by Sue MacKay
In fact, given her past, it was probably better for her to stay alone anyway. Growing up with virtually nothing in the poorest part of Port of Spain, Trinidad, had taught her self-reliance and self-sacrifice. There had only been so much to go around, and you’d had to look after what you got.
Carmen considered herself a tough, responsible, independent woman. Prudent. She didn’t need a man to make her life happy. And if she was lonely sometimes—well, that was the price she paid for safety and security. Lord knew she couldn’t rely on anyone else to give her anything.
Only problem was, she needed a favor. From Zac.
She bit her lip and watched him through her lashes as she finished her documentation.
The guy was temptation on legs. Gorgeous and charming. And the very things that drove her nuts about him were the very reasons he was the perfect choice for her needs. He had a reputation as a player. Which meant he was not a man for long-term, serious relationships. But he sure fit the bill for Mr. Fix-It-Right-Now.
“Hey, Zac,” said Priya Shaw, coming out of another delivery room down the hall, and Carmen tensed.
Priya was a fellow midwife and friend. She also happened to be Carmen’s biggest rival for the supervisor position at a new state-of-the-art birthing clinic in California. The job paid twice what her current salary was here at Anchorage Mercy, and the extra funds would go a long way toward getting her ailing mother into an assisted-care facility for dementia patients and also help offset the tuition fees for her sister’s university education.
“Hey, P,” said Zac, but his focus remained on Carmen.
He leaned an elbow on the counter beside her and his scent—soap and fabric softener mixed with warm, clean male—wrapped around her, teasing her senses and making her far more aware of the man than she liked.
“Tell Lance I’ll call him later about this weekend,” Zac said to Priya.
“Will do,” she called back, tucking her long dark hair behind her ear as she picked up a chart and headed into a delivery room.
Priya was engaged to Zac’s best friend, local firefighter Lance Marranto—a fact that only made the favor Carmen needed more complicated. But she’d find a way to deal with it because she was a survivor.
First, though, she needed to finish this chart.
Carmen sighed and blinked down at her writing. Her normally crisp cursive was going a bit wonky from fatigue. Teena’s long delivery had burned through what little energy she’d had left, considering she’d already been up late with her mother before coming in for the delivery.
Mama’s memory had begun deteriorating faster recently, and the poor thing had a hard time remembering she was in Alaska now, and not back home on her warm tropical island. The night before last she’d wanted to go outside in her nightgown and walk along the beach, meaning Carmen had been up constantly to stop her. It was only early spring, and the wilds on the outskirts of Anchorage were hardly a place for a sixty-five-year-old woman to traipse around in the middle of the night.
Thankfully, Carmen’s shift was almost done now. All she wanted to do was hand over Teena’s care to the nurses on duty and go home for a shower and a long nap. Clara was on Mama-watch duty until tomorrow.
She yawned before she could stop herself.
“Long day?” Zac asked.
His stupid dimples were making him look far too adorable. Not that she noticed. Nope. Not at all.
“Long night too. Fifteen-hour labor.” Carmen stretched her arms above her head. “Patient finally delivered this morning.” She shuffled her sore feet, then closed the chart she’d completed and shoved it aside. “Why?”
“We just brought a patient into the ER and I’ve got a few minutes to kill. Thought maybe you’d like to grab a coffee. Looks like you need one. If you drive home now, you’ll fall asleep at the wheel.”
He smiled the sexy smile that always got her right in the feels. No man should be allowed to be that handsome. Seriously. The navy blue fabric of his paramedic uniform only made his dark skin glow more warmly beneath the overhead lights, and the material seemed to cling to all his rippling muscle and highlight his pure masculine grace.
“Does that kind of pick-up line work well for you?” Carmen frowned, reminding herself that Zac was off-limits, firmly in the friend zone. And that was where he needed to stay if her plan was going to work. “Telling women how awful they look?”
“C’mon,” he teased. “You know you want some caffeine.”
She wanted to refuse, but he was right, darn it. Plus, she needed to ask him her favor, and now seemed as good a time as any.
“Fine. One coffee. Let’s go.”
He chuckled. “You’re cute when you’re cranky.”
She nudged him toward the elevator, their shoes squeaking on the shiny linoleum floor. While they waited her pulse kicked up a notch. Not because of his hotness—not entirely, anyway. No, it was nerves. She hated asking people for help. Especially when it was for a problem she’d brought upon herself.
If only she’d kept her mouth shut when the head of that clinic in California had mentioned Priya and Lance’s engagement. If only she’d stopped herself from letting the easy lie roll off her tongue, sweet and potent, like the rum she’d used to serve to tourists when she’d bartended at that all-inclusive resort in Trinidad to make ends meet while paying her way through school.
Yes, I’m getting married too!
Ugh. The memory of her statement made during the interview still made her cringe.
Because she wasn’t getting hitched. Hell, she hadn’t even dated a man in months.
To her horror, the clinic owner had seized on that information and invited her and her nonexistent fiancé to attend the upcoming national midwifery conference, where they’d announce their choice of candidate for the new job.
So here Carmen was, needing a fake fiancé for the weekend.
Unfortunately, time was running out and Carmen had only been able to come to one conclusion: Zac Taylor was the best man for the job. He was smart, funny, and not interested in forever.
Exactly what Carmen needed.
The elevator dinged and they stepped on board, the doors closing before anyone else joined them. She felt Zac’s gaze on her and resisted the urge to fidget. She probably looked a mess after working all night, but it wasn’t like she was trying to impress anyone—least of all him.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen her at the end of a long shift before. They hung out together as part of a larger group of colleagues at the hospital, including doctors Jake Ryder and Molly Flynn, trauma nurse Wendy Smith and her OB doc husband Tom, plus Susan—Zac’s EMT partner—and Lance and Priya, and some of the other local firefighters and their significant others. It was a large group and easygoing. Uncomplicated. The last thing she wanted to do was mess up that vibe by allowing her attraction to Zac to get any farther along than fantasy territory.
So, yeah. Zac was a friend. A friend from whom she needed a favor.
They got their drinks, then found a quiet table in the sunny atrium of the cafeteria, away from the other patrons. Sade’s “Smooth Operator” was playing on the sound system overhead and Carmen couldn’t contain her ironic snort. If there was a better theme song for Zac’s serial dating, she didn’t know it.
“What?” Zac leaned back in his chair, stretching out his long legs. He was a good foot taller than her petite five-foot-four-inch frame. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. Just tired, I guess,” she said, trying to pass off her inappropriate giggles as fatigue. “Are you off work soon too?”
“Nah. I wish... Pulling a double shift.”
He sipped his iced chai tea. Zac worked almost as hard as she did, always picking up extra runs when he could. Work hard, play hard, apparently.
The favor nagged in the back of Carmen’s mind, making her jittery. “Do you have plans next weekend?”
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“Not sure.” Zac frowned at her over the straw in his drink. “Why?”
Her cheeks flamed hotter. To distract herself, she toyed with a copper-colored curl that had escaped the ponytail at the nape of her neck. Her hair never obeyed, no matter how hard she tried to tame it into submission. She blamed her mother’s Ghanaian ancestry as much as the ever-changing Alaskan weather.
“I have a thing.”
“A thing?” Zac raised a brow at her.
“A national conference. Next weekend. I was hoping maybe you could come with me, if you’re not busy.”
She clutched her cup so hard the stiff cardboard threatened to collapse. She was so not good at this sort of thing.
Calm down. There’s no reason to be nervous. This isn’t a real date.
As far as their one-night stand went—well, she had no idea. But, given the fact he’d never brought it up with her, she doubted he even remembered their fling. They’d both had far too much to drink. It was water under the bridge. No reason for her pulse to race or her breath to catch. She was just another notch in his already well-scored bedpost.
An odd pain pinched her chest. Which was ridiculous. And stupid. She didn’t want a relationship with Zac any more than he wanted one with her.
So why was all this causing her more stress than delivering triplets?
“Wait a minute.” Zac sat forward, his dark gaze narrowed. “You’re inviting me to go away with you for the weekend?”
He looked about as shocked as she felt at the proposition. Her throat tightened and she swallowed hard against the lump of unaccountable anxiety lodged there. “Yes. No. Well, not exactly.” Nerves made her fumble her words. “I mean, yes. I’m inviting you to come with me for the weekend. To pretend to be my fiancé.”
There. She’d done it. Asked for the favor. Now all she needed was for him to say yes.
Minutes ticked by like hours as Zac blinked at her in silence.
“Fiancé?” he said finally, his tone incredulous. “Uh... I’m going to need a few more details.”
“Like what?” She frowned.
“Like why?”
She gave a heavy sigh and closed her eyes. “Because there’s a new clinic opening in Big Sur, California, and I’m being considered for a supervisory midwife position there. If I get it, it would be a huge bump in salary. But Priya’s up for the job too, and the company was really excited about her and Lance getting married. Not that being married is a requirement or anything, but I got caught up in the moment, and I didn’t want to be outdone, so I told them I was getting married too.”
She sighed and opened her eyes, forcing herself to keep going even as she avoided Zac’s gaze.
“I realize how stupid it sounds, but the words just came out. And once I’d said them I couldn’t take them back without making a fool of myself or risking being thrown out of contention for lying. So, yes. They’re announcing the candidate they’ve chosen at the national midwifery conference and they asked me to bring along my fiancé to help me celebrate if I get the job.”
She exhaled slowly and hazarded a look at Zac. He was still watching her with an unreadable expression. Her heart beat harder against her ribs as her embarrassment rose.
“If it helps, the conference is being held at a fancy resort in the Yukon called The Arctic Star. All expenses paid—even transportation. All you’d have to do is request the time off work—unless you’re already scheduled to have the days free? The conference runs Thursday night through Sunday.”
Zac’s posture had stiffened now, she noticed, and his handsome face had gone a bit ashen. She wasn’t sure if his distress had been caused by her avalanche of babbling or the fact that she’d lied to a potential employer. Both were pretty awful.
When she couldn’t take the awkward silence anymore, she said, “Say something.”
He shook his head and frowned. “Like what? You want me to lie for you? Pretend I’m something I’m not?”
She winced slightly at the edge in his voice. “I know this is not what you expected from me. Honestly, it’s not what I expected from myself either. But now I’m stuck. Please? I never ask for favors, but I could really use your help, Zac.” Feeling desperate, she added, “It’s a five-star resort. They have room service, massage, a spa—the works. So you should have plenty to keep you busy while I’m in my seminars and interviews. And we’d only have to pretend to be a couple when other people are around. It’s all harmless, I swear.”
“Harmless? Lies are never harmless.”
Zac exhaled slowly, a muscle ticking near his tense jaw. His voice was quiet, as if he was speaking more to himself than her. She’d never seen him as anything other than a smiling charmer before, and she found the change both disconcerting and far too intriguing. She wanted to ask him why the idea bothered him so much when he was used to being with a different woman every week, but now wasn’t the time.
He took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders, seeming to come to terms with something inside himself. When he met her gaze again the flash of hurt and anger she’d seen there before had been replaced by a flat guardedness.
“You’re inviting me to a midwifery conference for three days at The Arctic Star Resort as your fake fiancé?”
Yep. That about summed it up.
He sat there for a moment, fiddling with his coffee cup, then finally looked up at her. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
Crap. This wasn’t going well at all. Maybe she should’ve waited until later, when she’d had some sleep and some time to freshen up.
Carmen did her best to keep it light, regardless of the growing heaviness in her heart. “Seriously, Zac. I know this is coming out of left field, but I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t in a bind. I really need your help. It’s a free weekend of luxury for you. And if you’re worried I’ll lose my head and seduce you, don’t be. You’re not my type.”
“I was once.”
So he did remember.
She opened her mouth to answer, then closed it, doing her best to hide her shock over that revelation and failing miserably. Heat prickled her cheeks and she stared at the tabletop, squeezing her cardboard coffee cup tighter than necessary.
“That night was a mistake. We were both drunk and—well, things happened. But we’ve moved on, right? We’re friends. That’s all.”
He shifted and his leg brushed hers under the table. Her heart rate kicked up another notch.
“Please. It’s just for three days. No commitments, no strings attached.”
“Right. You keep saying that.” He tapped one long, tapered finger against the side of his plastic glass. Sudden images of those fingers on her body, the way he’d touched her, stroked her, made her beg for more, flashed through her mind, unbidden.
No. No, no, no.
“Isn’t there someone else you can ask? What about that guy in Radiology you were dating? Jim or John or whatever his name was?”
“Jeff.” Carmen cleared her throat. “No. I can’t ask him. We didn’t part well. I found out he was cheating on me with his department’s receptionist.”
“Right.” He scowled down into his tea, then sighed. “Look, it’s not you. It’s... Don’t you have men lined up around the block wanting to go out with you?”
Flattering as his compliment was, Carmen just felt more exhausted now than she had before the coffee.
“No. There’s not. Trust me. I’m not exactly a party girl around here. I work too hard. Besides, I asked you because I feel comfortable with you. We know where we stand. I won’t beg, though. I’m too proud and too tired. If you say no, then I’ll contact one of those online escort services to help me.”
Zac gave her a look. “Arranging to spend the weekend with a guy you’ve never met and found on the internet? Yeah, great. Cause that’s not dangerous or anything.” He scrunched his nose, squinting at her. “Dammit. You rea
lly know how to put a guy on the spot, don’t you? Fine. I’ll go.”
“Good.” The relief was sudden, short-lived, as one more complication came to mind. “There is one more tiny hitch. Lance and Priya will be there too. In fact, they’re flying up to the conference with us on the same private jet chartered by the Californian clinic. So we need to get our story straight ahead of time.”
“Hold on. Are you nuts?” He leaned forward slightly, his voice angry. “It’s bad enough we’re fooling the people who might be your new bosses. Now you want me to lie to my best friend too? Because as far as Lance knows I’m not even dating anyone. I mean, we don’t share all the intimate details, but he’d sure as hell have noticed if I had a fiancée sitting around somewhere.”
“Are you dating anyone?”
“No.”
“That’s good, then. One less thing to worry about.”
He arched a brow at her and her cheeks flushed anew.
“Darling, you’ve got yourself so turned around here you don’t even see what you’re doing.”
The fact that he was probably right only served to annoy her more. “You’re overthinking it. We get our stories straight, learn the basic details about each other, and keep our cool. It will be fine.”
She picked at the edge of the table and kept her gaze downcast, because if she looked at him right now he’d be able to see exactly how uncomfortable she was with this, and she needed to fool him into thinking she was completely okay with it all.
She was completely okay with it all.
Or she would be once things got underway, because she had no choice.
“Okay. Say we do make it through this weekend. What happens if you get the job, Carmen?” Zac asked. “You get the job and you show up for work and suddenly there’s no fiancé. How do you explain to the new bosses that I’ve disappeared from your life?”
“I’ll deal with that if and when it happens.”
Honestly, she didn’t have the brainpower to devote to it right now. Her focus was solely on getting the job. She’d worry about the details afterward.