Czytaj książkę: «Perfect Rivals...»

This book is dedicated to my agent, Scott, for telling me to take this chance and write this continuity story.

Thank you to Elisa, who patiently answered my questions while I was researching this book.

Thank you so much for all your help!

And a huge thank you to the Medical team for assigning me Flo and Nate’s story. They were an amazing hero and heroine and I loved every second in their world.

Praise for Amy Ruttan

‘Amy Ruttan delivers an entertaining read that transports readers into a world of blissful romance set amidst the backdrop of the medical field. Sharp, witty and descriptive, One Night in New York is sure to keep readers turning the pages!’

—Contemporary Romance Reviews

Contents

Cover

Dear Reader

About the Author

Title Page

Dedication

Praise for Amy Ruttan

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

EPILOGUE

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

THIS TAKES ME BACK.

Dr. Flo Chiu remembered all the times she’d been raced to the hospital as a young girl. The familiar whir of a chopper coming in for a landing. Followed by the bump as the chopper landed, causing her to become nauseous. Even now, watching the helicopter, her stomach did a little flip. Everything reminded her of that moment. Something she hadn’t thought about in a long time. The gray haze tinting the sky, as if it was promising rain, but this was Los Angeles. The haze was just smog. In Seattle, it would mean rain, and the day she’d flown in her own helicopter to a hospital helipad it had been raining.

Hard.

And that was all she remembered of her emergent helicopter ride over Seattle. That, and her father screaming out orders in Mandarin to a helicopter pilot who only spoke English, but, then, when her dad was frightened he often put aside his second language of English for his native tongue. And when her dad was mad, the beautiful language she loved to listen to was quick and hard to follow. It had frightened her to hear him talk like that.

She took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to shake the thought away. Usually she wasn’t this nervous about another surgeon coming in to The Hollywood Hills Clinic, but this was not just any other surgeon. This surgeon was her competition. This surgeon had been brought in specially from New York at the request of her patient. And her patient happened to be the world-famous, award-winning actor Kyle Francis. An actor she’d always admired and had had a bit of a crush on when she’d been fourteen.

She’d watched a lot of movies when she’d been younger. Of course, there hadn’t been much else to do when you were confined to a hospital bed. And Kyle Francis had been the perfect twenty-something rising star and heartthrob of her youth.

On the outside Kyle had aged well. His heart and lungs, on the other hand, hadn’t. Which was why he was now a patient.

He’d collapsed at a press conference in Los Angeles and had been brought straight to The Hollywood Hills Clinic, where it had quickly been established that Kyle Francis was dying.

And that’s where Flo had stepped in.

She was, after all, a world-renowned transplant surgeon, and that’s just what Kyle Francis needed. Actually, what he specifically needed was a heart and lung transplant.

It was right up Flo’s alley. She’d done many, and on worse cases than Kyle, but if they let it go much longer, Kyle would be a worst-case scenario and it would make the job harder.

She had been wheeling Kyle into the operating room to help stabilize him until she had been stopped.

That was when Freya had dropped the bombshell on her that another surgeon was coming.

“Another surgeon? Why was another surgeon called, Freya? I’m a damn good surgeon. I can do this surgery on my own. You’ve seen me do one.”

“I know, but this is out of my hands, Flo. Mr. Francis’s management team has called in Dr. King from Manhattan. Dr. King’s the one who has been treating his failing heart and lungs for some time. There’s no negotiation. You’ll have to work with Dr. King.”

Flo couldn’t really argue with that.

So that’s why she was here, huddled in the elevator, waiting for the helicopter to land and deposit this Dr. King in her lap. He was probably some old-money type of surgeon, and she only hoped that he would be willing to work with her. Some of these big-city surgeons were a pain in the rump to deal with. They didn’t think someone who was only thirty had the skill to be an excellent or extraordinary surgeon and a transplant specialist to boot.

The chopper landed and Flo ducked down, holding back the wisps of black hair that were escaping from her long braid as she headed out onto the helipad to greet this new doctor.

Please, don’t be a jerk. Please, don’t be a jerk.

She could deal with almost anyone but a jerk. Other surgeons tended to look down on her because of her size and her gender. That, and she looked a lot younger than her age. Even though she hoped this surgeon wasn’t a jerk, she’d been warned about his arrogance so she braced herself for it.

The door of the chopper opened and her mouth almost dropped open in surprise. Dr. King was not at all what she had expected. He wasn’t old at all. Probably in his mid-thirties. Tall, tanned and muscular. His blond hair was tousled and short. His face was chiseled, and the well-tailored gray suit molded his broad chest and thick muscular thighs almost perfectly. He was an all-American high-school hottie. The kind of man who had probably got through med school on a football scholarship. The kind of man who would have ignored a perpetually sick, geeky wallflower like her at school dances. The kind of man she’d always secretly wished would look her way.

Johnny had been good looking, but not like this, and look how that had turned out. Flo shook her ex from her thoughts. He’d been gone for a long time and there was no place for him in her mind today.

Heat rushed to her cheeks when he turned to look at her. Light blue, almost ice-blue eyes fixed their hard gaze on her, as if assessing her and sizing her up in a matter of moments. It unnerved her, but also excited her. She almost wondered what it would be like steal a kiss from a man like this. And then she kicked herself mentally for thinking about the competition this way.

No matter how attractive she thought he was, he was still the competition.

All-American athletes like him were the kind of guy she’d always wanted to date. At least once in her life, because it wasn’t the type of guy her father or mother would like if she brought him home. They hadn’t been thrilled with Johnny either and he was a lawyer.

Focus. He’s staring at you.

It was then she realized the chopper had already left the helipad and was headed away from the clinic toward LAX.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Fine. Dr. King, I’m—”

“I don’t have time for pleasantries. You need to take me to my patient.”

Great. He’s a pompous jerk.

Well, an arrogant surgeon she could deal with. Her father was an arrogant businessman in Beijing and Seattle. Flo’s mother, who was American, was the only one who could get him to toe the line, and she’d taught Flo well. She’d taught her not to cower to arrogant men and to stand up for herself. Especially in light of the fact that Flo had been sick her whole life and people tried to walk all over her.

“As I was saying, I’m Dr. Chiu and I’m head of transplant surgery here at The Hollywood Hills Clinic. I’ve been treating Mr. Francis since his collapse last night.”

Dr. King’s eyes widened in shock. “Is that so?”

“Yes. Now, if you will follow me, Dr. King, I will take you to our patient.” She got into the elevator and when he also entered, she pushed the button for the wing that housed Kyle Francis. It was the wing that had the most security to guarantee privacy for high-profile patients.

“Did you say ‘our’ patient, Dr. Chiu?”

“I did.”

“I have to say I’m a bit confused. Kyle Francis has been my patient for a couple of years now. I’m the one who put him on the transplant list. He’s my patient.”

She grinned at him sardonically. “Oh, no. He’s our patient. Mr. Francis’s management team may have flown you in here, but the transplant wing is my wing. I’m granting you surgical privileges here, buster, and don’t you forget it.”

He grinned at her, amused, or at least she hoped so as those ice-blue eyes were twinkling. “Buster? I’ve never heard that one before.”

Flo rolled her eyes, but smiled. “Sorry. Something I picked up from my mother.”

The elevator doors opened up and Flo swiped her security card to open the doors to allow them entry to the high-security wing. Kyle’s large suite was at the end of the hall.

“So, when he arrived he was bradycardic. We got his breathing and rhythm stabilized, but it’s apparent to me that his heart is failing and his time is running out. He needs to be put on a left ventricular assist device.”

“An LVAD?” Dr. King nodded. “I can see why you would think that, but let’s not jump to conclusions. We don’t know what caused the collapse. He was stable when he left New York last week. And putting him on a left ventricular assist device complicates his transplant further.”

“I am aware of that. I’m not jumping to conclusions. I’ve performed a heart and lung transplant before, Dr. King. I know what I’m doing. I know what I’m seeing.”

“Then if you know what it is, why isn’t he on a left ventricular assist device?”

Really?

“I was about to have him prepped for the OR when his management team put a stop to the procedure and insisted on flying you out here, Dr. King.”

“Nate.”

“Pardon?” Flo said as she picked up a tablet to bring up Kyle’s chart.

“My name is Nathaniel, but you can call me Nate. And what can I call you, Dr. Chiu?”

“You can call me Dr. Chiu.” She tried to step past him, but he blocked her path.

“If you knew my patient, you would know that he likes everything to be informal. It puts him at ease. So I think it’s in the best interests of the patient that we address each other by our given names.”

“My name is Florence, but everyone calls me Flo.” She handed him the tablet with Kyle’s chart.

He grinned. “Thank you, Flo. Let’s see our patient, shall we?”

Flo gritted her teeth. This was going to be a trying ordeal and it had nothing to do with the complicated surgery that awaited Kyle Francis. Someone was going to die and it wouldn’t be the patient if Dr. Nate King kept being a thorn in her side.

* * *

Nate didn’t particularly want to be back in California, even though he’d grown up here and his parents now lived up in San Francisco. He hadn’t been back to California since he’d started medical school, and that had been years ago.

He hadn’t been in California since the accident. Since Serena had died when they’d been rock climbing on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He just couldn’t be in the place where they’d fallen in love, the place where they’d lived for the rush, whether it had been surfing breakers in the Pacific Ocean, skiing at Mammoth Mountain or rock climbing.

Serena had been an adrenaline junkie, just like him.

And then, on a climb they’d done a hundred times before, a rope had given way and Serena had fallen.

His guilt still ate at him. He was so certain he’d checked all those clips, tightened the rope, but he couldn’t recall actually doing it and her death weighed on him.

He’d realized then how recklessly he’d been living. So he’d taken the scholarship at Harvard and thrown himself into schooling. Nate had sworn over Serena’s coffin that he would become the best damn transplant surgeon, focusing a lot of his research on regeneration and the means to sustain life longer when there were no viable donors.

People died every day while they waited on the transplant list.

Serena had died while she’d waited.

Don’t think about her now.

Nate stared at the chart, at the scans they’d done on Kyle when he’d been admitted to The Hollywood Hills Clinic.

Dang. She was right.

Kyle needed a left ventricular assist device and he needed one right away. She was watching him as he scanned Kyle’s chart. He snuck a glance, just a brief glance, at her and he tried not to smile. He didn’t want to give her an inch.

She was feisty. There was a certain passion hidden deep in that petite frame. Her skin was almost flawless and her long black hair shone in the tight braid down her back, except for the few stray wisps that floated around her perfect oval face. Her eyes were dark brown, like chocolate, and they glinted as she watched him. Her full ruby lips were pressed together firmly, as if she was waiting for the moment to smirk at him when he announced that she’d been right.

Dr. Florence Chiu was intelligent, gorgeous and full of life. She didn’t back down from him, even though he towered over her five-foot-five frame at six feet.

If he hadn’t sworn off the idea of women in general, he would pursue a woman just like Dr. Chiu. He liked a bit of wildness as well as the fact she was a transplant surgeon. It was as if she was the perfect woman for him.

Don’t think about her like that.

Just from a quick moment in Flo’s presence he realized that she was a danger to his well-being. He was not looking for love.

He’d been hurt before. His heart had shattered when Serena had died, so Flo was off-limits. He was here to work. He was here for his patient and that’s all that mattered. Being the foremost transplant surgeon on the east coast afforded him the ability to further his research on finding other means of sustaining organs or life while patients waited for organs.

All that mattered to Nate was his career and he had to remember that. Love was not for him. He didn’t deserve it.

He cleared his throat. “You’re right, Dr. Chiu. He does need a left ventricular assist device. I assume, since you were prepping for surgery, that you have one ready to go?”

Flo nodded. “Yes. I can prep the OR in about an hour and we can get him in there and hooked up to the equipment. I’m sorry that your trip to California was a waste.”

He cocked his head to one side and smiled at her. “Why is it a waste now?”

“Well, clearly I can handle this here. You came here and basically said I was right in the course of my treatment for Mr. Francis, so you can go back to New York.”

Such tenacity.

“Oh, Dr. Chiu. I’m not heading anywhere. Mr. Francis is my top priority. There are other surgeons in New York who can run my service while I’m here. I’m staying and I plan to be in that OR with you and assist you in implanting the LVAD.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No. I never kid when it comes to my patients. I have been treating Mr. Francis for a couple of years. I’m the one who put him on the transplant list and I’ll be the one performing his transplant, even if that means I’ll be spending years in California. I’m not leaving his side.”

Her mouth had opened to say something else when alarms went off and a code blue was called in Kyle’s suite. They ran into the suite and a nursing team was already working over him.

“He’s crashing, Dr. Chiu!” Nurse Olivia Dempsey called out as she lowered the bed and the rest of the team rushed in with an AED and tray of instruments.

Flo jumped into action, rapidly firing off instructions as Kyle Francis flatlined. Nate wasn’t leaving his patient.

He wasn’t going anywhere. Even if it meant staying in California. Even if it meant being tempted constantly by Dr. Chiu. He was made of strong mettle. He could resist temptation.

Couldn’t he?

CHAPTER TWO

DON’T DIE. DON’T DIE.

Flo glanced up at the monitors as she worked on Kyle Francis, and she tried not to think about the fact that Dr. Nate King was standing on the opposite side of the bed, working with her as they tried to stabilize him. If Kyle died, he’d judge her. He seemed like the arrogant type who would put the blame on her when really it was the management team that Kyle employed who would be at fault. They were the ones who’d put a stop to her helping him right away, insisting that Dr. King be flown in.

Making her and Kyle wait.

That wouldn’t have happened if she’d been allowed to put in the left ventricular assist device when Kyle had first come in, and she was going to make sure that Freya and James Rothsberg both knew that. Especially if Kyle died.

Come on.

Right now she’d like to throttle that acting management team. Their delay might’ve cost Kyle his life.

“Come on,” she whispered under her breath as she pictured all the thousand ways she’d torture Kyle’s managers.

There was a bleep from the monitor as the sensor picked up a faint pulse. Flo gave an inward sigh of relief. Thoughts of murder and disemboweling some Hollywood yuppies dissipating for now.

“Good job, everyone!” She took off her latex gloves as the nursing team stepped in to make sure that Kyle didn’t code again. “I need this man prepped and ready for surgery. I’m on my way to get an OR prepped. I want a repeat of his labs drawn.”

“Yes, Dr. Chiu,” said Olivia.

“Make sure that I’m informed of those labs as well, Nurse,” Nate said, not even glancing in the direction of Flo’s favorite transplant nurse.

Olivia looked at Flo for confirmation and she nodded.

Flo glanced at Nate, who was scowling as he monitored Kyle’s vitals. She thought maybe she could sneak past him. She didn’t want to deal with arrogance this minute. Moments like that just brought back the vivid memories of the time she’d collapsed during band practice. When her kidney had failed her at fourteen and she had been rushed to hospital.

They were jumbled memories, but her parents liked to tell that story about how she’d hovered near death. She’d needed a donor then and Kyle needed one now. But a heart and lung transplant match was tricky. The list was long and the United Network of Organ Sharing didn’t care who Kyle was. Placement on the list was prioritized on who got on the list first.

There were other people waiting for a heart and lung transplant. Kyle was at the top of two lists, one for the heart and one for the lungs. He had to have both at the same time from the same donor.

At least the left ventricular assist device would stabilize Kyle while they waited. By the time her kidney had failed, dialysis had no longer worked for her. At least kidneys could be donated by a living donor.

You could live with one kidney.

Flo always had.

Her stomach twisted as she thought of that, because her time was so uncertain. She’d had this kidney for fifteen years now. How much longer until she was on her sickbed? On dialysis and waiting for another transplant?

Another precious gift so she could go on living?

Which was why she had to continue to live life to the fullest.

“Going somewhere, Dr. Chiu?”

Drat.

She turned around to see that Nate had followed her out of Kyle’s suite. “I’m going to schedule our surgery.”

“I’m so glad you said ‘our’ surgery.”

Flo rolled her eyes and he fell into step beside her. “Really, I can handle this surgery on my own.”

“I know you can, but what would be the fun in that?” Nate asked, his scowl changing into a teasing smile.

“Trust me. It’s fun.” She grinned back at him and he chuckled. He had a gorgeous smile, perfect white teeth against that tanned face. There was a faint scar that ran through his eyebrow and another on his chin.

Definitely a jock.

“So where can I get set up with a pager and scrubs? I wouldn’t mind an office, either.”

“You’re not asking for much, are you?” Flo remarked.

“Well, if I’m going to be here a while I would like to continue my research.”

“Research? What’re you researching or is that a secret?”

“No. It’s no secret. I’ve published several papers on regenerative tissues as well as robotic and mechanical devices to prolong organs and life while waiting for transplants.”

Flo was impressed. She’d never read any of Nate’s papers, but the premise was interesting.

“Well, if you’re looking for a place to set up shop then you would have to talk to Freya Rothsberg, but she’s gone home for the evening.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to her in the morning. I don’t have to talk to her about getting a pair of scrubs, do I?”

Flo laughed. She couldn’t help it. The jerk was charming. She pointed to the OR charge desk, where a nurse sat behind her desk and was electronically entering patients’ details onto a vast surgical board. “No, just speak to that OR nurse and she’ll point you in the right direction.”

He smiled again, one that made her melt just slightly, before he headed off to get scrubs. She admired his well-defined backside as he strode away.

Don’t think about him like that.

Flo had no time for romantic inclinations, because the one time she had and Johnny had found out that she had a chronic kidney disease because of her time in NICU, he’d run in the opposite direction, breaking her heart. He had crushed her completely. It was easier to guard her heart than have it mangled by someone you thought you loved and who loved you back. She’d bared her most intimate side to Johnny, but the moment he’d seen her scar, the game had changed. Attraction had been replaced by disgust and fear. Even pity.

So Flo had given up on the notion of love. Which was probably why she was still a virgin at thirty.

She didn’t need it. Besides, if she involved someone else in her life they would tell her that her bucket list was crazy and no one was going to dictate to her how she was going to live her life. She’d been given a gift when she’d been given that kidney and she wasn’t going to spend the rest of her life like she’d spent her childhood, wrapped up in cotton wool by two well-meaning but overprotective parents.

No, she was going to live her life to the fullest, until her donor kidney failed and she’d go back on the list again. When she was waiting she’d have all these amazing memories to think about and not have any regrets if she died while on the list.

And no man was going to get in her way.

Not even the all-American hottie she had always pined for.

* * *

“Suction, please,” Flo said.

“With pleasure.” Nate suctioned around the area where Flo was working. Usually he was the one giving directions about suctioning or retracting, but instead he was the one on the other side of the table from the lead surgeon and it made him grind his teeth just a bit.

At least Flo had let him into her OR, because she was correct—she had every right to tell him to take off. She was the head of transplant surgery, he was just the patient’s doctor from out east. Nate was very aware that he was in Dr. Flo Chiu’s territory.

Scrub nurses and residents alike all respected and admired Dr. Chiu. Even though he should be bitter about the fact that she was working on his patient, he couldn’t help but admire her surgical skill. Her tiny, delicate hands handled the heart with precision as she carefully sutured in the device. A device that would allow Kyle to live a bit longer.

“It’s amazing how this can sustain his life,” Nate remarked.

“Yes. It is. Medical research such as yours, Dr. King, is definitely valuable.”

“You know, for a long time LVADs couldn’t be used on children or women.”

“I know, Dr. King.”

“I know you do, Dr. Chiu, but maybe some of your residents in this room can tell me why LVADs couldn’t be used on women and children in the past.”

Flo shot him a look. “There are no residents here. The Hollywood Hills Clinic isn’t a teaching hospital. All these surgeons are transplant fellows.”

“Well, a fellow still has to learn under a seasoned surgeon.” Nate glanced around the room. “Come on, someone has to know the answer.”

“Would someone answer Dr. King, please? And maybe after this Dr. King would stop subjecting us to his pub quiz on cardiothoracic surgery.”

There was laughter and Nate had to laugh to himself, as well.

Oh, she’s feisty.

He liked that in a woman. Strong and not afraid to stand up for herself.

Flo wasn’t afraid of much.

“The LVAD device was too large for the chests of women and children, that’s why it couldn’t be used on them in the past,” a surgeon finally said.

“Right, thank you.” Nate turned back to Flo. “See, this is why I’m doing my research and maybe this young doctor here would like to assist me while I continue with my research here in Los Angeles.”

“Thank you, Dr. King,” the surgeon said, stunned.

Flo shot him another look that said, Are you kidding me?

“I never questioned why you were doing your research, Dr. King. I admire it, but since Mr. Francis here will be stabilized, albeit bound to this hospital with his LVAD, maybe you could return to New York. I’ll let you know when UNOS has a heart and lung ready for Mr. Francis.” Flo continued with her work.

“Ah, but that’s the thing. They won’t be calling you, Dr. Chiu. UNOS will call me. I’m the one who put Mr. Francis on the transplant list.”

Her head snapped back up and she fixed him with a stern look over her surgical mask.

That got her attention.

“You are persistent in your need to stay here, aren’t you?” she said, with a hint of admiration in her voice.

“When it comes to my patients I am very persistent.”

She looked up at him briefly and he knew by the way her eyes crinkled in the corners that she was smiling behind that mask. “Me, too.”

“Dr. Chiu, I don’t see why we both can’t work together on Mr. Francis’s care. We don’t both have to stay at this hospital twenty-four-seven, waiting for a heart and lungs. Surely you have a life outside this hospital?”

“What’re you implying, Dr. King? Are you implying I don’t have a life?”

“On the contrary, I’m sure you have a life. Someone special.”

“What?” she asked, not looking at him.

“A boyfriend.”

There were a few titters in the crowd and Flo quickly shot them all a dirty look, which silenced the laughter.

“Not that it’s any of your business, Dr. King, but I don’t have a boyfriend. My work is my life.”

“Oh, that’s a shame.”

Flo groaned. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those kinds of men?”

“What kind of men?”

“Men who think that a woman is worthless if she doesn’t have a boyfriend or a significant other.”

“No, I’m not. It’s just...” Then he trailed off as he thought about Serena. “Life’s too short.”

She looked up at him, her brown eyes warm and tender as if silently agreeing with him. As if she knew personally how fragile life was, and he couldn’t help but wonder what had happened in her life. Had she lost someone she’d cared about?

Nate certainly hoped not. That was a pain he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy.

“You’re right,” she said. “Life is too short. At least with this operation he won’t be one of the ten to fifteen percent who die while waiting. It will give him a chance to beat the odds.”

Nate nodded, but didn’t say anything further as they worked together to attach Kyle’s left ventricular assist device. Kyle was lucky that they’d brought him to Dr. Chiu, in light of the fact that he himself was based in New York.

There was talent here.

There was skill.

Together they could save Kyle’s life. There were always variables when it came to heart and lung transplants, but maybe together they could succeed.

No. You can’t. Not together.

Flo was the type of woman his old self would have pursued in a heartbeat and that thought scared him. If he had to work closely with her, then he would be tempted.

How could he not be tempted by a woman like Flo?