Page 92 of Doc Defence

“Me too.” Frost squeezed her fingers, he wasn’t planning on letting go of her until the end of the night. “Is that Clara’s mum?” He inclined his head towards the lady in the navy who was frowning as she took off her sensible low-heeled shoes and put on the sparkly baseball boots.

“Yeah. That’s Julia. She’s not sure what to make of Gloria.” Hel giggled as she watched the two older women.

“I don’t think anyone knows what to make of Gloria,” Frost replied.

“You’re not wrong, but she’s got the biggest heart. She looks after all of us doctors and mothers us when we work too much.”

“She was not very motherly to me when we were at the pub quiz.” He had been shocked when she pinched his bottom.

“No. She’s got a soft spot for incredibly attractive sportsmen.”

“You think I’m attractive?” Frost teased. His grin so big it nearly reached his ears.

Hel blushed, but then she lifted an eyebrow, a glint in her eyes. “Don’t forget I’ve seen and heard your rendition of ‘Let it be’ while drunk as a lord, smelling like a distillery and looking like you’ve never had a shower in your life.”

“Oh yeah. I took the ambos—by the way, I love that word—some gift cards to the local Indian takeaway as an apology. Barney is a nice bloke. We had a good chat.”

“Oh, no. That sounds ominous. What did you chat about?” Hel winced.

“Not about you, I promise.” He gave Hel’s hand a reassuring squeeze. He had—correctly—assumed she would not appreciate being gossiped about with people she worked with. “Bizarrely enough, he’s a massive ice hockey fan. I’ve promised to hook him up with some tickets if he ever visits Canada or America.”

Frost was surprised with the younger man’s knowledge of the sport. They had spent a fun hour chatting about the best plays in the league that year. The years Frost’s team won the Stanley Cup and, more importantly, the year they lost in the finals.

Hel’s features sagged a little in relief.

“You thought we talked about you?” Frost wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Hel blushed more, giving an embarrassed shrug. Before she took a deep breath, and the twinkle in her eyes reappeared. “Well, of course. I’m pretty amazing.”

She tried to use her hand to toss her hair back over her shoulder to prove her point. But had obviously forgotten the hand that wasn’t clutched in his actually had a bouquet of flowers in it. A bouquet which was now wrapped up in her curly hair.

“Shit,” she swore as she tugged on the flowers, which only had the effect of getting them more tangled.

“Hold still.” Frost reluctantly dropped her hand and reached over, gently gripping the wrist that held the flowers. He passed his crutch to her so he would have two hands to work, then set about freeing her hair.

When he was done, he looked down at her, a grin on his face that fell off when his gaze locked with her hazel eyes, which were staring up at him. He was standing so close to her that he could hear her breathing become faster the longer their eyes held.

“Hel,” Frost whispered, his head dipping nearer to her.

They were in the Australian bush, surrounded by a wedding party who were now cheering as Julia modelled her sparkly shoes. Frost was distantly aware of her commenting loudly about how comfortable they were and how she wasn’t going to take them off, but it was all background noise as he looked at Hel.

He reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear, totally forgetting the bouquet in his hand and he pushed it back into her hair.

“Frost!” Hel sputtered with laughter, and the moment between them was broken.

“I’m so sorry. Hold still. I’ll free you again. Then we might need to put this bouquet somewhere that isn’t in your hair.”

“That sounds like a great idea.” Hel shook with mirth as he untangled the flowers again.

Frost didn’t rush as he enjoyed standing close to her and wanted to do it forever. He spent more time examining her face than he did the flowers if he was being truthful.

“Hel, we need you for photos.” Clara’s voice broke into their bubble.

Hel looked away from Frost and over at her friend, who watched them with a very self-satisfied smile on her face. Taylor stood behind her, one arm wrapped around his new bride, and when Frost looked over, Taylor raised an eyebrow and gave him a nod, then his attention was back on his bride as he dropped a kiss on her hair before he took hold of her hand and spun her. Clara giggled breathlessly, then stood up on her tiptoes to kiss Taylor. Frost chuckled when Hel made a retching noise next to him and muttered, “Out of control public displays of affection.”

“It’s their wedding!” Frost laughed at Hel’s disgusted expression.

“It is, and that’s the only reason the vomiting noise wasn’t louder,” she grumbled.

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