CHAPTER FIVE
Ash walked out of his fitness club, following his usual route to his clinic, when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He read the text message and stopped in his tracks. Then he turned around and headed to Sydney’s Circular Quay train station. He got there just as Brenna was crossing the road.
“Bren!” he called, waving at her.
Brenna’s face split into a wide smile as she trotted towards him. She looked gorgeous in a light grey dress and black jacket—ready for her medical receptionist stint at the clinic.
“Hey, Ash!” she greeted, a little breathless as she reached up to kiss him on the cheek.
“What are you doing here so early? I thought we’d agreed you’d only work half-days from one o'clock.”
“I spoke with Dora on Friday and I asked if it would help if I arrived early. She said I don’t have to, but if I could spare the extra time it would be great since the morning temp could use the help. So here I am. I timed my arrival perfectly, didn’t I? I knew this was the time you usually finish at the gym, and I figured we could walk together to the clinic.”
He sighed, guilt tapping him for accepting Brenna’s offer to work during her leave. He knew she merely wanted to be helpful. That was her nature—to lend a hand whenever she could. Still, he felt this was stretching the friendship.
“Bren, why don’t you sit in a café, take your time having breakfast, maybe do a bit of shopping afterwards, then turn up at the clinic at midday?”
Brenna puffed, rolling her eyes. “Ash, you’ve already tried to talk me out of this a few times over the weekend and you’ve failed. Give up already. I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want to do this. Now come on. Let’s go to work,” she said impatiently, taking his hand and tugging him in the direction of the clinic.
He sucked in his breath at the zing that went through him as Brenna entwined her fingers with his. “I’ve never seen a temp get so excited about work that she’d turn up five hours early,” he said dryly, trying to sound unaffected.
“Excuse me,” she said with mock indignation. “I’m no ordinary temp. I’m Brenna Ward, Dr. Ashton Payne’s on-call person.”
“My on-call person?” he said, laughing. “What exactly does that mean?”
They stopped at a traffic light, and Brenna stood closer to him. “It means you can call me anytime you want me,” she breathed, her face inches from his.
He gulped, unable to break the eye contact. That sounded decidedly... flirtatious.
The moment was broken when he felt a jostle from behind him. The lights had turned green and pedestrians behind them were rushing to cross the road. They had to move too.
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye as they walked to their destination. She couldn’t have been flirting with him back there, could she? And this hand-holding meant nothing more than a friendly gesture?
He bet there was nothing to all this. It was so unlike Brenna to come on to him. She was just a sweet, touchy-feely buddy, and she probably wasn’t even aware of what her actions were doing to him.
Yup, that would be it. That made sense more than any other explanation.
But his heart and cock were choosing not to respond to his rationalisation. They were jumping around in excitement, while his brain did its best to calm them down.
Damn it. This wasn’t helping him at all in his commitment to obliterate his feelings for her. And why the hell was he grasping her hand tightly?
Silly Ash. But he didn’t have the will to let go.
They were almost at the building where his clinic was located when he pulled her to a stop in front of a café they were passing. “Have you had breakfast?” he asked.
“I had a muesli bar on the train.”
He shook his head at her. “Let’s go in here.” He led her inside the almost-full coffee shop.
“We’re having breakfast first?” she asked.
“I’m not. You are.”
“Have you had breakfast?” she asked in a demanding tone.
“Not yet. But I’ll be fine.”
“You should have something, Ash.”
“I will. Later. I have a consult starting in a few minutes.”
“Then why don’t I go with you—”
He pressed her lips together with his fingers. “If you don’t sit here and enjoy your breakfast for at least an hour, you’re fired.”
She frowned at him, huffing and pulling his hand from her lips. “Ash Payne, you’re such a pain in the ass,” she said with a pout.
He grinned. That line was a Brenna special he hadn’t heard in a long time. She used to say it a lot when she was in her teens—when he’d intimidated boys who hung around her.
“I can and want to start work early,” she said, her eyes flashing in annoyance. “Why is it so hard for you to understand that I want to help you? Your clinic is super busy and you have temps who can’t handle it. You can’t afford to have your patients stuffed around or their records stuffed up.”
“Step inside the clinic earlier than one hour from now and you’ll find yourself fired, Brenna. I mean it.” He put on a serious look, but he was thoroughly enjoying her irritated expression. If there was anything Brenna didn’t have much patience with, it was disorganisation.
“I can’t see why—”
“Bren,” he interrupted, holding his hand up to halt her speech. “Nothing you say could take away my guilt over agreeing for you to take your annual leave to work at the clinic. That’s a huge sacrifice you’ve made. I’m very grateful for your help, but I don’t want you working full days. You might not mind it, but I do. I’m trying to compromise with you here.”
They stared at each other, a battle of wills ensuing.
“Fine,” she said grudgingly after a long moment.
“Good,” he said, stifling his grin. “Now what would you like to eat?”
Brenna checked the menu on the table and told him, then he went to the counter and ordered it for her.
When he came back, he found Brenna watching him in a way she’d never done before. His heart pounded, and the hope that he’d been trying to shackle pulled on its restraints—getting stronger and making it difficult for him to hold it back.
“Thanks,” she murmured.
“My pleasure,” he answered. “But I should be the one thanking you.”
“Well, Ash, if you think buying me breakfast is enough, think again. I’m free for dinner tonight.”
His lungs filled involuntarily. “Dinner then. Tonight.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” she said softly with a sweet, sweet smile.
He could have stood there and gaped at Brenna all morning. But duty called. He had patients waiting. “Remember, one hour before you turn up to work,” he warned as he walked to the exit.
“One hour from five minutes ago,” she called out.
He strutted to the clinic, grinning like an idiot. He’d be too busy to have a chit-chat with Brenna during the day, but at least he’d see her. And he was having dinner with her tonight. Oh, he knew damn well it wasn’t a date, but it didn’t stop him from getting all excited.
*****
Ash came back to the clinic after performing surgery on a patient at the nearby Sydney Eye Hospital. As usual, it had been a busy day, and he hadn’t had a chance to speak with Brenna at all since leaving her at the café that morning. Hopefully, she’d had a good day.
“Hi,” he said as he approached the reception desk. The waiting room was empty of patients, since it was closing time.
“Hey, Ash,” Brenna said with a grin. “How was the operation?”
“Went well, thanks. How’s your day been?”
“It’s been good. I’ve had lots of help from everyone.”
“She’s done so well that I want to keep her,” Dora said from behind him.
“That’s great. The important question is, did you enjoy today?” he asked Brenna.
“Yeah, I did.”
“Don’t lie,” he said, narrowing his eyes.
She laughed. “I did! It’s not as exciting as my regular job, but I still enjoyed it.”
“If only all receptionists were like you,” Dora said with a sigh as she walked back to her office.
Ash leaned on the counter and stared at Brenna. “Still keen to do it again tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“I really appreciate this, Bren. Thank you,” he said quietly.
“It’s my pleasure, Doc. Anyway, I was talking to Dora about the fact that you hardly had a break today, and that I didn’t think you had lunch. She said you’re like this most days. So did you even get to eat?”
“Yeah,” he said a tad defensively. “I had a ham and egg sandwich.”
“When?”
“When I was walking to the eye hospital.”
“You ate on the run?” she asked incredulously. “That’s not good, Ash.”
“I was just really busy,” he said.
“You should get at least half an hour blocked on your schedule each day so you can have a decent lunch.”
“Yeah, but...” Truth was, it had become the norm for him to work like this every day. When he’d set up the clinic three years ago, it had been imperative to work hard and get the cash flow coming in. His mother’s house had been a guarantee for the business loan he took, and he couldn’t let himself rest until he was absolutely sure that there was no chance of his mum losing the roof above her head.
The clinic was doing very well now, though. He had three other ophthalmologists renting the consultation rooms and using the facilities. He also had a consistently long list of surgical patients at the eye hospital. With his current income now well above the higher end of his expectations, his busyness these days was due to demand, not necessity.
“But what, Ash?” Brenna prodded.
“But I only follow whatever I see on my calendar. It’s always full,” he said weakly.
Brenna rolled her eyes at his pathetic excuse. “And you forced me to have breakfast this morning,” she said accusingly.
“You weren’t supposed to start work yet,” he said, his lips curving. It was a nice feeling to have Brenna worry about whether he was eating his lunch or not.
“Well,” Brenna said, sitting back on her seat and folding her arms. “From tomorrow, I eat when you eat.”
“What? Come on, that’s ridiculous.”
“Why?”
“Because most of the time, I’m not sure when I would eat.”
Brenna shrugged. “So I’ll wait for you.”
“No,” he said authoritatively. “Doctor’s orders.”
“You can’t stop me.”
“Why not?”
Brenna leaned forward, giving him a stern look. “Ash, if that’s what it takes to make you look after yourself, then that’s how it’s gonna be. It’s silly that you’re a doctor, yet you don’t look after your own well-being.”
He sighed, touched by her care. But he couldn’t agree to what she wanted to do. “How do you even know when I eat? What if I have to have lunch in my office while I’m poring over patient files?”
“That’s no problem. When I know you’re eating, that’s when I’ll take my lunch break and eat in the staff room. Dora won’t mind. I’ll work it out with her.”
“Lunch break? You’re only supposed to work for half a day, Brenna, not for a full day. Today is an aberration.”
“Well, I was talking to Dora about that too. She said she was glad I was able to work from ten o’clock today, and that it would help if I did it for two weeks.”
He raked his hair, glaring at Dora’s office door.
“It’s all sorted, Ash. It’s your admin manager’s role to work these things out. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to undermine her.”
He sighed in defeat.
“So, getting back to you eating lunch at a reasonable hour...” she said in a slightly victorious tone.
“Bren, I really don’t think—”
“You can’t be like this every day, Ash,” she interrupted, scowling fiercely.
He shook his head mockingly, rolling his eyes. “She’s been here a day and she’s already organising me,” he muttered good-naturedly.
“I have two weeks to get you out of your bad habit, Dr. Payne. And I take my job seriously,” she said, still frowning.
“So how do you propose to make sure I have lunch at a decent time, when my schedule’s probably full for the next few weeks?”
Ash’s breath hitched when Brenna’s face split into a wide smile. Not that she didn’t look beautiful when frowning, but knowing he could make her smile like that filled him with warmth. And heck, he wanted to climb over the counter and kiss her.
“I’ll check your daily schedule and find a half-hour slot when you’re not seeing patients,” she answered. “I’ll go get your lunch for you and you can have it in your office if you need to continue to work. For the days when you’re not booked up yet, I’ll block out the time in your calendar. I suggest asking your receptionist to get your lunch. Otherwise, I’ll have to block out forty-five minutes if you’ll be getting your own lunch after I finish up here.”
Disappointment stabbed him at the thought that Brenna would be gone in a couple of weeks. Lord, she’d only been here a day and he was already anticipating missing her when she finished up. He had to watch himself around her or he might end up paying big for his foolishness down the track.
“Well, it’s five o’clock,” he said, checking his watch. “I still have a few things to do before I finish up for today. Do you want to go home first, and I’ll pick you up at seven for dinner?”
“Turning my computer off... now,” she answered, clicking away, then getting up from her seat. “I’m looking forward to tonight, Ash,” she added as she put her jacket on.
“Me, too, Bren,” he said softly, excitement stirring within him. Seriously, where was his self-control? Hadn’t he committed to moving on from her?
It’s not a date, Ash, he berated himself. Be careful, or you’ll get your heart all wounded again.