Passionate Rivals

by Radclyffe

  “I’ll change and meet you there,” Syd said.

  “Hey, you don’t have to. You’re not on call.”

  “No,” Syd said as they headed for the door. “But you’ve got me on trauma for two more weeks. Might as well take advantage.”

  Emmett caught her just as she pushed the door open into the hall. She kissed her quickly. “I’ve got you for a lot longer than that.”

  Syd smiled. “Yes, you do. You’ve got me for always.”

  Epilogue

  Mt. Airy,

  July 1, 4:30 a.m.

  Emmett’s phone alarm beeped, and Syd’s eyes shot open. Her bedroom windows were open. The predawn air was hot and heavy already. Spring had fled, and the first of July carried the dead heat of mid-August. Beside her, Emmett stirred. Sometime in the night they’d kicked off the thin sheet on her bed, both of them naked. Despite the sultry weather, they’d slept tangled up, the way they usually did. Even when the idea of wearing clothes made her sweat, she welcomed Emmett’s touch. Anywhere, always.

  Emmett’s phone buzzed again and Emmett found it with one hand, turned on her back with a sigh, and swiped it into silence. Her voice still thick with sleep, she murmured, “Morning.”

  “Why are we getting to the hospital at five a.m.?” Syd kissed the tip of Emmett’s shoulder.

  “First day,” Emmett muttered. “Time to make sure the house is shipshape.”

  “You’re not going to do this every day, are you, Chief?”

  Emmett laughed. “Probably for a little while.”

  “Well, it’ll be good for me being the new guy—again—to show up early.” Syd teased about the early hour, but she didn’t really mind. The new first years arrived today, and all the residents started on new rotations. She was as anxious as the new chief resident to get started. The sooner she started, the sooner she’d get over the early hurdles. She hoped.

  Emmett slid an arm around Syd’s shoulders, settling into the pillows as if she had all day. “Are you nervous?”

  Syd kissed her. “I’m okay. Come on, we should get up. I know you’re anxious to get there.”

  “No hurry.” Emmett tightened her grip. Some things were more important than the job, at least when she could let them be. Now was one of those times. “How are you feeling?”

  “Me? I’ll survive. Been here before, you know.”

  “Syd,” Emmett said softly. “What you’re doing, it’s tough. I don’t think I could do it.”

  “It’s not hard.” Syd sighed. “Okay. Not that hard. Being the new guy again, when I’m also going to be a senior resident, when I should probably know a lot more than I do and I won’t know what I don’t know until I’m in the middle of it, that part’s hard. But I want to do this. I couldn’t open myself up to anything after what happened, not for years. Not to what I really wanted for myself, for my career, or with you. But it’s right now. I have you. I have us. And I’m ready for the rest of it.”

  “Kos wouldn’t have put you where he did,” Emmett said, “if he didn’t think you were ready.”

  “I sort of know that, and I try to remind myself of it when I get the flutters. Don’t worry about me. You’ve got your own stuff today.”

  “Nothing all that challenging,” Emmett said. “Lots of administrative stuff.”

  “Lots of stuff that you’re the best person to handle. Along with cases of your own to do.” Syd kissed her. “Come on, coffee at least, before we leave.”

  “I’ll hunt some down while you get ready.” Emmett grabbed the jeans and shirt she’d left on the chest at the end of Syd’s bed. She had about as much of her stuff in Syd’s room now as she did in her own. In fact, the two halves of the house were slowly merging into one as whoever happened to be around congregated in one place.

  “All right.” Syd jumped up and kissed her. “I love you. I’ll meet you in the kitchens.”

  “Right.” Emmett pulled on her clothes and went down to check the coffee status in Syd’s kitchen. Dani sat on the counter, legs crossed, a box of Cap’n Crunch cradled between her bare thighs. Emmett didn’t look too closely since she wore only boxers and a tank top, and Dani might not be shy, but she sort of was. “Coffee?”

  “Not yet,” Dani mumbled around a handful of Crunch.

  “Any more of that?”

  Dani clutched the box to her chest.

  Emmett shrugged. “Guess not. Tell Syd I’m putting coffee on next door. You’re welcome to it.”

  “We got milk.” Dani frowned. “I think.”

  “Don’t know if we do.”

  “Somebody needs to shop.”

  “We need a wife,” Emmett said.

  Dani grinned. “I’ll start the search.”

  “Good, make it fast.” Emmett waved going out the back door, hopped the railing between the adjoining porches, and went in through the door to her kitchen. Zoey was up, dressed in a pale yellow sleeveless top and cropped sage pants. Coffee dripped into the pot.

  “Thank God,” Emmett muttered.

  “Hey,” Zoey said.

  Emmett grinned. “You look…summery.”

  Zoey snorted. “I only get to wear real clothes going to or from the hospital, so I figure I might as well wear something nice for five whole minutes.”

  “Maybe you need more of a social life.”

  “Uh-huh. In about six months. I’ve got the transplant service starting today, remember? With a new intern and a first year resident.” Zoey rolled her eyes. “I’m just hoping they don’t kill anybody right away.”

  Emmett laughed. “Where’s Hank?”

  “I think he might’ve left already.”

  “The new interns aren’t set to meet with Maguire until six.”

  Zoey shrugged. “You know Hank. Early bird.”

  “He gets that from me,” Emmett said.

  Syd came through the door. “Who gets what from you?”

  “Hank. My smarts and good looks,” Emmett said.

  Zoey groaned. Syd smiled.

  The door banged again and Dani bounced in. The Cap’n had kicked in. “Anybody seen Jerry?”

  “No-show around here last night,” Zoey said.

  “Not next door either.” Dani frowned. “Maybe he’s at Sadie’s, but I could’ve sworn he said he was coming home. We finished rounds late last night, and he said it was too late to wake her up.”

  Syd said, “Why don’t you call—”

  Emmett’s trauma beeper went off and everyone groaned. “Wouldn’t you know it. In two hours, I’d be handing this off to you, Dani.”

  “I’ll take the call if you want,” Dani said.

  “I got it.”

  Emmett called in, listened for a few seconds, and said, “No problem. Be there in five.” She shoved her phone in her pocket and looked at the expectant faces of her lover and friends.

  “That was Honor. All hands on deck. Sounds like something big.”

  “Let’s go,” Syd said.

  In an instant, everyone headed out into the morning. A new year had begun.

  About the Author

  Radclyffe has written over fifty romance and romantic intrigue novels, dozens of short stories, and, writing as L.L. Raand, has authored a paranormal romance series, The Midnight Hunters.

  She is an eight-time Lambda Literary Award finalist in romance, mystery, and erotica—winning in both romance (Distant Shores, Silent Thunder) and erotica (Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments edited with Stacia Seaman and In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip written with Karin Kallmaker). A member of the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame, she is also an RWA / FF&P Prism Award winner for Secrets in the Stone, an RWA FTHRW Lories and RWA HODRW winner for Firestorm, an RWA Bean Pot winner for Crossroads, an RWA Laurel Wreath winner for Blood Hunt, and the 2016 Book Buyers Best award winner for Price of Honor. In 2014 she was awarded the Dr. James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Award by the Lambda Literary Foundation. She is a featured author in the 2015 documentary film Love Between the Covers, from Blueberry Hi
ll Productions.

  She is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBTQ publishing companies.

  Find her at facebook.com/Radclyffe.BSB, follow her on Twitter @RadclyffeBSB, and visit her website at Radfic.com.

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