It was easy enough to reconnect with the anger at being unfairly treated that was still simmering. Anger that had only received some new fuel by the demonstration of how Summer could blow hot and cold with no obvious encouragement.
He’d already been cool on greeting her. Hadn’t said a thing, in fact. He’d just tilted his head with a raised eyebrow in response to her request and excused himself to Mandy before leading the way to his office. He’d seen the surprise in Mandy’s expression that he was taking Summer somewhere private to talk. He was a bit surprised himself because there was no reason not to have a professional discussion in front of others and he suspected Summer had come in to follow up on that serious chest injury she’d brought in earlier today.
Except that she looked different. Nervous, almost?
Nah…that seemed unlikely.
Easier to focus on what she was wearing. Leather pants and a tight little jacket.
‘You ride a bike?’
‘Yeah…It’s a requirement for employment on the choppers that you can get to base fast. Even a traffic snarl on the bridge is negotiable with a bike.’
‘I know. I ride one myself. A Ducati.’
The quick smile was appreciative. ‘Me, too. Can’t beat a Ducati.’
‘No.’ His tone was cool again. Zac wasn’t ready for another compass shift between hot and cold. It was too confusing.
Her smile faded instantly. She looked away. ‘I won’t take up too much of your time,’ she said. ‘I just came in to…to apologise, I guess…’
Whoa…this was unexpected. And welcome? Was she going to apologise for making him feel so unwelcome on shift yesterday?
She certainly looked uncomfortable. Zac perched on the corner of his desk but Summer ignored the available chair. She walked over to the bookshelf and looked as if she was trying to read the dates on the thin spines of the entire shelf of Emergency Medicine Journals.
‘What happened last night was extremely unprofessional.’ Her voice was tight. ‘I just wanted to reassure you that it would never happen again.’
She was talking about the kiss rather than her treatment of him as a team member but this was a good start.
Better than good. So why did he have that dull, heavy sensation in his gut that felt remarkably like disappointment?
‘And?’
Her head turned swiftly. Her jaw dropped a little. ‘And…and I hope you won’t let it influence you working on HEMS. Everybody’s saying that we’re very lucky to have you.’
‘Everybody except you.’
Good grief…why couldn’t he just accept her apology gracefully? They could shake hands and agree to make a fresh start in their new working relationship, which could solve the issue in the long run.
Because it would be shoving the issue under the carpet, that was why. Yes, they could probably find a way of working together but he’d never know why he’d made such a bad first impression.
Summer had bright spots of colour on her cheeks and her eyes were wide and uncertain. Almost … fearful? What the hell was going on here?
Zac stood up. He knew it was a bad idea the moment he did it because he was now towering over Summer. Intimidating her. To give her credit, however, he could see the way she straightened. Tilted her chin so that she could meet his gaze without flinching.
‘What is it you don’t like about me so much, Summer? You don’t even know me.’
‘I know of you.’ There was a sharp note in her voice. A note that said she was less than impressed with what she knew. Disgusted, even?
Zac’s breath came out in a huff of disbelief. ‘You amaze me,’ he said slowly. ‘And I don’t mean that as a compliment.’
Anger flashed across her features. ‘I grew up in Hamilton,’ she snapped. ‘I had a road job there as an intensive care paramedic. One of my oldest friends worked as a nurse in the emergency department. Kate, her name is. Kate Jones.’
‘How nice for you.’ Zac shook his head. ‘I have no idea where this is going. Or who Kate Jones is. Or what relevance Hamilton has.’
‘Kate has a younger sister who’s also a nurse. Shelley Jones. Shelley used to work right here, in Auckland General’s emergency department.’
Zac knew he was glaring at her. His eyes were still narrowed as something clicked into place.
‘I remember her.’ He could feel his mouth twisting into the kind of shape that came when you tasted something very unpleasant. ‘She was a bit of a nuisance, in fact.’
‘I’ll bet she was.’ Ice dripped from Summer’s clipped words. ‘I hope you don’t have that kind of nuisance in your life too often.’
‘What are you talking about?’
Her tone was sarcastic now. ‘I guess getting girls pregnant could be seen as a bit of a nuisance.’
‘What?’ Time seemed to stop. Alarms sounded. He’d heard of men having their lives destroyed by false accusations of something like sexual abuse. His word against hers and the guy was always guilty until proved innocent. Sometimes it didn’t make that much difference when the truth finally came out. Mud always stuck.
But … pregnancy?
‘I never even went out with Shelley.’ The words came out slowly. Cloaked in utter disbelief. ‘The nuisance was that she had a fairly obvious crush on me. Kept bringing in gifts, like cakes or flowers. Leaving notes on my locker. Turning up in my street, even.’ His anger was surfacing. ‘If a guy did that to a girl, he’d be had up for stalking. She was a head case but everybody thought it was a joke.’ He pushed stiff fingers through his hair. ‘She was pregnant? She told people that I was the father?’
Shock like this couldn’t be feigned.
Summer’s mouth had gone completely dry. No wonder she’d been having so much trouble fighting her instincts. Zac was telling the truth.
‘Only me and Kate.’ She tried to swallow. Tried—and failed—to meet his gaze. ‘It was when we had to go and see her when she got admitted to psyche after a suicide attempt.’
And she hadn’t thought to query how stable Shelley was at that point? To even wonder if her story was accurate?
‘Oh, this just gets better and better,’ Zac snapped. ‘Don’t tell me—I was somehow responsible for this as well?’
He might as well know the worst. Would she want to, if she was in his position?
It was hard to get the words out, though. She really, really didn’t want to make this any worse for him. She was only the messenger but a part of her knew she deserved to be shot. She’d treated him unfairly. Appallingly unfairly.
‘She…um…told us you’d tried to push her down a flight of stairs. After…um…she’d told you about the baby.’
‘And where was I when this was going on?’
‘I think you’d left for London the day before.’
‘How convenient.’ Zac was pacing. Two steps in one direction and then an about-face for two steps back as if he felt the desperate need to go somewhere. Anywhere but here. He shoved his fingers through his hair, making the dark waves stand up in a tousled mess.
Then he stopped still and turned slowly to stare at Summer.
‘And you believed her?’
She’d never felt so small. Strangely, he didn’t look angry at the moment, although that would undoubtedly resurface. She could see disbelief. Deep disappointment. Anguish, even…
‘As you said…I didn’t know you. I’d never met you. All I knew was your name.’
‘You met me yesterday.’ Yes. There was anger there as well and the words were accusing. ‘And you still believed it.’
Summer bit her bottom lip. Would it help to tell him how she’d had doubts from the first instant she’d set eyes on him? How she’d had to fight the feeling of being drawn closer? Of a connection that would have been exciting in any other circumstances? Of a confusion that had ultimately ended in wanting that kiss?
No. She had no excuses. For any of it. She closed her eyes.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘So am I.’
T
here was silence for a long moment. A heavy—where do we go from here?—kind of silence that she had no idea how to breach.
And then Zac sighed. He perched himself on the corner of his desk again. Summer risked a glance but he was staring at the floor.
‘I guess it’s better that I know about it,’ he said finally. ‘At least I’ll be prepared for when she turns up in the department again.’
‘She gave up nursing. She’s had a struggle with her…um…mental health issues.’
Zac snorted.
‘I haven’t seen her since she was admitted that time. I don’t even see Kate much since I left Hamilton. Nobody else needs to know about this, Zac. I’m sorry I knew. Or thought I knew. I wish she’d never mentioned your name.’
‘I’m sure you’re not the only person she’s “mentioned” it to. It’s probably on some record somewhere. Like a birth certificate? Oh, my God…’ It was clearly sinking home even deeper. ‘She did have the baby?’
Summer nodded. Her cheeks were burning. ‘She told us she was going to have a termination but she didn’t. She went down south to stay with friends and apparently came back with the baby to land on her parents’ doorstep, asking for help. It was a boy. Felix. He’d be about two and a half now.’
‘So I’m probably on some social security list, somewhere. As a father who’s failed to provide child support.’
Summer couldn’t answer that.
‘I hope I am,’ Zac said surprisingly. ‘A quick DNA test will sort that out.’ His huff was incredulous. ‘I never even kissed her.’
He caught her gaze with those words. She completely believed that he’d never kissed Shelley.
But he had kissed her. And, for a heartbeat, that was all Summer could think of. That jolt of sensation that had been like some kind of electrical shock.
‘It wasn’t an immaculate conception,’ Zac said dryly. ‘It was an entirely imaginary one. Why, in God’s name, would anybody do something like that?’
‘I don’t know,’ Summer whispered.
Except—maybe—deep down, she did know. Zac Mitchell was the embodiment of a fantasy boyfriend. The ultimate husband and father for your baby. Something to dream about that was never likely to happen for real.
If you were desperate enough and maybe sick enough then, yes…she could imagine how somebody would do something like that.
But to make it so completely believable? That was what she really couldn’t understand. Her instincts hadn’t warned her about anything remotely off, that night. She’d still believed it after talking to Kate last night. Until she’d heard and seen the irrefutable truth in Zac’s voice and body language.
‘I’ll tell Kate,’ she offered. ‘She can confront Shelley and get the truth out of her. She owes you one hell of an apology. We all owe you that.’
But Zac shook his head. ‘I’d rather not rake it up any further. Not unless I have to. I’d rather move on and do what I came back here to do. Focus on my career and combine my ED work with as much time as possible in HEMS.’
‘But you’d rather work with another shift?’ Summer was trying to find what it was on the floor that had caught Zac’s attention earlier. ‘I could talk to Graham.’
‘He said there weren’t any other slots available.’
‘I’m sure something could be juggled. A team has to be tight. It just doesn’t work if there’s a…a personality clash or something.’
Another silence fell. Summer finally had to look up and meet Zac’s gaze. An unreadable gaze but the intensity was unmistakable.
‘But we don’t, do we?’
‘Don’t what?’
‘Have a personality clash.’
She couldn’t look away. She was being sucked in again. Like the way she had been when she’d been sitting beside him on the paddleboard last night. In that moment before she’d kissed him.
‘No…
‘So why don’t we just try and make a fresh start and see how it goes?’
Hope was something wonderful. A close cousin of both relief and excitement.
‘You’d be okay with that?’
‘If you are.’
It felt like the first time she was smiling at Zac. The first time it was a truly genuine smile, anyway.
Nothing else needed to be said because Zac smiled back.
The moment seemed to hang in time. And then it became just a little bit awkward. As though more was being communicated than either of them were ready for.
Zac cleared his throat. ‘Do you want to hear about the surgery on that tension pneumothorax guy you brought in?’
‘Oh…Summer’s nod was probably a shade too enthusiastic. ‘Yes, please…’
‘Come with me. I’ll show you the scans first. Man, that chest was a mess. I’m impressed that you got him here alive.’
Summer followed Zac out of his office. Their fresh start seemed to be happening now.
How good was that?
CHAPTER FOUR
ZAC’U BIKE WAS BIG, black and sleek.
It made Summer’s smaller red model look feminine but the assumption would be deceptive. Only a certain kind of woman rode a machine like that.
Confident, feisty kind of women. And when they were wrapped up in a small package that could easily be seen as ‘cute’, it was a very intriguing mix. She must have arrived for work only seconds before he’d pulled into the rescue helicopter’s base because she was standing beside her bike, pulling off her helmet. A glove came off next and the flattened spikes of her hair were fluffed up with a quick, spread finger comb-through—the feminine gesture at odds with the stance. With her feet apart and her helmet cradled under one arm making it look as if she had the hand on her hip, Summer Pearson looked ready to take on the world.
And she was watching him as he killed his engine and got off his own bike. Her gaze was…cautious?
Of course it was. This was the first time they were on base together after that extraordinary conversation in his office. And, yes, they’d agreed to make a fresh start and see how it went but how was that going to work, exactly? He’d had time to try and think it through but, if anything, he was finding it all increasingly disturbing.
Part of Zac—the angry part—wanted nothing more than to seek Shelley out and demand a retraction of accusations that were unbelievably malicious, but the voice of reason was warning him not to do anything without thinking it through very carefully. Yes, he could prove the child wasn’t his but there were those appalling accusations of violence against a woman and that would be her word against his.
The people who knew him would never believe it but he didn’t even want them to have to think about it. Imagine how upset his grandmother would be. It was something they never talked about these days—the way he’d seen his mother treated by the man who’d come into their lives when he’d been old enough to start remembering. Old enough to think that it was his fault and he needed to do something to defuse the tension that always ended with his mum bruised and crying.
Summer was taking his word for his innocence in regard to what she’d thought she knew about him. That was disturbing, too. Zac felt as though he still needed to prove himself in some way and he should never have had to feel like that.
There was a smudge of resentment in his mood and it was unfamiliar and unwelcome.
So maybe his gaze was just as cautious but they’d agreed to try a fresh start and Zac always kept his end of a bargain.
‘Is that a Monster?’
‘Yeah. A six five nine.’ There was a definite note of relief in Summer’s voice at the choice of an impersonal topic of conversation. A softening of her body language as she turned to look at his bike. ‘About half the cc rating of yours, I expect.’
‘Bet you’d still keep up. Maybe we should go for a ride one day.’ The invitation was deliberately casual. A little forced, even? They were both trying to create a new base for a working relationship but the ice was potentially a little thin and they were both treading carefully.
‘Sure. I like stretching out on the open road when I get a chance.’
They walked side by side into the building and Zac could feel some of the tension ease. Maybe it was more important than he cared to admit that he could prove himself to Summer. That it wasn’t just his word she needed to trust but that she would get to know him well enough to understand just how impossible it would be for him to act in the way she’d believed he had acted. If he could convince someone who had believed the worst, he wouldn’t need to fear any repercussions if the story became public.
Thinking about a place they could head to on a bike ride—like a beautiful beach, maybe—was premature, however. It was quite possible that Summer was just being polite, the way she was making it about the ride rather than his company. She’d had time to think things through in the last couple of days, too. Time to talk to her friend Kate again, perhaps. She might have changed her mind about taking his word for his innocence but was giving him the benefit of some doubt in the meantime. It wasn’t just that she needed to trust him—he needed to trust her, as well. And right now his trust in women was justifiably fragile.
It certainly wouldn’t be helpful to mention a beach. To remind her of what had happened the last time they’d been sitting on a beach together. That had been even more premature. Unbelievably so, in fact. Zac still couldn’t understand quite how that kiss had happened. Something else they needed to put behind them so they could move on with a more professional relationship? As far as building a base for their new working relationship, this was a minefield. Casual conversation was called for. The kind any new colleagues might have.
‘You got four wheels as well as two?’
‘No.’ Summer gave him a quizzical glance. ‘Why would I?’
‘Doesn’t it make things tricky when you want to take your dog somewhere with you?’
‘We run.’
‘Everywhere?’
Summer popped the studs on her jacket and started peeling it off. ‘Everywhere we need to go, usually. If I have to take Flint to the vet or something, I’ll get a friend to give us a ride. If I’m not at work or at home, we’re generally at the beach. He gets a run there every day.’
Daredevil, Doctor...Husband? Page 5
