Trisha sat back down, the chair groaning beneath her weight. “Right, you’ll have to bear with me, I’m not a receptionist. Becca said she left your paperwork here somewhere...” She searched through piles of paper.
As I waited for her to find my forms, I felt my nerves lessening. Trisha was nice and down to earth – not by any stretch of the imagination ‘posh’. Just because it was a private practice, didn’t mean the people inside would be any different. Maybe Ihadbeen worrying over nothing after all.
“Here we are,” Trisha sighed, dragging out a few sheets. “I knew they were there somewhere. If you could fill them in for me. It looks like you’ll be working with Dr Rowan Thompson. He’s not in yet to introduce you, but I shouldn’t imagine he’ll be much longer.” She looked down at her watch that was clipped to the pocket of her shirt. “You’ll like Rowan, he’s a nice man and an excellent dentist.”
There was a faint buzzing noise followed by the click of the front door being opened. A middle-aged man, with dark, thinning hair poked his head around the door.
“Morning,” he bellowed.
Trisha startled. “Oh, John! You scared me.”
The older man grinned at me, winking. “This the fresh meat then?” he asked her. I felt the tips of my ears grow hot. I focussed my attention back on my paperwork and tried to ignore how uncomfortable I was to be the centre of attention.
“Yeah, this is Max. Max, this is Dr John Evergreen. He’s the orthodontist on site.”
“You’re taking over for Mandy, right? With Rowan?” John asked, reaching out to shake my hand. “You’re in good hands. He’s a superb dentist— Speak of the devil.” John turned his head to look towards the front door.
“Talking about me behind my back again, John?” a deep voice asked from the hallway. I heard the noise of a coat being taken off and cleared my throat nervously.
“I was just telling your new assistant how horrible you are to work with.” John grinned.
“You sod!” the voice chuckled. It was a nice laugh. I shifted uncomfortably.
Little could have prepared me for the gorgeous man that voice belonged to. I held my breath, as the man stood beside John to look into the room. He had fair, almost sandy, hair. Though he was looking windswept, I could see it was the sort of sensible cut that was common with healthcare professionals. My gaze locked with a pair of soft, pine green eyes. They crinkled at the corners as he smiled at me. He was tall and toned, the hard planes of muscle were highlighted subtly underneath his shirt.
“Hi, you must be Max.” He leant in to shake my hand. “Rowan. Nice to meet you.”
After a silence that was far too long to be comfortable, my brain kicked into gear and I stumbled over myself to reach out my own hand, hoping my palms weren’t sweating.
“Yeah, hi,” I spluttered, hurriedly turning my attention back to filling in the paperwork.Shit, shit, shit– I’d been here five minutes, and my new, exceedingly handsome boss must already think I’m brain-dead. My face flushed.
John bent to pick up his briefcase. “Right, I have to be getting on. Some of us have patients first thing.” He gave Rowan a pointed look.
“Don’t be bitter because my eight o’clock cancelled,” Rowan replied, with a smug grin. I heard John chortling as he wandered down a hallway that led to some stairs. I felt the heat of Rowan’s eyes on me again, but I didn’t look up from my forms.
“Did you find the place all right?”
“Yeah, fine, thank you,” I replied, focussing on anything but the dentist that was making my heart race.
“Good. Trish, do you know if Sarah got back to Becca yesterday about rescheduling that root canal?” Rowan was behind the desk now, looking through a filing cabinet.
“I’m not sure. I’ll ask her when she gets in,” Trisha answered, spinning on her chair to look at him. “By the way, Becca is our receptionist, Max.”
“Okay, I think that’s it.” I looked up at Trisha and handed the paperwork back to her. The woman flicked through the sheets, scanning her eyes down each one in turn.
Despite myself, I found myself lost in Rowan’s handsome features. He smiled at me again and I felt sick, averting my gaze immediately.
“Is there a reason you’re hanging around in here, Rowan?” Trisha asked, without looking up from the sheets in her hands. Her voice took on a motherly tone. “Do you have nothing better to do?”
“Actually, I was waiting to see if you were finished with Max,” he replied.
I decided I liked the way my name sounded coming from his mouth a little too much and I resisted the urge to clear my throat again.
“I think we’re all set. You can have him.” Trisha grinned at me.
“Come on, I’ll show you around a bit.” Rowan gestured for me to follow him, and I nodded, grabbing my bag.
“Oh Max, wait! Here, this is yours as well.” Trisha reached into a drawer and pulled out a card with the practice’s logo printed on it.
