His Irresistible Darling - Sarah Randall Page 0,81
leaned forward and brushed the hair from Pip’s shoulders and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek, careful of the severe bandage around her head. He moved his mouth near her ear. “Wake up please, baby. Come on,” he encouraged. “Wake up and tell me what an idiot I was to leave you alone.”
He closed his eyes and dropped his head to rest on her bed. Pippa being still and quiet wasn’t natural. Even in her sleep she really did mumble and chatter to herself…maybe not quite how he had teased her all those weeks ago, but she was still a chatterbox and he loved it…loved it, loved her.
He was in love with her.
He wanted to hold her in his arms. He remembered doing precisely that a few weeks ago. He’d been into the office one weekend when it was deserted, taking advantage of the peace and quiet and finishing up some work before giving in to his desire to see Pippa again and rushing home…
The absence of the usual deafening pulse of dance music in the apartment on his return was his first sign that something was amiss, closely followed by the fact that he could hear the dulcet tones of Nat King Cole singing “When I fall in love” coming from Pippa’s bedroom. He went to knock on her door to ask if she wanted a drink when he heard her sharp intake of breath and sobs. She was crying. He knocked on the door but opened it slowly, not waiting for an invitation. He found her curled up on her bed hugging her knees in tightly to her chest.
He had approached her slowly, not wanting to scare her if she hadn’t heard him knocking, but wondering what the hell had happened in the hour or so he’d left her alone. “Pippa, hey.”
She was clearly distraught about something and it scared him to death. He wasn’t used to worrying about others and the need to comfort her was alien, but it just wasn’t like her to be this upset.
“What is it? What’s the matter?” he asked, sitting down on the side of her bed and reaching out for her shoulder. She jumped slightly in response but didn’t ask him to remove it or scream at him to get out. He reached over and gently pulled her hair back over her shoulder and out of her face.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he tried again.
She sniffed and grabbed a handful of tissues from her side table before turning her body to face him and curling up into his chest. Jumal was surprised by her action and wasn’t initially sure what the hell to do with his arms. Eventually he acted on impulse and held her tightly to his chest and manoeuvred his body so that he was lying down with her body still curled into his like a child. He let her cry until she exhausted herself into a restless sleep. She mumbled a lot but he wasn’t able to make out anything specific.
He made the most of the opportunity and simply enjoyed holding her body close to his own without needing to rationalise it. Her riotous hair was spread over his chest and smelt of apples. After an hour or so she woke and eventually explained that it was the anniversary of her mother’s death and she’d apparently always loved Nat King Cole. Pip confessed that she had put on a front following her mother’s death. A front to Matt and the family housekeeper that she was still her bright and bubbly self when actually she was falling apart inside and falling behind in her university studies. His heart broke listening to her. He wanted to wrap her, this other side of her, in his arms and never let anything ever hurt her again…
He looked up to check the monitors again and decided that he hadn’t done such a great job keeping that promise. On a school report it would likely say: “Must do better.”
The nurse interrupted his thoughts. “Can I bring you a drink of tea or something, Mr Aldabbagh?”
“No thank you. I’m fine.” Although, until she woke up, he was anything but fine…
“Thank Allah.”
She recognised Jumal’s voice. He sounded upset…oh right, he’d been yelling at her for something… “You’re awake.” He puffed his cheeks and let out a long breath. “How do you feel? Does your head still hurt?” he asked, concerned and gently brushing her brow.
She lifted her hand and felt the bandage surrounding