Dueling Drs: A Small Town Hospital Romance

“The name is Dr. Ross, and you are not my boss or my publicist, so why would I need to consult you about a simple interview.”

“This isn’t a joke, Zola. I may not be your boss, but I can end your fellowship at any moment.”

She let out a bitter laugh. “That would presume that the fellowship had actually started in any real, material way and we both know it hasn’t.” Her stare hardened and all traces of the sweet and bubbly woman vanished, replaced by a curvy block of icy steel.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Her voice grew louder, her tone stronger. “You know what else isn’t funny, Dr. Wright? Finding out that you performed a first-time surgery using a device that’s never been used outside a laboratory and you said nothing to me. You didn’t tell me you were performing it, didn’t make sure I knew it was happening and when. You didn’t even share your notes with me so I could, I don’t know, learn something from you! So, excuse me,” she sighed, almost exhausted now, “if I’m not all that interested in what you find funny.”

Her nostrils flared and jaw clenched and the only thing I could think of was how beautiful she looked, practically glowing with anger. Zola’s breaths came in short and choppy as she glared at me like she was waiting for me to say something, to acknowledge my own wrongdoing.

“Is that all, or can I enjoy one moment of my life where you don’t barge in and interrupt?”

Ouch. “There’s no need for dramatics, Zola.”

“My friends call me Zola. My coworkers call me Dr. Ross.” Oh, she was angry and gorgeous now, and I couldn’t look away. In fact, it took every ounce of willpower I possessed not to keep poking at her, to see how much angrier I could make her.

“Damn, that’s cold,” Persy mumbled under her breath. “And a little bit bad ass.”

I glared at Persy who was also completely unaffected by my efforts at intimidation. “Where do you get off talking about things you’re not doing?”

Zola arched a brow. “Who said I wasn’t doing those things? Bold of you to presume you know anything about what I do all day since you go out of your way to avoid me.”

Dammit, she was right again. “It’s not my job to keep you informed of my schedule.”

“It’s also not your job to keep the OR board blank so I have no clue where you are or what you’re doing. For that matter, neither does Nurse Gibbons or any other surgeon in the building.” She turned to Persy with a smile and a shrug. “I guess that’s the perk of having your sister run the place.”

My hands balled into angry fists. I would never, ever, hit a woman, but I wanted to slam my fists down on the table in front of her to wipe that smirk off her face, to make her stare up at me with just a hint of trepidation that said she recognized I was in charge. Not her.

But that would be extremely unprofessional, not to mention it would draw even more eyeballs than were already aimed in our direction. “Watch it, Dr. Ross.”

“Or what? You’ll keep ignoring me and wasting my time? Oh no,” she said, her tone thick with sarcasm. “You got what you want, Drew, me out of your hair. What is the problem now? You want to run me out of the hospital as well as your department? Or, let me guess? This town ain’t big enough for the both of us?”

She was right. Sarcastic, but Zola was correct. I had no right to be upset with her for doing what she had to do when I had gone out of my way to avoid her. Instead of telling her that and acknowledging my flaws, I glared at her and walked away.

Zola

I glared at Drew’s retreating backside, anger bubbling up inside of me the way it used to when I let everything and everyone get to me. How dare he think he could just stall my career, and why? All because we’d slept together long before we knew we would be working side by side, or would have been working side by side if he could behave like an adult.

“Frustrating man!” I grumbled, not turning away from the perceived threat until he made a left outside the cafeteria to get to the elevators.

“Wow girly.” Persy’s voice broke through my angry haze and I turned to find her wearing a wide smile and fanning herself. “That was totally hot, like seriously hot as hell. I mean, I thought I was a badass but that was…just wow.”

I couldn’t help but smile at Persy, so put together and beautiful, fanning herself like a girl who just caught a glimpse of her crush.