LITMIR.BIZ

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door that led from the side of the house into the kitchen was pushed open and Jess swung around in time to see all her happily-ever-after fantasies in all his six-foot-two glory entering the house.

      His wet boardies, riding low on his belly, barely hung onto his hips as they clung to meaty quads. Great slabs of muscular flesh—shoulders, pectorals, abs—were exposed to her view as they had been yesterday.

      A tantalising trail of hair drew her eyes down from his belly button.

      Down, down, down.

      ‘That smells amazing,’ Adam said. ‘Don’t suppose there’s any extra?’

      Jess dragged her gaze up, up up and nodded dumbly. ‘Bacon.’

      ‘Great.’ Adam smiled. ‘I’ll have a quick shower and throw on some eggs.’ He ruffled Ruby’s hair as he went past and earned a grumpy glare.

      Jess stood in the middle of the kitchen, staring after his straight tanned back as it disappeared from view.

      Tilly passed Adam and entered the kitchen dressed in a strappy little beach-dress thrown over her bikini, ready for her regular morning dip in the bay. She shook her head. ‘It should be illegal for your brother to go shirtless, Ruby.’

      Jess couldn’t have agreed more.

      She plonked her plate on the bench and went to the fridge for eggs.

      ‘What are you doing?’ Ruby frowned.

      ‘I might as well do his eggs,’ Jess said. ‘It won’t take a jiffy.’

      Ruby rolled her eyes. ‘He’s a thirty-five-year-old man whose skill with a scalpel has given countless people all around the world a better life. I’m pretty sure he can handle an egg flip. Sit and eat before your breakfast gets cold.’

      ‘But—’

      ‘No buts,’ Ruby said crankily, thinking how their mother had waited on their father hand and foot all their married life and how he’d let her.

      She and Adam hated him for it. And they hated how their mother had allowed herself to be completely absorbed by him, totally losing herself in the process.

      He doubted Adam would thank Jess for her ministrations.

      ‘Sit,’ Ruby said when it looked like Jess was about to object again.

      Jess raised an eyebrow at Tilly, who turned to Ruby. ‘More coffee,’ she suggested, sweeping Ruby’s cup up as Jess placed her meal on the table and sat. A few minutes later they were chatting about their rare day off together when Adam swaggered back into the kitchen. He was wearing dry boardies and a snug T-shirt and Jess’s throat suddenly felt as dry as the toast she was eating.

      ‘These are yours, I believe,’ he said, handing Jess her two cushions as he passed her by.

      Jess, aware of the speculative gaze of her friends, blushed furiously. The thought of just where those cushions had been deepened the colour to scarlet as she dropped her gaze to her plate.

      ‘Thank you,’ she murmured.

      ‘So,’ Ruby, said looking from Adam to Jess then back to Adam again, ‘what’re you up to today?’

      Adam smiled to himself as he opened the fridge door and reached for the eggs. Jess’s blush was so damn cute it made him want to tease her more.

      A lot more.

      ‘I have an appointment with Gordon Meriwether later today about organising some visiting surgeon rights.’

      All three of them sat up a little straighter. Jess almost inhaled a piece of bacon. Was he coming to work at Eastern Beaches? In the operating theatres?

      Her operating theatres?

      ‘Dr Meriwether from up the hill?’ she clarified.

      Adam nodded as he sauntered to the fry pan and turned up the heat. ‘As I was saying yesterday, we had to abort this last mission due to some unrest. There were quite a few cases that we’d reviewed a few months ago that were scheduled to be done. Some bad burns contractures from a horrific fire that wiped out a couple of villages and one really major reconstruction case. We had to leave them.’ He shrugged. ‘That’s not ideal.’ Jess ignored more speculative glances between Tilly and Ruby at Adam’s referral to yesterday. The plight of the people that Adam spoke about turned her already soft heart to complete mush. ‘Oh, how awful,’ she murmured.

      ‘So … you’re going to do them at Eastern Beaches?’ Ruby asked.

      Adam nodded as he cracked his eggs into the pan. ‘That’s the plan. We’ve negotiated with some international charities to bring the patients to Australia, I just need to tee it up with Gordon to use his theatres.’

      ‘Can’t see that will be a problem,’ Tilly said with a wry smile. ‘Gordon does like publicity.’

      Adam smiled back. ‘That’s what I figured. Plenty of photo ops make Gordon a happy boy.’

      Jess head was spinning. So … the man she’d fallen head over heels for ever since Ruby had introduced her brother three years ago, the man who had been naked in her bed just yesterday, was going to be walking the same sterile corridors as her?

      Maybe the universe was trying to tell her something? Seize the day? Maybe it was her turn to find happiness?

      ‘So you’ll be working at the hospital soon?’ Jess was pretty sure she managed to keep the squeak out of her voice.

      Adam flipped his eggs. He knew Jess had been in the operating theatres for the last few months. He tried to picture her in blue theatre scrubs and failed.

      All he could see was that damn towel.

      ‘If all goes ahead it’ll be a PR exercise so there’ll be a couple of weeks of settling in and fanfare with the obligatory interviews in women’s magazines and for current-affairs television. And the usual press conferences for both the charities and the hospital.’

      ‘That’s fair,’ Ruby said.

      Adam, used to schmoozing and pandering to whatever interests could fund Operation New Faces, simply nodded. He knew full well how this game was played and was prepared to do whatever was required to see that the organisation he’d dedicated the last six years of his life to thrived.

      He slipped his cooked eggs onto the plate and joined the women at the table. Jess was studiously mopping up every last scrap of yolk with a piece of toast.

      He had a sudden urge to know her. To know Jess, the nurse. Not Jess, his sister’s friend, or Jess, the farm girl, or Jess, the blushing housemate.

      Jess, the competent professional.

      He didn’t understand why.

      Had someone put a gun to his head he wouldn’t have been able to explain it. But suddenly he seemed to want to know everything about her.

      Not least of all what was beneath that towel.

      And how the hell she cleared her bed so quickly of all those damn cushions when the occasion arose. As she must most assuredly on a reasonably regular basis.

      Unless all male staff at Eastern Beaches were completely blind. Or stupid.

      ‘It’ll be a few days’ worth of surgery—there’s nine major operations all up. I’ll need a team. Are you interested?’

      Jess looked up sharply from her plate. Interested? She’d give up her claim to the family farm to work with him. Just to be in the same operating theatre as him as he unleashed his magic would be a supreme honour.

      ‘I’ve only been in Theatre for a few months. I doubt I’m experienced enough for you.’

      As soon as the prophetic words were out, Jess wished she could take them back. On so many levels, she just wasn’t up to his skill set.

      Adam

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