Instead of thanks, she had sent back something along the lines of : It was just sex. You know that, right? Perhaps it came across too harshly, because Norah never text her back after that. But a line had to be drawn, and Roya knew she had to be the one to do it.
“Because there isn’t. I’m sorry if that hurt your feelings,” Roya replied. It was softer than her initial statements. Norah was young, after all. “But I’m here to teach you. I shouldn’t have overstepped those boundaries.”
The intern narrowed her eyes in faux suspicion. “Was that an apology?”
“As close to one as you’ll ever get.”
After a second, Norah smiled behind her mask. “Well I accept the apology, Doctor Bahar.”
With the utterance of her professional name, Roya knew that things would return to normal between them and the two encounters would never be mentioned again. She was thankful for the learning experience Norah brought those weeks ago, but now she was even more thankful to leave it behind and focus on the future.
“Where’s that intern—oh,” Doctor Price yelled a tad too loudly. “Come see this, will ya?”
After sharing a knowing look, Roya watched Norah shuffle over to stand beside him. It probably wouldn’t take long for Norah to switch her specialty; Doctor Price had a talent of doing that to interns.
“Doctor Bahar?”
Roya turned to Olivia at the sound of her name. “Yeah?”
“Are you attempting to fix the rod?”
She glanced at Savannah’s monitors, noting the obvious stress signals her body was sending out. “She’s too unstable right now. It’ll have to wait.“
“This shunt should hold,” Olivia mumbled more to herself than anyone else. She wiggled the apparatus to double check. When it held, she allowed a resident to take over the closing duties. She then directed her attention back to Roya. “Clean up with me?”
Roya could tell something was up simply by the lilt in Olivia’s voice.
But she went with it, following the other woman out of the surgical suite and into the adjoining sanitation area to meet her fate.
Chapter 14
“That was hard to watch,” Olivia said once they were standing together at the sink.
No one else had followed them in yet, thankfully, but it was only a matter of minutes before people starting pouring in to clean up as well. Roya scrubbed her hands a little harder than usual.
“Yeah, I was afraid Price was going to snap the damn forceps trying to get in there like that—“
“I meant watching you,” Olivia clarified. She dried her hand with a clean towel, but stared directly into Roya’s face. “With Norah.”
Roya stepped closer, despite knowing she looked—and probably smelled—like a wild mess. But Olivia didn’t seem to care at all. In fact, she seemed to relish it. Her eyes dilated, her breathing quickened. She took a step closer herself.
“We were just talking. She doesn’t mean anything to me,” Roya said, emphasizing the words with such honesty that Olivia couldn’t refute it. She rested her mostly-dry hand on the swell of Olivia’s scrub-covered hip. “I only want you.”
“I want you to have me,” was the whispered reply. Olivia bunched up some of Roya’s scrub top in her fists. Barely an inch stood between them. “I’m tempted to kiss you right here, Roya.”
She swallowed thickly. The brazenness affected her in a way that she hadn’t expected. “You- Seriously?”
Olivia licked her lips. Something about her had changed. She no longer exuded professionalism like she did just five minutes ago. Now her words were heavy, her eyelids were hooded, and her eyes kept flicking back and forth from Roya’s eyes to her lips. “I’ve never been more serious in my life.”
“Well, there’s a couch in your office,” Roya suggested, knowing damn well that Olivia would never go for something so unprofessional .
Or so she thought.
To her surprise, Olivia started backing out of the room. The smile on her face was downright sinful. “Meet you there.”
---
Roya always knew they’d do it here at the hospital. It was only fitting. They met here, worked here, practically lived here. It was their spot; it made them who they were.
When she arrived at the office door less than ten minutes later, she knew Olivia was waiting for her on the other side. Nervously, Roya looked over herself once more. She had changed from her stained surgical scrubs into a pair of clean ones stored in her office, so she at least had that going for her. She had also brushed her hair and rolled a tube of chapstick across her lips. It was the best she could do with the limited resources she had here, but she knew the effort would still be appreciated.
Roya knocked once, twice.
When Olivia opened the door, an involuntary gasp left her mouth. “Oh. You look great.”
Roya fought off a blush. Getting attention from Olivia would probably always make the blood rush to her ears and her heart pound. A small price to pay for the infinite amount of elation and ecstasy being around Olivia brought.
“So do you,” she answered.
Her voice sounded smooth and low, a stark contrast to the nerves building within her. Although she had cleaned up, Olivia seemed to give herself a total makeover in the ten short minutes they were separated. Her hair fell loosely around her shoulders, unhindered by any sign of the ponytail she wore all day. Her face was bare of any makeup, but she somehow looked even more breathtaking than usual. Maybe it was love. Maybe it was because they both knew what they were about to do.
“Come in,” Olivia beckoned after a while. Inside, they stood there awkwardly waiting for the other to make a move. Although Roya was the one with the experience in this area, Olivia was the first to step forward. “Kiss me, Roya.”
That encouragement was all she needed.
Roya crossed the small space between them and easily pulled Olivia into her arms. She studied Olivia’s face for barely a second before their mouths met in a frantic crush. Teeth clashed, tongues explored, hands roamed over every inch of body they could reach. Still connected, she walked Olivia backwards toward the couch. They fell on it in a conjoined heap.
Olivia laughed, trying to get comfortable. Her thighs dropped open, allowing Roya to climb between them. She accepted the added weight on her body with a sigh. “Much better.”
Roya looked down at the other woman. This was the first time she’d ever seen Olivia in this position. She took in every nuanced detail: the way Olivia’s eyes were hooded and narrow from here, her nose sharper, and her mouth—my god, getting too look down on that mouth made a jolt fire down to her very core.
“You okay?” Roya asked, just to be sure. “I don’t want to rush if you aren’t ready…”
“I’m ready,” Olivia affirmed. She gave Roya a squeeze with her thighs. “I want this. I want you.”
Roya grinned. Her hands found a home under Olivia’s shirt, where the skin was supple and warm. “And I want this shirt off.”
With a grin, Olivia worked her shirt over her head. “I like you like this.”
Roya watched Olivia then remove her black bra and the subsequent reveal of her breasts. They were perky, pale, and dotted with the pinkest, hardest nipples. “And I like you like this.”
Olivia quirked her brow. “Pants too?”
The words made her eyes widen, damn near have a stroke. “Well…if you’re offering.”
Smooth.
If Olivia noticed her hesitation, she didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, she slid her pants and underwear demurely down and off her legs, to be kicked into a heap on the floor. Then she lay there on the couch—as bare in form as in emotion. Her body and mind called to Roya in a way no other person ever had or ever could.
“Wow.”
Olivia self-consciously brought her arm up to her chest. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Roya shook her head. She let her eyes roam freely over every luscious curve and dip which comprised a perfection that only Olivia could so effortles
sly achieve. “You’re just so…beautiful. Wow. I feel a little out of my depth.”
“Stop it,” Olivia laughed playfully. “You’re making me blush.”
Roya looked over her body once more. Her mouth almost instantly went dry, all the wetness rushing to other areas, so she licked her lips. “You’re making me do a lot of things.”
Olivia bit her lip. “Show me.”
She wanted to give Olivia everything she ever desired. Mentally, physically, sexually. So she rolled her shirt up over her head and tossed it to the floor. Her shoes, pants and socks followed soon after. Kneeling there on the couch in her mismatched underwear, she wondered what Olivia—lingerie wearing Olivia—could possibly see in her.
“Don’t,” the blonde whispered, pulling Roya from her thoughts. She reached out to cup Roya’s cheek. “I think you’re beautiful.”
“Yeah right,” she deflected with a laugh.
“I do.” Olivia’s voice was strong. Almost as strong as the gaze she bore at Roya then. “And I wanted to wait, but I don’t want it to be misconstrued for some post-coitus pillow talk. So believe me now when I say it, Roya Bahar—I love you. I’m in love with you.”
She gasped. “Y-you are?”
At Olivia’s nod, Roya felt her heart collapse and then build itself up again. Bigger and stronger and more full than it had ever been. Her eyes closed briefly to push away the tears behind her eyes. When she opened them, she knew it was time to make a confession of her own.
“Olivia,” she started, and it came out as a whisper. Her fingers softly traced the edges and curves of her best friend’s face. “It’s always been you.”
To love and be loved back was an immense emotion. Even the very air around them changed. Fear and jealousy were pushed away and the empty spaces left behind were filled with veneration. Adoration. Being here with Olivia, after all this time a part...it was like finding home.
“Oh,” the neurosurgeon involuntarily moaned. It was erotic, eager, and she hardly needed to explain what she meant. “Roya…”
Although she was more nervous about this than any other sexual encounter in her life, Roya took it as her cue to cut the talk and start the action. Her hands slid downwards, encouraged by an obvious change in Olivia’s breathing pattern. Tan fingers gently, finally cupped a pale breast and they simultaneously moaned aloud.
“Fuck—“
“Touch me,” Olivia urged. She rolled her body upwards, pushing her chest more firmly into Roya’s grasp. “Touch me everywhere.”
When Roya slipped a finger inside, Olivia sounded just like she imagined she would. Heady and soft, like a beacon in the dark leading her home. She pulled them out and pushed them back in, just to hear it again.
“You’re killing me,” Roya professed against the crook of Olivia’s neck. “I can’t believe this is real.”
Olivia wrapped her legs tightly around Roya’s waist. They were pulled as tightly together as any two people could ever be. The angle change allowed Roya to easily sink her fingers deeper, until they could go no further—in and out, encouraged by the labored breaths tumbling from Olivia’s perfect, pink lips. “It feels real to me.”
Roya moaned when Olivia also worked her hand between their bodies. Her perfectly manicured hand rubbed, what Roya could correctly assume, was her clit. They moved with an easy synchronicity that came from years of working around each other in the operating room. When Roya pushed, Olivia pulled and when Olivia wordlessly asked for more—by way of a moan or sigh, the rolling of her body—Roya gave it to her. They didn’t need words to understand what each other needed; they just knew what to do, like any two people so deeply, viscerally in love would. .
Roya curled her fingers inside, relishing the moan that tumbled from her lover’s mouth. “You are so beautiful.”
“Mmm,” Olivia hummed, too stimulated and overwhelmed to reply.
Her eyes were clenched as tightly as her legs were wrapped around Roya’s waist. She rubbed herself faster, keeping up with the tempo Roya set. They were moving together, gasping and touching and thrusting until it was clear that the momentum couldn’t be sustained much longer.
“Please…” Olivia gasped.
Her free hand scratched at Roya’s back, tugging her closer. Deeper. They moved together, as one, until Olivia stiffened, cried out, and came with Roya’s name on her lips.
As her cries dwindled, the only sounds remaining in the room were the sounds of their heavy breaths and the creaking of the office couch. Roya pressed her forehead against Olivia’s chest. She took a moment to bask in the ecstasy all around them.
This was real. Being here, in love and happy with Olivia, was really and truly and finally real.
Olivia had been running her fingers through Roya’s long, dark hair as they came down. Her chest vibrated when she whispered, “Hey.”
She tilted her head up to catch Olivia’s gaze. A smile pulled on her lips. “Hey there. How was it?”
“Wow,” Olivia laughed. Roya loved the way her green eyes lit up and the small lines beside them wrinkled adorably. “I always expected we’d be good together, but that was…wow. Now I’m not so upset about all that practice you had.”
Talk about an ego boost. Roya fought to hold in the prideful expression threatening to overtake her features. Instead, she smiled and pressed a soft kiss against Olivia’s lips. “Glad I could deliver.”
When she moved to untangle their bodies and stand, Olivia grabbed onto her wrist. “Wait.”
With a shift, tug, and a pull—Roya suddenly found herself lying on her back where Olivia laid only moments before. Her brow wrinkled. “Uh…what just happened?”
“I might be a lot of things, but I’m no pillow princess,” Olivia explained, grinning salaciously from where she currently hovered over Roya. “Now it’s your turn.”
Chapter 15
Roya inspected the end of her finger. The stitches had disintegrated by themselves nearly two weeks ago. Now the thinnest, shiniest line of skin that remained was the only reminder of the injury ever happening. She almost forgot about it, but the image of Olivia leaning over her hand was seared into her mind forever. After all, it was really the initial instance that led Roya to make her life-changing admission.
And damn, was she glad about telling Olivia how she really felt. Last night was amazing—no, it was beyond amazing. Roya had been completed, over and over again, at the deft hands of her best-friend-turned-lover on the office couch. Then they drove back to Roya’s apartment in the thick of night just to do it all over again here in the large comfort of Roya’s bed. Their hearts and souls intertwined in that indistinguishable way that only lovers do, but it still somehow made Roya felt lighter than ever. Like she could walk amongst the clouds and never come back down as long as Olivia was by her side. It felt like the nauseating cliché: a dream come true.
But one of the best parts about all of this was its realness. Roya was with Olivia, and not just in her fantasies. They could hold hands on the carpool to work, argue about what to have for dinner, and still kiss each other goodnight before bed. They wouldn’t have to tiptoe around their feelings anymore. Everything could be right there, out in the open for all to see.
Roya thought about what, if anything, would change at work. Of course, they would still have most of their lunches together. They would still collaborate on tough cases and support one another’s intellectual decisions. Surgeries would still be performed and long days apart would be inevitable. Their coworkers would probably congratulate them on finally consummating the obvious. The hospital might question the ethical bounds of working together, but would most likely turn the other cheek. Rose Valley just wouldn’t be the same without two of its premier surgeons, after all.
Roya rolled over slightly in the bed. Olivia lay beside her, nude from last night but mostly covered by the blankets. Her soft, blonde hair fanned out wildly across the pillows and a thin line of sunlight peeked from the blinds to run across them. She was beautiful. Breathtaking, strong-
willed, sensual. Stunning. Roya wanted to lie here and admire her forever.
A sigh of contentment escaped her lips. To think—this almost never happened. Roya almost never realized what, or who, she wanted. She almost never took a chance on this. But damn, it was worth it.
She ran her finger down the length of Olivia’s nose. Green eyes flicked open softly. Roya smiled.
“Hey, sleepyhead.”
Olivia grinned back. “Good morning.”
Roya was still amazed that such an amazing woman, her best friend, was right there in her bed. And probably would be for an infinity of foreseeable mornings to come. “How’d you sleep?”
“Like a rock,” Olivia answered, stretching slightly. “I’ve never slept so hard in my life.”
“Going at it for five hours will do that to you.”
Olivia laughed. She cupped Roya’s cheek with that unbelievably soft hand of hers, then her eyes flicked here and there to study every detail of Roya’s face. “I love you.”
Roya’s heart pounded within her chest. She would never get tired of hearing that.
“I love you too,” she answered.
When they kissed, Roya tried to memorize every sensation. She never wanted to forget how this felt.
They pulled away with a small, wet pop. “Want some coffee?”
Olivia’s green eyes brightened. “Please.”
In the kitchen, Roya thought about the past month. The short span of time had changed her life in ways she thought impossible. She had gone from giving up on dating completely to realizing she just wasn’t dating the right type of people. Her life had nearly collapsed when she realized she loved her best friend, and only got worse when that very best friend rejected her soon after.
When Roya carried the two mismatched mugs back to the bedroom, her breath hitched at the sight of Olivia sitting upright in bed amongst the pillows. The blankets had fallen down around her waist, but the pale pastel of her breasts accentuated the room in a way that made her look like the centerpiece. She belonged here.
In Stitches (Rose Valley Hospital Book 1) Page 7