Page 21 of Hearts Clash

“Golf, probably,” Gianna muttered glumly.

Jade had a point. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to go and shake hands with the big man upstairs, as it were. Taking a deep breath, she got to her feet, plastered on a winning smile, and marched right over to the other table, mentally preparing her fake compliment script in her mind.

“Hi, Doctor Miller, Doctor Thomas,” she greeted cheerfully, ignoring Scarlett’s surprised, bewildered expression. “I saw you over here and just wanted to stop by and say hello. What a coincidence that we ended up in the same restaurant, huh?”

Dr. Thomas, a gentleman in his early sixties with ebony skin and intelligent eyes, grinned at her and stood up to shake her hand. Scarlett looked too shocked to do anything except sit there silently, lips pressed tightly together as though holding back a string of furious insults.

“Ah, Doctor Rodriguez, lovely to see you,” he replied warmly, taking her hand. “This is a wonderful little place, isn’t it? I’ve been coming here for twenty years now. It’s so nice to see that other people discovered it, too.”

Huh. Bless Jade’s lighting guy, apparently. She ought to get that guy’s name and send him flowers. “Oh, it’s lovely,” she agreed effusively, grinning broadly. “What are you two doing out here tonight? Celebrating anything exciting?”

Before Scarlett could object, Dr. Thomas waved a hand dismissively and said, “Oh, no, just catching up. Scarlett’s mother and I went to medical school together, you know. Absolutely brilliant woman.”

Of course she did. Of course Scarlett Miller’s mother was best friends with the hospital director. Why wouldn’t she be? People like Scarlett had every possible advantage handed to them at birth. Sure, Scarlett was an excellent surgeon, one of the best, and Gianna wasn’t one to downplay that achievement, but it was just so infuriating to know that no matter how hard she worked or how well she did, some people were simply better placed to succeed in life. A different level of playing field entirely.

“She invited us both to dinner, but she’s running late,” Scarlett added stiffly, glancing at the time on her phone, looking impatient and irritated. “What are you doing here, anyway, Gianna?”

“Just here with a friend,” Gianna replied amicably, suddenly flashing back to that time last week when she’d been crying in Scarlett’s office because of the very ex-girlfriend she was currently having drinks with. Embarrassing.

“Anyway, I just wanted to come over and say hi,” she said in an overly friendly manner, giving them her most charming smile. “Enjoy your dinner, alright? I’ll see you on Monday?”

Dr. Thomas nodded cordially, and Gianna turned and hurried back to the relative safety of her own table as fast as she could while remaining composed. Jade watched with rapt interest, waiting for her to sit down, and listened to Gianna recount the interaction.

“Hey, do you want to get out of here?” the blonde eventually asked, tilting her head slightly. “I’ve got to get to this nighttime shoot on the beach, but you could come with me?”

Gianna thought about it for a moment, then nodded. Not like she had anything better to do, and if she went home, she would just spend the whole night seething over Dr. Red Hot.

“Sure,” she agreed, “let’s go film some jellyfish.”

9

Scarlett

Scarlett supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised that her mother would pull a stunt like trick her into having dinner with Dr. Thomas. Ever since she had mentioned the available cardiology head position, her mother had made it her life’s mission to ensure Scarlett secured it. It wasn’t that Dr. Thomas wasn’t perfectly nice to chat with or that they didn’t get along well. It just felt blatantly transparent and unethical. It wasn’t the kind of thing she did—she had always been perfectly happy for her accomplishments and achievements to speak for themselves and abhorred the idea of schmoozing for a promotion. Sure, dinner was lovely, and Dr. Thomas and her mother spent it laughing and reminiscing about their med school days, but the whole time, she sat there with this guilty, uncomfortable weight in the pit of her stomach.

Worse, Gianna had been there. And she had looked furious. The dazzling smile hadn’t reached her eyes, and she’d kept staring at Scarlett like she was the snake in the grass she felt like. Despite everything, Scarlett respected Gianna’s talents as a surgeon immensely and had no desire to get a leg up through unethical means. Yes, Scarlett wanted to win—she had been there much longer and was an absolutely stellar surgeon—but not because her mother happened to know the hospital director. That wasn’t the way she operated.

It frustrated her all weekend and made her feel guilty and ashamed. Now a new week was afoot, however, and it was time to get her head back in the game. She decided to focus her restless energy into physical exertion, pulling on workout clothes and making her way to the hospital staff gym at the crack of dawn to get a proper strength workout in before the shift started.

It felt good to get her muscles burning. She could already feel the stress melting away as she lifted weights, then moved on to squats and deadlifts. After ten minutes at a brisk walking pace on the treadmill to cool off, she wiped her forehead with a towel and headed for the showers. The locker room was mostly empty at this time of day, and she took a minute to just breathe, centering herself in the moment and letting the anxiety bleed away.

The door swung open as she sat and practiced her mental mindfulness routine. Her head darted up to look at the newcomer, and immediately, her mouth went dry. There stood Gianna, dressed in yoga pants, sneakers, and a tight tank top, her glossy black hair tied back in a high ponytail. Dressed like this, it was impossible to ignore the perfectly toned curves and endless legs. The brunette looked dewy and fresh-faced without any makeup on.

It took a moment for Gianna to notice that she wasn’t alone in the locker room as she dropped her bag onto the bench to get changed. After a second, though, her gaze flickered to Scarlett, and her mouth pursed in a thin line. Scarlett became painfully aware that she’d been ogling at the other woman for too long, her lips parted slightly. She scrambled to gather herself, wiping off her face with a nearby towel and averting her eyes awkwardly.

“Uh, hi, good morning. You’re here early,” Scarlett said, doing her best to sound chirpy and casual.

“Later than you, apparently. Guess you beat me today,” Gianna commented dryly, arching one eyebrow and bending down to touch her toes with grace and ease. “Figured you’d be too tired from spending the whole weekend drinking celebratory martinis with the boss to hit the gym.”

Scarlett’s head jerked back, momentarily stunned by the venom dripping from the brunette’s voice. For the last few weeks, they’d been getting along so well. Well, not exactly well, maybe, but at least on neutral ground and without any fighting. It didn’t surprise her that Gianna was a little upset, but there was more vitriol there than Scarlett expected.

“Look, I just thought I was meeting my mother. She’s... a lot sometimes,” Scarlett sighed. “She completely blindsided me by inviting Doctor Thomas. I wasn’t trying to play politics. I respect our profession too much to sink to that level. And you, for that matter.”

“Right,” Gianna scoffed, rolling her eyes and stretching her arms behind her back. “Sounds really convenient.”

Scarlett didn’t know how to respond to that. She especially didn’t know what to say when Gianna pulled off her tank top without a second of hesitation and casually removed her bra to get into her sports top for the workout. Oh. Wow. Scarlett tore her gaze away quickly and felt heat creeping up into her cheeks, staring intently down at the floor, but she couldn’t help sneaking glances at Gianna’s voluptuous, feminine figure out of the corner of her eye. Did people really have hourglass shapes like that in real life? Every inch of her body was smooth and flawless, every curve perfectly in place, like something straight out of a pinup poster. Scarlett was transfixed.

If Gianna noticed, it didn’t show. The woman stripped down to her underwear without a single trace of self-consciousness, then rummaged around her workout bag for something or other. It gave Scarlett ample opportunity to stare unabashedly at her, drinking it all in, studying every part of the stunning sight in front of her. Her gaze was drawn to those long, firm legs.

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