‘You’re safe. You don’t need to hold on. I have you.’

Noise, lights, people.

Hospital.

‘Hi,’ the guy at the end of the bed said. ‘I’m Dr Riley Chase. Welcome to the other side.’

The other side.

She surveyed the man talking to her with a certain degree of caution. He was… gorgeous. Tall, ripped and, after the nightmare of last night, reassuringly solid.

Beautifully solid.

She took time to take him in. Detail seemed important. Detail meant real.

His face was tanned and strongly boned. His deep blue eyes were crinkled at the edges. Laughter lines? Weather lines? Weather maybe. His near black hair-a bit unkempt, a bit in need of a cut-showed signs of sun-bleaching. That’d be from weather. He was wearing cream chinos. His short-sleeved shirt was open at the throat-this guy was definitely ripped-and his stethoscope was hanging from his top pocket.

Welcome to the other side?

Gorgeous fitted the other side description, she decided. Doctors didn’t.

‘Doctors aren’t in my version of heaven,’ she said, trying her voice out. She was vaguely surprised when it worked. Nothing felt like it should work this morning.

‘It’s definitely heaven,’ he said, smiling a wide, white smile that made him look friendlier-and more heart-stoppingly gorgeous-than any doctor she’d ever met. ‘In the other place the pillows are lumpy and we’re big on castor oil and leeches.’

‘And here?’ she managed.

‘Not a leech in sight, we reserve our castor oil for emergencies and there are two pillows for every bed. And because you were soggy the angels have decreed you can have more.’ He waved an expansive hand around her not-very-expansive cubicle. ‘Luxury.’

She smiled at that. She was in a two-bed cubicle that opened out into the corridor. The nurses’ station was on the other side, giving whoever was at the station a clear view of her bed. Luxury?

‘And heaven also means your medical care’s totally free,’ he added. ‘Especially as your documents say you have travel insurance.’