Title: Unlocking the Doctor's Heart
Author: Liam Livings
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: January 21, 2019
Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 50800
Genre: Contemporary, LGBT, Doctor, nurse, contemporary, friends to lovers, child illness, gay
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Synopsis
Headstrong nurse Davie Penrose has moved
to London from a small village in Cornwall to start work in the children’s
transplant ward. He left to progress his career, but also to escape the painful
memories of his ex-boyfriend, a workaholic doctor.
Ambitious Doctor Leo Westbury is in charge
of a ward for now, but he has plans to be a medical director soon. Making use
of his charm and avoiding commitment due to a painful past, he enjoys temporary
relationships with male student nurses.
Clashing over a request to look around
the ward before he starts work, Davie thinks Leo pompous, while Leo finds Davie
bossy. Becoming friends over a shared passion for helping children on their
transplant wards, they get closer through the inevitable ups and downs of
caring for sick children. Physical attraction pulls them together; their pasts
push them apart.
Both damaged and hurt in different ways,
they might just find their happy ever after together.
Excerpt
Unlocking the Doctor’s Heart
Liam Livings © 2019
All Rights Reserved
Chapter One
“Davie Penrose, senior staff nurse on
Twinkle Ward, starting on Monday,” he said into the phone speaker at the ward’s
entrance.
“Sorry, can’t let you in. No ID, no
entry.”
“I’ve got this letter.” Davie held the
letter to the camera.
“Not the same as a photo ID. They’ll get
that sorted for you on Monday.”
“I only wanted to have a look around,
see the lay of the land. Where the staff room is, how many beds, that sort of
thing.” Davie bit his lip, starting to wish he’d not listened to his friend
persuading him to apply for the job in the first place.
“Go on, stretch your wings. You don’t
want to be stuck in Cornwall forever do you?” Davie’s friend had said.
Now, that sounded like quite a nice
place to be stuck. “Couldn’t you make an exception, ask another member of staff
to walk around with me?” Davie held his room key up to the camera. “I’m in the
nurses’ accommodation. Room 1004, see?”
After a long sigh, the voice at the end
of the speaker went quiet, he was obviously discussing something with another
colleague.
A deep, posh, man’s voice came onto the
speaker. “Now, let’s see if I can sort this little mess out.” He coughed.
“Davie, is it?” Without waiting for a response, he continued, “It’s doctor
Westbury here. I’m the senior consultant on call this weekend. I do have other
pressing matters to deal with rather than policing the ward entrance.”
Charming! “It won’t take long. If you
just look at my paperwork.” Davie held the letter to the camera hopefully.
“One thing at a time, please. Let me
finish, will you?”
Disappointed, and frustrated enough to
be screaming in his head and wondering who’d died and left this doctor in
charge, Davie knew it would be pointless to ask him, because technically as the
senior consultant on call, he would be in charge. Instead, Davie said, “I have
my passport in my pocket too. Proves who I am. Can’t you check a list
somewhere, or something, or other?”
“As I said, one thing at a time. So, I
hear you’ve got yourself in something of a situation and you’d like us to bend
the rules to let you in.”
“I don’t think it’s bending the rules.
Not if I can show you who I am and that I have a job offer here even if I’ve
not yet technically started.” Puffing himself up a bit, feeling he was on a bit
of a roll now, Davie said, “And besides, I only want a quick look around, see
the lay of the—”
“Land, yes, I know. Thing is, see that’s
what some old random would say wanting to get inside and make mischief. Or
worse. In fact, last week—” Doctor Westbury paused. “—I’m coming out to meet
you. Wait there.”
A short while later, after a buzz of the
door, Doctor Westbury arrived in a white coat, stethoscope hanging around his
neck, brown hair giving the impression he’d just woken. And such deep blue
eyes. “Sorry about this, but I can’t bend the rules and let you in.” He folded
his arms across his broad chest and shook his head. “I believe you’re starting
on Monday, but I can’t take a chance. I don’t know if you noticed, but this
isn’t exactly the nicest part of London. Notting Hill it ain’t.” He laughed and
raked his hands through his hair. He coughed and looked Davie up and down.
“If I was a random person wanting to get
in, why would I have this letter.” Davie waved it theatrically in the air. “And
a key to the nurses’ accommodation block.” Jangling it loudly he stared deep
into the doctor’s blue eyes. “It’s not bending the rules then, is it? Besides.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his passport. “Look, same name on the
letter and passport.”
“I hear your concerns, but as the consultant
in charge it would be on my head were anything to happen as a result of this…
infraction shall we say.” Carefully checking the passport, letter, and keys he
shook his head and tutted loudly. “Seems a bit odd to me, someone wanting to
have a look around before starting. Plenty of time for that after you’re
properly inducted into the trust.”
“Can’t you use your judgement? I’m sure
it must be pretty sound as a consultant.” It was do or die, and Davie needed
something to bring this bloody doctor out of his fixation on the damned rules.
Holding his head high, the doctor said,
“Of course. My clinical judgement is second to none. I have a fantastic record
here and received the highest clinical excellence award possible for the last
two years.”
“Very impressive. Well then.” Was it
working? Had he taken the bait?
He adjusted his stethoscope around his
neck and flattened the collar on his white coat. “I’m thinking. Considering the
facts. You.” He looked Davie up and down with a smile.
“Rules are rules for a reason. I’m sure
they are. I do know. I have worked on children’s wards myself. Where everyone
has to be police checked and all that. But really, honestly, do I look like a
random. Can’t you just use some of this amazing judgement and let me in.
Please?” Davie smiled.
“You’re not going to take no for an
answer, are you?”
Davie shook his head. He usually never
did, so why start now with this high-handed doctor? Why did doctors always
think they ran the whole hospital if not the whole world? Thinking better than
to voice that out loud, he simply held his letter and keys for the doctor to
see. Bringing his judgement into the equation may have just worked…. Davie held
his breath.
He sighed, raked his hands through his
tousled hair and said, “Tell you what. I’ve looked at the evidence you’ve
presented to me and I’m satisfied you are who you say you are. But you’re to
stay with me the whole time. No wondering off, all right?”
Davie nodded excitedly. He’d done it!
He’d won! One nil to Davie!
Entering the code into the keypad, the
door opened, and the doctor opened the door. “After you.”
Now, that’s a surprise, Davie thought,
expecting the doctor to be something of a me-first-damn-everyone-else man.
Following Davie through the door, the
doctor said, “Now, let’s see if we can’t give you a quick tour. I’ll take the
flack if I don’t see you back here Monday morning.” He flashed Davie a smile,
and butterflies began to stir in Davie’s stomach.
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Meet the Author
Liam Livings lives where east London ends and becomes Essex. He shares his house with his boyfriend and cat. He enjoys baking, cooking, classic cars and socialising with friends. He has a sweet tooth for food and entertainment: loving to escape from real life with a romantic book; enjoying a good cry at a sad, funny and camp film; and listening to musical cheesy pop from the eighties to now. He tirelessly watches an awful lot of Gilmore Girls in the name of writing ‘research’. Published since 2013 by a variety of British and American presses, his gay romance and gay fiction focuses on friendships, British humour, romance with plenty of sparkle. He’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. With a masters in creative writing from Kingston University, he teaches writing workshops with his partner in sarcasm and humour, Virginia Heath as www.realpeoplewritebooks.com and has also ghost written a client’s 5 Star reviewed autobiography.Facebook | Twitter
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