Passionate Rivals

by Radclyffe

  Syd appreciated the reprieve. This wasn’t the place to have a discussion with Emmett, and thankfully, now wasn’t the time, either.

  “While I’ve got you all here, first, welcome,” Quinn said.

  She said a few more words, the usual introductory kind of thing, which Syd tuned out, sensing the tension in Emmett’s body without even touching her. She was practically quivering.

  “Will you relax, please,” she murmured.

  “I am relaxed,” Emmett said through gritted teeth.

  Syd snorted. “There’s no reason to—”

  Emmett’s head snapped around, her eyes flashing. “Really, Syd? Then maybe you can explain—”

  Zoey leaned in. “You two might want to keep it down.”

  Emmett clamped her jaws closed.

  Quinn looked over the room. “In two weeks, the first years won’t be first years anymore. Expectations will change. You’ll find yourself responsible for new first year residents, who will be inexperienced and prone to making mistakes.” Quinn raised a brow. “Not that any of you were ever like that.”

  Laughter filled the room. Some of the first years started to look nervous, as if it just occurred to them they wouldn’t be protected any longer by their seniors. They’d be the ones offering guidance. Syd remembered the feeling well—part panic, part pride.

  She brushed Emmett’s hand. “I’ll explain.”

  “When?” Emmett growled.

  Quinn turned their way and Syd fell silent. Could the timing be any worse? But then, with her and Emmett it always had been.

  Quinn said, “Our fifth years will be leaving for advanced training or to enter practice. Great job, everyone, and congratulations on finishing.” When the applause died down, she went on, “Our new fifth years will step into their place, and one will assume the position of chief resident.”

  Emmett’s shoulders squared as she took a deep breath.

  “No,” Syd whispered fiercely. “Don’t say anything.”

  Emmett cut her a look, her gaze furious. “It’s not right.”

  “It is.” Syd grabbed her hand, not caring that Zoey could surely see. “Trust me.”

  She held her breath, unsure if Emmett would. She hadn’t done a lot, at least in the past, to earn that trust. She hoped things had changed. For the longest moment, Emmett searched her face, and she tried to let Emmett see how much she needed Emmett to give her this chance. A chance she might not deserve but one she desperately wanted. “Please.”

  Quinn’s voice cut through the interminable limbo.

  “…Emmett McCabe.”

  Hoots and hollers and more applause followed. Syd shifted her palm to the center of Emmett’s back. “Congratulations. Now say something chief-resident-y.”

  Emmett finally looked away, glanced toward Quinn, and shifted to take in the rest of the room. She ran a hand through her hair and grinned. “You might want to hold your applause for a while until you see how I do.”

  People laughed. Emmett relaxed.

  “I’ve got tough shoes to fill.” Emmett nodded to the present outgoing chief resident, who Syd understood everyone at PMC considered to be chief in name only, but that was Emmett. Always fair.

  “But,” Emmett said, turning toward Honor and Quinn, “I’ve got great examples to follow too. I’ll do my best. If you’ve got a problem or complaints…talk to your seniors.” More laughter. “Or I’ll be around. Anytime.”

  When Emmett fell silent, Quinn said, “All right, everyone, enjoy the next hour or so, and then let’s all get back to work.”

  Emmett instantly spun toward Syd. “You want to tell me what the hell is going on?”

  “Yes, but not here. We need to talk in private.”

  “You know, Syd,” Emmett said, “I’m getting tired of waiting.”

  “I know.” Syd brushed her fingers down Emmett’s arm. Emmett didn’t pull away, and the relief was a gift. “Tonight. I promise.”

  “I’m on call tonight.”

  Syd smiled. “So?”

  * * *

  Embarrassed by the congratulations she still wasn’t sure she deserved, Emmett managed to extract herself from the reception after less than an hour. She hadn’t had a chance to press Syd for any further details, too many people around and too many well-wishers. She’d sensed Quinn watching her, and she tried not to let her uneasiness show. She trusted Quinn, even though she didn’t quite understand the decision. Syd said they’d talk, but she still wondered when and what difference it might make.

  As soon as she escaped, she headed for Chestnut Street to hunt down a cab. The trip back to the medical center in Germantown took half the time the ride in had taken, and she arrived still unsettled by the whole night. Nothing had turned out the way she’d expected. Not when she’d first met Syd and foolishly imagined a future together, not when Syd suddenly reappeared and, once again, she got caught up by her relentless attraction to her, and not until tonight, when she’d pictured the two of them as partners during their fifth year, working together. A team. And—yes, she admitted—lovers.

  Always getting ahead of herself.

  She paid the cabbie and jogged up to the main entrance, went straight to the locker room, and changed into fresh scrubs.

  “Meet me in the cafeteria for dry rounds,” she said when she paged Hank. “I’m starving.”

  By the time Hank arrived, Emmett had a burger and fries and was starting to feel a little more like herself. She was back on her home turf, and that helped.

  “So it’s quiet,” Hank finally said, after he ran down the list of patients on the trauma service. “Oh, hey, congratulations, Chief.”

  Emmett snorted. “How did you hear that?”

  “Angie Michelson called to tell me.”

  “Angie, huh? I didn’t know you two were tight.”

  “Recent development.”

  “You know she’s gonna be your immediate senior in a couple of weeks.”

  “Yeah.” Hank grinned. “Not a problem. I can handle bossy women. I grew up with you, after all.”

  Emmett rolled her eyes. “Watch it. Half your senior residents are going to be women.”

  “Like I said, I’m good with it.”

  She smiled. Hank had never needed to prove himself by undermining others. He just did the job better than most. “Get outta here. Enjoy yourself before you actually have to work a little.”

  “Right, that’s why it’s nine o’clock on Friday night, and I’m still here covering for you.”

  She pointed toward the door. “Go, before something comes in, and I make you stay.”

  “Yes, Chief.”

  Emmett shrugged. “Clock’s ticking.”

  Hank disappeared in a flash. Once Emmett finished her belated dinner, she started on a quick tour through the ER and the trauma unit just to make sure nothing was pending that needed her attention. She ran into Honor in the ER, doing the same thing.

  “Anything for trauma?” Emmett asked.

  “Not so far. Nothing surgical down here at all.”

  Emmett frowned. “I don’t like it.”

  Honor nodded. “I agree. Too quiet.”

  “Maybe word got out attendings were covering,” Emmett said.

  Honor laughed. “Possibly. Congratulations, by the way.”

  “Thanks.” Emmett flushed.

  Honor tilted her head. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  Honor smiled. “Good. You’ll do a great job.”

  The quiet confidence in Honor’s voice eased a lot of her uncertainty. Now if she could just figure out how things had turned out this way, she’d be mostly happy. She checked her phone. Nothing from Syd.

  By ten, with everything quiet, Emmett headed to the trauma on-call room. She flipped the lock automatically and reached for the light switch.

  “You might want to leave that off,” a voice said from the darkness.

  Emmett’s heart leapt into her throat. “Syd?”

  “You were expecting someone e
lse?”

  “No,” Emmett said quickly. “I just…how long you been waiting?”

  “Not long.”

  Emmett’s eyes adjusted to the half-light coming through the transom window that opened onto the ER parking lot. Syd was partially shadowed where she sat on the lower bunk, but her profile was etched in silver. Emmett’s breath came a little faster. She was so damn beautiful.

  Syd patted the bunk beside her. “Come sit down.”

  Emmett’s legs were oddly rubbery as she made her way across the room. She sat a few inches away from Syd, and Syd put her hand on her thigh. That light touch was enough to set every nerve ending on fire. Afraid Syd might have second thoughts and move her hand, Emmett curled her fingers lightly around Syd’s.

  “You promised you’d tell me,” Emmett said.

  “First of all, my decision had nothing to do with all of this. You deserve—”

  “Don’t go there,” Emmett said. “You know as well as I do we’re on equal footing there.”

  “I don’t want to argue,” Syd said, “and there isn’t any reason to. But just remember what I said. You earned it.”

  “Okay,” Emmett said, drawing out the word. “So what happened? Quinn wouldn’t tell me anything, but all of a sudden us being co-chiefs didn’t even come up.”

  “That’s because I left the program.”

  Emmett jumped up. The room spun, or her head did. “What? Are you crazy?”

  “Maybe you could sit down and listen for five seconds,” Syd said evenly.

  Emmett paced in a circle. “No. Absolutely not. What are you doing? Are you leaving? No, you can’t do that. You said you wouldn’t—God damn it, Syd. You can’t—”

  “Emmett,” Syd said sharply. “I’m not leaving.”

  Emmett stopped in her tracks. “You’re not?”

  “No. Will you sit?”

  Emmett forced herself back to the bed, but even after she sat, her legs wouldn’t stop jumping. “You’re not leaving?”

  “No,” Syd said, stroking the length of Emmett’s thigh. “I’m not.”

  “Then what?”

  “Do you remember the patient with the spinal cord injury and the resident who didn’t answer her page?”

  “What? Yeah.” Emmett frowned. “What does she have to do with it?”

  “A lot. Kos fired her.”

  “Whoa. That must not have been the first episode.”

  “I guess not. I don’t know any of the details, and they don’t matter now.” Syd drew an audible breath. “Kos offered me her slot. I’m switching from general to a neuro residency.”

  A few seconds passed before Emmett absorbed the words. “You’re switching. Now? When you’re almost done?”

  “Yeah,” Syd said, her tone light and unmistakably happy. “I am. I have to take an extra year, but that’s okay. I have some catching up to do.”

  “Wait, you’ll be a fourth year neuro resident next year?”

  “Yes,” Syd said. “Luckily, Kos thinks I had enough experience early on at Franklin that I don’t have to move any further back. So I’ll be a senior neuro resident when you’re a trauma fellow. Lucky you. I ought to be able to keep you out of trouble by then.”

  Emmett laughed. She could see the two of them working together, just not the way she’d always imagined. Only she didn’t quite trust happy endings. “This doesn’t have anything to do with us being up for chief resident at the same time, does it?”

  “Do you really think I would tank my own career to make things easy for you?”

  “No,” Emmett said, “I just need you to know I wouldn’t want you to.”

  Syd sighed and rested her hand in the center of Emmett’s back. Their shoulders touched. “Of course I know that. You’re the fairest, most honorable person I know.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Emmett said. “I just know I…” She held back the words she wasn’t sure Syd wanted to hear. “If it’s what you want, I’m all for it.”

  “I’m glad things worked out this way,” Syd said, “but if they hadn’t, I still would’ve given you my vote. And I would’ve told Quinn that.”

  “But—”

  Syd’s kiss silenced her, and Emmett completely forgot what she meant to say. When Syd drew back, Emmett’s mind was blank.

  Syd laughed quietly. “Sometimes, you’re clueless. I love that about you.”

  “You do?”

  Syd brushed her fingers through Emmett’s hair, the touch as gentle and as exciting as anything Emmett had ever experienced.

  “I do. There’s something else I have to tell you too,” Syd whispered. “I love you.”

  The silence went on so long, Syd wondered if she’d actually spoken aloud. From Emmett’s sudden frozen posture, she was pretty sure she had. Her throat was suddenly dry. Had she miscalculated? Was she too late? Years too late?

  “I, um…” Syd said.

  “No, wait,” Emmett whispered. “It’s good. We’re good. It’s all good.” She swiveled, faced Syd, grasped her shoulders. “But would you mind, just one more time.”

  Laughing, Syd clasped Emmett’s waist and leaned close. “I love you.” The words felt so good, stirred up a sensation so exhilarating, she said them again. “I love you. I totally do.”

  Emmett let out a long breath and rested her forehead against Syd’s. “Nothing has ever made me feel so good. Everything I’ve worked for, dreamed about—they all matter. But none of those things fill me up the way you do.”

  “Oh, Emmett.” Syd rested her cheek on Emmett’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry it took me so long—”

  “No. Not too long. It took until it was right. That’s what matters. All that matters.”

  Emmett tilted her head and kissed her, long and slow and with a new possessiveness that sent chills down Syd’s spine. She gripped Emmett more tightly, opened for the kiss, invited her deeper.

  Moments passed, possibly hours, time having lost all meaning. Emmett was all she could feel. Syd’s heart filled with wonder and desire and a bubbly sensation that could only be joy. When she couldn’t breathe for the need to be closer, she pulled away. “I really want you right now.”

  Emmett’s breath came hard and fast. “Me too. So bad.”

  “You’re on call.”

  “I’m a quick dresser.”

  Syd laughed. “Then get your clothes off.”

  In seconds, they were naked, tangled together on the narrow bunk.

  “Did you lock—”

  “Yes,” Emmett mumbled, her mouth on Syd’s breast, her hand stroking down. “I want you. Please, Syd.”

  Syd found her hand, pressed it between her thighs. She was ready, waiting. “Yes. Yes.”

  Emmett groaned, closed her eyes, pressed her cheek between Syd’s breasts. She filled her, stroked slow and deep, felt Syd close around her, drawing her deeper.

  Syd’s fingers dug into her shoulders, urged her on, wordlessly setting the tempo. Emmett followed, reading her body, every sense attuned to the heat and tension and rhythm of her heartbeat. So different now, so much more than ever before.

  “I love you,” Emmett whispered and Syd arched beneath her, her cry of release the only answer Emmett needed.

  When Syd whispered, “You,” Emmett rolled onto her back and pulled Syd on top of her. She wrapped one leg around Syd’s and clasped her hips, guiding her to the rhythm she needed. She came hard, a lash of coiled tension whipping through her. She fell back, boneless, and heard Syd laugh. She managed to smile. She liked the way Syd sounded when she claimed her.

  “Please don’t let my beeper go off now,” Emmett muttered.

  “You’re tough. You will manage.” Syd rested her cheek into the curve of Emmett’s shoulder.

  Emmett held her. Syd fit perfectly, just the way she always knew she would. “I love you. Did I remember to say that?”

  Syd kissed her throat. “Several times, in a number of excellent ways.”

  “Oh. Good.”

  “We should probably get dressed,”
Syd said reluctantly. “Just in case.”

  “I know. Just as soon as I reassemble all my body parts.”

  “I expected you to have a lot more stamina,” Syd said with utter seriousness. She leaned on an elbow, traced her finger down the center of Emmett’s body, making her twitch and instantly come alive everywhere.

  Emmett jolted upright. “I’m ready.”

  Syd laughed that wild, ecstatic laugh again. “I knew you would be. So now you can get dressed.”

  With a sigh, Emmett swung her legs over the side of the bed. “You’re right. But I’m not done.”

  “Oh, believe me, you are definitely not done.” Syd found the pants and top she’d worn to the reception and pulled them on. “I’m just giving you a break.”

  “Don’t need a break,” Emmett said, her voice muffled by the scrub shirt she tugged over her head. “I’ve got a lot stored up for you.”

  “Mmm. Me too.” Syd kissed her. “I’m just being cautious. I don’t want to wear you out the first week.”

  “Ha,” Emmett said, tucking in her shirt. She caught Syd around the waist and pulled her close. “I am never going to stop wanting you.”

  Syd laced her arms around Emmett’s neck. “I hope not. I can’t imagine ever not wanting you. I love you. I always did, I just couldn’t let myself have you.”

  “Well, you do now.”

  “I’m glad,” Syd said, “because I’m yours.”

  Emmett’s heart swelled and she wondered if she could possibly contain any more wonder in her life. “I’ve always seen us together. Always.”

  Syd nodded, the moonlight not nearly as bright as the love shining in her eyes. “We’ll have that. The two of us.”

  “I know.” Emmett kissed her. “We were meant for each other.”

  Emmett’s beeper went off before Syd could answer.

  “Well, that’s good timing at least.”

  “That’s our life,” Syd whispered.

  “You’re right. It is.” Emmett scooped up her beeper. Nothing could lessen her happiness now, not when she had Syd. “It’s trauma admitting. Hold on.”

  “Not going anywhere.”

  Emmett punched in the extension. “McCabe…Yup. Okay. On my way.” She disconnected and slid the phone into her back pocket. “That was Honor. Multiple calls coming in. Looks like it’s going to be a busy night.”