Rescue Heat (13 page)

It would be an ideal work relationship if it began and ended in the chopper, but Matt was also a man who had stood in front of her and stated his desire. Three short staccato beats had Brigid turning her headphones to the staff only channel.

“Multiple car pile up on the Prince’s Highway,” said Chris. “Police are reporting unspecified critical injuries on five passengers. Two children are involved. Brigid, how long are we tied up here?”

“Her labour has slowed enough that the paramedics can transfer her direct from the base. We can be back in the air as soon as you can refuel,” Brigid replied.

While Brigid’s mind wanted to race to the possibilities of injuries that they would soon face, she forced herself to concentrate back on Kylie. Part of being a good emergency physician was being able to give the patient before you the attention they deserved. Brigid couldn’t yet do anything about the potentially critically injured children at the accident scene, but Kylie could benefit from her care now.

Brigid switched her radio back to the patient channel, “Kylie, we’re only five minutes away from Cairns. The paramedics are going to meet the helicopter and quickly get you to the obstetrics ward.”

Brigid looked over at Matt, whose big athletic body was hunched as he was busily inputting the latest observations on Kylie’s file. This was not going to be a leisurely handover, so it was important that all the relevant paperwork was to be as detailed as possible. Brigid noticed Matt made an extra note. It was a personal note to the admitting nurse, asking for Jonno to be advised of the safe arrival of his girlfriend and baby. Despite the distractions, Matt was clearly a man who lived up to his word.

A flash of blue sea, alerted Brigid to their imminent landing at the helicopter base. On the ground, there was enough activity to tell Brigid that the early reports from the accident scene were serious. Making sure Kylie did not feel lost in the rush or lose the confidence they had carefully cultivated during the flight, Brigid leaned forward and touched her shoulder gently.

“You know the best thing about today is you have four more names to add to your list of babies’ names. Brigid, Matt, Chris and Dave,” Brigid said, as she pointed to herself and each of the men. Kylie giggled and that laugh reminded Brigid again of how desperately young this woman was.

Looking down towards the tarmac, Brigid could see the ground crew, a waiting ambulance and the second shift’s on-call doctor, who was in a flight suit. Offloading a passenger and quickly prepping the helicopter, they were going to need those extra personnel.

Seven hours later, Brigid walked her tired legs out of the back entrance of the Cairns Base Hospital. She moved automatically, brought only to awareness by the sight of Matt. He was leaning against his large Range Rover and the florescent car-park lights lit his solemn face. “We live so close together, it only makes environmental sense to carpool,” he said, when she got close enough to hear.

His statement completely ignored the fact she had driven her own car to work today. However, Brigid was exhausted enough not to say to say anything as she let Matt usher her into the luxurious leather passenger seat of his large four-wheel drive. She had spent four hours at the accident site, two assisting in the ER and the final hour spent trying to make a dent in what would be literally days of debriefing and paperwork.

The car started with a gentle hum and Brigid could only be grateful for Matt’s silence as he competently turned the car towards home. She was able to gaze to her fill at his strong features, as his eyes were on the road ahead. The planes of his face were harder than ever, even seen through her bleary eyes.

“You were good out there today,” said Brigid, as she broke the quiet.

Good was an understatement; Matt had been brilliant. She had not fully understood what a talented medic he was. He had been more than indispensable, out there, dealing with the carnage on the road. They had had to triage and care for four patients, two of them children aged six and eight. As Brigid had worked frantically on the child who was, by the smallest of margins, the most injured, she had to trust in Matt’s skills to look after the other. He was focused, with quick hands and able to decipher her shouted instructions.

Now, he replied to her statement, “We all did good work there. The driver, who died, couldn’t have been saved, even if the hospital had been only five minutes away. And at base we were glad to get your call that those kids were going to be alright eventually.”

“Going by the destruction we saw when we got there, that’s almost a miracle,” Brigid said. “The two adults have some serious surgeries ahead of them, but even though they’re in intensive care, at least they aren’t on the critical list.”

The words were true but they did little to ease the tightness in Brigid’s chest. They had done a good job and got the best outcome that could have been hoped for but nothing could erase the stress and sadness of the situation.

Brigid’s voice faded as she looked out the window, watching the suburban streets roll by. Those people in their houses had not spent the day covered in the blood of children. They had not had to make decisions about who to help first, about whose battered body first needed her highly skilled hands and overly educated brain.

Brigid had disappeared into her musings, so she jolted when Matt made a familiar turn off into their own street. As soon as Matt parked the car, he leapt out to open Brigid’s door.

“Thank you for the ride,” Brigid said.

Even as she mouthed the words, Brigid realised that she was not at all inclined to face her empty house alone. Her body might be wound up and exhausted, but sleep would be elusive and television was not going to be enough to sooth her restless mood.

Either Matt had sensed her sudden reluctance to say goodbye or he was fighting some similar demons.

“It’s a warm night,” he said. “That pool of mine is crying out to be used and I’ve got some pizza in the freezer that can be easily nuked.”

Accepting Matt’s invitation would go against Brigid’s previous strictures to remain professional but she didn’t want to say goodbye to the man who had been kind enough to hang patiently around a parking lot, just waiting to take her home. This simple consideration had touched Brigid in a way that she didn’t care to examine too closely.

“I’ll grab my swimmers and see you in ten,” Brigid said.

After a quick shower, Brigid tried not to second-guess herself as she pulled on the thin Lycra of her black bikini. The briefly cut swimmers always made her feel attractive. Tonight, she wanted to feel womanly and shed the professional darkness that hung in her consciousness like a cloud. Even the dog seemed to sense her fragility. Instead of jumping enthusiastically on her, he gently sniffed at her hands.

A white cover-up and towel was all she needed to begin the short walk to Matt’s back garden.

Spotlights lit Matt’s lavishly landscaped gardens; the centrepiece the large pool bathed in blue light. Brigid could see Matt’s shape shadowed against the pebbled bottom of the pool, where he swum strongly underwater.

He surfaced with a smoothness that barely caused a ripple.

Under the intensity of his gaze, and his quiet, Brigid started to ramble. “It seems decadent to have a pool so close to the beach, but I have to admit that water looks inviting.”

As she spoke, she removed her cover-up and walked towards the steps of the pool. Matt did not seem to possess the decency to avert his gaze, so Brigid felt bare wearing the minimal strips of material.

The coolness of the water directly against her exposed skin, served only to heighten this sensation. She hoped Matt put the hardening of her nipples down to the cold.

Brigid submerged herself, luxuriating in the feeling of weightlessness. The rest of the world was banished and all that existed was Matt and the silvery water. Brigid turned onto her back and floated looking up at the stars.

Matt’s voice broke the silence, “I dreamt of water like this when I was in the desert.”

The proximity of his voice alerted her to his nearness. She turned her head and saw his shoulder, just inches from her own. The muscular tone of his body was so fascinating that Brigid had to clench her fists to prevent herself from reaching out and exploring his flesh.

“What did you guys do to decompress back there?” Brigid asked.

“Drank, told tall stories, played cards, lifted weights,” Matt replied. “After a bad day the guys who had families called home and the rest of us would sit around a table and bullshit each other.”

Brigid focused on the stars above, before she said, “Well if you feel the need to bullshit, I’m going to be sticking around for pizza so you have at least the next half-hour.”

Matt laughed and a splash from his direction had Brigid making a leisurely turn towards him. He was standing in the shallow end of the pool with water sluicing down his chest and shoulders. The man really did possess a body that made her too aware of a sexuality that had been dormant for a long time.

“Well the boys and I used to give each other crap about our love lives,” Matt said, “but to do that with you, I’d need to know more details.”

Brigid lazily swam up to Matt’s end of the pool. She made sure though to give him a generous distance, staying well out of arm’s length.

“Details, huh?” she said, as she rested her backside on the steps of the pool.

“Hey, I’d settle for knowing why you don’t have a husband or even a boyfriend,” Matt’s eyes narrowed before he continued, “or at least not one I know about.”

“It might be considered impolite to ask what is so wrong with me that no-one wants to take me on,” Brigid teased.

“Somehow I doubt that the lack of male interest is the problem,” Matt said. He exaggerated his drawl, “Come on, spill!”

Matt waded through the chest deep water to the side of the pool. As he reached over the edge, he treated Brigid to a much-appreciated demonstration of the flex of his muscles. What he was grabbing turned out to be two icy beers.

He passed one beer to her and found a similar position on the underwater steps, a position that was a little too close for relaxation.

Rather than look at him as they spoke, Brigid took an unnatural interest in the intricate mosaic on the pool wall.

Finally, she said, “Cairns is a funny place to live, there isn’t a huge social scene here. More than that, the job can make it hard to connect with someone outside of the rescue or medical industry. How can you explain to an outsider the four hours you spent holding a child’s bleeding limbs together? Even, other doctors don’t always appreciate a girlfriend who gets called in at four in the morning.”

Brigid took a deep breath and exhaled with an ironic laugh, “and sorry; I’ve just broken the first rule of bullshit chat, I’m being such a downer.”

“Sometimes we can talk without the bullshit,” said Matt. “Anyway, the truth doesn’t have to be a downer.”

With one hand cradling his beer, Matt reached out with the other and with a startlingly gentle touch; he traced a reassuring pattern across Brigid’s bare skin. All of Brigid’s concentration was suddenly focused on the slightly rough fingertips she could feel across her back.

With the power of that simple contact and the feel of the pool water lapping against her breasts, it took all of Brigid’s willpower to simply raise the beer to her lips and sip.

Matt spoke, “So we’ve tried the bullshit tactic. What do you normally do to relax?”

As he proposed that question, Matt’s palm skimmed up her back and his fingers tangled in her hair. That provocation was a little too much for Brigid. “I know what I’d like to do.”

What that statement, she turned into Matt’s body and applied her lips to his. God, that man could kiss.

Quickly, Brigid found herself bodily lifted, leaving her straddling Matt’s lap. Their bare midriffs touched, flesh to naked flesh. Brigid opened her mouth to Matt’s insistent lips and almost moaned when their tongues tangled.

There was the clink of glass as they both rid themselves of their bottles. If Brigid was going to kiss this man, she wanted her hands free to explore.

As her hand went to his stomach, she could feel his erection lengthen and harden between them. A responding ache was developing between her own legs, so Brigid broke their kiss and nipped at the strong cords of his neck.

Matt matched that escalation by moving his hands to her breasts. He ruthlessly stripped her of her top and with agonizing slowness explored every inch that he uncovered.

Brigid could only bite his shoulder, letting sensation rule. Instinctively she reached down, past the hard contours of Matt’s abs. Just as quickly, she found herself dislodged, picked up and placed away from Matt’s warmth.

“Nah,” said Matt. “I want you, but this can’t be how it’s going to go. We can’t get together because of a hellish day. It has to be because it’s what we both want.”

Brigid was indignant, “I’m an adult sitting topless in your pool, I think we can both assume I’m up for this.”

“You’re a doctor who was dead on her feet after attending a horrific accident. I don’t want to be the guy who takes advantage of that.”

Brigid could appreciate that Matt was trying to do what was right, but now all she felt was rejection and more than a little embarrassment. She had wanted to lose herself in this man and now he seemed more interested in playing boy scout?

Brigid groped in the water for her bikini top and tied it securely back on her body. At least, she thought with satisfaction, glancing at his intriguingly large erection, she wasn’t the only one whose body would be screaming in frustration.

Brigid climbed out of the pool water and shivered as the evening air hit her wet body. The atmosphere had become decidedly colder.

“Matt, don’t worry about the pizza. I think toast will do me tonight,” she said.

Matt’s features seemed more harshly etched than before. He looked to be keeping his self-control on a tight leash.

“You owe me your company for dinner tomorrow night,” he replied.

His invitation surprised her. Matt must have correctly identified her expression because he followed up with, “I won’t be taking the high road tomorrow, so think about what you want.”