Page 12 of Rules of the Heart

That’s why, the very next day, Valerie found herself working side-by-side with Ella in the clinic. When she saw Ella, Valerie seriously considered turning around and going home, but she decided that she wasn’t going to let Ella chase her away from work she found fulfilling. If there was a problem between them, Ella could leave.

To Valerie’s indignation, Ella seemed perfectly calm in her presence. Either she was more forgiving than Valerie, or she was the world’s best actress.

Ella’s lovely long hair was loose and framing her face. Valerie couldn’t stop imagining tangling it in her fingers.

Valerie grudgingly admitted to herself that in this case, she could do with taking a leaf out of Ella’s book. For now, the two of them still had to work together, and that meant they needed to figure out how to have at least a passable working relationship if they were to help their patients.

Valerie managed to get through the day without interacting with Ella much, but she did watch her.

A lot of surgeons, especially the ones who were really good at what they did, were brilliant at surgery but terrible at patient interactions. Ella wasn’t like that. She was a kind, calmingpresence to all of her patients, and they seemed at ease in her presence.

Valerie had to work hard not to let her bad mood ruin things for her patients. She did her best to focus on helping the people in front of her and not think about how pretty Ella looked when she was comforting a sick child or reassuring worried family members.

She thought once more about the moment when she had nearly kissed Ella.

Valerie hadn’t kissed anyone in years. It wasn’t that she didn’t have sexual urges, but she had made the decision a long time ago not to act on them.

Her job was her life. She didn’t want anything to interfere with that. Every relationship she had ever tried had eventually fallen apart because the woman in question didn’t understand her commitment to her career.

Most people expected you to prioritize them above your work. When your work saved lives, it wasn’t that simple.

Even after she had given up on relationships, Valerie had tried to have purely sexual relationships. She was only human, after all, and she had never wanted to remain celibate forever.

However, those hadn’t worked either. When you had sex, emotions tended to get involved, whether you wanted them to or not—at least in Valerie’s case. She’d had her heart broken too many times by now to ever want to be intimate with anyone again.

She had an extensive drawer of toys and she made do with that. Anything else—anything with people—was simply too complicated.

Valerie finished her day in the clinic and returned home, her mind still on Ella. Watching Ella work today had been an uncomfortable experience. It would be easier if she was an awful doctor. Then Valerie could resent her in peace.

However, that wasn’t the case. Ella seemed to be an amazing doctor who really cared about her patients. She was creative, though it was unfortunate that her creativity often resulted in rule breaking. Her clever mind did tend to come up with unusual solutions, though.

Just this afternoon, Valerie had watched Ella talk a young man down from a panic attack by having him describe to her everything he knew about steam engines. Apparently, she had seen him before and knew that steam engines were a special interest of his.

It had worked, and he had left calmly with a smile. Valerie had read through his chart just to check that everything was done by the book, but she hadn’t been able to find any errors.

Valerie tried to read, or watch TV, or really do anything that wasn’t think about Ella, but she was failing miserably. She had never met someone who was so infuriating and alluring both at once.

Valerie eventually decided to go to bed early. She would avoid the clinic for a few days and get an Ella-free week while Ella was suspended. Maybe that would get her head straight.

5

Ella

Ella couldn’t stop thinking about the almost-kiss. She was sure it was an almost-kiss. Valerie had looked seconds away from kissing Ella, but something had stopped her—the same thing that prevented her from breaking even the smallest of rules.

Valerie’s brown eyes had flooded with lust instead of anger, just for a second. Ella was sure of it.

Ella wondered what had happened to Valerie. That kind of rigidity didn’t come out of nowhere. Something had made Valerie the way she was, and Ella felt sure that if she could just figure out the source, she could help Valerie work through her issues.

Of course, Valerie may not want to work through her issues, and Ella was no therapist. Maybe she should leave that kind of thing to the professionals. Sticking her nose in her boss’ business was probably a bad idea.

Kissing her boss was probably a bad idea too, but that didn’t stop Ella from dreaming about the possibility.

Valerie was just so sexy, especially when she was all fired up and asserting her authority. Ella knew that, ultimately, theywere on the same side. They were both passionate about helping their patients. It was just too bad that their passions clashed in the logistical department.

Ella spent most of her suspension working in the clinic. They always needed more hands there, and it was kind of relaxing to do work that wasn’t surgery. When someone’s fine motor functions didn’t depend on her fingers not twitching at the wrong moment, it made for a more relaxed day.

She noticed that Valerie didn’t come to the clinic again after that first shared shift. Ella wondered if Valerie was avoiding her, though of course, that could just be her being paranoid. It was entirely possible Valerie’s schedule was simply full.

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