“You’re trauma, it would be a mangled mess in there if you’d done it,” Dr. Noble said with a chuckle.
“Fine,” Jade said with a lift of her chin. No point in arguing, Dr. Noble was correct. Jade’s expertise was in life-saving emergency procedures, pretty and precise was not exactly the most important factors. “If you’re done giving us grief, Doctor holder and I will leave you to it.”
“Leave me with the grunt work, huh?” Dr. Noble chuckled.
“You should have gotten here sooner,” Jade chided back.
Dr. Noble waved them away and turned her attention to Hannah. Jade was glad that she was there to run any checks, this was her specialty after all. She would make sure that she and Lillian hadn’t missed anything.
Jade looked up at Lillian, whose smile showed through her eyes. They each pulled off their gowns and masks and deposited them in the waste bins, then headed back to scrub out.
“We make a hell of a team,” Jade said with a smile at Lillian. She wanted to move closer to her, but she made herself stop.
“What are you doing?” Lillian asked, her voice suddenly tight. Jade blinked a few times, trying to figure out why her demeanor had suddenly changed.
“I’m not doing anything, Lillian, we kicked ass in there,” Jade said, suddenly defensive.
“Of course we did; we’re excellent surgeons,” Lillian countered, she turned her attention to the sink, refusing to meet Jade’s eyes.
“Yes, we are,” Jade said slowly as Lillian quickly dried her hands and left in a huff. Jade shook her head wondering what the hell just happened.
Jade bit her lip as irritation flashed through her. Lillian was always going on about being professional, being impersonal. Surely, she wasn’t going to let whatever happened between thembecome a conflict. She quickly dried her hands and followed Lillian out into the hallway.
“Lillian!” she called out as she followed her down the hall. Lillian ignored her and pushed through the doorway that led to the stairs. Heat flooded through Jade at her childish behavior. She pushed through the door behind her, but Lillian was already on the landing between floors. “Doctor! Holder!” Jade called upwards. Lillian froze and looked down at her. Jade sucked in a breath as those sharp green eyes penetrated her.
“What is it, Doctor Lin,” Lillian said, her voice was like ice. What had gotten into this woman?
“What is going on?” Jade said as she circled up the stairs to stand on the landing next to her.
“What do you mean?” Lillian asked with a lift of her chin.
“Why are you acting like this?” Jade demanded. “If nothing else, I could always count on you to be professional, but you’re acting like a child.”
Lillian’s eyes flew wide at the accusation. “That’s something coming from you,” she said, her voice low. “You don’t have room to call anyone unprofessional.”
“At least people know what to expect from me,” Jade countered. “I can’t handle this hot then cold nonsense. Make up your mind.”
“I’ve already told you—” Lillian began, but Jade cut her off.
“If you don’t want anything more from me, that’s fine, but you don’t get to keep messing with my head,Doctor Holder. You at least owe me some professional courtesy.”
“Oh, that is rich,” Lillian scoffed, but she took a step toward Jade. “You don’t know the meaning of the term.”
“I expect the same respect I show you,” Jade challenged. She took a step closer to Lillian, and her heart started pounding when she didn’t back away. “We can go around pretending lastnight didn’t happen, but it did, and you are going to have to find a way to deal with it that doesn’t involve punishing me.”
“Last night was a mis—” Lillian’s words were cut off when Jade kissed her. Her lips crashed into Lillian’s, and though she half-expected Lillian to pull back and slap her, she melted into Jade’s arms. Jade put her hands inside Lillian’s lab coat wrapping around her waist and pulling her body closer as Lillian’s tongue probed inside Jade’s teeth. Jade ran her hands up the back of Lillian’s dress, pulling her closer still, and heat washed through her.
The next thing Jade knew, her breath was being knocked out of her as Lillian spun her around and pressed her against the cold wall of the stairwell, her hands exploring Lillian’s body and dipping below the hem of her top. Lillian’s fingers dragged across Jade’s stomach as her lips made their way across Jade’s jaw and down to her neck. She moaned in pleasure, and Lillian’s lips crashed into hers again. She wanted to rip Lillian’s clothes off here in the stairwell and touch every inch of her body with her tongue and fingertips. She wanted to make Lillian cry out in pleasure like she did last night.
The sound of a door opening and slamming above them brought them both back to reality. They pulled away from each other, their eyes darting upward to see if someone was approaching. They heard another door open and close, the person finding the floor before noticing them.
“Tell me that meant nothing to you, Lillian,” Jade said, her voice thick. “Tell me you felt nothing.” Jade pulled in a deep breath and lifted herself from the wall as Lillian stared at her with wide eyes, hair disheveled, and her makeup smeared.
Lillian’s lip trembled with effort. She wanted to say the words, Jade could see that much, but she knew as much as Jade did that they would be a lie. “I can’t,” she finally whispered,but she turned on her heel and ran up the stairs like her life depended on it.
Jade leaned back against the wall again, as the heat flowing through her slowly started to subside. She was elated, though she couldn’t say that it was unexpected. If Lillian fought hard enough, she would be able to resist, and Jade was not going to force her into anything. Lillian would either figure out that what they had was something worth fighting for or she wouldn’t, but Jade knew that it was not up to her. Only Lillian would be able to reach that conclusion.
Still, Jade smiled as she strolled lazily up the stairs. The warmth in her chest spread throughout her. Even if she was never able to act on it again, the knowledge that Lillian felt something for her was enough to keep the smile on her face.
