Page 10 of Healing Her

Surprise rushed through her as Ashley’s hands cupped her face and pulled her up into a kiss so instantly incendiary that she felt her core grow warm and heavy at the first taste of the other woman’s tongue.

It had been so long since she’d felt something like this, the rush of electricity, the heat bubbling between her legs. Since she’d tasted another woman’s mouth, let her tongue flicker along the soft warmth there. And she’d never experienced the kind of commanding, take-charge intensity that was thrilling her now. She and Nina had shared a sensual, deep connection and their dynamic had always been balanced.

Not like this, nothing like this. Jen reached up and twined her arms around Ashley’s neck as the kiss deepened. The hands holding her face firmly in place as her mouth was invaded and explored were somehow delicate yet strong all at once, definitely a surgeon’s hands. She’d never been with another surgeon before, she realized. She’d been missing out.

More thrills shot through her as Ashley’s hands moved to her thighs and she was hoisted up onto the countertop next to the coffee machine. Eagerly, Jen spread her legs wide and tangled her fingers into the lapels of Ashley’s lab coat, pulling her in close. Her black linen skirt rode up, leaving the damp gusset of her pink cotton panties exposed and pressing up against Ashley’s waist.

When Ashley’s hand slid along the bare skin of her thigh, Jen thanked God that she’d decided against wearing pantyhose that morning. Her nipples peaked hard, brushing against the lining of her bra and sending little electric jolts directly to the pulsing heat between her legs. Even the way the edge of the countertop was biting into the soft backs of her thighs was somehow erotic, increasing the pleasure of the encounter tenfold.

And Ashley’s mouth was so supple and hot, her tongue plunging into Jen’s mouth in a way that made her nearly slide off the counter when she thought about how that tongue would feel on her clit, what it could do.

Those nimble surgeon’s fingers were plucking now at the leg of her panties, then the waistband, slowly working their way in under the elastic. Jen held her breath in anticipation, her mind swirling as she imagined Ashley’s slender fingers sliding along the slick heat of her labia, the precision with which one wet fingertip would graze over her clit?—

The lounge door creaked, and Ashley jumped away, almost pulling Jen off the counter as she did. Still dazed with lust, Jen was only barely able to snap her knees together and smooth her skirt back over them. She glanced at the door to see who’d interrupted.

It was a little blonde nurse who often worked the late surgical shifts. Aubrey, Jen remembered. Relatively fresh out of nursing school. Jen swallowed back her disappointment and smiled as she slid down off the counter. “Hi, Aubrey. Everything okay?”

Aubrey glanced between the two surgeons, uncertainty written all over her open, freckled face. “Sorry to bother you,” she said softly, her fingers curled around the edge of the door. “DoorDash dropped off your food with me at the desk. They said they’d been trying to call you?”

Patting her pockets, Jen looked around, wondering where her phone had gotten off to. Then it appeared under her nose.She looked up to see Ashley holding it stiffly out in front of her. “You dropped this,” the younger surgeon said, her voice as pinched and cold as if they hadn’t just shared a scorching gusset-burner of a kiss.

Jen blinked and took her phone. Sure enough, there were a number of missed calls. She was grateful the delivery driver had taken things into their own hands while she’d been so thoroughly distracted! “Thanks, Aubrey. I’ll come get it in a minute. I appreciate you coming to let me know.”

“Welcome.” The nurse vanished out the door, pulling it closed behind her and leaving Ashley and Jen to regard each other soberly. Jen tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “Doctor Proctor…”

Ashley smoothed the flyaway hairs around her face back and tugged at her blouse, whose silk placket looked irretrievably rumpled after their encounter. She frowned down at it before glancing up at Jen, her face utterly smooth, devoid of any hint of her feelings. “My apologies, Doctor Colton. That got out of hand. It won’t happen again.”

“Oh, no, I don’t—” Jen began, but she went quiet at a wave of Ashley’s hand.

“Very unprofessional of me. I…” Ashley swallowed. “I’m sorry.” Briskly, she walked over to the lounge door, her heels clicking on the tile. When she arrived at the door, hand on the knob, she glanced back over her shoulder at Jen, her face still unreadable. Without any further word, she twisted the doorknob and slipped away.

Jen rubbed the back of her neck. There was no way she was going to be able to concentrate on her presentation at this point. And she had no idea how she was going to work with Ashley now.

9

City fell back against the bed pillows, a satisfied sigh bursting out of her on impact. “Hotdamn, Ashley.”

“You’re welcome.” Ashley winked as she came up from her position between City’s thighs and sprawled out next to her on the bed. It was their fourth encounter in a week, rather a marked increase from their usual occasional hook-up. Her jaw was starting to ache from the unaccustomed overuse.

But if she was preoccupied with City, then she didn’t have to think about what had happened—almost happened—with Jen Colton last week…

A twinge of guilt pinged at the back of Ashley’s mind; she was using City and she knew it. She also knew City wouldn’t mind if she knew, since their relationship had always been strictly casual and non-monogamous, less a relationship than a pleasurable arrangement, really. But it wasn’t right, not by her own ethical code. It was selfish, too. And it was escapism at its very worst.

Normal people read books. Knit scarves. Took up competitive coffee making. They didn’t trip and fall face-first into the lap of the nearest beautiful and willing woman in order to avoid thinking about a different beautiful and possibly willingwoman. No, that was something only Ashley Proctor could find herself doing.

“Penny for your thoughts,” City prompted, rolling onto her side and propping her head on her hand.

“In this economy? Better make it a dollar,” Ashley quipped in return. A joke, but she knew City was serious about wanting to know what was going on in her head. The woman had a deep-seated belief in talking through her emotions. And it wasn’t that Ashley didn’t see the value in that, it was just… not for her. Ever, but especially not now. There was too much to unpack.

What had possessed her to kiss Jen Colton? To hoist her up onto a countertop and run her hands over her smooth thighs, to slide a hand up under that rucked-up skirt and pluck at the waistband of her panties? Beyond the unprofessionalism of doing it in the hospital—Ashley had prided herself on never hooking up at work, as so many of her colleagues had—there was the simple fact that shehatedJen Colton. They were on diametrically opposing sides of medicine, and Ashley detested everything the woman stood for.

And yet, when Jen had snapped back that bratty, snippy, “Andyoudon’t get to order me around,” ugh. Ashley squirmed now just remembering it, the way it had made her instantly wet, desire coiling and twisting in the pit of her stomach. She’d had her tongue in Jen’s mouth, tasting the chocolatey peppermint coffee, exploring the soft warmth, long before she understood what she was doing.

She couldn’t remember the last time blind lust had driven her like that. If it ever had.

When she’d left Jen in the surgeon’s lounge with whatever pathetic mumbles she could come up with, she’d sent one perfunctory text message and driven straight to City’s place. Where she’d found herself every other night since. City was enjoying it, but Ashley knew she was ravenously curious. Whichmeant she was going to have to cool it with City, and if she did that, she was going to have to either find another friend with benefitsveryquickly, or…

…Well, she didn’t want to think about theorof it all.

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