her lower lip with her teeth. She didn’t want or need to hear that voice. It was inevitable, she admitted silently, as he was her boss and she had seen him scrubbing in earlier, but it was not welcome. Mitchell Forrester was causing her body and mind to react in ways she had forgotten she had ever felt. She swallowed before she turned to him but it wasn’t enough to steady her racing heart when she came face to face with him again. It was ridiculous. Only the day before she had been so angry with him, then had agreed to a truce, and now she found it hard to be near him for very different reasons.
She didn’t trust herself.
‘I like to see parents smile,’ she managed as she struggled to level her rapid breathing. ‘But I can’t stop to chat, I’m super-busy, just about to check Jasper’s vitals. I just finished Costa’s feed. His mother is quite anxious but he appears to be doing well. He’s feeding, vitals are stable and her husband is expected to arrive soon, which I hope will alleviate her distress to some degree. She needs his support. Oh, and you forgot to tell me last night that we’d be working together. Any reason for that?’
‘Thought it might be a pleasant surprise,’ he replied with a smile. He wasn’t entirely sure why he hadn’t told her. Perhaps because he was still trying to figure out in his head how he felt about the working arrangement. And how he felt about her.
Jade couldn’t believe how he looked so good even in his scrubs. And how nervous he made her feel and how the words were spilling from her lips at lightning speed. It was as if she were a first-year nursing student suddenly and not the confident neonatal nurse with years of experience under her belt and on her résumé. How she wished he had retained the unkempt look of old. Resistance would have been so easy if he looked like a castaway but now he was causing an awareness of needs and desires she had pushed from her mind for so long. She was not about to join the bevy of nurses at the Eastern Memorial who found his charm irresistible.
‘So do we operate any differently from over in the US?’ Mitchell asked as he observed her taking baby Johnson’s temperature.
Jade reminded herself that if she wanted to keep him at arm’s length she had to remain aloof and professional at all times. ‘Not that I’ve noticed. Maybe a few different terms like obs when I would say vitals but it’s not going to be a struggle for me to adapt.’
Mitchell smiled. He thought she would fit in very well. Too well, in fact, he thought as he walked away. He didn’t want to become accustomed to having her around.
Jade kept her focus on the baby as she finished recording his vitals and then, satisfied he was progressing well, she closed the incubator door. She was relieved Mitchell was assisting with another small patient that had just arrived in NICU.
The afternoon turned to evening, with Jade liking her temporary new workplace. The other nurses were lovely, a little infatuated with Mitchell but other than that Jade enjoyed working with them. Those who didn’t want to sleep with him couldn’t praise him enough, and Jade had to agree that he was brilliant with the patients and ensured that the parents felt a part of decision-making around their newborn.
She had overheard his conversations with anxious mothers and fathers during her shift and his bedside manner reduced their unfounded fears and allowed them to understand the real hurdles ahead. He answered their questions honestly but with enough compassion not to add to their heightened anxiety. Jade witnessed his skills as a neonatologist and she knew that she would feel safe if she were a parent and he was the attending doctor diagnosing and arranging a treatment plan for a tiny infant.
The shift came to an end at ten in the evening, and Jade knew that Amber would be tucked into bed and sound asleep. She had called during her late lunch break and spoken to her niece and discovered to her delight that she was enjoying her time splashing in a wading pool. Maureen assured Jade that Amber was wearing sunscreen and inflatable arm bands and that she and Arthur wouldn’t take their eyes from her for a second. During the second call, Jade had found out that Amber had dried off from the pool and was busy making cupcakes. It had been a weight off Jade’s mind to hear her so happy. She had been safely inside the house and Jade knew that Maureen was very responsible so she had nothing to worry about. Maureen was nothing like her elder son, not likely to run off with Amber on an adventure of any sort.
It was late and dark so Jade was going to get a cab home from the city. She had caught the tram in but, despite the glorious warm evening air, the walk to the tram stop along the dark city road didn’t hold much appeal.
‘Need a lift?’
Jade knew it was Mitchell without turning her head. Her heart annoyingly skipped a beat and confirmed it. She felt like a teenager the way her body was reacting.
Or overreacting, as she told herself.
‘I’m catching a cab, it’s a bit late for the tram.’
He walked closer and made Jade very aware of his presence. The cologne on his clothes was faint but still enough to stir her senses.
‘I’ll give you a lift. I live in the same road, remember, so it’s not going out of the way.’
Jade drew a deep breath and in silence she turned around to face the most intense blue eyes. She knew it would be rude to decline his offer but the alarm bells in her head were louder than the ambulance siren as it pulled into the nearby A and E bay.
‘You’re sure?’ she asked, hoping against all hope that in the moments since he’d asked he had suddenly remembered somewhere he had to be on the other side of the city. Or that there was a single young nurse in need of his attention. Anything really that would allow her to squirm her way out of sharing the trip home.
‘Very sure,’ he insisted. ‘I’m in the doctors’ car park at the side of the building.’
With reservations and a deep breath, Jade followed her handsome chauffeur into the dimly lit car park. She could see a few cars but had no idea which one belonged to Mitchell. There were a four-wheel-drive, three late-model BMWs, a couple of hatchbacks and a motorbike. She felt pretty sure it was the four-wheel drive as it had roof racks that she assumed would be utilised for his surfboards. The hatchbacks would be a squeeze for his six-foot-two frame, but he might have gone the sophisticated route of the imported sedan.
At this time of the night Jade’s concern about her mode of transport was close to zero. She just wanted to get home and put her feet up. And do it without being too close to Mitchell.
‘Here,’ he said as he held out a motorbike helmet and took her bag from her shoulder. ‘This one’s for you, and I’ll take the bag for safekeeping.’
‘You can’t be serious.’
‘Deadly,’ he said, raising one dark eyebrow over a twinkling eye.
Her rising anxiety levels began pumping adrenalin around her tired body. ‘I’m honestly not comfortable with the whole bike thing. I think I’ll catch a cab.’ She felt a tension headache coming on.
‘And make me ride home alone?’ he asked her with a stare so intense it refused to be ignored. ‘Come on, keep me company. It’s only a twenty-minute trip.’
Jade felt her heart begin to stampede. But this reaction wasn’t purely the fear of the bike. It was the man. If only she hadn’t looked at him when he’d looked at her that way. It was almost impossible to remain distant but she had to. She couldn’t risk getting close to him. She definitely couldn’t let him get under her skin.
‘It’s
