Luca's Bad Girl - By Amy Andrews Page 0,14

Luca as she was forced to take the seat next to him. But she could feel his eyes on hers and the heat of him immediately enveloped her as her body responded in an almost Pavlovian fashion to his proximity.

The booth was spacious but with three bodies either side it was a cosy fit.

‘Mia, long time no see.’

Mia smiled at John Allen, the psychologist she’d been forced to see that morning by Luca. Susie, his wife, was also there and greeted Mia warmly. Of course she saw them regularly enough anyway, given that they too lived at the nearby Kirribilli Views apartments where a lot of The Harbour staff resided.

‘How did the debrief go?’ Luca enquired.

‘Mia’s fine.’ John winked.

She glared at him. ‘I am fine.’

‘Sure,’ he soothed.

‘You know, Mia, it’s not a bad thing, to talk this kind of thing through.’ Rupert Davidson, head of Neurology, entered the conversation.

‘He’s right,’ Teo Tuala, SHH’s head of Paediatrics, agreed.

Mia looked at all of them, exasperation bubbling inside her. She inclined her head towards Luca. ‘He didn’t. He was being threatened too.’

‘Yes, but I wasn’t lunged at with a knife. Neither did I have my arm slashed open by said knife.’

Mia took a long swig of her drink as his voice, so close to her ear, took her right back to the on-call room. ‘I’m fine,’ she repeated.

‘Well, you know where I am if you want to talk any more,’ John offered.

Mia couldn’t help but think that a sweaty twenty minutes with Luca had helped more than an hour’s conversation with John but it was a dangerous path for her thoughts to take given how aware she was of Luca right now.

‘Absolutely.’ She nodded. ‘What’s happening with Stan?’ she asked, deftly moving the focus of the conversation off her. ‘His ninety-six-hour hold must be up by now.’

John nodded. ‘He’s staying on voluntarily. He’s had increasing paranoia episodes over the last few years apparently. We want to get his meds right and get him well supported before we discharge him.’

Mia nodded and soon the conversation drifted to other subjects.

Ten minutes later, Evie finished her beer and stood. ‘Gotta go. I promised my father I’d drop by some hideous dinner party he’s having. He’s sending a car for me.’

Mia leapt at the opportunity to escape and stood as well. ‘I’d better go too. I’m on in the morning.’

‘Oh, Mia, no,’ Susie objected. ‘Don’t leave me alone with all these men talking shop. Stay a bit longer.’

Mia looked at Susie’s beseeching gaze and acquiesced. It had absolutely nothing to do with every cell suddenly crying out for Luca’s heat to be squashed back up against her again. ‘Okay, I guess I can stay for one more.’

‘I’ll get another round,’ Luca said. He climbed out of the booth and watched bemused as Mia took a step back. ‘Is that vodka and orange?’

Mia shook her head. ‘Just orange.’

He frowned. ‘You’re not on call, are you?’

‘Nope. Just not drinking.’

Luca slid a glance at the table, where the merits of a journal article were being debated. He looked back at Mia. ‘Are you worried you may lose your inhibitions?’ he murmured, dropping his voice a little. ‘I don’t need alcohol to lose mine.’

Mia, aware of how close he was standing, felt the pronunciation of inhibitions slide right down her spine. His English was perfect but the occasional word leant towards his native Italian.

‘I wasn’t aware you had any,’ she said, her voice steely.

Luca walked away chuckling, deep and low. Unfortunately, that was exactly where Mia felt it—deep and low.

Standing at the bar a couple of minutes later, Luca rattled off the drinks order and waited for Pete to return with them.

‘Here you are, Luca,’ Pete said, placing them on a round tray.

‘Thanks.’ Luca handed over the money.

‘You’re with Mia, I see,’ Pete said casually. ‘Great girl.’

Luca nodded, his gaze straying back to a smiling Mia. She was wearing a long skirt, a turtle-neck skivvy and black knee-high boots. He’d been fantasising about her in those boots, just the boots, all day.

‘Yes,’ he agreed. Except they weren’t the words he’d have used. Sexy, feisty, prickly seemed to suit her so much better.

‘Fantastic doctor,’ Pete pressed, joining Luca in his observation of Mia.

Now, those were words Luca would use. ‘Yes, she is,’ he agreed.

‘Hard to believe someone like that’s still single,’ Pete mused.

Luca looked back at the bartender. ‘And why is that, do you think?’

Pete looked Luca direct in the eye. ‘Men these days scare too easily. They buy into her I’m