Falling for Her Fake Fianc?

Stop it.

So much for putting that night behind her and getting on with her life. Kisses had never wrecked such havoc on her equilibrium before.

‘Everyone likes working with Michael,’ growled Mac.

Her head flipped up. Jealous? But the burnished green eyes that met hers said no, instead warning she was not special around here. Definitely not special to him. Anywhere. ‘I’m sure they do,’ she muttered as something sharp lanced her heart. ‘How did my swap from Fiji work out?’

Relief filled those thoughtful eyes. ‘She was overwhelmed for the first few days but once she got the hang of the continuous stream of patients she found her stride. Talk about soaking up knowledge faster than a sponge takes in water. She thrived, and didn’t want to go home at the end of her stint.’

‘I can understand that.’ Perhaps she could swap permanently with the Fijian nurse.

‘You didn’t want to come back to Auckland?’ Mac asked, his voice now grave. ‘Or to ED and working on night shift?’ He mightn’t have asked ‘Or working with me?’ but the question hung between them.

She avoided the hot topic. Hot? She was standing by Mac, right? Scorching. ‘Bit hard to give up those beaches and the warm water and return to Auckland in autumn.’

Did you miss me at all while I was away, Mac?

‘Talked to Tamara lately?’ he asked. Guess that meant no.

‘Less than an hour ago.’ The friend whose wedding had started the inferno between her and Mac. ‘She’s sick of being pregnant, says her belly feels like it will pop open any minute.’ She’d been full of unwanted advice.

‘Conor told me she’s as restless as a hive of bees.’

Definitely not going to talk about themselves. She could run with that. Safer, if not sad considering how well they got on in Sydney. I missed you so much it kept me awake most nights, Mac. But playing safe was her way and she’d grab this with both hands. Best way to put the whole caboodle behind her.

Then the phone in her pocket vibrated with an incoming text. Probably her mother, in which case she’d not even look, definitely wouldn’t answer. She was not going to the wedding with Jason; nice, successful, upright citizen that he was. Today was Monday. She had until lift-off on Friday to find someone to go with her.

Ask Mac to partner you to the wedding.

Go away, Tam. Go away. He wouldn’t want to attend a wedding where he knew no one but her.

You both only knew the bride and groom at my wedding.

Yeah, well, that was different. It had been small, and while Conor’s Irish family were full on, they’d been convivial, not loaded with awkward questions about her and Mac. Unlike her mother if Mac partnered her to Billy’s.

‘Hey, Kelli, welcome back.’ Stephanie, the head nurse on night shift, appeared before her, a genuine friendly smile lighting up her face. ‘Great to have you working with us.’

Now that was a better welcome. ‘Glad to be here.’ Put some effort into it. ‘Truly.’ If not for working alongside Mac, that was. ‘I’ll have all those mornings to do other things.’

‘Like?’ Stephanie grinned. ‘Sleep in?’

‘More dress designing.’ Her passion outside nursing. Why did her gaze slide sideways towards Mac? He was not one of her passions. He couldn’t be. Dress designing. Mac. Her mind flipped back and forth. Passion.

‘I’d forgotten you made those amazing dresses.’ Stephanie was prattling on, oblivious to the fact Kelli was distracted by their boss. ‘You ever try selling them to the fashion shops?’

Dragging her focus back to Stephanie, she nodded. ‘I’ve sold a few that way.’

‘We’d better keep you happy working with us or we’ll lose you to a new career.’ Stephanie reached over to the counter and picked up a file.

‘Nope. Nursing’s my first love. Designing’s a hobby.’ She held her hand out for the file. ‘What’ve we got?’

‘A lad of seven, fell off his skateboard, probable fracture of the left ulna. He’s all yours.’ Stephanie didn’t let go of the file. ‘For now I’m doing triage, but that could change. Letting you know in case you’re interested.’

‘Thanks.’ Kelli headed for the waiting room and her first patient of the day. Of the shift, of the night roster. Of working with Mac. Her feet tripped over each other. This should be easy-peasy. It wasn’t. Mac had dominated her thoughts since Sydney. Honestly? He’d started sneaking under her radar months earlier when he’d first arrived in Auckland Central’s emergency department. The volume had been turned up by those kisses they’d shared, had her hormones in a right tizz.

Concentrate on work. Sure. ‘Davy Roughton?’ she called, scoping the room.

‘That’s us.’ A young, distressed woman stood up and helped a boy off his seat.

Kelli crossed to them, bent down to the boy’s level. ‘Hello, I’m Kelli, your nurse. I hear you had an accident with your skateboard.’

His top teeth dug deep in his bottom lip as he nodded slowly. He held his left arm awkwardly against his chest. ‘It went too fast.’

She grinned. ‘They do that sometimes, don’t they? Like they’re trying to trick you into thinking you can do anything.’

Another nod, this time more relaxed. ‘I can do jumps and things. But the board went over the step too fast and tipped me off.’

‘You’ll have to train your board to behave.’ She straightened up. ‘Come on. Let’s get you fixed up.’

The mother said, ‘The triage nurse suspects he’s broken his arm.’

‘We’ll have Davy taken to Radiology for an X-ray to verify that. Then it will be a case of applying a cast and sending your young man home with painkillers.’ She looked down at the lad. ‘He’s a brave soul. Not a lot of tears.’

‘There were a few initially but Davy’s usually fairly stoic. Like his dad.’ Mum sounded closer to tears than her boy.

‘Let’s get this sorted. Would you like a coffee or tea? There’s going to be a bit of hanging around.’

‘Love a tea, thanks. Milk and one.’

Kelli ushered them into a cubicle and helped the boy up onto the bed. After settling him in comfortably she checked his temperature. ‘All good there. I’ll get our patient carer to make that tea, and tell the doctor you’re here.’

Mac was at the bedside when she returned minutes later. ‘We need an orderly to take Davy to X-ray, Nurse.’

‘Yes, Doctor.’ She gritted her teeth.

Since when did they go all formal? Got it. Mac was no more comfortable with her being here than she was having to stand within metres of him, seeing, hearing him, breathing in that tantalising male scent mixed with a pine aftershave. Her blood thickened just thinking about him.

He shot her a glare. ‘Now, Nurse?’

Of course. An orderly. Nothing to do with male scent and heat. Kelli phoned the orderly room, then headed to the desk for another patient file. The boy was being cared for and there were more patients needing her attention.

‘Something bothering you, Kelli? You seem distracted.’ Mr Distraction himself stood on the other side of the desk.

Shaking her head at him, she muttered, ‘Not at all. Just getting back in the groove.’ Guilt prodded at her though. She was concentrating more on Mac than work. After six weeks away and no contact with him, she should be over him. Her body wasn’t listening, craving for more—more tender, yet igniting touches, more bone-melting kisses, more of those hands, his hard, muscular body against hers as they moved to the band’s music.

‘When did you get back from Fiji?’ The unexpected question cut through the daydream.

‘Saturday night. A tropical storm on Friday closed Suva Airport for twenty-four hours so I couldn’t get out.’ Couldn’t drive to the airport in Nadi for the same reason.

‘So you’ve only had a day and a half to unpac

k and get back into your routine?’

‘More than enough.’ If you didn’t count the family dinner on Sunday and being pestered about going to the wedding with Jason. ‘I got the groceries in, did the washing, and generally got settled. My flatmates didn’t go off the rails and trash the place while I was away. It’s not like I was gone for a year.’ Now there was a thought. Twelve months away would take care of what ailed her. But it wouldn’t solve her immediate plan of who to take to the wedding to avoid her mother’s choice.

If only her family didn’t worry about her so much. Sure, her engagement to Steve had been a hellish mess, sending her into a funk ever since, but now she was ready to get out in the dating world, she wanted to do it her way.

On her hip the phone vibrated. Again. Only her mother could be so persistent. Her friends didn’t bother texting while she was at work, knowing she wouldn’t answer. Using personal phones on duty was a no-no. Of course Mum ignored that.