Chapter 2
Brooke
Here goes nothing; well, everything actually.
I made myself smile in the window, wiping off a stray smear of lipstick. Today was the day. Screwing up was something I couldn’t—no, wouldn’t—let happen. So, whether it was this $250 Marciano professional two-piece suit, or my mahogany lip color, everything about my first day was going to be perfect.
I glanced at myself again, taking another deep breath. Checking my phone for the time didn’t help things either. I was still fifteen minutes early. Already I’d spent twenty minutes touching up in the bathroom and cursing myself for arriving so early. But I’d been so nervous about getting here on time and finding the place okay. Not to mention this job itself. Sure, I’d had nursing jobs while I worked my way through law school, but this was different. A nurse at Teller-Sawyer, the most prestigious plastic surgery outfit in town? Now that was something else entirely.
My breath came out in an exasperated exhale. Okay, fuck it. I was going to go out there and introduce myself, fifteen minutes early be damned. What are they gonna do, fire me for being early?
One foot out the door and I almost walk right into him. I mean, him. Not just some regular old guy, but hands-down one of the sexiest men I’ve ever seen. Tan, dark curly hair, dark eyes with long-lashes, and muscular as hell. The works.
“Hello,” he says in a baritone voice with a kindly half-smile.
It was only after several seconds of staring at him stupidly that I realized I recognized him.
Rapidly, I flung out a hand.
“Hi, I’m Brooke. We spoke on the phone. You must be—”
“Jake,” he said.
His smile turned wry.
“Everyone always mixes us up.”
His hand clasp of mine was firm, his shake slow. Those dark irises flicked to my lips, then a line of confusion furrowed his brow. He released my hand as if he had just remembered that was how you were supposed to end a handshake.
“You’ll want to meet my colleague, Mark,” he was saying, as he lifted one of those muscular arms to gesture down the hallway.
I followed his gaze down the clouded-glass hallway to stop on another incredibly sexy stud. This one had sandy brown hair, greenish-blue eyes, broad shoulders and a cocky smile.
“You must be Brooke,” he said, as he advanced.
Instead of shaking my hand, he threw his arms around me. As he held me there, he spoke.
“Weird, I know; but we’re all friends here.” As he released me, he grinned from me to Jake.
“Okay, maybe you don’t know me, yet. Let’s see, Jake and I have been buddies since college. That’s when our love affair started and,” clapping his hand on Jake’s shoulder, “it’s been smooth sailing ever since.”
Jake gave his hand a quick pat and a half-smile.
“Speak for yourself.”
His curly head swiveled in my direction.
“You’ll probably be wanting a tour.”
“A tour, right,” I echoed hollowly. It was really kind of hard to concentrate on your job when your bosses looked like they belonged in a fashion magazine instead of a medical office.
“Right now, we’re in the hallway, as you can probably see,” Jake began.
“I don’t know,” Mark continued, “I was under the impression this was a waiting room.”
“Oh shut up,” Jake said, giving the other man a light punch on the shoulder.
He turned to me with a smile.
“He’s just making jokes about some of our rush hour times. When poor Deidre overbooks us, and some of our hordes of crabby customers have to wait out here.”
Mark’s hand closed on the door and opened it.
“Can you blame them though, really? he asked. We’re the best in town.”
Jake’s full lips spread into a not-buying-it smile, although he didn’t say anything.
“Isn’t that right, Deidre?” Mark said, now turning his attention to a pudgy woman at the reception desk.
“Yes, yes,” she muttered, adjusting her pink glasses nervously, not even looking up.
“Yes, of course we can book that for you,” she said, speaking on a headset, presumably to someone on the other line, “Unfortunately, the wait right now is at least six months for a preliminary consultation so—”
Her fat fingers clenched into fists of frustration.
“Another hang-up,” her nasal voice declared, as her dour gaze went to Jake.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, at the same time that Mark said, “Just call them back.”
Deidre’s close-set big blue eyes blinking furiously, she brushed a strand of black hair out of her face, nodding forcefully.
“Yes Ma’am, this is Deidre speaking from Teller-Sawyer Plastic Surgery, how may I help you?”
Jake gestured me through the room, which was surrounded with more clouded glass. We weaved by chic white leather couches and black satin pillows, as well as a clear table plastered with Fashion and Celebrity magazines.
“As you can see, Mark has a different view of business than I do,” Jake said, once we’d reached another hallway.
Mark snorted.
“You mean better,” he corrected the other man, shooting him a derisive look.
“If Jake had his way we’d be giving out free boob jobs to every insecure college girl who walks through our doors.”
Jake waved his hand.
“And if Mark had his way, we’d be charging every client who comes in for a touch-up after a few weeks.”
Opening a clear-glass door, his tanned hand gestured me inside. I sat down on a plush red leather chair, my gaze scanning the surroundings admiringly.
“Nice, eh?” Mark said, with a knowing grin as he took a seat behind the black wooden desk.
I nodded dumbly, although “nice” didn’t even begin to cover it. This room looked like it belonged in one of those high-end home decor catalogs. With the black panel walls, slick white tiles and huge flat-screen TV, it felt like I was in some kind of Hollywood studio office, not that of a plastic surgeon.
Jake cleared his throat.
I glanced over to the desk to see that they had both sat down beside it.
“So,” Jake continued, “We just wanted to have a little talk with you before you started.”
I swallowed thickly and smiled.
“Yes, of course.”
“What drew you to this industry?” he asked, resting the side of his face in his hand.
I glanced from one expectant face to the other. Should I give them a high-powered ambitious answer such as ‘working in a fast-paced growing environment stimulates me,’ or the real one?
“I-uh, I had plastic surgery as a child,” I admitted, “For a deformity. My mom, well, it wasn’t her fault, but she left the oven door open while she went to answer the front door. There was a bit of cookie globed to the rack. So, I picked it up, pressed it to my mouth and…”
I shuddered, my hand automatically going to my mouth. That had been twenty-five years ago, and still I could remember that indescribable searing pain.
Both Jake and Mark looked horrified.
“Oh damn, I’m really sorry to hear that,” Jake said.
Mark nodded.
“Thanks,” I said, though I wasn’t finished yet, “That surgery changed my life. I’ve seen the pictures and I can still remember the looks I got whenever my mom and I would go out somewhere. It wasn’t pretty. But that surgery—well, that just changed everything. So, ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to help people in the same way that surgery helped me. Sure, being a nurse for law school kids was fun, but this is what I’ve always dreamed of doing.”
“So, your dream job, then,” Jake said, with a gleam in his eye.
I nodded.
“So, it being your dream job,” Mark cut in, rising and walking around my chair, “you wouldn’t, say, cash the customer’s checks as your own and steal piles of money from us.”
I turned to face him, my jaw agape.
Jake’s chair screeched as he pushed it back as he stood.
“We agreed we wouldn’t mention that,” he said, frowning at Mark and shooting me an apologetic look.
“Sorry, it’s just—I guess you could say that our last nurse left us with some trust issues. To put it lightly, Helena was a menace. Bad at her job, ill-tempered, entitled, you name it. Not to mention that, yeah, she stole a total of half a million dollars before we’d caught her.”
Jake’s face was somber, while Mark’s was enraged.
“Oh wow, I’m so sorry to hear that,” I said “And no, you definitely won’t have to worry about that with me. The most I’ve even stolen is a chocolate bar, when I was five and did it on a dare.”
“Get out.”
Shocked, I glanced to Mark to see that he was fuming. Eyes narrowed, jaw set into a snarl, he jabbed his finger at the door.
“We don’t want any child criminals here.”
Slowly I stood up and walked to the door. Behind me, the two burst out laughing.
“If you could’ve seen your face!” Mark crowed.
“Sorry Brooke, this one has a pretty cruel sense of humor,” Jake said, patting Mark on the shoulder.
“Oh no, it’s for the best,” I said coolly. “I don’t really think we’d be a great fit, anyway.”
I’d made it a few steps down the hallway when I paused. Returning to poke my head around the corner, I shot them a cheeky smile.
“Lucky for you two, my sense of humor can be pretty cruel, too.”
It took the two gape-jawed men a minute before they broke into hearty laughter.
Shaking his head, Mark spoke first, “Well, Brooke, you really are something.”
Feeling his eyes mapping my body with admiration, I let out a casual laugh to disguise my blush and smile.
“Where I really shine is the work. Or so I’m told.”
Jake nodded, gesturing to the door.
“Well I guess we’ll see about that tomorrow. That’s enough for today; I think we’ve all gotten a good sense of each other. You’re free to go, Brooke, and we’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Oh wow, thank you!” I told them.
I shook hands with both of them. Jake went first, his long tanned fingers closing around mine. The handshake seemed to last longer than normal, but maybe it was because I was avoiding his intent look. Mark’s handshake was definitely longer and firmer than expected, while his gaze tried to burn into mine which I kept averted.
“Thanks again,” I told them before leaving, “See you tomorrow!”
Then I walked out of the office and down the hall into reception. As I passed by, I gave a shy wave to Deidre, so intent on her work that she didn’t even notice.
Back in my apartment, I gave Karly the scoop over the phone.
“So, my first day was a success—they seem to like me, and I definitely like them.”
“Oh yeah? What, they were like—hot, right?” her eager voice came back. I could practically hear her smirking over the line.
“Hey, how’d you know?” I asked, smirking myself.
“Please, we’ve been friends like twenty years, okay? I can tell when you’re talking to me from the toilet.”
“What—I’ve never. Okay, maybe that one time when I really had to pee.”
“See? Told ya. Now tell me about the hot docs.”
I laughed.
“Well, one ‘hot doc’ is tall, tan, and muscular, with dark curly brown hair and dark eyes. He’s really nice.”
“Mmm,” Karly said, in a low voice. We giggled.
“The other ‘hot doc,’ well he’s tall and muscular too, but paler, with sandy brown hair and blue-green eyes. He’s less nice.”
“But still hot,” Karly added, helpfully. Together, we giggled again.
“So, which one then?”
Surprised, I moved the phone to my other ear to make sure I’d heard her right.
“What do you mean which one?”
“If you had to choose, which one would you pick?”
“Karly, these are my bosses, not my potential boyfriends. Besides, they could be married or gay, who knows.”
Karly let out a skeptical “Pfft” sound into the phone.
“Oh, please. Did you see a ring on either of their hands? And I’m pretty sure you could tell if they were gay.”
I said nothing. Really, I hadn’t noticed either of them wearing a ring, meanwhile my gay-dar definitely didn’t go off. But I didn’t want to encourage her on this topic.
“So?” she pressed.
I sighed.
“Both. I’d pick both of them. They both seem hot and cool. But it doesn’t matter anyway, Kar. This is my dream job. I’m not going to do anything to endanger it.”
“Mm-hmm,” Karly said, sounding unconvinced.
“I mean it,” I snapped, hanging up the phone. I glared at the screen, even though Karly obviously wasn’t there.
It was only hours later, after I’d slipped into bed, that I realized why I’d gotten so angry with Karly earlier today. It was because she’d been right. At this second, I couldn’t get those hot doctors off my mind. I could see them, their intense eyes on me as they stripped off those pressed white-collar shirts. Oh boy. This isn’t good.
I rolled to the other side of the pillow, shaking my head a little. Karly may have been right, but she was wrong too. As attracted to the two as I felt already, I could handle it.