Perfect Rivals...

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Nate gave her a thumbs-up and Flo gave an inward sigh of relief. She sat back down next to Nate and he took her hand and held it. It was reassuring and made her feel good, but then she remembered this was all an act.

He’d pretty much said that he wasn’t interested in her and that their kiss had been a mistake.

That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?

“Now, if there are no more questions we’ll conclude this press conference,” Freya said. “Please make sure you take the statement with you. If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Thank you all for coming.”

Flo took another deep breath.

“See, that wasn’t too bad,” Nate said, but he didn’t let go of her hand as the journalists filtered out of the room slowly.

“No. It wasn’t.” She let go of his hand and got up to leave, but Freya and James were talking to the side and motioned for her over.

Oh, no. Now what?

“Good job, Flo,” Freya said.

James nodded. “Yes. You handled that well.”

“Thank you.”

“I think that will help salvage the reputation of The Hollywood Hills Clinic and help reinforce our joint effort with the Bright Hope Clinic.”

“I think it will,” Mila said, joining them and extending a hand to take Flo’s. “Dr. Mila Brightman. A pleasure to meet you, Dr. Chiu. I’m so pleased that you and Dr. King will be working on Eva Martinez’s case.”

“It will be a pleasure to do so,” Flo responded.

“All this good publicity for the clinic will put my mind at ease,” said Freya.

“A good thing, given your condition—” James cut off abruptly at the sharp stare from his sister and the surprised looks from the rest of the group.

“Well, since some people clearly don’t know how to keep a secret, I guess the cat’s out of the bag—I’m pregnant!” Freya announced.

James smiled sheepishly. “I’m so happy for you, Freya.”

Then he turned to Mila and Flo noticed something pass between them. It was as if he wanted to embrace Dr. Brightman but held himself back. She couldn’t help but wonder what was going on there, but, then, she liked her privacy, as well. She felt a bit humiliated that that private mistake of a kiss between her and Nate had been caught on camera so it wasn’t her place to pry.

“Well, I’ll leave you all to it,” Flo said. “I’m going to go check on my new patient. I assume that Eva Martinez has been admitted to the transplant floor?”

Freya nodded. “Yes, thank you, Flo.”

Flo walked away briskly. She was done with awkward situations. It was bad enough she had to be pretend to be in a relationship with Nate. That was uncomfortable, especially with the way he affected her.

She needed to focus on her new patient.

Eva’s case struck close to home for her. Only, for Flo, it hadn’t been her mother who had donated a kidney to her. Flo’s kidney donation had come from a deceased organ donor. Being of mixed heritage had caused a bit of a cross-match problem for Flo. It didn’t happen often, but Flo’s case had been a hard one from the moment she’d been born prematurely thirty years ago.

If it hadn’t been for that anonymous donor, who, of course, had sadly lost their life, Flo would’ve lost hers. Of course her nǎinai had always said she’d been a tough cookie from the moment she’d been born. Flo had been fighting her whole life. It’s why she fought so hard for others; it’s why she wanted to live in the moment.

Even though pretending to be Nate’s girlfriend made her feel uncomfortable, because it was a temptation that she was in danger of indulging in, she was going to do what had been asked of her. What could it hurt?

It could hurt your heart.

Flo shook that thought away. This wasn’t a serious relationship. It would never be a serious relationship. She didn’t have serious relationships because of her health issues and she’d made her peace with that a long time ago.

Have you?

She caught sight of Nate in the hallway, talking with a group of doctors and what looked like members of Kyle’s management team. Just the sight of Nate standing there made her heart flutter with insatiable need. She turned on her heel and quickly headed in the opposite direction.

Focus, Flo. She had to forget the carnal urges that Nate stirred in her. She had to remind herself that this was all an act. This would be fun. She could do this. What did she have to lose?

Pretending to be his was going to be so difficult. So dangerous. Even if she was a tough cookie, like her nǎinai said.

* * *

Nate glanced over his shoulder to see Flo retreating in the other direction, which was unlike her. She had never seemed fazed or frightened by anything before. She hadn’t backed down from him when they’d first met.

He admired that about her.

Don’t think about her that way.

He tried to turn his attention back the conversation he’d been having, not that he could really remember what he’d been talking about. It hadn’t really been that important because all of his focus had been on Flo, and it bothered him that he was so absorbed with her that he’d agreed to play along with The Hills’ ridiculous request.

His hospital in New York would never have asked him to do such a thing, but then again the hospital in New York wasn’t a private upscale clinic that prided itself on the security of its clients. Neither did he like the fact that Freya had conspired with Kyle’s management team about the idea.

Only problem was, he wasn’t a good actor.

A few years ago and he might’ve gone along with it, but now he liked to maintain control in all aspects of his life. One little slip and that reckless man he’d once been started to creep toward the surface.

And he couldn’t let that happen. Only when he was around Flo, she made him forget his control. He lost all reason. That’s why he’d pulled her into that kiss on the roof and got them into trouble in the first place.

They were in this mess because of him.

“Dr. King?”

Nate turned and saw James Rothsberg standing behind him. Beside James was an attractive redhead.

“Are we interrupting?” James asked sardonically.

“No. Not at all.”

James nodded. “This is Dr. Mila Brightman from the Bright Hope Clinic. She wanted to meet you.”

Mila stuck out her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. King.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

It was then that Nate caught a flash of something in James’s eyes, something akin to jealousy or a silent warning maybe to keep his distance, and Nate couldn’t help but wonder if there was or had been something between Mila Brightman and James Rothsberg.

Not that it was Nate’s concern, but he couldn’t miss that underlying tension between them, the same current that ran between him and Flo.

It’s all in your head. You’re paranoid.

“I want to thank you and Dr. Chiu for working on Eva. She’s a special child,” Mila said.

“It’s no trouble. I’m here and glad to help. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to check on my patient.” Nate extracted himself from that situation. The tension was uncomfortable and when he glanced back briefly he could see the awkwardness between James and Mila. They barely said anything, barely looked at each other before wandering off on their own separate ways.

This was exactly the reason why he didn’t want to get involved with anyone. Especially not at work. His focus was surgery.

He should just tell Freya that he wasn’t going to play along with this PR stunt, but where would that leave Flo?

Who cares?

Only he did. Just a bit, because it was his fault, his weakness that had got them into this situation. If he had been stronger he wouldn’t have been tempted by Flo. He could’ve kept his distance. He should’ve kept his distance. He could do this.

Who are you kidding?

He had to get out of the hospital, had to head to his hotel and swim. He had to relieve this tension that was building up inside him, because if he didn’t he was liable to crack and do something he would enjoy thoroughly but also deeply regret.

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_214e0122-da24-5675-b008-f485f3db9e7d)

WHAT AM I DOING? What am I doing?

The scent of chlorine stung her nose. She’d never really liked the smell of chlorine, probably because it reminded her of the many hours she’d spent poolside, watching her brother and sister swim competitively, something she’d never been able to do because she’d been sick for so long.