Commitment

Part 84

"And she is not going to do it!" Gray said firmly and looked at Regan, his eyes pinned her while he addressed Lucy's statement. "Regan knows her colleague signed her off for seven days. That means no working at the centre, or here!" Both Gray and Regan had lost their smiles. Gray said, "Drink your soup before it is cold."

Lucy chuckled watching the interaction between Regan and Gray eyes. "Good. Right." She looked over at Sam, "I have to leave. And I will leave it to you and Gray to sort out tomorrow's shift. Bye. " She blew a kiss at the general vicinity. "Good night Gray. Good night Sam. Bye Reg. Be good!"

"Sensible woman, your friend." Gray said and re-perched on Regan bed.

Regan looked at her ceiling.

"Anyone want tea? I will brew it up." Sam said and didn't wait for a response. He was gone.

Gray grinned. Regan shook her head.

Two days later, around mid day Regan knew she was over the worst when she realised she had not had any contractions for over twelve hours, was not as tired as before. Gray was there for the first morning, he said he would introduce Bob to Regan when she is better and in the meantime he showed Bob the ropes in the shed. The following day, Bob did the morning shift, and came back in the evening where he helped his granddad to do the evening shift. Lucy had stopped for lunch for two days, which was good, because by the time Lucy left for her next assignment, Regan was better and more able to argue her corner and was out of bed. By the fifth day she was sitting in her lounge rather than in bed and it felt good.

That evening, Gray came on his own, as his granddad had another date. So he did the evening shift and he brought dinner for the two of them.

Regan knew he had arrived, because she heard his car. But she was surprised when he popped his head around the door and said, "I brought some food. It is on the table. Can we eat together, after I sorted out the herd? Got a few things to talk about. Ok?"

"er. Things to talk about. About?"

"Regan, lots, mainly to do with Bob, the shifts times"

"Ok."

He stopped. "Everything ok?"

She nodded. "You better go help your granddad." She said.

"He is on a date." He came further into the lounge.

"Ok."

"Is that a problem?" Gray asked quietly.

Regan shook her head, "I just thought I could help you?"

Gray smiled. "Thanks for the offer." He came closer. "But you are still on sick leave, remember."

"I feel fine." She said feeling confidence with her health state, "I even did a walk to the stream this afternoon and it felt fine. Actually better than that. Just fresh air."

Gray frowned. "You really are stubborn, you know. What if something happened to you?"

"Nothing happened." She said with a grin, "I feel fine. No temperature. No spasms, nothing. I feel fine."

He came closer, shook his head, "You feel fine?"

"Yes."

"Good." He said with his lips against her temple. She tipped her head back to teasingly reprimand him.

But her words were never uttered. His lips found their target. His mouth slanted over hers. Automatically she gently slid one hand around his neck, and her fingers splayed across his shoulders, as she pulled him closer. Her neck arched as his kiss feathered over her lips. Tender, a whisper of contact and utterly shattering!

When he felt the last of his control about to desert him, he stopped kissing her, whispering, "I didn't mean to do that." Of course we wanted to kiss her. But he wanted her to be healthy not take advantage of her debilitation.

He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. She held his gaze.

"Can we talk about this after I finished the milking?"

She nodded, licked her lips and caught her lower lip between her teeth.

An hour later, Gray found Regan in the kitchen.

"Ah, I see you have started on dinner."

She seemed a touch worried. "er, yes, I thought I could start. Thanks for shopping."

He grinned with a faint hue of regret "I think we'd better talk. About that kiss."

"er. Do we have to?" She asked ruefully, and now she knew why people in love acted so foolishly, illogically, crazily at times. Her normal senses had absconded.

He chuckled. "Yes, we do." He came closer. "I am not going to apologise for that kiss. But I will apologise for the timing."

"The timing?"

"Yes." He slid an arm along her shoulder as if he had done it many times before and said, "You are not well."

She tried to extricate her from his embrace, "I am well..."

He chuckled "No." Turned her around. And facing her, he said, "You are still not well, Regan." He gently chucked her under the chin, then pinched her chin between his thumb and finger, "But when you are better," He moved his hand stroking her cheek reverently he said, "I will take you up on your offer."

"What offer?" She shifted, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"The one in your eyes." He said softly.

She gulped.

Seeing that reaction he promptly kissed her, just tiny peck on her lips, and pulled away before she could stop him. He recognised, what he considered her main failing: terribly stubborn covered in a cloak of reticence. A veritable, beautiful, kind, charming, wonderful chameleon, he thought. But now was not the right moment. She was still recovering, and taking advantage of her was not a good idea. Muttering a fervent curse he said, "Come on, in the meantime, let's eat, before I change my mind!"