over again.’ He leaned closer. Big mistake—a nose full of her fresh scent had his senses zapping into full-on alert. He stepped back again. ‘Let me tell you a secret … the first day in Theatre as a medical student, I vomited.’
‘In the theatre?’ Both Nancy and Ivy asked at the same time.
He shrugged. ‘No, in a bin outside. I managed to leave just in time. A coronary bypass—messy. It takes a bit of getting used to. There’s a lot of smells and noise and the blood … and looking inside … It’s something you learn to live with. You can’t expect to be okay with seeing these things on the first day. Luckily, you have another three chances to get up close and personal.’
‘Yay. Three.’ Ivy’s cheeks blazed as she drained the cup and popped it on the table next to the trolley. ‘Er … well, yes. Hypnotherapy’s good, I hear. Drugs. Total avoidance has been working really well for me for years. But I really do need to apologise to everyone for inconveniencing them.’
‘What better place to do it than at the pub?’ He couldn’t believe he was convincing her to come. ‘You said you needed to get to know the departments. People will chat to you more freely with alcohol in their bellies.’
‘Yes,’ Nancy chimed in. ‘Come on, it’s usually a good crowd. And if you do come I promise not to let anyone make fun of you.’
Matteo sniffed. ‘Apart from me, obviously.’
‘Of course, Matteo. Whatever.’ With a shake of her head Nancy jabbed him in the ribs and winked at Ivy. ‘Don’t be taken in by him. He’s just a softie really.’
‘Nancy, how could you ruin my reputation?’
‘Your reputation’s already in tatters, my boy. We’ve all seen the picture … Bite me? Yes … oh, yes. Wouldn’t we all love to do that.’ Laughing, Nancy ducked away down the corridor. Leaving just him and a bed-ready Ivy, who was laughing and not making any attempt to hide it.
He gave her a smile. ‘Now I definitely need you to come out tonight to fight my corner, tell them what penance I’ve had to serve for that damned picture. They’ll be merciless.’
‘This I have got to see.’ Ivy patted his hand and he felt a comforting warmth that, as he looked into her sparkling eyes, transformed into a sizzle running through him. He wanted to kiss her. Right there. To see what that mouth tasted like, how it felt slammed against his. This was a struggle he was already losing. He wanted her. As he watched her she stopped laughing, but the smile remained. ‘Sorry, Matteo, it’s no more than you deserve. This is one battle you’ll have to fight on your own. And I don’t think you’ll have a hope in hell of winning.’
WITH AN UNEXPECTEDLY free afternoon to attack her to-do list, Ivy felt on top of her work for the first time since she’d taken the job. Wanting to purge the embarrassment burning through her, she’d hit the tasks with gusto and now had a new to-do list that contained complete projects, as opposed to, Go through the masses of unfinished stuff the useless last guy left, find out what the outstanding projects are and then complete.
Now she had a clear idea of where she was headed—until, of course, the next crisis occurred. Because she had no doubt that it would. She could only hope it wasn’t more naked photos … because that scenario appeared to get her into hotter water than she wanted to be.
She buzzed through to the next office. ‘Becca, would it be possible for you to line up some interviews for me for next week?’
‘Sure. Hang on, I’ll come through.’ Becca appeared in her office, pencil poised and notepad at the ready, as if she was about to take dictation. ‘Who, what, why and when? And, please, please, let it be more bottoms to identify … peachy ones, of course.’
Ivy tried to frown, but the thought of that … Work, girl. ‘You are incorrigible. It’s proper work. You remember that? The stuff we get paid to do? Look through my diary— any time apart from Thursday and Friday. I need to take a brief on the Partridge case. So, I need to speak to …’s She scanned down the list of names on the paper in front of her. ‘Maggie Taylor and Leslie Anderson from Ward Three.’
Becca tapped her pad. ‘That’s the med negligence case, right? The feeding tube that became dislodged?’
‘Yes. That hearing’s coming up in a couple of weeks and I need to be apprised of all the facts.’
‘Certainly. I’ll organise that for you.’ Becca nodded. ‘But, you know, we always win anyway. Or we settle beforehand if we don’t think we’ll win in court.’
‘Yes. I know very well how the system works.’ Ivy had personal experience on both sides, but that didn’t mean she liked it. Not if it meant mistakes were still being made, mistakes that could be avoided.
With this job she’d found herself in a strange place ethically—on the one hand she wanted to ensure the hospital was a safe place for all, and on the other hand she was responsible to the hospital board. Sometimes it was exciting and technically challenging, and other times she just felt stuck between a rock and a hard place. But she loved it nevertheless. There was still a lot to do here, and she’d always been up for a challenge.
She looked at a pile of employment contracts and a thick file regarding a sexual harassment complaint against a catering manager, all ready for her review. Bedtime reading. Geez, bedtimes had never been such fun.
And why, oh, why did an image of a naked Matteo suddenly flit into her head at the mention of bedtimes? It was impossible these days to think of anything without him straying into her thoughts.
She was not going to go to the pub. She was going to stay here and work. Neither was she going to indulge any fantasies about him touching her or kissing her or undressing her in a lift … which was her most recent one … or perhaps something in the on-call room. She’d heard many a tale about that kind of thing happening in hospitals. But, no—it was all out of bounds.
When she eventually looked up again she realised her assistant was watching her while dragging on a coat. ‘Yes, Becca?’
‘I don’t know where your head was right then, but it wasn’t here. Maggie’s coming in on Monday at two, Leslie will come straight after her shift on Tuesday at three-thirty.’ Becca smiled. ‘So, you never did tell me why you came back from Theatre so early. Weren’t you supposed to be with Dr Delicious all afternoon, you lucky thing?’
Oh. That. The hospital grapevine was alive and kicking and the news was bound to spread fast. She might as well front up to it, take the ribbing and move on. ‘You have to promise not to tell a soul. Or laugh. Or anything, at any point.’
With a very serious look on her face Becca drew a cross over her chest. ‘My word is my honour.’
‘I fainted.’
Becca bit her lips together to hold in a laugh. ‘Aha. Hmm. Okay. Understandable.’
‘Really? You think? Honestly?’ Ivy breathed out a sigh of relief. It seemed the legal personnel had the same approach to bodies as she did. Preferring to look at them from the outside rather than the inside. ‘I can’t tell you how much better that makes me feel. I was standing up for such
