Amy Ruttan - Perfect Rivals...

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Nate knew he should refuse, get up and walk away. After all, he wasn’t a surgeon at the clinic. He was only here because of his patient and that’s why he couldn’t leave.

He also didn’t want to hurt Flo.

She was a surgeon here at The Hollywood Hills Clinic. Her reputation would be tainted because of this. He really didn’t have much of choice. He might not like it, but it was just a prettiness. It wasn’t like they had to do anything, and he didn’t have plans to surf the local single scene in California. It wasn’t going to put a damper on his style.

“Okay,” Nate said.

“Okay?” Flo asked, shocked, and she fixed him with an are you crazy look.

“I’m fine with the pretense and I’m more than happy to help that little girl. The fact that a match has already been found makes it all the easier. I don’t mind working on a pro bono case.”

Freya smiled. “Good. What about you, Flo?”

Flo was sitting back in her chair, still in shock. “I guess that’s okay. I’m fine with the pro bono case and...yeah, I’m fine with the other angle.”

“Good,” Freya said, and stood. “I’ll let the press into the press room and we’ll get this conference started in ten minutes.”

Nate watched as Freya walked out of the boardroom, leaving Flo and him by themselves. They didn’t say anything to each other. There was lots he wanted to say to Flo; he wanted to apologize to her, because it was his fault they were in this situation. He was the one who’d been unable to control his desire for her.

He’d acted impetuously. Something he hadn’t done in a long time.

This is why I need to maintain control and keep my distance at all times.

If he didn’t maintain that tight control on himself, he acted irrationally and people paid for his indiscretion. Which was why he always tried to remain in control. Control of his life was the most important thing.

“Well, perhaps we should get to the press room.”

“What was that?” Flo asked, her arms crossed.

“What was what?” he asked.

“Why did you agree so easily? I thought you would’ve put up a fight. I mean, you don’t work for the clinic. You could just leave, go back to New York.”

Nate snorted. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Flo rolled her eyes. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Kyle’s surgery.”

“Doesn’t it?” Nate stood and leaned over the boardroom table. “You’ve been trying to get me to go back home since I first arrived. You don’t like another surgeon sniffing around your territory.”

Flo grinned. “You’re right. I don’t, but I had resigned myself to the fact you were staying. Honestly, if it were my patient I would probably do the same thing. What I don’t understand now is why you’re being so accommodating.”

“Look, it was my fault what happened up there. I shouldn’t have done it. I was an idiot and not thinking clearly. If I could go back in time and change the fact that I kissed you I would. It was a huge mistake.”

A faint trace of disappointment crossed her face. “Okay.”

“Let’s just put on our best professional facades out there and play nice. Besides, I look forward to working on a kidney transplant with you. It should be a simple surgery.”

A strange look passed over her face again, one he couldn’t recognize as other than pain, but it was just fleeting as she stood up and straightened her lab coat. “Right. A nice pro bono case. Good PR.”

There was a hint of bitterness to her tone.

“Are you okay?” Nate asked.

“Now you care how I feel?” Flo asked.

“Well, I am supposed to be your boyfriend. I might as well get into the act.”

Flo shook her head and sighed. “Come on, then, Mr. Dreamboat. Let’s get this press conference over with.”

“That’s Dr. Dreamboat to you,” Nate teased.

Flo stuck out her tongue and they walked out of the boardroom and headed toward the press conference, with a lot of gazes fixed on them. A few whispers. So word had got out already about the “dream team”.

Nate took Flo’s hand and she flinched, so he leaned over, the scent of her soap tickling his senses.

“Relax, we’re supposed to hold hands. We’re a couple.”

Flo nodded and then held her head high as they walked hand in hand to the press conference. Though he shouldn’t like it, he did. Her delicate hands, the ones that had so expertly stitched in that left ventricular assist device just yesterday, were strong and soft in his.

And it felt right.

Too right.

The moment they stepped into the press conference they were met by a ton of flashes and questions being fired at them. Flo looked a bit shell shocked. Perhaps she wasn’t used to press conferences, but Nate was.

He often spoke to the board and at conferences about transplant surgery. This was an old hat for him. The only thing that was a bit new for him, and unwelcome at that, was pretending to be Flo’s significant other.

Well, it wasn’t totally unwelcome to pretend to be Flo’s boyfriend. What bothered him was that he wanted to act on it. He wanted another kiss. All the previous night in his hotel he’d thought about her, to the point he’d been unable to sleep and had spent most of the night in the hotel’s swimming pool, swimming laps to burn off energy.

Energy that he’d wanted to spend in a different way.

Don’t think about it.

“It’s okay,” Nate whispered in her ear, reassuringly. “Just smile. This is for The Hollywood Hills Clinic, remember?”

“Right,” Flo said through gritted teeth, and she nodded as they made their way to the podium, taking a seat on either side of Freya.

He could do this. Keep his cool.

He could go with this charade.

He was made of strong mettle.

This was just an act. Just a risky, foolish act. One he should be keeping far away from.

CHAPTER FOUR

FLO’S PULSE THUNDERED in her ears. She didn’t like crowds too much. Crowds like this just reminded her of junior high school when she’d been a sickly girl sitting off on the sidelines but wanting to be part of the action. Her mom had taught her to be strong, but that was usually in a one-on-one situation. There were a lot of people in this room. People who weren’t doctors.

Stand her in front of a bunch of other surgeons, doctors and nurses in a conference setting and she was fine. Press? That was new territory. Especially given the fact that she was on the arm of the hottest man in the room.

And usually good-looking men didn’t get to her, either. James Rothsberg was in the room and Flo had always found him attractive, with his golden blond hair, deep blue eyes and athletic frame. So what was it about Dr. Nathaniel King that made her feel so nervous?

Probably because you’ve never kissed James Rothsberg and have no desire to do so.

Whereas Nate King. Oh, yeah, she’d been fighting that craving since he’d first got off the helicopter.

Get a grip on yourself.

Freya was talking, but Flo really couldn’t focus on what she was saying. She was talking about The Hollywood Hills Clinic and initiatives with the Bright Hope Clinic. Flo glanced over and could see a petite woman with mahogany hair and hazel eyes smiling and nodding at everything that Freya was saying, and Flo recognized her as Mila Brightman, who ran the Bright Hope Clinic, but it was the look that James was shooting at Mila that caught Flo’s attention immediately. There was underlying tension there, something Flo recognized as akin to her own feelings regarding Nate and their shared passionate kiss.

Flo couldn’t help but wonder if there was something going on between James and Mila. James was usually so reserved in press conferences, so detached and cool, but this was different. Something was bubbling just under the surface of James Rothsberg.