‘That works for me, Dr Parker,’ he said with a smile.
She returned his smile. ‘Good, because then I can show you where the cafeteria is and what have you. A new hospital always feels a bit like a rabbit warren until you get to know where everything is, doesn’t it?’
Now he understood why the head of the department had asked his junior colleague to do the briefing rather than doing it himself. Joni Parker was clearly the sort who took new people under her wing and made them feel part of the team. Which meant she was a sweetheart, as well as being utterly gorgeous. And that made her even more off limits, as far as Aaron was concerned.
‘Thank you,’ he said politely.
‘I’m actually due on ward rounds now,’ she said. ‘So shall I meet you here at half past twelve?’
‘Half past twelve will be fine,’ he said. And the frightening thing was that he was actually looking forward to it. Hell. He had to stop this. Right now. Joni—Dr N. Parker—was his colleague first, last and everything in between. And he’d better keep that in mind.
* * *
She was ten minutes late meeting him. ‘I’m so sorry. The ward round took a bit longer than I th—’
‘That’s fine,’ he cut in gently. ‘I know we have targets for treatment times, but if a patient needs a bit of extra time you can’t just tell them they’ve already had their allotted few minutes and they’ll just have to wait for the next appointment.’
She shot him a grateful glance. ‘Thanks for understanding. I guess we ought to head to the cafeteria right now, or we’ll be late for the TB clinic this afternoon. I’m really sorry to cut your lunch break short.’
‘It’s not a problem,’ he said.
It would’ve taken him twice as long to find the place without her showing him the way, Aaron thought as they reached the hospital café. He wasn’t surprised when Joni chose a super-healthy balanced meal rather than grabbing the nearest sandwich and a chocolate bar, and she was drinking plain water rather than a sugary drink; she was clearly very careful about her blood sugar. Saturday night really had been out of the norm for her, then.
And he really had to stop thinking about Saturday night. About how her skin had felt against his. Any relationship with her other than a working one was completely out of the question.
‘The coffee here isn’t too bad,’ she said—and then blushed, as if remembering the coffee he’d made her. ‘Um. Anyway. I guess our ward works the same as wherever you were before.’
‘Manchester.’
‘OK.’ She smiled at him. ‘So we have the usual ward work and ward rounds, referral meetings, case reviews and research meetings. Then we have the regular clinics—TB, travel medicine, parasitology and general tropical diseases. There’s also a daily walk-in clinic for people who’ve just come back from abroad, so they don’t have to be referred by their GP first. That one tends to be the usual stuff—tummy bugs, rashes and fever. Sometimes we have something a bit rarer, but for the most part it’s gastro symptoms.’
Pretty much what he’d done in Manchester. Though he noticed that Joni went through the entire run-through without actually looking him in the eye. Which didn’t leave him much choice; he was going to have to broach the subject, and they were going to have to deal with it and get it out of the way.
‘Dr Parker,’ he said softly.
She looked nervous. ‘Ye-es.’
‘It might be a good idea if we dealt with the elephant in the room.’
She blew out a breath. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t usually …’ She buried her face in her hands. ‘Arrgh. I said I’d stop apologising all the time, too. Bailey would fine me for that one.’
He knew who Bailey was—the friend who’d been at the salsa club with her—but he really didn’t follow the rest of it. ‘Fine you? Why?’
‘For apologising when I don’t need to.’ She gave him a wry smile. ‘You know how people sometimes have a swear jar if they’re trying to give up swearing, and they put money in it every time they swear? Well, I have a sorry jar. I’m banned from using the s-word more than once a day.’ She bit her lip. ‘And I bet I’ve apologised to you twice already today.’
‘Try three.’ He just about managed to hide a grin. ‘I won’t tell if you won’t,’ he said. ‘And, actually, that was what I was going to say. No telling. What happened at the weekend is just between us and has nothing to do with anyone else.’
‘Thank you.’ She looked relieved. ‘I couldn’t believe it when I saw you. I mean, in a city the size of London—what are the chances of even bumping into you again, let alone finding out that we’re working together?’
‘Pretty small,’ he agreed. ‘Though I guess, given what we both do for a living, we would’ve met again at some point—maybe through a friend of a friend of a friend.’
‘It’s not even as if infectious and tropical diseases is a common speciality,’ she protested.
‘True. But I bet you know everyone in the emergency department.’
‘I guess I do,’ she admitted. ‘If we haven’t worked together on a case, we’ve met at an inter-departmental do.’
‘As I said. Friend of a friend of a friend.’ He shrugged. ‘Maybe we should start again, as if we’ve just met for the first time. Hello. I’m Aaron Hughes, tropical medical specialist. Pleased to meet you.’ He held out his hand.
She shook it, and his skin tingled where she’d touched him. Not good. He really didn’t want to react to her like this. He couldn’t afford any emotional ties.
‘I’m Joni Parker. Also a tropical medical specialist. Pleased to meet you,’ she said.
So she’d been telling the truth about her name on Saturday, then. But ‘Joni’ didn’t start with N, and he was curious. He glanced at her name tag. ‘What does the N stand for?’
‘Nizhoni,’ she said. ‘But my first name’s a bit of a mouthful, so people tend to call me Joni for short.’
‘It’s an unusual name,’ he remarked. Not one he’d ever heard before.
She nodded. ‘It’s a bit exotic.’
‘I guess it goes with your speciality. Also exotic,’ he said. ‘And now I’m going to shut up before I dig myself another hole.’
‘I can’t argue with that. And thank you. For not—well—making a big deal out of it.’ She rewarded him with a real smile. One that made those gorgeous dark eyes light up—and that, in turn, made his blood tingle. Which was a seriously bad idea. He couldn’t afford to let himself get emotionally involved with Joni Parker, no matter how attractive he found her. He’d learned at a young age that keeping his distance was the safe way. The way not to get hurt. Loving someone just led to loss and heartbreak. Keeping your distance was the only way to survive with your heart intact.
‘I guess we both acted out of character,’ he said.
