locked the door to her office and went to the closet to pull out the set of business clothes that she always kept on hand, because this wasn’t the first time she’d slept over at The Hollywood Hills Clinic and had needed to make an appearance in front of the bosses the next day.
She tossed her scrubs in the laundry basket and then pulled on a reliable white blouse and pinstripe black pencil skirt. She traded her comfortable running shoes for her black heels and hoped no one would see the dents in her ankles from the elastic in her socks after wearing them all night.
Flo fixed her hair, putting it up in a bun, and then slipped on her white lab coat, attaching her security cards and identification. With one last look she reached down and grabbed a tablet so she could bring up Kyle Francis’s file, because she was positive that Freya would want to talk about that.
Once she had everything she quickly made her way through the halls of The Hollywood Hills Clinic to the boardroom, where Freya had asked her to meet her, which also had Flo’s nerves on edge. She knocked and then entered the boardroom and tried not to blush when she saw Nate sitting in a chair at the table.
He was chatting to Freya amicably, but the moment Flo walked in those piercing blue eyes trained on her, and it took all her willpower to stop her knees knocking together. She would not let Nate get to her.
They were colleagues. That’s it.
Besides, even if something came of it, once he found out she was a transplant patient herself, he’d run, like all the others had. Her uncertain future like kryptonite to men. Which was why she kept it to herself, both in her personal and professional life.
“Sorry for running late, Freya.”
“No, it’s quite all right, Flo. Please have a seat.” Freya motioned to the seat directly across from Nate, on her left side. Flo sat down and tried not to look in Nate’s direction.
“I understand Mr. Francis has been stabilized?” Freya said, sitting down at the head of the table and brushing her long hair over her shoulder in that refined way she had.
“He has.” Flo pulled up Kyle’s file. “The surgical report is here if you need it.”
Freya held up her hand. “No, I’m not here to talk about Mr. Francis’s surgery. I’m glad to know that he’s been stabilized.”
“I thought you wanted to talk about Kyle Francis? The page said there was going to be discussion about him.”
“Well, it’s indirectly about Mr. Francis.” Freya brought up an image on the screen behind her with a click of the remote.
Flo almost fell out of her chair when she saw the headline of a local paper and the photograph that was underneath it.
Superstar Kyle Francis’s doctors locked in a kiss while actor hovers near death.
“And then there’s this one.” Freya clicked the remote again and a close-up photograph of Flo in Nate’s arms, lips locked, was emblazoned across a more reputable local paper with the caption underneath, Love match between heart surgeons.
“We’re not heart surgeons,” Nate joked, trying to defuse the situation. “We have cardiothoracic training, but we only transplant hearts when it comes to cardio care.”
Freya fixed her sternest gaze on him. “Yet the world knows Kyle Francis is waiting for a heart and lung transplant.”
“How did they know that?”
Freya sighed, “A paramedic leaked it. Not someone from our clinic thankfully, but still security and privacy measures at our clinic are now being questioned. Especially in light of a paramedic leaking the information about Kyle Francis’s surgery and then a paparazzo snapping a picture of two surgeons making out on the roof of our clinic. Our reputation is on the line.”
Flo’s stomach twisted in a knot and she felt like she was going to be sick.
How could she have been so foolish? She liked to live for the moment and take risks, but not when it jeopardized her career or the reputation of The Hollywood Hills Clinic.
“Freya, I’m so sorry...”
“There’s no need to apologize, Flo. There’s still a chance to solve this problem.” She smiled at them both. “Which is why I’m so glad both of you are dressed respectably. We’re going to hold a press conference in a few moments.”
“A press conference about what?” Nate asked.
“We’re going to talk about Kyle’s procedure. We have clearance from his management team. It will be good PR for him. We’re also going to talk about a pro bono case that both of you will be working on. We’ll be working in conjunction with the Bright Hope Clinic to help Eva Martinez. She’s a child in need of a kidney transplant. Her mother, a single mom and waitress, is a perfect match and is donating a kidney to her daughter. It’s caught the attention of the media.”
Flo’s heart skipped a beat as Freya brought up the dossier of Eva Martinez. Eva was twelve. Just a couple of years younger than she herself had been when she’d needed her kidney transplant. It struck a chord deep in her heart.
“Of course,” Flo said, finally finding her voice. “Of course I’m willing to work on a pro bono case for a child. That’s no problem.”
“Is that all?” Nate asked.
“No,” Freya said quietly, crossing her arms and leaning back in the chair. “We have to address the issue of two prominent transplant surgeons kissing on the roof of The Hollywood Hills Clinic and being caught doing it.”
“There’s nothing between us,” Flo said quickly. “It won’t happen again.”
Nate was eyeing her speculatively, as if she’d slapped him or something. “Of course. It won’t happen again. It was an impulse after a long surgery.”
“I don’t need to know why it happened. I don’t care if our surgeons date, but I do care about the fact those two surgeons were caught kissing on the clinic roof when we advertise privacy and security to our VIPs. So, I want you two to pretend you’re in a relationship.”
Flo blinked, because she couldn’t believe what Freya was saying. “Pardon?”
“The Hollywood Hills dream team is going to save the life of Eva Martinez and Kyle Francis. The positive PR this will bring to The Hills is too good an opportunity to pass up. We need to restore our reputation. Until that reputation is restored and our clients begin to trust us again, your wagons are officially hitched together.”
* * *
Nate knew he should refuse, get up and walk away. After all, he wasn’t a surgeon at the clinic. He was only here because of his patient and that’s why he couldn’t leave.
He also didn’t want to hurt Flo.
She was a surgeon here at The Hollywood Hills Clinic. Her reputation would be tainted because of this. He really didn’t have much of choice. He might not like it, but it was just a prettiness. It wasn’t like they had to do anything, and he didn’t have plans to surf the local single scene in California. It wasn’t going to put a damper on his style.
“Okay,”
