Luca's Bad Girl - By Amy Andrews Page 0,13

staff discount night—if you could produce an SHH badge, drinks were half-price—it was an ingrained part of The Harbour’s culture.

Not that the majority of people letting their hair down at tables needed to produce ID. Pete, the owner, had been running the popular bar for the last twenty years and not only knew who was who but usually who was doing who as well.

Of course he would never have disclosed such information. Like every good barkeeper, discretion was his middle name. And it was definitely the reason why Pete’s had been the hangout for SHH staff over the years.

Sure, proximity and comfy booths also helped but when down-time was limited, a cosy place nearby where a busy professional could talk and unwind and not be on for a while or worry about gossip, which was already rife enough in their work environment, was definitely appreciated.

He was also fiercely protective of the hard-working staff at Sydney’s most prestigious hospital. He didn’t tolerate customers who complained to him about bias or hassled his favourite clients in any way. After all, the good staff of The Harbour had been his bread and butter since he’d opened.

But it was more than that. The doctors and nurses of the SHH were special. Too many times he’d seen them walk through his door with weary, haunted expressions. They saw things on a day-to-day basis that were the stuff of most people’s nightmares. And if a drink or two at his bar managed to take their minds off that then Pete considered he’d done a good day’s work.

Mia welcomed the blast of heat as Evie opened the heavy wooden door to Pete’s. They shrugged out of their coats and headed to the bar, greeting several people they knew along the way.

‘It’s freezing out there,’ she said to Pete, thrusting out her hands. ‘Just feel these.’

Pete smiled at them and dutifully folded Mia’s chilly fingers in his big warm mitts. ‘Cold hands, warm heart,’ he quipped.

Mia grinned at him. ‘You are a romantic.’

‘Nothing wrong with that, love. Right, Evie?’

Evie, distracted by Finn chatting to a busty blonde further along the bar, answered automatically. ‘Right.’

‘Pete, Pete, Pete,’ Mia tutted. ‘Romance belongs in books.’

‘Maybe you should read a couple,’ he jested.

‘Books? We don’t have time for books, do we, Evie?’ Mia asked.

‘Nope,’ Evie murmured, sliding a surreptitious gaze towards Finn.

‘Journals are all I get a chance to read,’ Mia lamented.

Pete sighed. ‘No time for a man either, I suppose?’

‘There are men,’ she protested. Being happily married for thirty years had rendered Pete’s vision permanently rose coloured.

Pete gave her a reproachful look. ‘Men, sure. But one man, Mia? That’s what you need.’

Mia rolled her eyes. ‘If I were a man, would we be having this conversation?’ She looked around and spied Finn with a vaguely familiar blonde—Suzy someone? One of the scrub nurses from the OT. ‘Do you say this sort of stuff to Finn?’

Pete clutched his heart in a wounded fashion. He was like the SHH fairy godfather, wanting happily-ever-afters for all his regulars.

‘Of course. I say it to Finn most of all.’ He deliberately looked at a distracted Evie. ‘That man needs the love of a good woman more than anyone.’

Evie looked at Pete sharply and didn’t say anything for a beat or two. ‘I’ll have a tequila shot followed by a bottle of lager, thank you, Peter.’

‘Just the usual for me,’ Mia added.

He grinned at them. ‘Okay, okay. I can take a hint.’

Pete served Evie’s shot first and she snatched it up and threw it straight down her throat, revelling in the burn. As she slammed it back on the bar she glanced Finn’s way. He was looking at her with those piercing blue eyes and for a moment their gazes locked.

Was that disdain? Judgement? Disapproval?

Too bad, so sad.

‘Orange juice for you,’ Pete said, placing it on the bar in front of Mia. ‘Beer for Evie.’

Evie picked up her drink. ‘Let’s go over there,’ she said, moving off the bar stool in the opposite direction to Finn, before Mia even had a chance to lift her juice. She shrugged at Pete and followed.

Unfortunately, Evie was heading to a booth Mia would rather not be at but it was difficult to change direction now the occupants had spotted them and waved them over. And she didn’t want to have to explain to her friend who would no doubt put two and two together and come up with five.

‘Move over,’ Evie announced. ‘We’re coming in.’

Mia tried not to look at