you give me a moment, please?’ Freya asked.
‘Sure,’ Zack said, and stood there.
‘I meant I’d like a moment of privacy, please,’ she snapped, and Zack stared at her for a second before exiting her office, closing the door behind him.
God, this morning was a disaster, she thought as she frantically called Mila back.
‘You haven’t told James about me yet,’ Mila said. ‘Have you?’
‘No,’ Freya admitted. ‘And he’s just about to call the clinic.’
‘It’s fine,’ Mila said. ‘I don’t generally man the phones. I’ll have him put through to Geoff, but, Freya, he needs to know that the Bright Hope Clinic is mine.’
‘I know he does and I am going to tell him.’
‘If you can’t do it face to face, just text him.’
‘He hates texts.’
‘Well, he’s going to hate finding out that we’re going to be working together a whole lot more.’
‘Leave it with me.’
Freya ended the call, took a breath and opened the door on her currently more overwhelming problem. Zack was leaning up against a wall outside and not looking very impressed to have been asked to step outside. ‘Sorry about that! Come on through,’ Freya said, and put on her bright corporate smile and stepped back to let him in. She waited till the door was safely closed for the smile to go and then she let him have it.
‘You knew...’
‘No.’ He gave a small shake of his head.
‘You weren’t even surprised when you walked in. It was supposed to be one night, no names...’
‘I thought you looked vaguely familiar but it only clicked this morning when I was in the shower,’ Zack said. ‘I just looked you up, and you were quite a wild child, it would seem.’
He thought of the photos of her collapsed and being carried out of a nightclub that he had seen, and he thought of the article he had read that spoke of drugs and alcohol and a lengthy stint in rehab.
‘I’m not discussing this here,’ Freya said. ‘I don’t bring my private life to work.’
‘And neither do I,’ Zack said. ‘So go and get some blood work done and then tell me when I can start work.’
Where were the green eyes that had locked with hers last night? Oh, he was looking right at her but his expression was serious.
Grim.
‘I’m a cardiac surgeon and this morning we had unprotected sex and it would appear you’ve had a habit. I’d like a little more than your word that you’re not using.’
And she could only find a grudging admiration that he had the guts to address it directly.
‘I’ve never done drugs.’ She looked at him. ‘I did have some tests last week and they all came back clear.’
‘Has there been anyone since then?’
‘Zack!’
‘Freya, don’t play coy. You’ve got all my lab results sitting on your desk, I haven’t been with anyone since I had blood pulled, and I sure as hell haven’t been in rehab. So I need to know the score.’
‘I had some blood work for fertility issues and they ran the tests as routine. I was in rehab for an eating disorder. Happy now?’
‘Well, happy isn’t the word I’d use to find out the condom split with someone having fertility treatment, but, yep, glad to know we’re both clean.’
‘Well, you don’t have to worry about the fertility issue. I haven’t started treatment and I shot my ovaries.’
‘Shot your ovaries?’ Zack frowned and then got it.
Her eating disorder meant she couldn’t have kids and he understood better now what she’d told him about running and trying not to.
‘I’ll let James know that I can start straight away, then.’
He gave her a nod and turned to go but Freya halted him. ‘Zack, you won’t—’
‘Freya.’ He turned around. ‘I’d never say anything and, as you’re about to find out, I’m a very different person at work.’
‘Sure.’
‘The only reason I am talking about last night in this office is because it’s pertinent to work. What happened is not to be brought up or discussed, do you understand that?’
‘Yes.’
* * *
It was the longest day.
All she wanted to do was go home and curl up with her shame, yet, now that Zack was on board, her life had gotten busy.
His résumé was impressive on a professional level. He’d worked all over the globe, in both lavish and sparsely equipped hospitals. She looked up his hometown and her eyes widened when she read about the tiny population and how widely it was scattered.
Well, they could go with the country-boy angle, Freya thought, and then tried to picture herself suggesting that to Zack.
Ah...perhaps not.
What else could she find out?
It would seem that five years ago he’d been in Canada at an ice hockey match when a player had gone into cardiac arrest and Zack had successfully resuscitated him.
A couple of phone calls later and she was in touch with the player’s own PA. Nothing was said, just a little touching base query to see if the player might be open to being flown to LA.
‘He’s on vacation but I’ll get back to you at an appropriate time.’
God, no wonder people were tense, Freya thought as she realised that most of the world considered today not really a day for such calls, but at The Hills, though there were no scheduled operations, it was a work day as usual.
The staff up on the cardiac unit didn’t say, Oh, no, it’s a holiday, as they prepared the bed for Paulo to arrive.
And neither did the pilot of the luxury helicopter question it when, after examining Paulo and going through his tests at the Bright Hope Clinic, Zack called James.
‘I’ve just spoken with Maria, his mother,’ Zack said. ‘I’ve told her that I’m still not sure if he’s a candidate for surgery but I would like to run some more tests at The Hills. Their equipment is terrible.’
And so by three that afternoon a new little patient with black hair and eyes and a gappy smile was sitting in bed with his worried mother by his side.
And by
