Page 25 of Rules of the Heart

“Surgery. A young man with a severe speech impediment. We recently found on the MRI that it’s caused by a benign tumor. I’m going to remove it.”

That all sounded above board to Valerie. She was relieved that yet another day seemed to be passing when she wouldn’t have to argue with Ella. “Lucky you. I wish I could join you.”

“Well, I’m sure a big trauma will come in sooner or later and pull us into a surgery together.”

“Hoping for a huge trauma is probably not a good idea, Ella.”

Ella made a face at her. “You know what I mean.”

Valerie chuckled. “I do. Come on, we’re going in the same direction anyway. I’ll walk you to the OR.”

They got into the elevator and waited for it to take them up to the third floor.

It got to the second floor and went a bit higher then stopped.

Valerie frowned and clicked the third-floor button again. The elevator shuddered slightly before going still again.

Well, fuck. When was the last time these elevators had been serviced? Valerie wasn’t in charge of that, but she knew that management sometimes skimped on what they considered unessential expenses.

“Great. That’s just great,” Ella muttered. She pressed the help button, and a minute later, a tinny voice came through.

“Hello?”

“Yes, hi. This is Dr. Ella Ashton. I’m stuck in an elevator with Dr. Valerie Bush. It’s the one on the far right of the lobby.”

“Got it. We’ll send a technician to get you out. You just hang tight.”

So, they waited. Valerie knew that she wasn’t a patient person. She checked her watch multiple times. She could be getting through her paperwork right now, but instead, she was stuck in an elevator with Ella.

She glanced at Ella and found Ella watching her. More specifically, watching her lips. Yeah, this wasn’t good. How the hell was Valerie supposed to resist Ella for an unspecified amount of time in an enclosed space like this?

The tinny speaker crackled to life.

“Okay, good news, doctors. We know what the problem is. Bad news is that it’ll take at least two hours to fix.”

“TWO HOURS?! That’s unacceptable!” Valerie spluttered.

“Sorry, Doctor Bush, but that’s just the way it is. Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of there. Try not to panic.”

Valerie wasn’t panicked; she was pissed. This wassounfair. Ella sighed and sank to the floor, taking out her phone. “I’d better postpone my surgery.”

How could she be so calm about this? Valerie was ready to bite someone’s head off, but there was no one here except Ella, who was clearly not at fault.

Valerie sighed noisily and sat down next to Ella with ill grace. “This sucks.”

“Yeah, I wish I didn’t have to postpone the surgery. Still, I can move around my schedule. It’s not the end of the world. At least help is on the way.”

Valerie admired Ella’s attitude and resolved to try to be more like her. Ella was right. It wasn’t the end of the world. They were both healthy and relatively safe. Compared to some of the cases she dealt with, where life and death were on the line, this was nothing, really.

Ella glanced at Valerie from under her eyelashes. “You know… we don’t have anything else to do. We’ve been getting to know each other for weeks now. Perhaps we should use this time to get to know each other on a more… intimate level.”

Valerie’s breath caught in her throat. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Are you sure?” Ella got onto her knees, pushing Valerie’s legs apart and settling between them. She pressed a hand to Valerie’s groin, putting divine pressure on Valerie’s clit with the heel of her palm.

Valerie couldn’t help herself. She moaned and let her head lean back against the side of the elevator. Her legs came further apart without her permission.

Ella took this as encouragement and changed her palm for her fingers. She was too low at first, but she wriggled around, watching Valerie’s face in reaction to her movements.

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