wasn’t worried that anyone would find out. She didn’t think Callum would be indiscreet. He didn’t look like the kiss and tell type.
But she knew. Her body knew.
She’d been okay with acting so wildly outside her usual character when it had been a one-off. And she’d been fine to walk away from it and get back to the life she knew, loved and understood. The place, the people, the work that defined her. But with him constantly reminding her of something sizzling and exciting?
Constantly derailing her contented life?
She didn’t need that kind of disquiet. She’d been lucky. She’d already had her big love. She didn’t need some crazy, hot thing with a guy who was here for two months making her question all she held dear.
And even if she’d been actively looking for a man—which she wasn’t—Callum did not fit the bill. She was only interested in long-term prospects and she was perfectly happy to wait. For it to happen when it happened. If it happened.
There wasn’t any rush despite what every woman of a certain age in Vickers Hill thought.
The kettle boiled and Felicity shook herself out of her reverie. She was getting way ahead of herself. Catastrophising as usual. Also being a little egotistical. Like she was so freaking irresistible. Just because the man had ravished her in bed all night didn’t mean he wanted anything more from her or that he wanted to carry on while he was here.
She was making way too much of it. It was two months, for Pete’s sake. She could do anything for two months. They’d talk, set some rules and then she’d be cool, calm and collected. Polite. Professional. Friendly even. Vickers Hill was a great place to live in the middle of a famous wine region—she could play tour guide.
Felicity heard the back door open and glanced at her watch. She frowned. Dr Dawson was early today, he didn’t usually arrive until seven thirty sometimes. Now he was cutting back his hours a little on his countdown to retirement he left it as late as a quarter to eight.
Felicity had worked for Luci’s father for four years and would be grateful to him for ever for employing her when she’d fled back to Vickers Hill, licking her wounds post-Ned.
She turned to greet him, a smile on her face, knowing he’d come straight to the staffroom for a cuppa. But it wasn’t Dr Dawson. It was Callum standing in the doorway, all long legs and wide shoulders, looking devastating in a dark suit and patterned tie.
Her stomach dropped. Her fingers tightened around her mug. She swore muscles between her legs tightened in some kind of Pavlovian response as heat coursed to all the erogenous zones he’d taken his sweet time getting to know.
So much for being cool, calm and collected. If her body was any hotter she’d be smoking. ‘Oh. Hi.’
He nodded, his gaze guarded, reminding her of the brooding guy in the café that day. ‘Hi.’
Awkward.
But, then, she’d always known it was going to be.
‘You’re early,’ she said, to sever the stretching silence. ‘You know you don’t start till one each day, right?’
She knew he’d been in a couple of times already, orientating himself to the practice, because she’d been talking to Luci, who’d rung to tell her that Callum’s brother Seb had turned up on her doorstep in Sydney and he was now living with her, but had also mentioned Callum dropping in to see her father and introduce himself to everyone.
He shrugged. ‘Thought I’d get settled in.’ He walked into the room and set the small plastic crate he was holding on the dining table. ‘I also wanted to go over the clinic charts for this week. You know...’ he gave a half-smile but it was strained and tight ‘...be prepared.’
Felicity nodded stiffly. Oh, yeah, he was a regular Boy Scout.
In any other person, she would have been impressed by the diligence but she’d thought she’d have more time to get her game face on this morning so she wasn’t feeling terribly charitable.
‘You’ll have access to the appointment calendar on your computer in your office,’ she said. ‘I’ll send you an invite to join but I’ll just grab the printout now.’
It was her chance to temporarily escape and get herself together. He didn’t try to stop her and for the thirty seconds it took her to snatch the list of today’s appointments off the reception desk she was grateful.
She needed a breather. To hit the reset button.
She stared down at the list, not really seeing it. The Dawson general practice was one of two in Vickers Hill. There were two GPs. Bill Dawson was the original and had founded the practice almost forty years ago. About twenty years later he’d taken on a partner—Angela Runcorn—because the work had been too much for one and he’d wanted to have a woman for his female patients to have a choice. He and Angela each owned fifty percent of the practice.
Four years ago, and this was why Felicity had been employed, he’d taken on a part-time GP—Meera Setu. Meera and Felicity ran the afternoon specialty clinics together, which freed up a lot of appointment time. Monday was ortho clinic, Tuesday was diabetic, Wednesday was babies and Friday was immunisation. There was no clinic on Thursdays as it was Felicity’s day for home visits.
But, with Meera going on maternity leave last week for two months, Dr Dawson had needed a replacement and had advertised for a locum. Given that it was for such a short amount of time, Felicity hadn’t paid much heed to the process other than encouraging Luci to go to Sydney to do her course and pushing her to do the house swap with Callum when the possibility had been floated.
Except she’d only heard him being referred to as Dr Hollingsworth. And she’d never bothered to find out Callum’s last name when she’d been getting naked with him between her sheets.
She made a mental note to always find out a guy’s full name before doing the wild thing. Because now she’d be working closely with Dr Wild Thing every day.
Like right-hand woman close. And it all could have been avoided had she stopped to find out the basics—like his name!
‘Here it is,’ she said, injecting a lightness into her tone as she re-entered the staffroom.
He was at the sink, spooning coffee into a mug. She placed the list on the table next to the crate because there was no way she was getting any closer to him when she didn’t have to.
‘Thanks,’ he said, picking up his mug and leaning his butt against the counter, his feet casually crossed at the ankles, which pulled the fabric of his trousers tight across his thighs.
‘I’ll forward you the email folder with all their electronic charts in a bit.’
‘Thank you.’ The silence built again. ‘I checked up on Jock. They transferred him to hospital in Sydney and put in several stents. He’s doing okay.’
Felicity nodded. ‘Yes. Thanks. I spoke with the hospital this morning.’
Thankfully a noise in the hallway outside alerted her to someone else arriving and Felicity almost kissed Dr Dawson as he sauntered into the staffroom, his usual chipper self.
‘Ah,
