So soon after explaining it all to Mirenda, it felt exhausting to have to explain it again, but she knew she owed it to Deb to try and explainsomething. “I panicked. There is… there’s a lot to it. But I panicked. Because it was good. Because I don’t feel like I deserve good things. I have all kinds of issues, Deb.” She felt tears beginning to well in her eyes and tilted her head up for a moment, trying to blink them away. “Honestly, I kind of thought it wouldn’t bother you, though.”
Deb’s eyes flashed with quick, angry fire, and she looked like she was going to snap something out. Then she closed her mouth and looked down, shoving her hands back into her pockets. “Okay. I do have a reputation.”
“And not very long ago, we couldn't talk to each other for more than thirty seconds without wanting to get into a slapfight.” Hayley took a deep breath. “Still. It’s no excuse. I need therapy. And Deb…” She swallowed. “I am sorry. I can see I hurt you, and I hate that.”
“I hated it, too.” Deb rubbed at the tip of her nose with the back of her hand, and her eyes looked suspiciously shiny. “I have my own issues, Hayley. And as much as I may be known as the type to love ‘em and leave ‘em, I still try to providesomekind of explanation when I’m done with someone.”
“Something I could learn.” Hayley twisted her fingers, almost painfully. She felt as though she deserved it.
Deb stepped up to her and put her hands over Hayley’s. “Stop that. Listen.” She pulled her shoulders back and sucked a long breath in through her nose that she held then let out. “I’m still mad at you, and I still feel like absolute fucking ass. And we still need to have a very long conversation. But…”
“But…” Hayley held her breath.
“Christ, I hate talking about feelings. I gotta keep this brief.” Deb pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes squinched shut. “Hayley. You drive me up a goddamn wall. I have walked away from people for way less than I’ve taken from you. But nobody pushes my buttons like you do. From you, the bullshit is almost cute.”
Hayley blinked. “Thanks…?”
“I still want to see where this can go, okay?” A harsh burst of air puffed out of Deb’s mouth. “One night with you wasn’t enough. I want more. But do you?” Her eyes searched Hayley’s, and there was an unfamiliar thread of anxiety in her gaze. “If this freaks you out too much, we can walk away. But it has to be mutual, whichever way it goes. No more ghosting. We talk. Just be real with me.”
“I find it amazing that of the two of us, it’s the quick-thinking, reckless, arrogant motorcycle rider who’s got the healthier approach to dating,” Hayley marveled.
“I don’t enjoy the deep conversations, but I found out a long time ago I really hate drama,” Deb remarked, her tone frank. “So I made a choice to prioritize communication. I’m not entirely irresponsible, I wouldn’t be chief of emergency medicine if I were.”
“That’s a good point.” And she was ashamed for not thinking about it before. Apparently for each surprise she learned about Deb, she was going to learn one about herself. Somehow, that didn’t fill her with panic. Instead there was an odd sense of relief, of letting go.
Hayley stood up straight and looked up at Deb, at her anxiously furrowed brow, her frazzled hair, her wide dark eyes. “Okay. Yes.”
“Yes?” Deb’s dark eyes lit up.
“Yes. I also want to see where this can go.” There was a fluttering in her stomach, a whole flock of nervous butterfliestaking off. But this was right. No more shutting herself off from possibilities. No more “safe” routes.
Hayley opened her mouth to say more but couldn’t get a word out before Deb had her face cupped in her hands and was diving in for a hungry kiss that stole all her breath away.
Heat rushed through her—a wildfire from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. With a gasp, she reached up and twisted her hands into Deb’s hair, pulling her in tight and close, swallowing down kiss after kiss, reaching and tasting with her tongue.
Her back curved inward as Deb’s hands slid down her spine, over her ass, and gripped tight. Hayley’s head fell back with the pleasure of being manhandled, held close and secure. The demand in Deb’s grasp made her press her hips forward, her pussy aching with rising need.
Together, they stumbled backward onto a lower bunk, pressing their bodies as close together as they could get. Deb’s mouth moved along Hayley’s jaw, down her neck, biting and sucking in ways that Hayley wouldn’t be able to cover up, and she didn’t even care. She slithered her hands in under Deb’s lab coat, under her scrub top, under her sports bra. “Too many layers,” she muttered.
But she was relentless, and her hands cupped the curves of Deb’s full breasts, her thumbs stroking over her stiffening nipples. Deb groaned and bit down harder on Hayley’s throat, making Hayley arch her hips upwards and bite her lip to keep in the loud moan of frustration and need that bubbled up in her throat.
It was only a matter of time before someone came and tried to get into the on-call room. But Hayley needed to come, needed to hear Deb’s release, needed to find a path to satisfaction, and quickly.
As if reading her mind, Deb shifted, wedging her thigh between Hayley’s. She moved her attentions back to Hayley’s mouth, nipping swollen lips while she fit her hands under Hayley’s ass and lifted her off the bed until they were slotted together, and she rolled her hips forward.
The pressure against Hayley’s clit was just right, and this time, she couldn’t hold back her moan, letting it spill into Deb’s mouth. She felt Deb grin—and that ignited her competitive streak. Bracing her foot on the bed, Hayley bent her knee so that her own thigh was pressing tight on Deb’s pussy. To her satisfaction, that wiped the grin off of Deb’s lips, and Hayley enjoyed the little whimper that slipped from her mouth as well.
They moved in sync, riding the ripples of desire together. It felt good, sogood,the firm muscle of Deb’s thigh pressed so hard between her legs and against the pulse of her clit. Wave after wave of pure pleasure throbbed from her pussy, spreading through Hayley’s body and driving her closer and closer to?—
She buried a long, low groan in Deb’s shoulder, just as Deb gasped and stilled above her. Hayley held on tight, letting the orgasm wave through her again and again. It felt amazing, incredible, just one rippling pulse of delicious satisfaction after another.
Slowly, she lowered her head back onto the on-call bed, and Deb carefully extricated herself from the Gordian knot of sexual gratification they’d tangled themselves into. Deb was moving even slower than Hayley as she lay herself down next to her on the narrow bed. “Oh, man. Too much, too soon.” But she turned her head and winked. “Worth it.”
Hayley turned over onto her side to face Deb, propping her head up on her hand. “You need someone to take care of you.”
Deb’s answering gaze was skeptical. “We’re going to have to have a talk about what that means. I don’t need someonehovering over me. I’m going to ride my motorcycle, eat red meat, sometimes work too much.”
“I’m not going to hover,” Hayley promised. “And we can have the boundaries talk. But not tonight.” She leaned forward and dropped a pert kiss on the tip of Deb’s nose, laughing when Deb’s face wrinkled into a frown of consternation. “Tonight, I just want to take you home with me and get you to rest. I’ll cook you dinner. And maybe if you’re up to it we can repeat this…” she gestured to their wrinkled clothing and flushed faces. “But slower.”
