Perfect Rivals.... Amy Ruttan

and took a step away from her, running his hand through his hair, trying to calm the erratic beat of his pulse and the longing in his blood.

      Flo stood there, just as shocked as he was, her fingers pressing her lips, her eyes wide.

      “I’m sorry. I don’t know...” He trailed off. He knew what had come over him and he was angry at himself for letting lust take over his senses, even for just one moment.

      “No, it’s okay,” she said quickly. “The rush of the moment. I get it. We won’t talk about it again, Dr. King.” And then, before he had a chance to say anything else, she turned on her heel and jogged away, putting the distance between them that he should’ve done in the first place.

CHAPTER THREE

      FLO WOKE WITH a start and forgot for a moment that she was in an on-call room. Her arm had pins and needles because when she’d crashed, she’d crashed with her arm hanging over the side of the bed, clutching her pager, which was currently vibrating in her hand.

      She glanced at it and saw that Freya Rothsberg was looking for her.

      Drat.

      She hoped it didn’t have anything to do with sharing her office with Nate. She wouldn’t have really minded or put up a fight before, but after yesterday Flo knew that sharing an office was a bad idea.

      She’d been so surprised when he’d pulled her into his strong arms and kissed her. A little voice inside her head had told her to push him away, but she’d been unable to because the kiss had been the hottest kiss she’d ever had.

      Every other kiss in her life, before Nate’s kiss, had been chaste in comparison. The moment his hand had cupped the back of her head, his fingers playing in the wisps of hair at the back of her neck, it had sent a jolt of pure longing and desire through her veins.

      And she’d wanted him.

      That side of her that lived for the moment had screamed at her to take him. Though the sensible side of her had reminded her that the last time she’d become close to a man, when she’d almost taken the plunge and had had sex, a certain scar had scared Johnny. It spoke to the world that she was ill. That her life was uncertain, and no one wanted to be tied down to a risk. Johnny had made that much clear.

      He’d been afraid to touch her again after he’d seen the scar, and she’d told him why she had it hoping that would calm the issue, but it hadn’t. It had just made it worse. Besides, what did she really know about sex? She’d never had it before.

      It was good that Nate had broken off that kiss, though it was going to be hard to work with him. Especially if Freya insisted that they share an office.

      Flo got out of bed, tidied her hair and brushed her teeth in the on-call room, then made her way to her office. Thankfully, her administrative assistant wasn’t in yet, because Sally would certainly pepper her with a ton of questions about Kyle Francis and Flo’s bedraggled appearance.

      You slept in the on-call room again, didn’t you?

      Flo locked the door to her office and went to the closet to pull out the set of business clothes that she always kept on hand, because this wasn’t the first time she’d slept over at The Hollywood Hills Clinic and had needed to make an appearance in front of the bosses the next day.

      She tossed her scrubs in the laundry basket and then pulled on a reliable white blouse and pinstripe black pencil skirt. She traded her comfortable running shoes for her black heels and hoped no one would see the dents in her ankles from the elastic in her socks after wearing them all night.

      Flo fixed her hair, putting it up in a bun, and then slipped on her white lab coat, attaching her security cards and identification. With one last look she reached down and grabbed a tablet so she could bring up Kyle Francis’s file, because she was positive that Freya would want to talk about that.

      Once she had everything she quickly made her way through the halls of The Hollywood Hills Clinic to the boardroom, where Freya had asked her to meet her, which also had Flo’s nerves on edge. She knocked and then entered the boardroom and tried not to blush when she saw Nate sitting in a chair at the table.

      He was chatting to Freya amicably, but the moment Flo walked in those piercing blue eyes trained on her, and it took all her willpower to stop her knees knocking together. She would not let Nate get to her.

      They were colleagues. That’s it.

      Besides, even if something came of it, once he found out she was a transplant patient herself, he’d run, like all the others had. Her uncertain future like kryptonite to men. Which was why she kept it to herself, both in her personal and professional life.

      “Sorry for running late, Freya.”

      “No, it’s quite all right, Flo. Please have a seat.” Freya motioned to the seat directly across from Nate, on her left side. Flo sat down and tried not to look in Nate’s direction.

      “I understand Mr. Francis has been stabilized?” Freya said, sitting down at the head of the table and brushing her long hair over her shoulder in that refined way she had.

      “He has.” Flo pulled up Kyle’s file. “The surgical report is here if you need it.”

      Freya held up her hand. “No, I’m not here to talk about Mr. Francis’s surgery. I’m glad to know that he’s been stabilized.”

      “I thought you wanted to talk about Kyle Francis? The page said there was going to be discussion about him.”

      “Well, it’s indirectly about Mr. Francis.” Freya brought up an image on the screen behind her with a click of the remote.

      Flo almost fell out of her chair when she saw the headline of a local paper and the photograph that was underneath it.

      Superstar Kyle Francis’s doctors locked in a kiss while actor hovers near death.

      “And then there’s this one.” Freya clicked the remote again and a close-up photograph of Flo in Nate’s arms, lips locked, was emblazoned across a more reputable local paper with the caption underneath, Love match between heart surgeons.

      “We’re not heart surgeons,” Nate joked, trying to defuse the situation. “We have cardiothoracic training, but we only transplant hearts when it comes to cardio care.”

      Freya fixed her sternest gaze on him. “Yet the world knows Kyle Francis is waiting for a heart and lung transplant.”

      “How did they know that?”

      Freya sighed, “A paramedic leaked it. Not someone from our clinic thankfully, but still security and privacy measures at our clinic are now being questioned. Especially in light of a paramedic leaking the information about Kyle Francis’s surgery and then a paparazzo snapping a picture of two surgeons making out on the roof of our clinic. Our reputation is on the line.”

      Flo’s stomach twisted in a knot and she felt like she was going to be sick.

      How could she have been so foolish? She liked to live for the moment and take risks, but not when it jeopardized her career or the reputation of The Hollywood Hills Clinic.

      “Freya, I’m so sorry...”

      “There’s no need to apologize, Flo. There’s still a chance to solve this problem.” She smiled at them both. “Which is why I’m so glad both of you are dressed respectably. We’re going to hold a press conference in a few moments.”

      “A press conference about what?” Nate asked.

      “We’re going to talk about Kyle’s procedure. We have clearance from his management team. It will be good PR for him. We’re also going to talk about a pro bono case that both of you will be working on. We’ll be working in conjunction with the Bright Hope Clinic to help Eva Martinez. She’s a child in need of a kidney transplant. Her mother, a single mom and waitress, is a perfect match and is donating a kidney