Playing to Win (Summer Beach Vets 2) - sweet contemporary romance (3 page)

Ellie noticed the envelope pushed under her front door as soon as she arrived home that afternoon. She dropped her handbag on the couch, shut the front door, and picked the envelope up. Her name was written on the front in bold letters. Inside, she found her USB flash drive together with a note in the same handwriting that simply said, “Cheers, Dan.”

Ellie felt slightly sheepish now about the fuss she had made that morning. She wondered guiltily if Will and the Labrador were okay. In spite of everything that had happened, she liked the little boy and his rowdy dog. And she had been thinking about Dan at work today a lot more than she wanted to admit. Their drive together kept replaying in her mind—especially that moment when he had leaned in close… 

Ellie looked down at the note in her hands. She should really go back to the animal hospital and thank Dan. It had been nice of him to bring the flash drive here—he had known that she would be anxious to have it back as soon as possible. And it would be good to find out how Milo was.

Yes, thought Ellie, slinging her handbag over her shoulder again and stepping out of the house. It was only polite that she should say thank you and check on the boy and his dog. Nothing to do with finding an excuse to see Dan again, of course. Just good manners.

She arrived in front of the animal hospital to see that it was closing. Staff were leaving and waving goodbye to each other. Ellie hesitated and was about to turn back when she saw Dan’s tall, broad-shouldered figure step out of the front door.

“G’day, Ellie.” He looked surprised but pleased to see her as he came down the steps and walked across to meet her. He was no longer in scrubs but was wearing jeans and a faded grey T-shirt which somehow moulded itself to his muscular chest and arms in a very distracting way.

Ellie forced her eyes away from his body. She felt suddenly inexplicably shy and was annoyed with herself. She took refuge in a brisk, no-nonsense attitude. “I just came to say thank you. For returning my flash drive. And… and I was wondering how Milo was.”

“Home having his dinner—and anything else he can put in that Labrador stomach of his, I’ll bet” Dan said with a laugh. “He’s fine. No idea that the PR campaigns of Summer Beach Resort had been given a personal tour of his digestive system.”

“Oh, um… good.” Ellie looked down at the ground. “Er… and Will?”

Dan looked like he was trying not to laugh. “Will’s good too. How about you? I see you’ve managed to de-fur yourself.” His eyes lingered over her hips.

Ellie felt heat rise in her body at his look and was mortified by her own reaction. She hurriedly took a step back. “Um… yes… I tried that tape trick you suggested. It worked really well.” She shuffled her feet. “Uh… well, I guess I’d better be heading back.” She turned to go.

“Fancy a drink?”

Ellie turned back. “Who, me?” she asked stupidly.

Dan glanced at the empty car park around them with a smile. “Yes, there’s a beautiful sunset going down. I like to have a walk on the beach at the end of the day sometimes—clear the head, get some fresh air. Want to join me? We can stop off at the Laughing Kookaburra Café afterwards for a quick drink.”

Ellie stared at him. A part of her wanted to rush forwards and shout,
Yes!
But another part wanted to pull back violently. She licked her lips. “Uh… well, actually, I have some work to do…”

It was true—she did have a report that she’d planned to go over tonight and she’d managed to borrow a laptop from the office to take the place of her own, but for the first time in her life, Ellie didn’t feel that excited about sitting down with her spreadsheets and campaign briefs over dinner.

“Aw, a quick walk and drink won’t make that much difference,” said Dan.

Ellie looked down at the stiletto heels she was wearing. “What about my shoes? I can’t walk in the sand in these.”

“Take them off! Go barefoot. That’s the only way to walk on a beach—with the sand between your toes.” Dan smiled at her.

Ellie caught her breath as that smile made her stomach do backflips. She glanced down the road to where the trees and bushes fell away to show a spectacular view of the beach. The sky blazed with colour as a molten orange sun sank slowly down the horizon. The sea shimmered a deep indigo, reflecting the streaks of pink and gold in the sky, and waves pounded the edge of the beach in a rush of white foam. She caught the tang of the sea breeze—sharp and salty—and suddenly longed to feel that breeze in her hair, on her bare skin.

“Ellie?” Dan had come closer—close enough to touch her.

Ellie felt her pulse racing. She felt like every nerve in her body was tingling with heightened awareness of this man next to her. She had never felt this way before. It terrified her. She felt as if she was standing at the edge of a deep pool and Dan was inviting her to jump in with him. But she couldn’t see the bottom, she had no idea what was in there, she didn’t even know if she could swim. The thought freaked her out. All her life Ellie had always been in control. She had always known exactly what she was dealing with, where she was going, what she was planning to do next…

“I’m sorry.” She stepped away from him and saw disappointment cloud his grey eyes. It was almost enough to make her change her mind, but she gritted her teeth and pushed her emotions away. “I really do have a lot of work to do. Thanks for the invite though. Um… have a good walk.”

Before he could say anything else, she turned and walked rapidly away. She didn’t slow her pace until she was back at her front door. Still carefully keeping her mind blank, Ellie went into the house and busied herself drawing the curtains, switching on the lights, tidying up the mess she had left in her bedroom that morning. She peeled off her soiled shirt, grimacing at Milo’s paw prints, and put it into a bowl to soak in some stain remover solution. Then she put on an old T-shirt and comfortable pair of sweatpants.

In the kitchen, Ellie made herself a cup of coffee, then carried the mug into the living room and settled down in front of her laptop with a folder of papers. She had been steadfastly refusing to think about Dan or his invitation the whole time, but now, as she tried to focus on the spreadsheet on the screen in front of her, she found her mind wandering.

Was Dan still walking on the beach? She sighed as she though wistfully of that amazing sky and how inviting the long stretch of soft, white sand had looked. She imagined herself walking along the water’s edge, feeling the waves foam and eddy around her ankles, that fresh, salty sea breeze blowing in her face and whipping her hair back…

Ellie came back to reality with a jerk. What was she thinking? As if she would ever let her hair out of its bun anyway. It would just get completely tangled and dirty on the beach. So impractical.

With an effort, she dragged her mind back to the spreadsheet in front of her. The figures were looking good, so far, for the grand opening of the resort… the board had approved an increase to the advertising budget for the inaugural gala event… great, that’ll give her more to use on the sponsorships… and then there was the Miss Summer Beach competition… must remember to draft a press release for that… and maybe she could use local models for the resort brochure… keep the costs down and spread goodwill in the local community… she would have to get Fiona to hunt down some possible male models for the beach shots…

The perfect male model for a beach shot rose in Ellie’s mind: tanned, muscled arms crossed over a broad chest, strong, masculine nose and chiselled jawline, cool grey eyes twinkling with amusement…

What would Dan’s hands feel like? Firm and possessive around her waist as he pulled her close… her head tilted up to his, her breath quickening in anticipation as his grey eyes darkened to charcoal… the space between them shrinking, shrinking as he lowered his head to hers… an agony of waiting before his mouth claimed hers and her body melted against him…

Oh my God, what is wrong with me
? Ellie sat up, blinking in horror, as she put her hands up to her face. Her cheeks felt hot and her heart was thumping.
Maybe I’m going into early menopause or something and this is like a hot flash
, she thought wildly.

She grabbed her mug and realised that the coffee was cold. Jumping up, she hurried back into the kitchen to make herself a fresh cup.
I’ve got to stop this
, she thought feverishly as she boiled fresh water. She had never been the type of girl to moon over a guy and she was proud of that. Cool, sensible, and in control—that was her. She had to get over this ridiculous fixation with Dr Dan O’Brien. Ellie set her mouth in determination. She’d never failed at anything she’d set her mind to and she wasn’t about to start now. She was going to put the hunky vet out of her mind if it was the last thing she did.

Ellie woke the next morning bleary-eyed and cranky. She had spent a fitful night tossing and turning in bed. She blamed the hot weather—early December in Australia was the start of summer and a heat wave seemed to have come early—rather than one hot vet who kept intruding in her thoughts and her dreams.

She had a quick shower then shuffled, still yawning, into the kitchen, only to discover that she was out of milk. Ellie sighed, debating for a moment whether to have her cereal dry. Since she would probably need milk again later, she might as well go into town and pick up a bottle now, she decided. Shops in Australia had pretty strict closing times. Unlike back home in L.A.—where she could always find somewhere open to buy basic items, even late at night—over here, many shops closed early or didn’t open at all on weekends. If she was just a bit lazy or disorganised, she could find herself stranded the whole weekend without several essential groceries. She had learnt that the hard way. It was probably different in the big cities like Sydney, but in small towns like Summer Beach, the weekend was time off for everybody—including the shopkeepers.

Ellie changed into a tank top and shorts, grabbed her purse, slipped her feet into her favourite orange flip flops, and headed out. The sky was a deep, cloudless blue and the sun was already blazing down. Ellie realised guiltily that she hadn’t put on any sunscreen. She kept forgetting that with its proximity to the hole in the ozone layer, Australia’s UV rays were lethal and skin cancer rates were ten times those in the United States. She was surprised at how quickly she had tanned even just from walking to and from her car every day, and the few trips into town that she had made on the weekends.

Rounding the corner, Ellie found herself on the main commercial strip of Summer Beach. She smiled, as she always did whenever she walked into the local shopping area. It had such a quaint, almost frontier-town feel. Rows of pretty terraced buildings with vintage wooden facades lined both sides of the street, their colourful awnings providing some shade from the hot sun. An old, historic hotel and pub stood on the corner and on the far side of the street was the local post office, with its miniature wooden tower proudly displaying a Roman-numeral clock.

Ellie passed a few other town residents who nodded and smiled at her, and made her way to what the locals called the “corner shop”. This seemed to be equivalent to a convenience store back in the States, although as far as Ellie could see, the traditional Australian corner shop sold everything from milk to fresh meat to hardware to haircuts! This one in Summer Beach had a takeout counter that did a roaring trade in traditional Australian favourites such as meat pies and sausage rolls and, of course, the quintessential “fish ’n’ chips”. Ellie had always thought of trying something from the counter every time she came into the store, but she’d never gotten around to it yet.

The door tinkled as she went into the store and she was instantly hit with the mouth-watering smell of frying bacon. The tantalising sounds of sizzling came from the back corner of the store, behind the takeout counter. Forgetting all about the milk, Ellie found herself drifting over to watch Lindsey, the shop owner’s wife, expertly flipping several slices of bacon in a large pan on top of an industrial cooker. They sizzled and spat, the edges charring and curling slightly. Ellie noticed that they weren’t thin streaky slices like what she was used to back home—instead, these were wide, chunky strips, with more meat and less fat. On a counter next to the cooker was a toaster oven in which two halves of a bread bun were toasting. The smells of the frying bacon and toasting bread combined into a heady mix which nearly had Ellie drooling.

A man stood by the counter, obviously waiting for his order. Lindsey took the toasted bread halves out, laid the bacon slices across one half, then expertly cracked an egg into a smaller pan. A minute later, a fried egg joined the mound of bacon, then a dollop of some red sauce was added and the other half of the bun placed on top. A quick roll in some grease-proof paper and then Lindsey handed the bundle to the man who muttered, “Cheers,” before walking out of the store.

“Hello. Ellie, isn’t it?” Lindsey looked at her with a wide smile. “What can I do for you?”

Ellie’s empty stomach growled. There was no way she was going home to a measly bowl of cereal now. “Um… what was that? What the guy just ordered.”

“Bacon and egg roll. Best Aussie brekkie you can get,” said Lindsey with a wink.

“I’ll have the same,” said Ellie, opening her purse to pay.

Ten minutes later, she watched eagerly as Lindsey turned towards her with a towering stack of toasted bun, crispy bacon, and fried egg.

“Barbie or tomato sauce?” Lindsey held a plastic bottle poised.

Ellie hesitated. “I’ll have the same as what that guy had,” she said.

She watched with slight misgiving as Lindsey added a large squirt of red sauce on top of the egg, then the Australian woman finished the bun and presented Ellie with a wrapped bundle.

“Careful… it’s hot.” Lindsey nodded towards the front window of the store where a narrow shelf had been erected at chest height, running alongside the window, so that you could stand and eat at the counter and watch the world go past outside. “You can eat it there if you like.”

Ellie carried her precious bundle over to the window and laid it down on the shelf. Carefully, she unwrapped one end and bit into the piping hot sandwich.

It was absolutely heavenly.

The bacon was salty and crispy, with a rich smoky flavour, the egg soft and fluffy, with the toasted bun giving an added crunch. And the red “tomato sauce”, Ellie discovered, was just ketchup. She wouldn’t normally add ketchup to a breakfast dish, but strangely enough, the sweet, tangy sauce complimented the flavours of the bacon and egg perfectly. She licked her lips as sauce dribbled slightly onto her chin and hastily wiped her mouth with a napkin before taking another big bite.

Ellie stood and ate the bacon and egg roll in a trance. By the time she finished and was licking the bacon drippings from her fingers, she felt like she could tackle anything. Must be the superpower of the Australian “brekkie”, thought Ellie with a smile. She was thirsty now and she wandered back into the main part of the store to look at the drinks in the refrigerator. She helped herself to a bottle of Bundaberg Ginger Beer and was just about to lift out a carton of milk as well when she heard a familiar voice behind her. She turned around to see Will walking into the shop with Milo at his heels.

“Miss Ellie!” said Will, beaming. Milo bounced happily, his mouth opening in a wide doggie smile and his tail wagging furiously.

“Just Ellie is fine,” said Ellie, smiling as she went up to the boy. “Hello Milo. Hope you haven’t swallowed anything today?”

She leaned down to pat the dog, but he jumped up at the same time, headbutting her and making her see stars.

“Ow!”

“Sorry, Ellie!” Will grabbed Milo’s collar. “I’m trying to teach him not to jump up, but he’s not learning it very fast.”

“Er… it’s okay,” said Ellie, blinking the tears out of her eyes and rubbing her sore nose. She never realised that dogs had such hard heads! She wondered if her nose would ever be the same again.

“Milo pooed your computer stick thingy out,” said Will excitedly. “I saw him. Megan helped to clean it.”

Ellie grimaced, not really wanting to think about the details of how her flash drive was returned to her. “Yeah, thanks, it’s great to have it back. Was Milo okay?”

Will nodded. “Dan said he’s in great shape.”

At the mention of Dan’s name, Ellie found herself colouring and was glad that the kid was too young to notice such things. He was chattering excitedly now as he examined the contents of a small freezer by the cashier’s counter.

“What do you think, Ellie? Which is your favourite ice lolly?”

“My what?” Ellie peered into the freezer. Inside were various flavours of popsicles. “Oh, um… something fruity, I think. What about you?”

“I like the pineapple vanilla one best!” Will slid open the glass door and reached in to grab one of the brightly coloured packages.

“Here, I’ll get that for you,” offered Ellie. “My treat.”

“Oh, ta!” Will said as she handed it to him.

“What are you doing in town? Are your parents here with you?” Ellie glanced out of the windows of the store.

Will’s face clouded and some of the sparkle left his eyes. “No, my mum’s back home. She’s not feeling well.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” said Ellie. “Has she been to see a doctor?”

Will shook his head. “My auntie says she’s not really sick—just sick in her heart. She says Mum’s very sad.” He looked up at Ellie. “She was fighting lots with Daddy and then Daddy left and now she just cries a lot and sleeps on the sofa.” He looked away and his chin wobbled slightly. “My auntie says Mum and Daddy don’t love each other anymore and so it’s better if they don’t live together.”

“Oh.” Ellie didn’t quite know what to say. She looked down at the boy, remembering the slightly lost expression in his eyes when she first met him, and her heart went out to him. She dropped down to her knees beside him.

“My parents used to fight a lot when I was a child too,” she said quietly. “And in the end, they decided that it was also better if they didn’t live together, so they got divorced. Sometimes that happens. I know it’s really hard—I was very sad and scared for a long time after my dad left home. But… but just because they don’t love each other anymore doesn’t mean that they love you less, you know.”

Will nodded wordlessly, keeping his eyes on the floor. Milo came over and nuzzled the boy’s hand. He leaned into Will, whining softly. It was the first time Ellie had seen the dog calm and quiet—it was almost as if Milo sensed the boy’s sadness. She reached out and stroked the big, brown head. His fur was smooth, his ears velvety soft. She was surprised at how soothing it was just to run her fingers over the Labrador’s head.

“I was trying to play
Space Invaders
with Milo in the living room, but Mum said we were giving her a headache… so I brought Milo out. My auntie said we can go anywhere we like in town, except the beach. I’m not allowed to go there without a grown-up.” He looked wistfully out of the shop window. “I wish I could go, though. It’s much more fun there. And Milo likes digging in the sand.”

“Well…” Ellie was surprised to hear herself say, “I’m not doing anything in particular this morning. Would you like me to come with you to the beach? That would count as a grown-up, right?”

Will raised shining eyes up to her. “Oh, would you, Ellie? That would be ace!”

“Just let me drop this milk off at home and grab some sunscreen,” said Ellie with a smile. “Have you got any on? Maybe you should put a hat on as well. And let your mother know.”

Will nodded eagerly. “Yeah, and don’t forget your sunnies! It can get really bright on the beach. Okay, I’ll run home and tell Mum—I’ll meet you back on Beach Road!”

He turned and skipped out of the store, slamming the door behind him, with Milo bounding eagerly ahead of him. Ellie winced as the bells attached to the store door jangled wildly and the whole store seemed to shake following their departure. She’d almost expected a few items to fall off the nearby shelves! She took her milk and ginger beer to the counter to pay, adding a reminder for the popsicle.

“Good onya. That’s a kind thing you’re doing,” Lindsey said with an approving nod as she rang up the till. “Poor little mite. He’s been having a rough time of it lately with his parents’ separation.”

Ellie was a bit embarrassed. “Oh, it’s nothing. He’s a really nice kid. I kinda always wished I had a little brother so…”

“Only child, were you?” Lindsey’s eyes were bright with curiosity.

Ellie knew that, as one of the newcomers in town, she was the subject of much interest for the locals. Especially since Sara’s whirlwind romance with their own celebrity veterinarian, Dr Craig Murray. Suddenly everybody was also curious about the pretty American’s workaholic cousin who was still such a mystery, despite having been in Summer Beach for five months now. With her position in the corner store, Lindsey prided herself on being the queen of local gossip and made it her life’s mission to know everybody’s business. Which meant that every time Ellie went into the store, she found herself parrying the Australian woman’s well-meaning but nosy questions.

“Yes,” said Ellie. “I was an only child, but I had a pretty big extended family. Lots of cousins. Sara was the only other girl, though, so we grew up really close. Almost like sisters.”

“Bet you were grinning like a shot fox when she moved out Down Under,” said Lindsey with a smile.

“Er… yeah, I was really happy,” agreed Ellie.

“Lovely couple, her and Craig,” said Lindsey. “There’ll be wedding bells soon, I shouldn’t wonder.” She leaned across the counter and regarded Ellie with a shrewd smile. “What about you? Got yourself a man? No? You modern career girls work too hard! You should find yourself a nice Aussie bloke too. Tell Craig to get one of his mates to show you around our beautiful coastline.” She winked.

For some reason, Ellie’s thoughts jumped to Dan and she felt the beginnings of a blush tinge her cheeks. Horrified, she gathered her purchases and, after a hasty goodbye to Lindsey, quickly left the store.