It wasn’t unusual for Galen to spend the night at the hospital when she wasn’t on call. Becoming the best—becoming a Burgess—meant putting in hours you didn’t have and doing work you didn’t need to do. It meant hanging around for surgeries when your shift was technically over. It meant reading up on those surgeries both before and after so you could do them better the next time. It meant three am trips to the simulation lab to operate on computer screens when the hospital was quiet and everyone else was asleep.
Last night was no exception. Once Rowan had left her office, Galen had been irritated and more than a little turned on. People didn’t usually stand up to her. She was a fifth-year resident and the spawn of the great Henry Burgess, God of Surgery. And now, she was chief resident. Maybe that was why she seemed to sleep with women who thought she was untouchable—mostly new nurses who didn’t know any better. Then she could keep her control. She liked to be challenged at work, but not in her personal life.
She wasn’t angry at Rowan for confronting her. After all, if she really believed that Galen had manipulated her schedule just to get in her pants, Galen wouldn’t blame her for slapping her across the face. She was angry that her reputation was catching up with her and that within twenty-four hours, someone like Rowan Duncan would think Galen was the kind of asshole who would do something like that. Maybe it was time to cut the shit? Or, at the very least, try to be a little quieter about who she took to bed…
By midnight, no patients were waiting in the ER to be operated on, but Galen was still restless. Teddy was busy, and she couldn’t seem to sit still long enough to read up on the newest techniques in laproscopic hernia repairs. The pinging from her nearby cell phone had been a welcome reprieve from her own thoughts.
I’m on a break. Can I come up?
The message came through to her iPhone from “Jen SN.” SN stood for scrub nurse because Galen didn’t know Jen’s last name, or care to, really. And she needed to make sure she didn’t get her mixed up with Jen Red Hair, Jen Coffee Shop, or Jen Paramedic. She sighed, picked up the phone, and typed a reply.
Sure.
She tried not to put too much thought into what she was getting out of these meaningless flings. But if she’d allowed herself to put her minimal psychiatric training from medical school to use, she might say she was compensating for a lack of attention and affirmation from her father. No. That was creepy Freud psychobabble.
Galen liked sex. She liked to get off, and even more than that, she liked to get beautiful women off. She loved it. She loved the way they writhed under her touch, the way they said her name, the way their muscles twitched when she did something just right. Sex gave her power. It gave her control. It made her feel needed and important—something she’d struggled to feel most of her life. It rarely went beyond that. She had no connection behind the lust.
Still, what the hell was wrong with lust? A few minutes later, a quiet knock had sounded on Galen’s office door, and Jen SN entered without a word. Within seconds, she’d stripped off her scrubs, climbed into Galen’s lap, and latched her mouth onto Galen’s neck. They hadn’t talked, unless it was to tell Galen to go harder, or faster, or lower. This was exactly how Galen liked sex—quick, easy, and uncomplicated. She’d watched the last shudder of Jen’s orgasm echo through her, and they both moved to put their clothes back on. That was it. Jen kissed her on the cheek, said a coy “thank you,” and left.
* * *
A strong cup of coffee would help Rowan shake this funk she was in. She stopped at the hospital cafeteria after her morning rounds, filled the tallest cup she could find, and topped it off with five or six sugars. Everything in the South was sweet, and the mere thought of black coffee turned her stomach. The heat in her belly that had been there since her unsolicited dream this morning had finally cooled, and she felt like she had the mental reserves to assist in her first surgery this morning. A healthy degree of terror and humility that was expected of her as a new doctor who’d just been handed a knife replaced her arousal.
“Well, good morning.”
Rowan turned from the coffee station, still reviewing her thyroid landmarks as she tossed her sugar packets into the trash. Galen stood just close enough to bring every second of her dream flooding back to her.
“Good morning.” She immediately felt her face warm and knew patchy hives were forming around her exposed neck.
“Total thyroid at seven am, OR 2. You ready, Duncan?” Galen smiled, and Rowan felt at least four more hives erupting.
“Looking forward to it.” Her voice was scratchy, and she was having trouble swallowing over the potato-sized lump in her throat.
“You feeling all right?” Galen reached out and gently ran a finger over Rowan’s neck, leaving her skin burning under her touch.
“Huh?”
“You’re kind of flushed…” Galen didn’t wait for an answer. She grinned knowingly and turned to go. “See you in a few.”
* * *
Rowan filled with panic at every step she took toward the locker room. She had no doubt that Galen knew every bit of what she’d been thinking. God, how humiliating. Never in her entire life had she dreamt about a woman like that. Never in her entire life had she even thought about a woman like that! She once again reminded herself that these were unusual circumstances, and she was absolutely in uncharted waters. A new residency, a new career, a new city, a whole new vat of responsibilities…That explains it. Doesn’t it?
She moved to the nearby storage closet and took out a set of small scrubs, her phone falling to the ground as she did. For several seconds, she just stared at it before finally picking it up and hitting the first number on speed dial.
“Hi. Is everything okay?” Brian’s voice on the other line sounded stifled and far away.
“Yes. Everything’s fine. I just…I just miss you.”
“You do?” She could nearly hear him smiling from Texas.
“Yes.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. Rowan did miss him, in some ways. So what if it wasn’t in the same way he missed her?
“I miss you too, Ro. What are you up to?”
Rowan finally collected her scrubs and rounded the corner, kicking her heels off as she walked. “Well…I’m about to assist on my very first surgery.”
“It’s not your first surgery. You’ve done this a million times. You’ll be great.”
“I’ve done this a million times as a medical student, Bri. That’s like telling Alex Rodriguez at his first major league game that he’d be fine because he was a water boy once.” She groaned internally, kicking herself for forgetting just how little Brian understood of her world.
“And I still say you’ll be great. Besides, A-Rod was a chump. What’s the surgery?”
She knew he didn’t really care. “It’s a…” One of the nearby showers had shut off, and a strong, muscled figure wrapped in a less-than-conservative towel stepped out. Her heart ricocheted in her chest, and the sense of embarrassment that had become all too familiar to her during the last couple of days reappeared like an unwelcome guest.
“Hello? Ro? You still there?”
Brian’s voice did little to shake her trance as Galen finally made eye contact, smiled her shy smile that was surely manufactured, and mouthed, “Sorry.”
“Sorry. Hey, I’ve got to go, okay?”
“Um…okay, sure? Are you sure you’re all right?” But Rowan had already let the phone drop to her side. “Hello? Ro? Rowan?” She laughed nervously in Galen’s direction and hit the red button to end the call.
“I didn’t know anyone else was in here,” Galen said, picking up a corner of the towel and running it over her wet curls. The top of her strong thigh peeked out, and Rowan silently reminded herself to get it together.
“No problem.”
“That the boyfriend?”
“Yeah.” Rowan suddenly and foolishly wanted to prove to Galen just how solid her love life was. “He’s the best. I really miss him, you know.”
Galen just raised her eyebrows slightly, and Rowan swore she saw something that looked like skepticism on her face. “Huh. That’s great.”
“How about you? Do you, you know, miss anyone?” She couldn’t believe she’d just asked her that. What an idiot! Was she twelve? Galen’s love life was none of her business. And it was of absolutely no interest to her.
“Her name is Suzie.” Galen flashed her mischievous smile that Rowan was sure got her into all kinds of trouble. “When I get home every night, I mean, when I actually make it home, we eat dinner together. And then we watch Mary Tyler Moore reruns and fall asleep on the couch.”
For whatever reason, a bubble of jealousy traveled up from Rowan’s stomach and settled in her throat.
“She loves to kiss me too.”
“Oh. That’s…How long have you and Suzie been together?”
“About eleven years now.”
Everything Rowan had heard about Galen suddenly came into question. Was her whole Lothario persona just an act? Or was she some kind of serial cheater? “Really?” She tried to sound unfazed.
“Yeah. My dad got her for me when I was a teenager.” Her grin grew. “We have a date tomorrow at the vet’s, actually.”
Rowan felt her eyes bug just for a second and then laughed. “Might this Suzie be covered in fur and enjoy playing fetch in the park?”
“As a matter of fact, yes! You want to see a picture?” Galen was already running to her bag to dig out her cell phone. “Here she is.”
“She’s adorable.” Rowan noted the graying Goldendoodle but couldn’t look away from a tan, smiling Galen kneeling next to her in the summer sun, wearing a baseball cap and tank top. They were on some kind of hike, and Rowan wondered what it would be like to spend the day outside, exploring the mountains with Galen and Suzie…
“I think so, but I’m biased. Shit, is that really the time? I have to get dressed.”
Rowan found herself roaming Galen’s body with her glance, suddenly too aware of her near-nakedness. “Right.” She watched as Galen’s towel dropped just enough to expose the crest of her breasts, forcing herself to leave.
* * *
“Good morning, everyone.” Galen’s favorite attending, Dr. Jay Peterson, entered the OR, holding his hands just in front of his chest. “Burgey. What’s shakin’, kid?”
“Ready to get going, Boss.” With Jay at the helm, it was going to be a good day. He often let Galen do the majority of the surgery, even leaving the room to let her finish the procedure on her own. Working with him was nothing like working with her father. She didn’t live in perpetual fear of fucking up, or not fucking up but being yelled at regardless.
“Aren’t you always? And you must be one of the new interns.” Jay turned his attention to Rowan, who’d been standing patiently near the patient’s head, careful not to ruin the sterile field.
“Yes, sir. I’m Rowan Duncan.” Galen watched as Rowan started to reach out to shake his hand but quickly seemed to realize her error and brought it back close to her body.
“Don’t give me that ‘sir’ bullshit. Who do you think I am, Henry Burgess? No offense, Galen.”
Galen chuckled. Why couldn’t Jay be her father instead? Jesus, life would be so much easier.
“Okay, Dr. Peterson.”
“Jay. Please. If you call me Dr. Peterson, I’ll kick you right out of my OR.”
Galen could see the smile on his face even in spite of his mask.
“Jay. I’ve got it.”
Galen warmed at the exchange. Rowan was likable, she had to admit. So many of the new residents were like petulant children with no social skills. They couldn’t hold a conversation, never mind make a joke. Rowan was charming. She thought back to an hour earlier, in the locker room. Galen had known exactly what she was doing. She was already in the shower when she heard Rowan’s voice nearby. It didn’t take long for her to figure out she was on the phone, likely with this Brian doofus.
Everything Galen did with a woman was calculated, meticulous, from her words down to her shoes. It was no accident that she chose that moment to leave the shower, making sure to let her towel fall just enough to gauge the look in Rowan’s eyes. The shaking in her voice, the color of her cheeks—it all served to confirm what Galen was sure she’d seen earlier in the day. Girls broke out in hives around her for two reasons—they wanted to fuck her, or they were allergic to her cologne. And Galen hadn’t been wearing any cologne.