meet someone we feel an overwhelming attraction towards. Even the intelligent among us,’ she added dryly, easing out of the bed and padding towards the kitchen.

‘I don’t,’ her sister protested.

‘You haven’t done in the past,’ Jade corrected, filling the kettle and popping it on the hob. ‘But only because you’ve never met a guy you feel such a connection with that he robs you of all your senses.’

Silence echoed on the other end, and for a moment Jade thought they might have lost the connection. ‘Is that what happened for you on that first night, with that man who turned out to be your boss?’

‘Yes,’ Jade admitted quietly.

‘What did you do when you saw him again?’

She laughed sadly. ‘I repeated the mistake. And then only a few days ago I repeated it again. But you’re a lot smarter than me, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.’

‘I’m not. I worked harder, but I’m not smarter. And when it comes to emotional intuition, I’m light years behind you.’ As Jade reeled from the shock of those words, Lauren continued to talk. ‘I judged you when it came to men, and when I heard you’d slept with someone on your first night out there, I was bitch enough to think you were cheapening yourself. But at least you slept with a rich resort owner, not a guy younger than you, who is supposed to look up to you. I mean, who is the cheap one now?—’

‘Stop it,’ Jade interrupted. ‘Is there a rule at work that you can’t fraternise with other staff?’

Lauren laughed hysterically. ‘Are you mad? The hours we work, the only people we ever meet are other staff.’

‘Then stop beating yourself up over this.’ She thought of Liam, of her own mistake and all the things she’d called herself afterwards when actually passion, love, attraction… sometimes the force was just too strong for rational thought. ‘Sleeping with a guy we fancy doesn’t make us cheap. It makes us human. Have you bumped into him since?’

‘No. I saw him briefly, from across the canteen. I didn’t know what to do, so I ran out.’

Her confident, strong sister reduced to a cowardly mess of emotions. Because of a man. ‘Were you repulsed when you saw him? Did you wonder what on earth you’d seen in him?’

‘I wish. My heart did some gymnastics that I know are anatomically impossible.’

Jade put a hand over her own heart and sighed. ‘Then welcome to Team Inconvenient Crush.’ TIC? Gah, she was terrible at this. ‘I can’t offer you advice, just warn you you’re in for a bumpy ride because this is not something you can brush under the carpet. You can try, but it’s not going to let you, because every time you see him, you’ll go giddy and lose your mind.’

‘So what, I can’t fight it? I have to give in to it?’

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