All of Me

by Emily Smith

  Galen’s mouth found its way to that same nipple, sucking it into her mouth and then dragging her teeth softly across the top. Rowan shuddered and involuntarily pushed closer, aching to alleviate the pressure that seemed to be reaching critical levels. As if reading her thoughts, Galen pulled away and took off her shirt. She was strong and solid, with those muscled arms Rowan had never expected and a set of broad shoulders and narrow hips. A tattooed hummingbird sat under her left collar bone. She’d never seen anyone more attractive in her entire life. Before she could take any more time to admire the figure in front of her, Galen grabbed her around the waist and guided her down to the twin bed placed against the wall in the tiny room.

  “I know it’s small. Just pretend you’re in college again,” Galen said, smiling as she hovered over Rowan.

  “This is nothing like college.” Rowan cupped her hand around the back of Galen’s neck, brushing the soft, short hairs with her palm, and pulled Galen on top of her, kissing her hard again. She let her tongue venture into Galen’s mouth, gliding against Galen’s and then darting back out. With her hands she explored Galen’s back, letting her nails trail down with more ferocity than she’d intended as Galen’s fingers fluttered around the waist of her scrub pants. Galen moved toward Rowan’s hips, her hands following her mouth as she tongued a trail down Rowan’s stomach and around her navel. She nipped just hard enough at the sensitive skin to make Rowan convulse in a beat of need with just a hint of pain. Sex with Brian had always been soft and sweet and conventional. Rowan didn’t know any other way. Apparently, she liked it just a little bit rough. Apparently, she really liked it.

  Once Galen had her almost undressed, she scratched her short nails down the inside of Rowan’s thighs and traced her tongue just under Rowan’s panties until Rowan gasped so loudly anyone walking by would surely have heard. It took every ounce of control she had not to grab Galen’s head and guide her where she wanted her. But she didn’t. Galen knew what she was doing. She trusted her. Galen slowly pulled the panties down, and Rowan opened her eyes for just a second, breathing a sigh of relief to see that she’d had the foresight, or luck, to put on some of her better underwear this morning. With her eyes open, seeing Galen’s head between her legs, with those usually cool, blue eyes now a fiery pool staring up at her, turned her on more than she’d ever imagined she could be. Galen let her tongue walk down as far as it could without actually touching Rowan, and just when Rowan thought she might actually die, Galen stopped and climbed back on top of her, kissing her mouth softly, sensually, in a way she hadn’t yet.

  Rowan whispered breathlessly into Galen’s neck. “Galen. If you don’t touch me soon, I don’t know what’s going to happen to me.”

  “You know I can’t resist that sweet Southern drawl.” Galen smiled, and Rowan seemed to melt into the bed underneath her. She closed her eyes again and let Galen’s fingers slowly tiptoe down her belly, tensing as Galen finally touched her.

  “Oh my God.” Even through closed eyes, her vision seemed to dim further. “Oh. My God. Galen.” Her words only seemed to encourage Galen, who skillfully built the symphony between Rowan’s legs into a deafening crescendo. Rowan thought she’d cum before. But it turned out, she hadn’t. At least not like this. She shouted one final time and went limp.

  Galen propped herself up over Rowan, their faces just inches apart. Her eyes held a hint of the pride and cockiness Rowan imagined she displayed whenever she got a girl off like this. But what she saw was more—a sweetness, a gratitude she knew most women didn’t get.

  Rowan thought about what she’d told Makayla about her first kiss with Galen—life-changing.

  In hindsight, that kiss felt like child’s play.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Galen woke up several hours later, still naked, with Rowan cradled against her. She could have slept for days, with the comfort and the warmth of Rowan’s skin in such close proximity. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the ringing of her cell phone had pulled her out of her euphoria. Her mother’s name appeared on her screen, and she struggled to make sense of what was happening. The clock on the call room wall told her it was after three am. Her mother should have been asleep, recovering on the fourth floor where she’d been moved the day before, once she’d become stable enough to be transferred out of the ICU. This woman was a stubborn Polack who’d raised her twelve siblings single-handedly after her father died and her mother was forced to work full-time. She never complained about anything—even an aortic dissection. And it had nearly killed her. Whatever was making her call Galen in the middle of the night couldn’t be good.

  “Mom? What’s wrong?”

  “Hello, dear.” At least her mother sounded well. And the fact that she could talk and was calling Galen herself held promise that she wasn’t in imminent danger.

  “Mom. It’s three am. Are you okay?”

  “Oh, I’m fine! I just couldn’t sleep. Did you know they still come into this damn room every two hours and take my blood pressure? For Pete’s sake. How is anyone supposed to heal if they won’t leave you alone?”

  Galen looked at a sleeping Rowan and gently moved so Rowan was no longer underneath her. She hated leaving her side. Everything about being there with her felt right. “I know. They just want to make sure you’re okay.” She shielded the phone from Rowan, put on her undershirt and scrub pants, and quietly slid out of the room.

  “Well, will you tell them I’m fine? Because I am. And I’d like to go home now,” Margaret Burgess said.

  “You can’t go home yet, okay?”

  During the silence on the other end of the line, Margaret seemed to be weighing the concept and deciding whether to fight back. “Okay, fine. You’re the doctor. Now, I really called because I want to talk to you.”

  “It’s the middle of the night. This couldn’t wait?” Galen paced outside the call room, not wanting to stray too far from Rowan.

  “Oh, please, child. You don’t think I know you? You haven’t slept a full night since you were eleven years old. I just about had to lock you in your room to get you down. Finally, I bought you that damn Walkman, and you’d listen to books on tape until you’d pass out for a few hours. I imagine nothing’s changed. Now you just have an excuse to be up all night.”

  Her mother wasn’t completely wrong.

  “As a matter of fact, I was asleep.” Galen smiled to herself, still bathed in the exhilarating feeling of Rowan’s lips on hers, the way she moaned when she touched her, the softness of her skin and the curves of her hips.

  “I guess you’re awake now! So can you come up to my room? I assume you’re still at the hospital. I don’t know why you pay that ridiculous mortgage on that gorgeous apartment if you’re never in it. You really are your father’s daughter.”

  “I’ll be right there.” Galen hung up the phone. She thought about waking Rowan but didn’t want to interrupt what looked like a rare moment of peace for her. God, she was even more beautiful when she was asleep. Something about the way her eyelashes fluttered and her lips parted while she breathed slowly framed Rowan’s air of innocence and Southern, good-girl charm. Galen knew Rowan Duncan would be a challenge and that she’d wanted her like she couldn’t remember wanting anyone before. But she hadn’t counted on being completely, uncharacteristically smitten.

  Galen arrived at room 402 a few minutes later. “What’s bothering you, Mom?” She found herself assessing her mother, checking her skin color, her breathing patterns, her heart rhythm on the monitor next to her. Everything was normal. But it wasn’t like her mother to summon her in the middle of the night just to talk.

  “Sit.”

  Galen did as she was told. “You’re freaking me out.”

  “I’ve had a lot of time to think. They don’t let me do a whole hell of a lot else. Tell me about this girl, Galen.”

  Galen’s breath caught a little. “What girl?”

  “What girl? Don’t play dumb with me, child. I thought we’d already discussed this. Just because I don
’t have a fancy degree—”

  “—doesn’t mean you aren’t as smart as I am.”

  “Smarter. Because whose loins do you think you came from?” Margaret was clearly amused with herself.

  “Ew. Mom. Don’t say ‘loins’ again. Please. And fine, you’re smarter.”

  “This girl.”

  Galen sighed, ready for a barrage of questions. “I assume you’re talking about Rowan.”

  “No. I’m talking about Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge. Of course I’m talking about Rowan.”

  Galen laughed. She’d certainly inherited a lot of her baggage from her father but was immensely grateful for the wit, humor, and warmth her mother had passed on to her. “Don’t tell me you called me to your hospital room in the middle of the night to interrogate me about my intern.”

  “Your intern? Is that what you call her? You realize you sound like a misogynist, don’t you? I raised you better than that, Galen Henrietta Burgess. You don’t own that girl. You don’t own anyone. Your big-shot title doesn’t give you that right.”

  “I’m sorry. She’s not my intern. She’s just an intern.”

  “No.” Margaret shook her finger at her daughter. “She’s not just an intern. I saw something the other morning. Do you know what that was?”

  “No, Mom. What was it?” Galen rolled her eyes dramatically.

  “I saw my baby completely and totally enamored with someone for the first time in her life. Now, what kind of mother would I be if I didn’t make sure you didn’t do what you always do and give up any and all happiness in your personal life in exchange for your career?”

  “I do not do that.”

  “Honey. You may have your father’s handsome face, but you also have his stubbornness. And his tenacity. It’s what makes you both great surgeons and well, frankly, terrible romantic partners.” Galen hated that her mother always seemed to be right.

  “Okay, so let’s say you’re not so far off.”

  “I’m not. You really care about her, don’t you.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Yeah. I do.” Galen saw no point in arguing. What she was feeling was painted all over her face like a road sign.

  “Then go for it. Make it happen. Do not let this one slip through your fingers because you’re too busy holding a scalpel.”

  “Nice. Are you going to post that one on Pinterest now, Mom? Really, very poetic.”

  “Listen, Galen. You’re an adult now. I can’t tell you what to do. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t try to encourage you to go after her. Be happy.”

  “She’s my…she’s an intern. That means she’s my subordinate. I could lose my job. Rowan could be kicked out of the program. Dad would—”

  “Do you know how your father and I met?” Margaret’s face grew stern and serious.

  “Of course I do. You were a secretary at Harvard when he was going to medical school. You screwed up his schedule, and he came into your office in typical Dad fashion and chewed you a new one. And you lived happily ever after.”

  Margaret laughed. “Yes. That’s the story we always told you kids.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That’s not really what happened.” She sat up straight in the hospital bed and folded her hands in her lap. “I never told you this because I didn’t want you to resent your father any more than you already do.”

  “What are you talking about?” Galen slid farther forward in her chair and stared at her mother intently.

  “I did meet your father at Harvard. That part was the truth. But I wasn’t the secretary. I was a surgeon.”

  Galen felt the entirety of what she’d ever known or thought about the woman in front of her cease to exist. “What?”

  “I was a first-year resident. Your father was just a fourth-year medical student. I planned to go into OB GYN. I wanted to do minimally invasive hysterectomies and oophorectomies. Back then, these were major procedures. Women would come in to the hospital for a week just to deal with something as small as an ovarian cyst.”

  “What happened?” Galen felt the weight of her mouth hanging open in disbelief. After all these years, everything she’d known about her mother was a lie.

  “What do you think happened? I met your father. I fell in love. A few months later, I was pregnant with your sister. That was the seventies, baby. A man’s career always came first. Your father wanted me to stay home and raise you kids, and so I did. He went on to be, well, you know who he is. And I got to bring up three amazing, talented, beautiful girls.”

  “That’s bullshit.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “That’s bullshit!” But Galen wasn’t angry at her mother for lying to her. “How could Dad allow that? You had dreams! You had a career! He was still in medical school. You’d already started residency. Why couldn’t he have given up his life to take care of us?”

  “That’s just not how things worked back then. I know it doesn’t make much sense now. But the world would have balked at a man giving up a potentially lucrative surgical career so his wife could be a physician.”

  “But why? Why didn’t you tell me any of this until now?” Galen tried to keep her voice down to avoid disturbing the nearby sleeping patients.

  “You have enough to contend with when it comes to your father. I didn’t want you to hold this against him. It was as much my choice as it was his. And I have no regrets. I’ve had a great life so far. So please. Do not resent him. He became a huge success, and you are becoming one too. And I know you both thank me for that. Besides, that’s not why I’m telling you this story.”

  “I’m sorry, Mom. You’re going to have to give me a minute to process what you’ve said. All of these years I thought—”

  “That I was just a secretary? That I wasn’t as smart as you or your sisters, or your dad?”

  “No! But what about all that talk about my ‘fancy degree’? You had one all along!”

  Margaret winked at her. “Sure did, honey. Now, will you let me get to my point, please? I told you this because I’m hoping you’ll see some parallels. Technically, your father was my subordinate. As a medical student, he scrubbed in on my surgeries. That’s how we met actually, over an OR table. It certainly didn’t look good when it came out that we were together. In fact, I almost lost my position. But I didn’t. I fought for it. And do you know why?”

  “Why?” Galen was beginning to see her mother’s point.

  “Because we were in love.” Margaret looked into the distance for just a moment, seeming to stare at a memory buried deep in her soul. “Believe it or not, your father used to look at me the way you looked at Rowan the other day. And that made all the risk worth it.”

  “So you’re saying you want me to turn out exactly like Dad?”

  “No. I want you to be your wonderful, charming, kindhearted self that hasn’t been hardened by the world or your career yet. I know he’s not the man you’d want to aspire to be right now. But I promise, he used to be. And you can make better choices. You can have love and your career, Galen. You just have to try a little harder than he did. You can be better than Henry.”

  Hot, warm tears built behind Galen’s eyelashes. Her mother was always warm and nurturing, but she couldn’t remember ever having this kind of raw, devastatingly real moment with her. “Thanks, Mom.” She stood and kissed Margaret on the forehead. “Now get some rest, okay?”

  * * *

  Rowan woke up of her own volition, alone, in the on-call room in the basement of the hospital. Dread filled her stomach, and she suddenly felt like crying. She’d spent so much time thinking about how she’d feel if she slept with Galen that she never took the time to think about the consequences of falling for a player. And that’s exactly what Galen was. Of course Galen was gone. Of course she’d fled the minute she got what she wanted—her conquest of the straight girl from Texas who’d somehow managed to leave her safe, secure relationship to explore a treacherous rendezvous with Galen. Just as Rowan began to kick herself for being so
incredibly daft, the door to the call room opened quietly.

  “I’m sorry. I had to run out for a second.” Galen moved to the bed and crawled in next to her, taking Rowan in her arms again.

  “Everything okay?” Rowan tried to hide the fact she’d been at near-meltdown level only seconds earlier. Maybe she’d had Galen wrong after all.

  “My mom called. She just wanted to talk.”

  Rowan buried her head in Galen’s chest, sinking into her scent that left Rowan turned on all over again. Galen stroked the skin on her upper arm, and Rowan had forgotten completely that she’d ever been mad at Galen for leaving. “Is that normal for her?”

  “Not at all, no. Which is why I went down there. She’s fine though. I think this hospital stay is messing with her. She gave me this whole talk about not letting my career become my whole life and not letting love pass me by, or whatever. It was weird.”

  “Interesting.” Rowan wondered for a moment if this talk had anything to do with her presence in Galen’s mother’s hospital room the other morning. She wished that were true, hoping Galen would be so wrapped up in her that her entire world would be thrown off kilter. Because God knew Rowan’s was.

  “So, how are you feeling?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know. About last night?”