Page 9 of Beneath Her Hands
“Like I’ve been hit by a truck,” Leslie said again, this time earning a chuckle from Rosalind. Jane felt a spike of jealousy at the gesture, though she wasn’t sure why.
“Good, as long as you still feel like you’ve been hit by a truck, that means it didn’t kill you,” Rosalind said. Even with her distorted face, Jane could see Leslie smirk at her. She snorted, and Rosalind glared at her. “Well, I’ll let you rest. I’m glad to see you awake, though.”
“Thank you,” Leslie said, and Rosalind walked out of the room. “She likes you,” Leslie said to Jane.
Jane wheeled on her, but she felt heat crawling into her cheeks. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh. My. God. You like her, too,” Leslie chuckled again, only causing more pain.
“I most certainly do not. She’s abrasive, arrogant, and now that she’s earned whatever hero status, thanks to saving your ass, she’s going to be even more impossible.”
“Whatever, go tell her that,” Leslie said and rolled her head back against the pillow. “I need some more sleep.”
“You’re impossible,” Jane said but smiled anyway.
“Always,” Leslie said and closed her eye again. Jane huffed and left the room only to find Rosalind waiting at the door.
“How long have you two been together?” Rosalind asked. Her expression was nonchalant, but her posture was almost rigid.
“We’re not,” Jane answered with a lift of her chin.
“What does that mean?” Rosalind asked.
“It’s not really any of your business,” Jane snapped, but Rosalind just chuckled.
“Okay, don’t tell me,” she said, which only annoyed Jane more. “I’ll just ask Leslie.”
Jane could feel the blood rush to her face. “Not that it matters, but we were a couple a while back, and then we broke up.”
“Why?”
Jane snapped her gaze to Rosalind, who just put her hands up in surrender. Jane huffed, then stormed off back toward her office. She could hear Rosalind chuckling behind her. Jane continued her rounds, checking on each of her patients—most of whom were almost ready to be discharged. The young girl was still sedated, though it looked like they would be able to wake her up soon. Despite all odds, there were no fatalities in the crash yesterday, though there was plenty of damage. It made the slow pace of the morning seem almost lethargic. By lunch time, she had caught up on almost all the paperwork and charted the patients’ progress, but she still found that she was struggling tofocus. It seemed like everywhere she turned, Rosalind was there to annoy her. The constant adoration from the rest of the staff only annoyed her more. The few times Rosalind attempted to talk to her, Jane cut her off with something quick and left just as quickly.
After a long and painfully boring day, she was finally in her office getting ready to go home. Rosalind would be on-call that night, and she needed to rest. Though the work had not been hard, her mind continued to spiral, and she was more than ready to head home. She opened her office door to leave and gasped when she saw Rosalind there with a hand poised to knock.
“What do you want?” Jane snapped before she could think.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on here?” Rosalind snapped, taking a step closer to her.
“About what?” Jane snapped back, unwilling to give Rosalind any ground.
“You’ve been treating me like crap all day, and I don’t think I deserve it,” Rosalind said.
“You don’t know what you deserve,” Jane said and immediately felt stupid.
“What are you talking about?”
“You expect everyone here to worship you as a hero, everyone loves Rosalind, the war hero, the one with the famous dad, the one who saved Leslie,” Jane snapped and took a step closer, closing the distance between them.
“I don’t expect any of that. I don’t want any of that. I just want to do my job,” Rosalind said and shook her head. “Sounds to me like you’re jealous and projecting some of this ridiculousness.”
“What could I possibly be projecting?” Jane huffed and looked down at Rosalind. She noticed Rosalind’s eyes linger on her lips. “I just find all the attention off-putting,” she almost whispered.
“How do you think I feel?” Rosalind said, her voice thick and husky. “I don’t want any of this; I don’t even want to be here.”
“Then leave.”
“I can’t.” Rosalind’s eyes lifted to Jane’s, and she could see the pain in them—and something else. Jane’s hand lifted to Rosalind’s cheek, and to her surprise, Rosalind didn’t pull away. Her eyes darted down to Jane’s lips again, and without thinking, Jane closed the distance, pressing her lips to Rosalind’s. Rosalind’s hands flew to Jane’s face, holding her close as she pressed deeper into the kiss. Her tongue probed at Jane’s lips, and she parted them allowing Rosalind access. Heat flooded through Jane, like fire in her veins, but she pulled back, the air suddenly cold where Rosalind’s body had been.
