Doctor's Delight (8 page)

“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
over, 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.

The coordinator
checked the roster as they passed, forcing Cherry to stop in
politeness. She almost died on the spot when she saw Rick and Beth
approaching from the opposite direction.

Rick looked
directly at her, his features grim as he mouthed ‘wait.’

Like that was
going to happen.

“You have two
days off from tomorrow anyway,” the coordinator said. “So if you’re
coming down with something, it’s nicely timed.” She laughed.

Cherry didn’t
think it was amusing.

Rick rounded
the nurses’ station desk and looked directly at Cherry. “Sick, are
we?”

To the stomach.
She could barely meet his cool gaze. “Just a little something,” she
managed, staring at his chin.

That very
strong chin. That jaw line with the shadow of beard. The muscle
that ticked in it. She gulped.