“What about the cottages or the spa? How do I access those?”
“You mean after hours?”
She nodded. “Yes, if I’m working late.”
He shrugged. “Lots of staff use the spa after hours. But it can be only be accessed from inside. You have to go through the offices. The front entrance is locked up at night.”
“And the residences?” Any minute now Colt was going to wonder why she was asking so many questions. Did he really believe she was being this thorough? Or was he still too focused on the clinic leaks?
Please let him be.
“We change the access codes and employ extra staff whenever we have a celebrity client.” He pointed to an electronic map on the wall showing an aerial view of the whole compound including the cottages, parking lot, and clinic area. She hadn’t realized quite how big it was around here.
“What does it mean if they’re red?”
“If the houses are colored red it means they’re occupied. We patrol at night to make sure there are no intruders and set the perimeter alarms around each one.”
“And the green ones?”
“They’re unoccupied. We don’t need to watch them.”
Selena nodded. The tightness in her chest eased a little. Maybe there was still a shred of hope. Her gaze fixed on the cottage furthest away from the main clinic, well away from the two that were currently occupied. Could she make it there unnoticed?
It was worth a try.
“Thanks, Colt.” She gave him her brightest smile as they headed down the corridor. “That’s been really helpful. I think I’ve got the hang of everything.”
Their hands lifted at the same time to push open the door, brushing together. As they connected a spark of blue static electricity lit up between their meeting hands and the metal plate on the door.
“Ouch!” she pulled back her hand as if she’d been stung. Touching his warm flesh sent a zing up her arm. Colt was rubbing his hand and looking at her with amusement. “Seems you’re as sparky in the flesh as you are in personality.”
“What does that mean?” She was instantly wary. Was he about to acknowledge out loud the mutual attraction between them? How could he, for the next month he would be her boss. A definite no-go area. But after that…
Colt Travers was way out of her league. She only had a suitcase of clothes to her name right now. No house. No car. Plenty of debts. No working credit cards and very little income. Colt? He was a man with the world at his feet, partner in one of the best plastic-surgery clinics around. He wouldn’t be interested in someone like her. Not long-term anyway.
But what about in the immediate future? He had the gift of flirting down to a fine art. Maybe it was the one thing she could match him on. After all, flirting with Colt Travers could lead to something much more fun.
There was a definite cheeky glint in his eyes. And she liked it. More than she should.
This day was definitely about to improve.
His stomach growled. “I’m hungry. Let’s do lunch.” His eyebrows rose. “And if you have any more questions, I can answer them then.”
Selena smiled. Her first genuine one of the morning. Right now she was feeling relief. A free lunch, the possibility of a bed for the night, and a red-hot boss. What more could a girl want?
Chapter Four
“Are you crazy?” If Helen’s voice screeched any higher it could shatter glass.
Colt sighed. He couldn’t listen to much more of this. The first thirty minutes, she’d screamed about him firing the secretary and leaving them shorthanded. For the last ten minutes, he’d listened to her disapproval about the unorthodox way he’d hired a new one. “Clearly. I work here. Have you finished, Helen?”
She patted her graying hair pulled back into an elegant bun. There was never a strand of hair out of place. Her makeup was immaculate and her fitted, gray suit skimmed her thinning curves. Had she lost some weight recently? “Have you checked her references? Where is her CV? Is she even trustworthy? After all, she came here for treatment and couldn’t pay her bill. What kind of person is she?”
Colt blew out a long stream of air from his lungs. He’d heard all of this already and was quickly losing patience. He stood up. “Helen, let me deal with Selena’s CV and references. It’s highly unlikely she is going to be a threat to the clinic—she came here for treatment. I’ll get her to sign the standard privacy agreement. We will need to recruit, but, for the moment, I’ve plugged the gap we would have been left with for a month.”
A frown creased her elegant forehead. Helen didn’t believe in Botox. “Well, it’s not exactly an ideal way for a client to pay off her bill.”
“I agree. But let’s see how it works out.”
She waved her hand in dismissal, and resisting the temptation to start another argument, Colt left.
Deep down he loved Helen dearly. In years gone by, she and her husband had been good to him. But she was set in her ways, she still didn’t understand the concept of having “partners.” Sometimes she acted as though the clinic was hers alone.
He leaned against the window, watching Selena sitting at the desk, her frame silhouetted by the setting sun. She was concentrating fiercely on the screen in front of her, her nose wrinkled, and a deep frown crossing her brow.
He smiled. Not a single sign of Botox anywhere. It was almost refreshing.
Apart from the wound on her forehead she was pretty much perfect.
Particularly the curve of her firm backside in that designer black skirt and the slight stretch of the emerald shirt across her breasts. It hugged her in all the right places. Not that he’d been looking. Not at all. But it was kind of difficult when she was right under his nose.
He had to keep reminding himself that she was still officially a patient and also an employee.
He didn’t have enough hours in the day as it was—what with working here and at Helen’s House sometimes it seemed as if sleep was an optional extra. Last time he’d dated it had only lasted a few weeks before the woman had grown tired of his lack of availability. He was crazy to think that there could ever be anything between him and Selena.
He shook his head. Too bad. Last night, in a moment of madness, he’d downloaded an app onto his phone—one with a countdown to the date when she’d no longer be working here. The date when he could actually tell her what he’d like to do to her.
“Finishing up?” He glanced at his watch. It was after nine. She should have finished hours ago.
His voice made her start. Definitely cute. And maybe a little hot. “I’ve been familiarizing myself with the systems in place in the clinic. I want to be able to hit the ground running tomorrow. The phones here are crazy,
and I need to be on top of things.”
Dedication. He was surprised. Maybe hiring Selena hadn’t been such a bad idea after all? From where he was standing, it looked like a pretty good idea.
“It’s late, Selena. And I hate to break it to you, but we’re not paying you overtime.” Maybe she was trying to put in extra hours to pay her bill quicker. Cool. He could recalculate the countdown app on his phone.
He moved across the room and leaned against the edge of her desk. His feet were aching after a long stint in surgery this afternoon. He couldn’t wait for that twilight time tonight when he could go for his run along the beach. Early every morning, and late every evening. Times when the beach was quiet and all he could hear was the ocean waves.
She rolled her eyes. “Believe me. I know I don’t get overtime. But I didn’t get to meet Helen Ridgeway yet, and truth be told, I’m a little scared. She has a bit of a reputation around this place.”
He shifted his position at the edge of the desk and tried not to focus on the fact he currently had an exquisite view of her cleavage. It hadn’t been deliberate. No way. “I’ll make a point of introducing you to Helen tomorrow. She’s a no-nonsense kind of woman. This clinic is her life. She doesn’t like it when anything goes wrong.”
Selena hesitated for a second. “You mean the leaks?”
He sighed and nodded. “It’s hardly an ideal situation. People come here to hide away, to get out of the limelight. They need to feel confident their privacy will be protected here. We’ve already had a few cancellations.”
“Surely that won’t cause any problems? This place is packed.”
He folded his arms across his chest. He couldn’t really say out loud what he wanted to. If Seacliffe’s income dropped, they wouldn’t be able to continue the work at Helen’s House or the facial surgeries they did for kids. His whole real motivation for the work he did would be gone. “We’ll need to wait and see.”
She glanced across the screen on the computer with tomorrow’s appointments. “Do you see many of the celebrity clients? I thought Jeremiah dealt with most of them.”
“He usually does. It’s why he’s known as the plastic surgeon to the stars. But everyone has the right to choose.” He leaned over and glanced at the screen. A name leapt out at him but he wasn’t surprised. “Ah, you mean Magdalena? We go way back. She always comes to see me. Haven’t you heard? She’s everybody’s favorite pop star.”