Falling For Her Fake Fiancé

‘You don’t know me very well, Kelli.’ He leaned one delectable hip against the desk and folded his arms across that spread of chest filling his scrubs so well. ‘Saturday it is, then. What time’s the wedding?’

Slowly, slowly, her stomach started heading down towards her knees while her fingers began trembling. As for her brain? It was on lockdown, couldn’t put the words in order, let alone utter them.

Mac’s eyes were fixed on her, waiting. ‘Kelli?’

Gulp. ‘The wedding’s at four.’ As he relaxed her stomach dropped further. ‘At a resort on Waiheke Island. The celebrations are taking place all weekend, starting Friday night with dinner for the two families.’ She’d arranged to have Friday off months ago.

His hands gripped his crossed upper arms. ‘I see.’

Ah, no, you don’t. ‘My parents have booked me a suite at the resort. If you’re my partner...’

‘I’ll have to share it with you,’ Mac finished for her after a hiatus in the conversation. ‘You’re meant to be sharing it with this other guy?’ His face was bleak.

‘No. He’s got his own room.’

‘I could get a room too.’

She shook her head. ‘The resort’s booked out.’

‘So being in the same suite as you will make this other man believe you’re not interested in him.’ Then his gaze darkened. ‘You’re not, are you?’

CHAPTER TWO (#ue02b3aec-07d2-5f1f-b6fe-1466a2057a69)

AS KELLI’S FACE paled and her expression became stunned, Mac felt nothing but relief. He’d wager his brand-new, top-of-the-range four-wheel drive that she was not the slightest bit interested in this other man and was not using him to make the guy jealous. ‘Why don’t you just tell him you don’t want to go with him?’

‘I’ve tried heaps of times, but with my parents backing him he thinks I’ll see I’m wrong.’

‘Tricky.’

‘Very.’ Her face tightened, her eyes anxious. ‘You won’t be able to swap your Friday shift at such short notice.’ Then the caution deepened. ‘Will you?’

Seemed having a partner was important to Kelli. Deep despair had dulled her eyes earlier when she’d been on the phone presumably talking to Tamara. He’d been within touching distance and yet she hadn’t noticed him or any of the people pushing past. It was that despair that had him offering to help her out because he’d been there, knew how hard it was to face demons alone. Not the sanest offer he’d ever made when he was meant to be trying to put distance between them, but would he retract it? No way. Even if that was where he might be headed this weekend. ‘I’ll pull in a favour. You going to tell me what this is about?’

Her eyes widened as she looked beyond him. ‘Later,’ she murmured.

‘Kelli, can you meet the ambulance due any minute?’ Stephanie was upon them. ‘We’ve got an eighteen-year-old male, drowned while surfing at Piha. He was revived, but secondary drowning is now a concern. You want this one, Mac?’

No, I want a case three floors up where I don’t have to see Kelli, hear her voice, or be reminded what a total pushover I’ve been. Partner Kelli to her brother’s wedding? I can’t believe I offered to do that. Talk about a stupid idea.

It wasn’t as if Kelli had begged him. She’d been shocked by his offer. Mac tapped his head with a clenched hand. ‘I’ll see him. Michael might like to join us since secondary drowning doesn’t occur every day.’ Then the atmosphere around Kelli and himself would be diluted somewhat.

‘I’ll go tell him.’

The bell from the ambulance bay was loud in the sudden silence between him and Kelli. Then she shook her head and rushed off to collect their patient, those endless, shapely legs eating up the distance with haste.

Mac watched her go. Waited for her to return. One hour working with her and he knew he’d made a big mistake filling the vacancy with Kelli. Not that he’d had any choice. She was distraction personified, made it impossible to think logically. Hence putting his hand up for that wedding position. What other reckless suggestions would he be making after a whole shift? A week? He’d be better off spending the coming weekend at Piha Beach where he could dig a large hole in the black sand dunes and bury himself, not spending the days on Waiheke with Kelli, mixing and mingling with her family, and no doubt being given a thorough look over.

No, mate, that’s not your problem. The real problem here is that hotel suite. Double beds are a given in these places.

All he could hope for was that there were two. But something deep in his gut told him what fate thought of that idea.

Two nights sharing a room with Kelli would test him beyond measure. Hell, one night dancing with her in Sydney had burned him deep. Deep enough to bring up all the walls to keep from getting close when they were outside her hotel room and the enormity of what they’d been about to do hit home. Even casual sex with Kelli would’ve exposed more of himself than he had since his beloved Cherie. Mac grimaced. No pun intended. He hadn’t been ready to let his emotions out of the box when they were still tender and bruised. The weeks Kelli’d been in Fiji had been a relief. Had given him time to put that escapade into perspective. He’d been determined that Kelli was not going to become a part of his life outside work. Yet one hour in and already that was a total screw up.

They were going to spend a whole weekend together. All because of his big gob.

Over the past six weeks he’d missed her more than he’d believed possible. But he wasn’t ready. Doubted he ever would be. Not even a short fling with no strings. Doubted Kelli was a casual fling kind of girl given the intensity she approached people, work, pretty much everything, with. Unfortunately for her, for him, he’d given his heart to Cherie, and didn’t have a second one beating in his chest. Moving beyond the dark that had resided in there since—since the day his life had blown apart and grief became his norm—wasn’t possible.

Yet whenever an email from Kelli had come in on the department site during the past weeks he’d read it avidly to see what she was up to. Her account of fishing far out from land in a tiny canoe with the locals had had his heart racing, even though she’d obviously returned safely. There’d been a photo of a grinning Kelli holding up a trevally she’d caught. That grin had got to him, tightened his gut and other parts of his anatomy, but, worse, it had started gnawing away as if he was missing the point somehow.

He’d wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat only to lie staring at the ceiling, his heart pounding while images of Kelli paraded through his skull. Kelli in that figure-defining bridesmaid dress, Kelli dancing at Tamara and Conor’s wedding celebrations, Kelli strolling down Darling Harbour pier afterwards in six-inch-high green shoes as if she were in sneakers. In his arms, reminding him of what he’d lost and couldn’t contemplate opening up for again. In case he...

‘Mac?’ Stephanie waved a hand in front of him. ‘Your patient’s in cubicle two.’

Truly? How had he missed the stretcher being pushed past? Was it possible that Fiji Hospital ED needed to swap out a doctor requiring to upgrade his or her skills? Could it be a twelve-month exchange? Because he was available, as of right now. ‘I’ll just grab Michael.’

‘He’s already there.’

If he didn’t know better he’d believe Stephanie was laughing at him. So he didn’t answer, didn’t give her anything else to be amused about. Pushing through the curtain into cubicle two, he introduced himself to the young man. ‘Beau, I’m Mac, a doctor. I hear you got into some trouble surfing this afternoon.’

‘The ambo guy said I drowned. But that was ages ago. Why am I in here? The surf club guys brought me round.’ His hands were picking at the bedcover. Grumpy and twitchy.

‘Drowning’s no picnic. We need to monitor you for a while. Also I want to see if there’s any water still in your lungs.’

‘I reckon I coughed it all up. A little bit can’t hurt, can it?’ The words were snapped out. Aftershock from drowning, or his normal mannerism? He did appear a little bewildered.

‘Do you remember much about things before the helicopter picked you up off Piha Beach?’

‘Lots of people hanging around, talking at me.’

Kelli already had the pulse oximeter on his finger to keep tabs on his oxygen saturation. She was focused on their patient.

As he should be.

‘Can you sit still for me, mate?’ Michael asked. ‘I can’t listen to your lungs while you’re moving so much.’

Beau scowled but sat stiffly, only moving to breathe deep when Michael asked.

Mac explained. ‘You drowned, and had to be resuscitated. We need to keep an eye on you for a while yet in case there are any complications.’ Mac glanced at Kelli. ‘Heart rate?’

‘Sixty-nine.’

Near to normal. Moving in beside her, Mac said quietly, ‘Watch for mood swings. Beau seems edgy, but that might be his personality.’ He tried not to breathe in that scent of flowers, but his lungs couldn’t hold out until he’d moved away. Roses. Red ones. Like the ones in his mother’s garden when he was growing up. But this scent was beguiling and tempting and—unwelcome. He bit down on the groan of longing building in the back of his throat. The night ahead stretched out interminably.

A bell sounded from the ambulance bay. Relieved to have an excuse to get out of this airless cubicle, Mac turned to head away. Drawn back to Kelli, he coughed. Let it go, man. But he just couldn’t. ‘It’s good to have you back. The place’s been dull lately.’ It had? She hadn’t even worked the same shift as him until today.

‘I’m not noisy.’ The tone might’ve been sharp but her mouth twisted in that adorable way he’d begun noticing at the wedding dinner.

‘I always know when you’re around.’ Talking too much, Mac Taylor. There were hours to get through yet. And this was only day one of three hundred and sixty-five minus weekends. All those days to get to know Kelli and maybe understand why he felt different around her, if there was some hope for his future.