One Night...With Her Boss. Annie O'Neil
down toward Ali’s feet, stopping to note a couple of scars on her left knee. He’d not noticed them the other night—which was pretty amazing, considering the gymnastics they had achieved. His curiosity was piqued, but he looked away. He wasn’t being fair. He’d come here to apologize and now he was treating her just the way he’d insisted to the coach the players would. Like chattel.
Coach Stone had been fairly terse when Aidan had suggested they see if they could transfer her to another team and bring in a different locum for the rest of the tournament season. One who wasn’t so easy on the eyes.
“Not a chance.” That had been the unwavering reply. The players had taken to her straight away, Stone had said, and hiring someone else with credentials like hers at this point in the season was going to be nigh on impossible. She was staying and that was that.
He cleared his throat and looked at Ali’s reflection in the window. Since when were lambswool boots and a mismatched set of pajamas so sexy?
Maybe if he pictured Ali with an eye patch it would help. And a hideous perm. And a hunchback.
“Earth to Aidan?” Ali was waving her hands in front of his face, pulling him out of an embarrassingly obvious stupor.
“Yeah—sorry, I was just thinking.”
“Anything you care to share?”
Might as well go for it.
“The elephant in the room.”
“Which elephant would that be?” Ali smiled her hostess smile at him.
Aidan couldn’t help returning her smile. If things were different they’d make a great pair. But they weren’t—so it was best to lay his cards on the table. The man she’d met at the airport didn’t exist in his everyday life. The man she’d met was an anomaly.
“Well, we could talk about the big elephant—about how we slept together—or the smaller one—how you should probably clear your spare underwear and gym kit out of my desk.”
“Oh, blimey. That’s your desk, is it?” Ali clapped her hands over her mouth.
“Who else’s would it be?”
“I don’t know—it didn’t seem to have anything personal on it so I just thought it was free.”
Good point. He didn’t do personal. Especially at work. But that didn’t address the issue at hand.
“The locker rooms have eyes and ears, Dr. Lockhart. Very acutely tuned, testosterone-charged cauliflower ears. I don’t think it would be wise to have what happened at the airport being public knowledge. Or to be repeated.”
She gulped, looked away, then began to laugh. Nervous giggles or happy memories? He knew what camp he was in.
“Can you imagine if the lads knew?” she asked. “About that night?” she qualified, as if he could have even begun to forget.
She lifted her gaze to his and this time he was certain they both felt the same connection. Having her standing in front of him in sexy little jim-jams wasn’t strictly helping his body keep it neutral.
Her expression turned sober. “You’re right. Absolutely right. The only reason I came up here was to learn, and all the …” she blew a slow breath between her lips “… other stuff would just get in the way.”
They nodded at each other for a moment, as if they’d just signed a significant pact. And they had. They would be colleagues only. It was agreed.
“I know it wasn’t what you planned for tonight—but what do you say we go out for a bite to eat?”
Ali gave him a dubious look.
“To talk about the team … your next three months here and what you hope to get out of it. Professionally.” He weighted the word as a reminder to himself.
“I’d like that,” she replied, then looked down at her skimpy outfit. “I’m guessing pajamas aren’t the dress code. Smart or casual?”
He knew what he wanted to say, but picked the pragmatic response. As agreed. “Casual is fine. I know a great little Greek place—just around the corner.”
“Love a bit of meze!” Her smile brightened. “Give me two minutes.”
He smiled at Ali’s retreating figure. The man who she’d met at the airport would have waited as long as she needed. Not that he’d tell her that. This whole situation was a matter of using his head over his … other parts. They’d had their night and it had been a one-off. Now he just had to work his way through the next one-hundred-odd days, convincing himself that all work and no play was the most sensible thing to do.
He’d made it through the past five years without so much as a fissure in his heart. Keeping Ali at arm’s length couldn’t be that hard. What was the worst that could happen?
Operation Pals-R-Us was officially under way.
“Are you kidding me? It came out of the socket?” Ali could barely contain her disbelief. She was really going to have to hone her shoulder joint skills. Knees …? She had them nailed. Shoulders …? Not so commonly injured during the pas de deux.
“Completely. You could’ve heard his screams down in London, I’ll bet—but I got it back in, he’s been diligent with his rehab, and now to see Mack run you’d never know otherwise.”
“Amazing. To get him playing again was quite a feat.” Ali didn’t bother curbing her I’m impressed voice as she put her serviette onto her empty plate. Bodies were crazy things, and it sounded like Aidan had had his fair share of having to think outside the box to keep his players fit.
“I had to. These guys have a really short career window. If I can help make it just a little bit longer—so much the better.”
She had to fight the automatic wince. Her career window had been just as short. Nonexistent was more like it. But the past was the past. The players were lucky they had someone like Aidan looking out for them.
In fact, his idea to go out to dinner had turned into a good one. Better than she’d thought when they’d first arrived at the restaurant after a virtually silent ten-minute walk. Trying to make chitchat when all you can think about is kissing your new boss was tough work.
After a bit of an awkward recitation of their professional histories, and some seriously divine moussaka with homemade pita, they had moved on to medical horror stories. The topic was inevitable between doctors, and it had definitely put the pair of them on neutral territory.
In fact, Ali discovered as the evening zipped along, it was really fun. Aidan was turning out to be everything she’d hoped when she had agreed to the locum posting. Smart, funny—and, yes, deeply gorgeous, but she hadn’t known that when she’d signed on the dotted line. And now they’d agreed to keep things professional … Thank God they had medicine in common!
“I hope you don’t mind—” Ali held up her hand to flag the waiter. She’d just about eaten her body weight in moussaka and was ready to crash for the night.
“Not up for a shot of ouzo?”
Ugh. The thought turned her stomach. “No, thanks—you’re on your own with that one.”
“No problem. I’m amazed I made it this late.”
She raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
“Jet lag,” he explained.
“Crikey! I totally forgot. You must be exhausted. Where was your holiday—some island in the Pacific, wasn’t it?”
“It wasn’t exactly a holiday.” Tricky. Aidan wasn’t one to lie—but he wasn’t in the habit of letting anyone into his confidence either.
“Oh?”
“It’s just something I do every year.”