by Anne Fraser
Surprise rocked through her. So that was why he seemed to belong so well. But she wasn’t going to let him fox her with sidetracking. She studied his face, tight with tension. ‘So you’d always planned to work up here?’
He met her gaze for a moment and then it slid away. ‘Not exactly.’ He took a long drink from the cold glass, his Adam’s apple moving rhythmically against his strong neck.
She held onto coherent thought by a thread and took a sip of her drink.
His long fingers tracked across the circle of condensation on the table, the lines of moisture converging into a wide puddle. ‘I’d survived a gruelling selection process and had accepted a position at Central Brisbane Hospital and was about to commence dermatology.’
Mineral water spurted into her nose and she immediately started to cough. She couldn’t imagine Flynn working in one of the least exciting branches of medicine, and working regular hours inside a large hospital. ‘Dermatology?’
He shot her an accusatory look. ‘What?’
She wiped her mouth with a tissue. ‘It’s just that I can’t picture you in that role. I’m not sure dermatology would really have suited you.’
He stared at her for a moment, his expression almost contemplative before it hardened. ‘Yeah, well, it didn’t work out. Turns out I was just the understudy in my own life when I thought I had the lead role.’
‘Pardon?’ She had no idea what he meant but her gut clenched at the antagonism in his voice.
His mouth firmed into a grim line and he spat out the words, precise and harsh. ‘My fiancée—the one that was so keen for me to do family-friendly dermatology—stood me up at our wedding in front of three hundred friends and peers. She eloped with my best man.’
His pain speared her. No wonder he didn’t want to go to the wedding. ‘Oh, that totally sucks. And you had no idea?’ She caught his searing look. ‘I’m sorry, stupid question. Of course you wouldn’t have.’ She thought of Steven, who had bailed on her but in less public circumstances, and for the first time in a year was able to think slightly more kindly toward him.
He folded his arms across his chest. ‘Even in hindsight I didn’t have a clue.’
‘We only see what we want to.’ She wanted to take some of his pain away but her words sounded hollow.
His jaw tightened. ‘Well, in that case, I guess I wanted to believe that neither Brooke, who professed to love me, nor my best mate, who was like a brother to me, would rip my heart out. I got that wrong.’ He slammed his fist into the palm of his hand, making a slapping sound.
She touched his arm. ‘Those are reasonable expectations, Flynn. Trust is part of love. Love can’t happen without it.’
He picked up his drink and her arm fell away. ‘Yeah, well, I’m not up for that much these days.’
Her heart ached for him and unexpected anger against his fiancée and friend simmered inside her. ‘So Brooke and…’
‘Dan.’ He ran his hand through his hair. ‘Yes, I believe they’re still together living in our house.’ He flicked her a look. ‘We don’t exchange Christmas cards.’
‘They’re living in your house!’ Her indignation flooded over the words.
A bitter smile tugged at his lips. ‘Oh, it’s a good story. It’s got all the elements—heart-warming friendship, money, lust and betrayal. It would make a good telemovie.’
His biting humour lanced her and she bit her lip. ‘I’d offer you a drink but…’
This time his smile was wry and warm. ‘Yeah, but the clinic’s a dry zone.’ He leaned back on his chair, a resigned look on his face. ‘Dan and I had been mates since high school. We pretty much did everything together, even medicine. We shared digs at uni and then when we graduated and were sick of paying rent, we bought an old terrace house in inner Brisbane, complete with a rusting wrought-iron lace veranda. It was tumbling down around us.’
She caught a hint of a happy memory cross his face. ‘The ultimate renovator’s dream?’
‘More like a nightmare, but some days it was very cathartic to come home from work and rip out a wall.’ His jaw tightened. ‘I met Brooke when she was a final-year medical student, not too long after we’d bought the house, and the three of us renovated it together.’
‘Brooke and Dan didn’t get along very well and they had some monumental clashes. But I desperately wanted my future wife and best friend to be good friends. Dan and I had been mates since boarding school and he’d been with me during some tough times with my family. I didn’t want to be in the situation where I got married but lost my best friend.’
Mia tried to keep her face neutral but felt her brows draw in as the paradox struck her.
Flynn grimaced. ‘I know, pretty ironic considering the outcome.’
She had crazy desire to defend him to himself. ‘I think it was the aim of a caring and loving guy.’
His look of derision silenced her.
‘Anyway, I became the peacemaker. I actively pushed them together so they could try and get to know each other. I did a hell of good job. Dan not only got the girl, he got the house.’
Outrage pounded her. ‘But I don’t understand how they ended up with the house.’
‘When Brooke and I got engaged I thought the house would have to be sold but as the wedding got closer, Dan offered to sell his share to us so it could be our home. Brooke was so enthusiastic about the idea, saying how much she wanted to raise children in a house renovated by love, that I ended up agreeing.’
His abrupt laugh was full of scorn. ‘Never fall in love, Mia. It makes a complete fool out you.’
She knew that all too well, but this was his story so she stayed silent.
Flynn’s foot started to tap against the floor, his leg rigid with tension. ‘Dan and I had power of attorney for each other. When the bank called about the transfer papers, I was caught up at the hospital in A and E in the middle of dealing with multiple burns victims after an apartment block had caught fire. The wedding was two days away and Dan offered to go with Brooke to the bank.’
Realisation thudded through her. ‘They bought your share instead of selling his? But surely you could have contested that in court?’
‘I could have.’ His voice sounded flat in the quiet room. ‘But the humiliation of standing at the altar with three hundred pairs of eyes staring at me and announcing that my wedding was off, combined with the whispers that followed me around at work for the next few months, was enough.’
She wanted to wrap her arms around him and stroke away the pain of his betrayal. ‘And Kirra was a long way from Brisbane?’
‘Got it in one.’ He shifted in his seat. ‘And that’s my story.’
Except she had a niggling feeling that he hadn’t told her everything. ‘So how long are you planning on hiding here?’
He flicked her an intransigent look. ‘I’m not hiding. I’m living and working.’
She pushed on. ‘But you don’t get to meet many women here.’
‘That would be the plan.’
The growl in his voice told her to back off and, as much as she didn’t want to, she decided she would, for now because she didn’t want to alienate him. Meanwhile she was glad she wasn’t in Brisbane because she had an irrational urge to let down Brooke and Dan’s tyres, spraypaint their yuppie front fence and prank-call them at three in the morning.
She suddenly realized that today’s church service would be the first time Flynn had been to a wedding since his own. No wonder he’d tried so hard to avoid it. An hour ago she’d pictured herself sitting in church with one of the school teachers but now she knew that wouldn’t be possible.
She had to go to the wedding with Flynn.
Just thinking about sitting next to Flynn in a narrow and cramped pew, shoulders brushing, thighs touching, had her blood pounding with need. For her own peace of mind, going to the wedding with Flynn was the last thing she should be doing.
But she had little choice. They both had to go and clearly she couldn’t let him go alone. She
leaned forward. ‘I totally understand how weddings aren’t your thing.’
He raised his brows. ‘So I’m off the hook for today?’
She took a steadying breath. ‘No.’
‘No.’ The small word oozed resignation.
She put her hand over his, in a gesture of support. ‘We’re going to this wedding together. We’ll go to the church service, congratulate the bride and groom, congratulate Susie and then leave. It’s our job.’
He stared at her for a long time, his eyes filled with a jumble of emotions. His free hand came to rest over hers, his heat burning through her, racing deep down inside her, igniting longing and fuelling need.
Eventually he spoke. ‘You’re right. It’s just part of the job.’
But suddenly the job had just got a lot more complicated.
‘Well, the bride turned up. That has to be a good start to a happy married life.’ Flynn pulled off his silk tie and unbuttoned the two top buttons of his shirt as relief rolled through him.
Mia shot him a penetrating look. ‘I thought it all went off very well. The bride looked gorgeous, and Susie was so proud she almost burst. And you faced a personal challenge and got through it.’ She suddenly giggled and relaxed back in the garden chair. ‘You’ll get so good at weddings you’ll start crashing them.’
‘I think those three sips of champagne you had addled your brain.’
He and Mia were sitting in her garden under a sprawling mahogany tree strung with tiny bud lights, their twinkling white glow a precursor to the stars that were slowly rising in the night sky. Most of the wedding guests had gone on to the reception but, as Mia had promised him, they had left as soon as they had walked down the official bridal party line and wished everyone well. From the moment they had driven to the church right up to the time they’d returned to her house, Mia hadn’t left his side.
And when the priest had announced the arrival of the bride she’d reached for his hand and held it until the happy couple had left the church. It had been the act of a true friend. Except the wondrous feelings her touch had stirred up in him didn’t belong in the same sentence as friendship.
He breathed out a long breath. ‘I think I’ll leave the wedding crashing to you.’
‘They’re not really my scene either.’ She slipped off her strappy sandals and wriggled her toes, her red nail polish shining like a channel beacon.
He watched, mesmerised as the ripple of movement trailed up her foot, along the curves of her calves, and over her knees before disappearing under the shimmery sea-green fabric of her dress. He pulled his mind back from the imagined image of her thighs. ‘Not your scene? Most women love a wedding and the idea of a happy-ever-after.’
Her relaxed demeanour stiffened slightly. ‘I’m not most women, and happy-ever-afters are overrated.’
A red flag shot up in his brain and he studied her face carefully. The sadness in her eyes, which he’d attributed to the loss of her family, had receded a small amount over the last couple of weeks, but now it was back and firmly entrenched. Her comment snagged and he couldn’t let it go. After all, the death of her mother and brother shouldn’t affect her opinion on marriage.
He tried a flippant approach in the hope he could sneak under her defences and get her to open up. ‘Don’t tell me you were stood up at the altar, too.’
She shook her head slowly. ‘Not quite. You get to keep the gold medal for that event.’
A tiny smile tugged at her lips, almost distracting him. ‘But you were engaged?’
She looked up at him through long, thick lashes. ‘I was for a few months, but Steven couldn’t cope with…’ She paused and took in a deep breath. ‘Steven decided he didn’t want to marry into my family.’
He immediately thought of his mother. ‘I’m sorry. I know how family politics and money can nuke relationships.’
She shrugged. ‘As it turned out, it was for the best.’
‘I gather all this happened before your mother and brother died?’ He was trying to piece it all together.
She clasped her hands in her lap and nodded. ‘Actually, it happened soon after my brother’s death.’ She jutted her chin forward defiantly. ‘As they say, timing is everything.’
Her hurt pounded him and he wanted to thump the man who had compounded her grief. But at the same time confusion swirled in his brain. ‘Your brother’s death? I assumed your mother and brother died together in an accident?’
Silently, she picked up a box of matches from the small table and rose to her feet.
He kept his gaze fixed on her as she padded over to the citronella flares. With studied concentration she struck a match and the hiss of sulphur igniting was the only sound between them. Flames leapt into the air, the smoke, which would follow, designed to drive back the mosquitoes.
Her silence told him more than her previous words. She didn’t want to talk about this but with a patience he’d learned on Kirra he waited for her to find her time to speak.
She turned, tumbling the matchbox over and over between her fingers. ‘Michael’s car ran off the road into a tree a few months before my mother died.’
The sequence of events seemed muddled in his mind. Getting information from Mia was like getting blood from a stone, but a growing need to know more about her drove him on. He stood up and walked over to her. ‘So your mother died from injuries sustained in the accident?’
Hesitation wafted through her eyes and she sighed. ‘No. My mother wasn’t involved in the accident, although losing Michael probably didn’t help her health. She’d been unwell and failing for a long time.’
Still the information dribbled out in a frustrating and ambiguous way. The doctor in him needed to know, the man wanted to understand. ‘Cancer?’
She raised her gaze to his, grief vivid and raw in her blue eyes. He saw the battle of emotions raging, as if she didn’t want to tell him. He caught the moment she capitulated.
‘My mother died of dementia.’
The modern scourge of an aging population. A condition that touched so many families. He immediately knew that she would have put her life on hold to care for her elderly mother. She would have had to endure the powerlessness of watching a loved one fade away. ‘You really have had a horrendously tough year.’
Instinctively, he reached out and trailed his fingers down her smooth cheek. ‘I wish I could do something to make it better.’
She raised her hand, and for a moment her palm covered his as her gaze stared into him, terrifyingly empty and bereft.
And then it flared with unconcealed desire.
She wanted him as much as he wanted her.
Weeks of restraint dropped away and he reached for her, curving his hands around her cheeks, glorying in the weight of her body against his own and longing to feel her lips under his.
She pressed soft and pliant lips to the corner of his mouth. Lips that brushed his with a touch so gentle and yet so potent that his blood pounded through him hard and fast, and the boom of an explosion rocked him.
Mia gave a cry of surprise and jumped back from him as if she’d taken a volt of electricity. Her hand flew to her chest and then she laughed as her gaze tilted upwards. ‘Look, fireworks.’ She excitedly pointed to the sky as pink and blue lights trailed through the sky.
The explosions he’d heard had been real. His head spun from a lack of blood, all of which had pooled in groin. He felt like a sixteen-year-old boy disabled by lust. Dragging in a deep breath, he tried to find his equilibrium as the squeal of a rocket screamed around them. ‘Someone must have brought them back from Darwin and saved them from the Territory celebrations. Let’s hope they’ve read the instructions.’
‘I love fireworks.’ She smiled at him, the colours of the magnesium dust reflected in her eyes. ‘They make you forget everything for a moment and give you joy.’
He knew another way they could both drive away the demons of their past and find joy. He watched her with her head tilted up to the sky, her face free of the grief
that usually shadowed her.
He wanted to feel her body curving against his, breathe in the lemon scent of her hair, the intoxicating richness of her perfume, and taste her sweetness. He hadn’t wanted a woman in two years but tonight he wanted to lose himself in her. He raised his arm in preparation to slide it around her waist and draw her back close to him. To kiss her until they both melted to the ground in a pool of need.
The shrillness of the clinic’s emergency siren broke over them.
Adrenaline crashed into disappointment with a sickening thud. Obviously tonight wasn’t going to work but the seed for seduction had been sown. He just had to get the timing right.
Mia ran barefoot to the clinic, the emergency thankfully dousing the simmering lust that had consumed her moments before. She’d lost all sense tonight. She’d half kissed Flynn and that was such a bad idea for so many reasons.
And what had possessed her to mention her mother’s dementia? She hadn’t meant to but the look of empathy in Flynn’s eyes when she’d talked about Steven had lowered her guard. Most people associated Alzheimer’s with dementia and never thought of the insidious Pick’s disease, so her secret was probably still safe. ‘Do you think Alice has deteriorated?’
‘No.’ The moonlight showed his grim expression. ‘I’d say someone’s come to grief with a cracker.’
They ran up into the clinic and met a chaotic scene. People were yelling and wailing as they crowded in on the door.
‘Stand back, now!’
She’d never heard Flynn’s voice sound so stern but it did the job. The crowd opened up and she and Flynn raced into the treatment room.
A young man writhing in pain lay on the examination table, his face swollen and blistered, pale pink against his normally black skin.
Jenny stood helplessly wringing her hands. ‘The crackers blew up in his face.’
‘Get the crash cart.’
But as Flynn’s curt words sounded, Mia had already pulled it into position. Using shears, she cut away the half-burned T-shirt, exposing more burns on the man’s chest. She looked at Jenny. ‘What’s his name?’
