He couldn’t unhear the sarcasm bleeding out of every word. Noah sighed and returned to his patient. “Now I’m going to check your eyes. Follow the light.” His words came out harsher than he intended and Georgia gasped audibly, as if he’d slapped her.
Yeah, this shift was gearing up to be a stellar one.
Lisa Wheeler looked up from her pile of towering charts and paperwork, took in the institutional green walls, and wished she were anywhere but at work. It was just her luck to get stuck doing a shift at the hospital on the most romantic day of the year—Valentine’s Day.
Not that she had anyone special to spend the evening with. She hadn’t been on a date in months. Her plans had been to sit on the couch, munch her way through a packet of Tim Tam biscuits and watch her favorite movies, Casablanca and then, Notting Hill.
But instead, due to a last-minute shift change, she was now going to be spending the night cleaning up puke, helping to stitch up the bloody heads of people who thought standing on a balcony and declaring their undying love was romantic … until they fell and ended up in the ER. She’d heard all the stories and wasn’t looking forward to what the evening was going to bring.
Sighing she picked up her pen and started making notes again on the chart, ignoring the latest squeal of delight when yet another flower delivery arrived. Was this what it was always like in the ER on Valentine’s Day? Being a romantic at heart she couldn’t help but wish that maybe one of the deliveries could be for her. From whom she had no idea, but she could dream.
“I’m sure your delivery is just moments away.”
Was the comment directed at her? Had she spoken her inner thoughts out loud? She looked up, spying two people standing a couple of feet away from where she was working. Nope, it definitely was not for her.
The high-pitched giggle belonging to Charlotte, one of the other nurses on duty, grated on Lisa’s nerve endings. She gripped her pen a little tighter, tamping down the desire to stab it hard into the paper.
“Oh, Noah, there’s only one delivery I’m waiting for. If you know what I mean.”
The temptation to vomit was huge. Could she be any more obvious in wanting the one man every single woman in the hospital wanted? Charlotte might as well tweet it out for the world to see, I want to date Dr Sexy Green Eyes #ValentinesDay #dreamdate #sexydoc #futureMrsCollins #dreamscometrue #lovemylife.
Aware their conversation was being observed, Dr Noah Collins suddenly turned his piercing green eyes onto her. Mischief lit their depths and he took a couple of steps until he was leaning against the counter she was working at. “How about you, Nurse Wheeler? Are you expecting any deliveries this evening? Or maybe you’ve already received numerous flowers and chocolates.” He used the same smile on her as he’d used on the patient he’d been attending to an hour ago, before snapping at the poor injured woman. The guy was either flirting all the time or being an arrogant jerk. But, damn, he was good looking and he knew it.
She clenched her jaw at the emphasis he placed on her name and his condescending comments. He probably thought he was teasing her, having some fun. He wasn’t. “Not that—”
“Oh, she’s too busy establishing her career to worry about dating, isn’t that right, Lisa?” Charlotte cooed in that super sickly-sweet way she had. If Lisa had to work with the other nurse all night, she might deliberately injure herself so that she could go home. “I’m pretty sure romance is the last thing a newly-graduated nurse has on her mind.”
Lisa had never really got on with Charlotte, and now she was reminded why. She wasn’t about to confess her secret desire to be swept off her feet by a handsome stranger for Charlotte and Noah to cackle over. The fact that the stranger in her secret fantasies bore a resemblance to Noah Collins was something she refused to acknowledge. She’d dealt with her infatuation with the handsome doctor months ago. Noah Collins was way out of her league. She had no chance with him, and she’d convinced her heart and mind that that was how it was going to be.
That hadn’t stopped her hoping Cupid might decide that this was her year, though. Unfortunately, as always on this romantic day of the year, it looked like Cupid was ignoring her again. Maybe he was sitting this one out on his own couch watching Casablanca too. Maybe Cupid watched it with his mum, Venus, like Lisa had always watched it with her dad when they had their father/daughter nights when she’d been growing up. The image of Venus and Cupid on a couch together was a sign the day was getting to her.
“Oh yeah, I’m under no illusion about romance,” she replied, feeling her inner snark coming out. “There’s no handsome, rich, knight in shining armor on my horizon, only full bedpans.”
Noah laughed but Charlotte’s eyes narrowed in irritation. She wanted Noah’s attention firmly on her and not Lisa.
“Not a romantic, hey Nurse Wheeler?” Noah asked, leaning over the counter. He was irritating her but his spicy scent tickled her senses. She remembered after her first encounter with Noah, the moment her shift had finished, she’d headed to the closest department store and had smelled every masculine fragrance in the hopes of finding the one Noah wore. After the fifth bottle her sense of smell had died so she given up looking. Also, it was about the same time that her practical side kicked in and told her she was acting like a teenager and not a grown woman. “You have heard that this isn’t an ordinary Emergency Department,” he continued, pulling her out of her internal thoughts. “It’s the main hub of romance for the lonely staff of Perth’s largest ER. We don’t just fix people up. We fix people up.”
Indeed, Lisa had heard the stories, which hadn’t helped her fantasies about her and Noah. It had all started with the ER Registrar and Nursing Unit Manager, Alex and Sophie, getting together. Lisa had been doing her final training at the hospital with Dawn Granger, when the woman had found love with one of the local paramedics who was always bringing patients in. And the buzz had gotten even more intense when another nurse, Phoebe, had gotten married, to Alex’s best friend. Not to mention Noah’s name was repeated often in association with other nurses throughout the hospital. Although he seemed to remain staunchly single—like her.
“So I’m led to believe,” Lisa replied sardonically. “I’ll be sure to be careful so I won’t need fixing up.” Although if Noah…
No, not happening.
Thank goodness for her practical side, that bitch had her focus firmly in reality and not dreamland.
“See I told you she’s not into romance.” Charlotte said, clearly not impressed she still wasn’t Noah’s sole focus. “Anyway I wanted to tell you, Noah, that your dad is amazing, I heard about the miraculous surgery he performed yesterday. No wonder he’s rated the best surgeon in the state, you must be so proud to be his son.”
Why did everyone fawn over Noah when it was his father doing all the good work?
“Yes, he’s very good at what he does.”
Something in his tone had Lisa looking up at Noah. His eyes had lost their earlier glint and his mouth, instead of always smiling devilishly in a way that tempted even the sickest of patients, was set in a firm line of annoyance. Was he upset at being compared to his father all the time? He never gave the impression it bothered him. He always seemed to enjoy the attention the other nurses lavished on him.
“Do you have plans after your shift, Noah?” Charlotte persisted.
Lisa collected the folders she was working on. She didn’t need to hear the gushing anymore. Nor did she want to hear if Noah indeed had plans for the most romantic night of the year. She had better things to do than watch Charlotte and Noah organize a date.
As she went to walk past them, a hand halted her progress. She looked down and saw Noah’s long fingered hand on her arm. The warmth from his fingers radiated through her, increasing her heart rate, making her momentarily forget how much he annoyed her. Or how much she thought he annoyed her. This was the first time he’d voluntary touched her. What did it mean? Stop it. She was making a simple touch much more important than it needed to be.
&nb
sp; “Yes?” If he asked again if she’d received a flower or chocolate delivery today, she was going to stomp on his foot.
“I wanted to say thanks for the way you handled that impalement we worked on a couple of days ago.” A construction worker had fallen at a building site onto some exposed steel rebar and gotten critically wounded. Lisa wasn’t sure she’d ever seen so much blood before in her life. It was one of the toughest shifts she’d worked, but it was also one of the most rewarding ones. For the first time since she’d finished her degree, she’d felt like a true ER nurse. “You were cool under pressure and anticipated my every need, which made it so much easier to save the man’s life. A more experienced nurse couldn’t have done better under the circumstances, Lisa.”
His words rendered her speechless. It was the last thing she’d expected to hear from him. Noah had been terse, seeming angry throughout the complicated procedure unlike his normal persona. Lisa had thought perhaps he was upset that the only available nurse to assist him was a rookie. When they’d finished, he’d left the room without a word to her. His compliment now was unexpected to say the least.
“Thank you. But I think it works both ways.” Lisa needed to get away and process what Noah had said to her. Was there more to him than just being the entitled son of a prominent surgeon? “I need to hand over these files.”
This time Noah let her pass and she mourned the loss of his touch.
“I’ll see you later in the shift, Nur—Lisa.”
2
Noah wanted to do the last few minutes over. Why, whenever he was around Lisa, did he seem to say and do the wrong thing? Normally he was much smoother with women and never had any trouble talking to them. Not that complimenting her on how well she handled the situation they worked on together was necessarily a bad thing. However, it hadn’t been what he wanted to say to her when he’d stopped her. Well, if he was truthful with himself, he hadn’t known what he wanted to say, but he’d seen a hint of sadness in her eyes, even though she’d tried to assure him and Charlotte that she didn’t believe in romance. Lisa intrigued him, but she never gave him the time of day.
“Noah? Did you hear what I asked?”
Charlotte’s voice grated down his spine like nails down a chalkboard. He couldn’t be rude to the woman, it wasn’t how he did things. But he sure as hell wished he could be. Women like Charlotte were the type he tried to avoid at all costs, but were the ones who seemed to flock to him like bears to honey. He was well aware the lure wasn’t because they really liked him, and wanted to get to know him. It was because of who his father was and his bank account balance. Plus their position in society. When he’d been growing up he hadn’t minded it, in fact he’d enjoyed the attention. Now though, he was tired of it.
“I heard what you asked and my plans for tonight aren’t exciting, I’m going to be right here at the hospital working.” He’d taken this shift deliberately to avoid another Valentine’s Day at the mercy of his mother. Oh he loved his Mum, she was always the voice of reason whenever he and his dad argued. Mum always encouraged him to follow his dreams and not the dreams Dad had designed for him from the moment he was conceived. Contrary to what everyone thought, it wasn’t easy being the son of Dr Aaron Collins. But she was determined that, at thirty-three, her son needed to settle down. Every year he was expected to show up at the charity event she put on, but this year, he’d told her he was working. Mum had started to argue with him, to try and persuade him to change his mind, but he’d stood his ground and she’d accepted that this year, she wouldn’t be parading her eligible son around.
“Well you’re no fun,” pouted Charlotte. “I was hoping we could get a drink or something now that I’ve finished my shift.”
“Sorry, not tonight.” What he wouldn’t give to have an emergency come bursting through the doors so that he could get away from Charlotte. Not that he would wish ill on anyone, it was just that whenever he tried to get away from her, she always seemed to follow him. It probably wasn’t a coincidence that she was one of the nurses that always seemed to be on the same shift as he was.
“We’ll have to do it another time,” she looked up at him from beneath her lashes and he cursed his foolishness by joking with her earlier. He should’ve known better, give Charlotte an inch and she’d take a mile. Just like every other woman who wanted his attention.
“Maybe.” He looked down the hallway again, but Lisa had disappeared. At least he’d be able to work with her tonight. He enjoyed his shifts when she was on with him, not that they worked together on patients all the time, but knowing she was around and he could catch a glimpse of her satisfied him.
Yeah, he had it bad. He was like a teenager with a huge crush on a famous movie star. The first time he’d seen Lisa, she’d piqued his interest. Whenever he tried to get close to her she’d always brushed him off. Resisted his attempts at flirting and shut him down like she’d done earlier. He admired that she was focused on her career. He was the same. And that was what he needed to concentrate on, not an unrequited crush that had no chance of going anywhere.
“Here.”
Lost in his thoughts he’d forgotten that he’d been in the middle of a conversation with Charlotte. He should apologize for spacing out on her, but the last thing he wanted to do was give her an idea that he wanted to prolong their interaction, which had gone on for longer than he felt comfortable with.
When he looked at Charlotte he saw she was holding out a piece of paper. “What’s that?” Noah knew exactly what she was holding and what was written on it. He didn’t want to take it from her. Nothing good would come of him doing that.
“Come on, Noah, you know exactly what it is.” Had she read his mind? She continued to wave the paper in front of him like it was a fan and would cool him down on a hot summer’s day. Yeah, not likely.
Okay, he needed to nip this in the bud now. If he took Charlotte’s number he would give her the wrong idea and he couldn’t do that. Noah was well aware of his reputation around the hospital corridors, he couldn’t deny he liked to flirt and have some fun. He used it to relax the patients when their anxiety threatened to derail their treatment. The patients knew it was his bedside manner, Charlotte would read way too much into it. Besides, he made it a policy never to date anyone from the emergency department. It would make working with the other person, when things fizzled out, too difficult and there was enough tension in an ER without adding broken hearts to the mix. He had no plans on bending his rule now, unless Lisa gave him an indication that she wanted to date him. She was the only one who could make him reconsider his policy, and he had a feeling he wouldn’t regret it if she did.
Damn, he was getting way ahead of himself. As much as he tried to tell himself differently, Lisa fascinated him in a way no other woman ever had. Problem was, she had no idea how much she affected him. Noah was under no illusion that Lisa felt anything other than contempt for him. This was the case where his reputation preceded him and he wanted to tell her he wasn’t what the hospital gossip made him out to be.
But that was a problem for another day, year or century. Right now, he had to deal with Charlotte. “Look, Charlotte, you’re a great girl.” He cringed at his own words. No one ever wanted to hear that, however, he forged on anyway. “And I like working and chatting with you, but I’m not looking for anything long term.”
“Well neither am I. I’m just giving you my number so we can get together for drinks and,” she paused and tiptoed her fingers up his arm. “You never know maybe things will change if we spend some time together.”
Not in this lifetime.
Noah grabbed her hand and pulled it off his arm. “Please, Charlotte, stop. I’m not going to take your number. Not now or in the future. You’re my work colleague and that’s the way I’d like it to stay.”
His words were harsh, they needed to be to get his message across to her. Noah felt a stab of remorse when he saw the hurt flash in her eyes. Some song lyrics about being cruel to be kind, crossed his mind and t
hey fitted his current situation. He hated doing it, but it needed to be done.
“I’m sorry Charlotte,” he continued on. “I’m not looking at dating anyone at the moment. I’m focusing on my career. And I’m definitely not dating anyone from the emergency department.”
Knowing that she would try and plead her case he nodded his head in a signal that, for him, the conversation was over. Noah swiveled around and his gaze connected with Lisa’s. Her brow was furrowed and she almost had a look of disappointment on her face. In a blink of an eye, her brow relaxed and the disappointment was replaced with a blank look, as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
But Noah now knew differently, he’d seen it with his own eyes, she wasn’t as indifferent to him as she made out to be. This was a time where he hoped his assumption was correct and two plus two added up to four and not five.
I’m definitely not dating anyone from the emergency department.
As much as Lisa tried to forget hearing Noah’s words, they marched around her mind like soldiers at a parade. It shouldn’t have hurt to hear them, but it did. The way he dismissed Charlotte indicated how little he cared about the other woman’s feelings. For half a heartbeat Lisa had felt sorry for Charlotte until the other woman had worked out that her and Noah’s conversation had been observed. Charlotte lifted her head and told her that Noah was playing hard to get and he would come around, as she walked passed her and headed for the staff locker rooms.
Lisa hadn’t said anything in response. What was the point? The other nurse wouldn’t want to hear what Lisa had to say anyway. And why did it matter to her? Lisa had always known that her chances with Noah were slim. Hearing him say that only confirmed her thoughts.
Be Mine: Valentine Novellas to Warm The Heart Page 40