“Whatever were you thinking?”
“Obviously nothing intelligent.” Rounding the bench to stand behind it, Cherry took several tissues and wiped the side of her face.
“Other things on your mind?”
“No.”
“Huh.”
“There’s no ‘huh’ about it.” Cherry noticed the file before Maxie. “What’s happening?”
“The new doctor is coming in to review Leo.”
“What’s he like?”
“Demented, angry, and non-cooperative.”
“Not Leo, you ninny. The new doctor.”
“Never met him before.” Maxie glanced up as Susie stopped by the desk. “You look pleased.”
“The new doctor.” Susie fanned her face. “What a dish. I could lick him right up.”
Cherry rolled her eyes.
“He’s coming down the corridor now.”
Busy trying to absorb some of the water from her shirt with the tissues, Cherry only glanced up briefly when Susie and Maxie both sighed dreamily, but the sight was enough to make her freeze.
The man standing and talking to another doctor had only his silhouette visible, but it was like time had gone rushing backwards and she was back in the motel, looking out the window. Slightly dishevelled black hair that came down to his collar, a hank of it hanging rakishly over his forehead. A straight, autocratic nose. He turned face-on and started to stride towards the nurses’ station, his gaze only briefly passing over the nurses standing and sitting there, and she saw bright green eyes and a mouth that was full enough to be sensuous without being feminine. A strong jaw line.
“Oh shit!” Heart thundering, she dropped to her hands and knees behind the desk.
Maxie gaped down at her.
Gesturing wildly to her to stay quiet, Cherry reached up with one hand, grabbed the file, shoved it into Maxie’s slack grip and flapped her hand at her in a desperate signal to stand up.
Eyes wide, but understanding that something was wrong, Maxie stood up and leaned over the desk, placing the file on the top of it so the new doctor could take it, read the notes and write his spiel in it without having to come around the desk.
Obviously cottoning on pretty quickly that something was going on, Susie waylaid the other doctor before he could move around behind the desk.
Biting her bottom lip, Cherry could barely control her trembling fingers. The new doctor was the same man with whom she’d had sex! The stranger who’d taken her virginity and shown her a hot time, and how amazing sex could be!
He was the new doctor!
Oh my God! How much worse could things get?
The pleasant tone of his voice was the same, and she could shut her eyes and almost imagine that voice sweeping through her senses, his warm breath on her nape, those skilled fingers trailing down her arm – shit, no wonder they were skilled fingers - he was a doctor.
A doctor who came to the private hospital in which she worked. She was so screwed. So royally, majorly screwed.
Wringing her hands, she listened as Maxie spoke to the doctor, and then she heard him introduce himself to Maxie.
Rick Reed. Not a Damien, never a Damien, but Rick Reed.
She listened as he gave a last few instructions before walking away. She knew exactly when the coast was clear because a concerned Maxie squatted down beside her. “Cherry?”
“What the hell was all that about?” Susie demanded, coming around the other side of the desk.
“That was him,” Cherry hissed.
“Him who?”
“Him. The not-Damien. That was him.”
“The not-Damien? What are you…” Susie’s eyes widened. “Him? The new GP? That was him?”
“Rick Reed was the man you had sex with?” Maxie’s mouth fell open. “Him?”
“Yes! Oh my God, what if he recognizes me?” Grabbing a fistful of Maxie’s shirt, Cherry yanked her forward. “What then?”
“Get up, you two.” Susie nudged her with the toe of her shoe. “The Nurse Manager is heading this way. We’ll sort this out later.”
They both scrambled to their feet.
Cherry had no idea how she managed to get through the rest of the shift without falling apart, but finally it was home time. She managed to make it out the door by herself, but Maxie and Susie caught up to her in the car park.
“Curtis’s Coffee Café.” Susie overrode Cherry’s protests. “We need sugar-laden food and drink to absorb all this.”
“Why do you need it?” Cherry asked. “I’m the one who bedded the good doctor.”
“Good point,” Maxie agreed. “But not good enough. Let’s go.”
Curtis’s Coffee Café was situated in the main mall and as usual it was busy. Popular for its cakes and creamy drinks, they were lucky to find a table near a window. The harried waitress came and took their orders.
Once she’d left, Susie looked across the table at Cherry. “So. Rick Reed, local GP.”
“Shit.”
“He’s a hunk, I’ll give you that. I had no idea.”
“You think I did? Susie, I thought he was Damien!”
“Who he wasn’t,” Maxie pointed out. “But at least you now know who you went to bed with, right?”
“Yet somehow that doesn’t make it any better.” Dropping her forehead into her hands, Cherry moaned. “How am I going to face him? What if he recognizes me?”
“He probably won’t,” Susie assured her. “You said you did the deed in dimness, remember? You had your hair down, make-up on, sexy dress. At work you wear your hair up, barely any make-up, and by no stretch of the imagination could our uniforms be considered sexy.”
“She’s right.” Maxie patted her hand. “He won’t have a clue who you are.”
“You think so?” Cherry peered sideways at her. “Really?”
“Absolutely. Nurses are a dime a dozen to doctors. We’re the plebs, slavishly following their orders and jumping to their demands. They don’t actually notice us.”
“True.” Susie nodded to the waitress as their orders were placed on the table. “Besides, he’s probably dating some hot sheila who is so rich she uses pearl-inlaid toothpicks.”
“That makes me the ‘other woman’.” Cherry took a half-hearted sip of the chocolate cream drink.
“Or he’s looking for a hot woman.” Maxie nudged her. “Could be you, you know.”
Horrified, Cherry stared at her. “I can’t tell him who I am!”
“Well, I don’t know why not.”
“Because I had sex with him!” When the elderly couple at a nearby table looked askance at her, Cherry blushed and lowered her voice. “He didn’t know who I was, and I – you know.”
“To be fair, he didn’t know who you were, either.” Maxie took a bite of cake.
“What does that make both of us, then?”
“A perfect match.”
Susie drawled, “You’re making it worse, Max.”
“Just trying to point out a bright lining in this apparently dark cloud.”
Disregarding her, Susie looked at Cherry. “Look, it happened. Chances are good he won’t have a clue who you are and never will. Neither Max nor I will talk about this to anyone. Calm down, have your sugar load, and put this behind you as an interesting experience. Let it go.”
“How can you be so calm about it?”
“Because you’re blowing it out of proportion.”
A little hurt, Cherry stared at her.
Reaching across the table, Susie patted her hand. “Sorry, darling, but it had to be said. Trust me, this isn’t anything major. You’re getting yourself upset over something that won’t happen. Relax, settle down. We’re in a great café, eating great food and sipping great drinks. You had an awesome sexual experience, you found out who the man was, he has no idea who you are, and you hold all the cards. It’s in your power whether to inform him or not. You hold the power, Cherry, not him. Now stop worrying and start enjoying yourself.”
“Sometimes, Susie
, I worry about you,” Maxie said. “You sound like a man at times.”
“I have five brothers, I know how they think. Men are simple creatures with simple needs.” Susie licked cream off her spoon. “Cherry, have I ever been wrong before when it comes to men?”
“Well…no.”
“And I’m not wrong now. So are you going to eat that cake or sniffle into your plate?”
Some of the weight had left her shoulders and she smiled. “The cake is mine.”
“Good. Eat up.”
“Maybe she had a sex change sometime in the past,” Maxie mused. “Maybe Susie is really Sam.”
Susie flipped her the bird.
“Definitely Sam in a former life.”
Listening to her friends ribbing each other, Cherry finally started to relax. It would be all right, she was over reacting. Rick Reed wouldn’t know her in the light of day, and even if he recognized her, no way was he going to acknowledge it. It was an encounter he’d probably forgotten by now. Besides, he hadn’t had a problem with having sex with an unknown woman, he probably did it so often he wouldn’t have a clue with whom he’d gone out.
Yes, she was worrying for nothing.
~*~
Coming into work the next afternoon, Cherry checked the allocation and found that she was on the medical ward. Susie had been working the morning shift on the surgical ward, and Maxie had the day off.
Readjusting the hairgrip holding her hair confined at the back of her head, she headed into the handover room and greeted her fellow nurses.
Taking the handover sheet, she chatted to the nurses until the handover tape was started, and then settled down, pen in hand, to jot down notes.
She almost froze when the name Damien MacAvoy was read out. It wasn’t the first name that jolted her, it was the rest of the information.
“Damien MacAvoy,” said the nurse’s voice on the tape. “Twenty five years old, came in on the twelfth. MVA. Under Dr Reed. Bruising and some cuts which have been dressed. He’s doing well, everything NAD. For review tonight and possible discharge in the morning.”
There was no freaking way it could be the same man! No way. No male prostitute would use his real name. Surely not. It had to be a coincidence, there was nothing more for it. A huge coincidence.
Her palms were almost sweaty, and then she realized something. If it was the same Damien, he had not a clue who she was or what she looked like, or even her real name. She was safe.
She was even safer when she found out she wasn’t being allocated to be his nurse, and with a sigh of relief she pocketed her handover sheet and pen and left the handover room.
There was no way she couldn’t see him during the afternoon, though. Beth, the nurse allocated to him, was caught up with another patient, so when Damien’s call bell rang Cherry answered it.
Damien was cute, no doubt about it. And young, so very bloody young in comparison to her. Ten years younger, in fact. Inwardly, Cherry cringed. Thank goodness she hadn’t met him that night, she’d have felt like a cradle snatcher.
He obviously knew he was good looking and he was a natural charmer. Cherry didn’t fall for any of it, remaining friendly but professional, keeping her distance and more than happy to let Beth have him all to herself.
Around the time Dr Reed was due to appear and do a review on Damien, Cherry made sure she was in the dining room having her dinner. Call her a coward, she didn’t care. In her opinion it was a very wise move. There was no sense in running a risk if there was a way out of it.
Coming back onto the ward, Beth took her chance to go to dinner, leaving the ward under the eyes of Cherry and another nurse.
And that was when Dr Rick Reed walked up to the nurses’ station and asked who was looking after Damien MacAvoy.
Cherry nearly fell down on the spot, and only her sense of self-preservation enable her to croak, “His nurse is at tea.”
“Fine. I’m running late. Come with me.” He glanced up at her, looked back down at the file, and then with a frown looked back up at her. “Do I know you?”
Why no, Dr, we’ve only had sex, that’s all. “Uh – no. No.” Hastily she picked up several files and turned away to the cupboard to place them on the shelf, all the while her heart pounding in her chest and feeling almost faint. He couldn’t recognize her, he couldn’t!
“Okay.” He sounded a little puzzled but walked around the desk with the file in hand. “How is Damien?”
“Fine.” She trotted behind him, almost swearing when he courteously slowed down, which meant he could look sideways at her if he wanted. Thank God for the bright hall lights, no shadows. “He’s only had paracetamol this shift for some aches, his observations are stable, and he’s doing fine.”
“Good.” He stopped in front of the room and gestured. “After you.”
He just had to be a bloody gentleman, too. Cherry entered ahead of him, wondering if he was seeing the roll of her ample bottom beneath her shirt. Telling herself not to think about it, she plucked the treatment file from the holder on the wall and handed it to him, moving back a little so that she was just out of sight.
“Evening, Damien,” he said to the younger man reclining in the bed. “Sorry I’m late.”
“Hot date?” Damien chuckled and laid the magazine aside.
“I wish. Work.”
“Work was what put me here.” Damien winked.
Cherry wanted desperately to be anywhere but in that room.
“So I understand.” Rick looked over the observation chart and checked the medication chart before handing it back to Cherry. “You’re good to go in the morning, Damien. You were very lucky to escape serious injury. Keep taking the pain medication as needed, and see me at the clinic in a week, okay? Any problems, see me sooner.”
“No worries.” The magazine slipped off the bed when he shifted, and he tried to reach down for it, wincing as he did so.
Cursing all men under her breath, Cherry quickly rounded the bed and knelt down. “I’ll get it.” She saw that it was partway under the bed and reached for it.
Damien was moving around, and his covers flicked out and caught on her hairgrip, pulling it askew.
Without thought she straightened, placed the magazine on the bedside table, reached up and released the hairgrip. Her hair tumbled around her shoulders, and she was in the act of gathering it up in one hand when she felt someone looking at her. Glancing up, she saw Rick watching her with an odd expression on his face. A slight frown, a hint of recognition as he scanned her features with a bright, green gaze.
Shit shit shit! Hastily she yanked her hair up and re-clamped the hairgrip, pulling the soft strands severely back from her face.
“Guess I’ll go back to work soon.” Damien laughed. “Time is money. I was on my way to a date, you know,” he added, transferring his gaze to Cherry. “Molly Jones. Have you heard of her?”
So much for confidentiality, Damien. Involuntarily Cherry looked at Rick, only to find the doctor’s gaze intently studying her. She blushed. “Um, no, I don’t know her.”
“That night cost me four hundred dollars.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” Damien shrugged. “Ah well. Plenty more where she came from.”
“I’m sure there is,” Cherry said tartly, a little stung by his cavalier attitude. “The phone must run hot.”
“Molly Jones,” Rick said slowly.
Cherry’s gaze flew up to his and she could feel the blood leave her cheeks. For an awful second she thought he recognized her, knew who she was, and she was surely going to faint, but she wasn’t the fainting kind and thank God he still had a faintly puzzled look on his handsome face.
“Anyway, if I’m going home in the morning I need to catch up on some sleep. Haven’t had much lately with all the pain.” Damien smiled at Cherry. “Turn the main light off on your way out, will you, sweetie?”
“Of course.”
Rick bid Damien goodnight and moved out ahead of Cherry. Thankful the ordeal was ov
er, she flicked the main light off on her way out the room, only to find him waiting in the corridor. As he turned to face her, some idiot turned the passage lights off. The only thing lighting the corridor now was the dim light in the room behind her.
Total recognition flashed across Rick’s face.
Cherry quaked and took off in a very fast walk that was almost a run.
Beth came around the corner and snapped on the lights as she did so. “Sorry, Cherry. Leo got up and was wandering around, turning off all the lights. Oh, Dr Reed, good timing. Your other patient, Mitch, in room thirty four. He’s complaining of abdominal pain and I was hoping you could see him while you’re here.”
The doctor had no choice but to comply. Thank God for professionalism. Cherry continued on to the treatment room and leaned against the wall, her eyes closed and her breathing a little ragged.
Her nightmare had come true. Rick Reed had recognized her! Damn Damien for making her hair grip come out, and damn Damien for wanting the light off, and damn Leo for turning the corridor lights off. The dimness combined with her hair having fallen down – of all the dumb, rotten luck. She felt like crying. Rubbing her eyes with trembling hands, she moaned.
“Cherry?” Dropping her hands, she found the afternoon coordinator looking at her in concern. “You don’t look so good. Do you feel sick?”
“I – yes. My head pounds, and I feel really sick.” Really, really sick. She wanted to go home before Rick came back out into the ward and to the nurses’ station. Grabbing the opportunity with both hands, she added, “I think I’m coming down with something.”
“I think you should go home.” The coordinator glanced at the watch pinned to her shirt. “It’s knock-off in another hour. We’ll hold the fort until the nightshift comes on. Get your things.” She’d obviously thought of something. “Dr Reed is here looking at some patients. We could get him to have a look at you while he’s here—”
“No!” Hell no! “No, honestly, I’ll be okay. I just need to go home to bed.”
“Well, if you’re sure.” The coordinator stepped back. “Will you be okay to drive?”
“Fine. Honestly.” Straightening up from the wall she was leaning against, Cherry left the treatment room and walked to the nurses’ station.
Doctor's Delight Page 6
