Poison: The Seaclusion Series, Book One

Chapter 1-4

“Cassie Reeves?”

Cassie turned in her chair, startled to hear her name. Her heart froze for a second, until she realized who was addressing her, Luke Tyler. He smiled at Nurse Bishop, then returned his gaze to her, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Hello, Luke,” she said, smiling. “My name is Cassie Reynolds now.”

“What are you doing here?”

She straightened. “I work here.”

“Really? John didn’t mention that. I wonder why he didn’t let me know you were in town and working for him.”

Cassie opened her mouth to answer just as John come out of one of the exam rooms. He was with a young couple holding their infant. He smiled and nodded at them, until he noticed Luke. His gaze sharpened, and his mouth turned down. He finished speaking to the couple then came toward them.

Cassie sighed. She recognized John’s angry walk. He managed to look as if he wanted to punch the floor when he stepped.

Cassie noted with annoyance that his navy slacks were perfectly creased and that they contrasted sharply with the white of his doctor’s coat. Dammit. He looked good. As always. Even though he looked at her like he hoped she’d swallow a jug of anti-freeze, it was impossible to deny how handsome the good doctor John was.

“John, why didn’t you mention that Cassie was in town? That she was working with you, for God’s sake?” Luke asked without preamble.

“She works for the office, not me, and I didn’t realize you’d care.” John waved goodbye to the couple and set their file on Cassie’s desk. He wrote on the folder, then clicked the pen shut and put it into his pocket, pushing the file toward Cassie without looking at her. She took it and sighed. His cold dismissal of her was painstakingly obvious.

Cassie looked up at Luke and smiled sweetly. “John’s trying to get Harry to fire me, so he was hoping I wouldn’t be around long enough for anyone to actually know that I was here.”

Luke looked to his brother, brows drawn together. “Why would you do that?”

John sent Cassie a chilly look and said to his brother, “Let’s go into my office.”

“I’ll talk to you later,” Luke said to Cassie. “We should get together and catch up.”

Cassie smiled brightly, ignoring John’s angry scowl. “That would be nice.”

What would John tell him? Cassie took Luke’s cheerful demeanor toward her to mean that he knew nothing of the events of a decade ago. He would have no idea just how close she’d been to his younger brother. While she and Luke had been casual friends in high school, there had never been anything strained or important about their relationship. What Luke had never guessed was that he’d inadvertently introduced her to his younger brother, who she’d had a strained and much too important relationship with. That was, of course, before she’d betrayed him.

* * * *

“What was that about out there?” Luke asked once they were alone in the office.

“Nothing. I just don’t like old friends working for me.”

Luke’s eyebrows lifted as if to communicate What the hell?

John dropped his gaze to his desk to avoid Luke’s probing stare. He pretended to shuffle papers around. “I’m busy. What did you want?”

“What do I want? I have to have an appointment to stop by now?”

“Not as long as you mind your own business. And don’t even think of trying to hit on her.”

John flinched as soon as the words fled his mouth. Like Luke ever came onto women these days, not since his pregnant wife had died in a car wreck. John cursed under his breath. Damn Cassie. Having her around was making him be a prick to his own brother.

“I wasn’t trying to hit on her. I was trying to figure out why she worked for you and why you hadn’t mentioned it to me. So why are you so bent out of shape over my talking to her?”

“I’m not. I just don’t like her.”

“Why would you dislike her?”

“She’s a know it all. I don’t need it from a receptionist. Anyway, I have to get back to work.”

Luke’s silence spoke volumes. Finally he said, “You do realize you’re being an asshole, don’t you?”

John let out a long breath. “She’s just annoying as hell.”

“I have to say Cassie looks like hell. It took me a moment to place who she is. Any idea what’s happened to her since high school?”

“No. I don’t even know why she works here.”

A fact that stuck in John’s gut, and it was damn time he found out why. It made no sense. Any of it. John glanced at his watch. Harry was gone tonight. Maybe tomorrow it was time to revisit the reason Cassie Reeves worked for them.