‘But I didn’t know who she was.’
‘You’re in good hands, mate. Georgie’s a good operator,’ Sean said.
‘We’re going to be working together?’ Josh’s grey eyes hadn’t left her face. He was watching her intently, almost as though he was committing her face to memory. But why he’d need to do that she had no idea. His gaze was intense and focussed but not obtrusive.
She nodded and remembered what had brought her in here. ‘I’m the rostered paramedic today and our first call has just come in. A four-month-old girl in respiratory distress—she’s in the Tully hospital but they’re concerned her condition is deteriorating. Pat, our pilot, is just getting the flight details. We should be ready to take off in about ten.’ That was better. If she concentrated on work, she could block out the image of a bare-chested doctor.
‘The chopper’s restocked and ready to go,’ Marty said as he slammed his locker closed. ‘Good luck, Josh.’
‘Thanks, guys,’ Josh replied as the night crew headed out the door. He turned back to Georgie, watching her with his grey eyes. ‘So you drew the short straw.’
Georgie could see flashes of silver in Josh’s eyes. The colour was striking. She forced herself to concentrate on speaking. Gazing into his eyes was not terribly professional. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You get to work with the new guy on his first day.’
‘I don’t mind,’ she said with a grin. ‘This way I can get you trained up just how I want.’ And she didn’t mind. She’d seen his CV and she knew he came with an excellent reputation, although she had expected someone older. Josh looked to be in his early thirties, pretty young for a specialist with his credentials, but that didn’t bother her because this time she’d be in charge.
In an effort to stop ogling him, she opened her locker and threw her bag inside. She needed to get changed.
‘I’ll meet you outside,’ Josh said as she slipped off her sandals and stowed them in her locker.
She turned to him and nodded. He was standing very close to her; she could have reached out a hand and touched him but she didn’t.
As he stepped away she wondered if he was nervous about her disrobing in front of him? Surely not, she thought. He was a doctor, he’d have seen it all before. And he’d seen pretty much all of her just yesterday, she recalled. Her cheeks darkened a little as she remembered what she’d been wearing. Her black bikini hadn’t seemed revealing out on the pontoon, not when everyone else had been dressed in a similar fashion, but now she felt her outfit yesterday may shown him more than she would have liked. She was glad of her olive complexion. Hopefully he hadn’t noticed the blush staining her cheeks.
‘See what other info you can get about the job,’ she said as she tried to quell her embarrassment. ‘Louise should have a contact number for someone at Tully hospital.’
He nodded and said, ‘No worries, I’ll get onto it.’
He turned and left the change rooms, taking the image of Georgie Carides with him. Hearing her voice today and realising they were to be colleagues had been a surprise. A very pleasant surprise, he thought as he entered the corridor. Working with an attractive woman was always a bonus.
He could remember her features. Her face was round and almost perfectly symmetrical. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face and her widow’s peak in the centre of her forehead further highlighted the roundness of her face. Her nose was small and straight and her olive skin smooth and tanned. Her almond-shaped eyes were the colour of chocolate and were accentuated by perfectly shaped black eyebrows. The only splash of colour on her face was the red of her lips.
Her natural demeanour seemed to be quite serious and solemn but when she smiled her whole face changed. Unsmiling, she was striking to look at but when she smiled she was beautiful. Her whole face came to life. Her teeth were brilliantly white against her skin tone and her mouth and eyes and eyebrows all lifted. It wasn’t just her lips that smiled, it was everything.
He’d wanted to give her some privacy to get changed but it had been an effort to make himself leave the room. The room was unisex but it seemed wrong to stand around and chat to her while she was changing when they’d only just met. But when he recalled what she’d been wearing yesterday he’d been tempted to stay. He’d seen plenty of her in her black bikini and he could recall every detail.
Despite the fact they’d been working to stabilise a patient, he was able to recollect every one of her curves. The curve of her waist as it had flared out to her hip. The curve of her bottom at the top of her thigh. The curve of her cleavage where the Lycra of her halter-neck top had pushed her breasts together.
He’d known he couldn’t stand there talking to her while those images had been flashing through his mind, that wouldn’t have been a very professional start to their working relationship. He had no plans to get involved with anyone during his six-month stint; but if there were more women like Georgie Carides in town, his time in Cairns was looking more promising.
Georgie swapped her singlet for a T-shirt with ‘Paramedic’ stencilled across the back and swapped her skirt for her jumpsuit, before pulling on socks and lacing her boots. Her hands were shaking as she tied her laces. She took a deep breath. Although she’d said she didn’t mind working with the new recruit, she was nervous.
But it wasn’t Josh that made her nervous. It was her reaction to Josh.
She knew plenty of cute guys but she’d never had the sense that they could affect her physically. She certainly hadn’t expected to have such a strong reaction to him. Yesterday she’d put it down to adrenaline but today she knew it was more than that. She’d never experienced an instant, powerful physical attraction to a man and now it had happened twice in a matter of hours. It was unexpected and surprising, pleasant but scary—and it was making her nervous.
She wondered how she was going to be able to work with him. Would they work together smoothly? Would their styles be harmonious? Would she be able to concentrate? Questions buzzed through her mind as she zipped up her overalls. There was no way of knowing all the answers.
She’d have to rely on her skills and expertise. She was an experienced intensive care paramedic; Josh was an experienced emergency specialist. In theory she knew they should be fine. But in reality she was the one with experience in pre-hospital emergency medicine. She was the one who would need to take the lead, which meant she needed to be able to concentrate. Josh was used to working in a well-organised hospital environment and she knew, from her days as an emergency unit nurse, that hospitals were a long way from the chaotic, cramped, hot and dusty locations the emergency retrieval team often worked in. She needed to make sure she kept a cool, calm head. She couldn’t afford to be distracted. A lapse in concentration could put her patients at risk. She couldn’t afford to get sidetracked by cute doctors.
She closed her locker and headed out.
Josh was waiting. He held the door for her as they left the building and his stride matched hers as they crossed the tarmac and headed for the helicopter.
‘Are you feeling okay? Ready for this?’ she asked. She wondered if he was nervous, although he certainly didn’t look it. He looked completely at ease. If anything, he looked calmer than she felt.
He nodded his head. ‘Don’t worry. I’m not a complete novice.’
He’d obviously guessed the reason for her question or knew what she was thinking. It would make her job easier if he had a vague idea of what he was in for. ‘This isn’t your first retrieval?’ she queried.
‘I’ve done a couple of transfers before but no primaries and no S&R.’
The most common retrieval for the QMERT team was an inter-hospital transfer or IHT, which was what they were heading to now. Often, but not always, this was a fairly straightforward exercise and Georgie hoped that would be the case today.
Josh’s prior