Hayley shook herself out of it. “Hi. Yeah. Sorry. I didn’t hear you. I didn’t mean to scream in your face.”
“I don’t care about that.” Deborah waved an impatient hand. “It’s not like you haven’t snapped at me before, whatever. But you hit that bed pretty hard.”
She was becoming aware of a throbbing ache in her lower back and hip on her left side. Gingerly, she touched it. “Ouch.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Deborah began, suddenly looking uncomfortable, “but do you want me to take a look at that?”
Hayley blinked. “Um.”
“Strictly in a medical capacity,” came the immediate reply. Deborah stood back a step and held up her hands. “I am a physician. And it’s my fault you got hurt. Probably just a mild contusion, but I can check and make sure.”
The idea of essentially showing her on-again off-again nemesis and possible crush her entire left ass cheek made Hayley blush. But it did hurt, and also… hey, she knew she had a great ass. She didn’t spend an hour a day on a Stairmaster for nothing. She found herself thinking that she kind of… wanted to show it off a bit, a little tease.
“Yes,” she said, slowly, drawing the word out a bit as she turned around. “That would be great.”
Carefully, she pulled down the waistband of her scrubs and the pink lace trim of her cotton panties with it. Deborah’s eyes got wider as skin was revealed. Hayley wanted to look at her hip to see what the damage was, but it was more gratifying to see Deborah’s face, her eyes fixed on Hayley’s backside as she tugged her scrub top up and her pants down.
In the corner of her eye, Hayley watched as Deborah slowly bent down and reached out one careful hand to touch the afflicted area. She wondered if Deborah knew her mouth had fallen slightly open, that her cheeks were flushing, becoming pink.How interesting, Dr. Morales.
Deborah’s hand splayed out over the sore spot, her touch warm and gentle. Her thumb brushed over Hayley’s skin, featherlight. Hayley shivered.
“Did I hurt you?” Deborah’s gaze locked with hers.
Hayley swallowed and craned her neck to look down at her behind. She couldn’t see much but the edges of a purpling discoloration. “No. It’s fine. How’s it look to you?”
Was it her imagination or did Deborah swallow, too, before she replied? “It looks okay.” Her voice sounded the tiniest bit breathless, and her hand moved over the blooming bruise in a way that made Hayley weak in the knees. “Mild contusion. You should get some ice for it.” She straightened up and looked down at Hayley, and the three-inch height difference between them that Hayley hadn’t known she liked so much almost made her sit down.
“I’ll get some ice,” she managed to get out, taking care with how she pulled her pants up over the bruise as she turned around.
They were so close. As close as they’d been in the Derm clinic when she’d been so sure they were going to kiss.
This time, there was no way Hayley was letting it not happen.
She let it happen as if someone else were piloting her hands as they reached up to touch Deborah’s face. Her fingers tiptoed along Deb’s cheeks and jawline, then slid to cup her head and pull her down until their lips met.
That first contact was wildfire, heat instantly igniting between them. Hayley sucked in a gasp at the way arousalimmediately flashed through her, tightening her nipples and wetting her panties in what felt like a split second.
Pain flared in her hip as Deborah mindlessly grabbed her and pulled her in close, snugging Hayley in between her thighs. Hayley’s scrub top rode up, baring a couple of inches of her waist for Deb’s thumbs to skim along, and the featherlight touches left behind threadlike trails of heat.
She hadn’t felt the passionate touch of another person in so long. Just the touching alone was going to her head. The kiss, well, that was in danger of making her flat out drunk.
Deb’s mouth was warm and tasted of peppermint hot chocolate, which was a pleasant surprise. And she was kissing with a hungry, electrifying dominance that thrilled Hayley down to her toes. Hayley might have unlocked the floodgates by starting the kiss, but Deborah had flung them wide. When she sucked Hayley’s bottom lip into her mouth and gently, yet firmly bit down, Hayley couldn’t help the moan that slipped out, and she sagged against Deb’s body.
Under the scrubs and the white coat was a body Hayley suddenly found herself wanting to explore. She wanted to see if Deb’s skin was soft, if her large breasts were satisfyingly heavy in Hayley’s hands, what her thighs would feel like pressed against Hayley’s ears…
Unable to test any of that and frustrated by it, Hayley did the one thing she could do: she slipped her fingers into Deb’s hair at the base of her ponytail and tugged.
“Oh,God,” Deb groaned into Hayley’s mouth.
Which, unfortunately, is when they both heard the door handle start to turn.
In the blink of an eye, they had leaped apart. A futile effort, really. There would be no hiding the flushed cheeks, mussed hair, and glazed eyes, so Hayley could only hope whoever was coming through the door wasn’t one of Oakridge’s notoriousgossips. The last thing she needed was for someone to start spreading rumors about her. Hayley felt her hand creeping up to clutch the neckline of her scrub top closed, and her breath grew shallow.
She saw the intricate mountain of Mirenda’s microbraid bun before the rest of her best nurse slipped through the door. “Boss Lady, we need you, sorry.” Her dark eyes flicked between Hayley and Deborah, but her only reaction to seeing them was a very slight, almost imperceptible lifting of her right eyebrow. Hayley’s fingers loosened from her collar and she felt able to breathe deeply enough to heave a long, quiet sigh of relief. If anyone had to almost catch them in the act, Mirenda was the best possible option. She would have questions but kept secrets like a cast-iron lockbox.
“Coming right up.” Hayley forced herself to smile brightly and nod. She didn’t dare look at Deb as she passed by on her way out the door; she was going to have a difficult enough time getting herself to look less rumpled and innocent before she got back to the charge desk.
“In there, splash water on your face, fix your bun,” Mirenda instructed, shoving Hayley towards a bathroom. “And you will be telling meeverythinglater.”
