Unrivaled, p.1
Unrivaled, page 1
Unrivaled
Synopsis
Zoey Cohen spent a lifetime learning to hide disappointment and loss behind a mask of unshakeable calm and control, even when her longtime friend-with-benefits lover moves on for true love.
Declan Black returns to Philadelphia Medical Center after an accident costs her the life she’d built and her career. She’s resolved to protect herself from ever being vulnerable to past mistakes by rebuilding her life around her new role as an ER attending, and that life does not include love.
Zoey will never accept second place in matters of the heart, even when her rival is a career, and Dec has nothing left to give of herself or her heart. Sometimes change is a force more powerful than will.
A PMC Hospital Romance
Acclaim for Radclyffe’s Fiction
“Dangerous Waters is a bumpy ride through a devastating time with powerful events and resolute characters. Radclyffe gives us the strong, dedicated women we love to read in a story that keeps us turning pages until the end.”—Lambda Literary Review
“Radclyffe’s Dangerous Waters has the feel of a tense television drama, as the narrative interchanges between hurricane trackers and first responders. Sawyer and Dara butt heads in the beginning as each moves for some level of control during the storm’s approach, and the interference of a lovely television reporter adds an engaging love triangle threat to the sexual tension brewing between them.”—RT Book Reviews
“Love After Hours, the fourth in Radclyffe’s Rivers Community series, evokes the sense of a continuing drama as Gina and Carrie’s slow-burning romance intertwines with details of other Rivers residents. They become part of a greater picture where friends and family support each other in personal and recreational endeavors. Vivid settings and characters draw in the reader…”—RT Book Reviews
Secret Hearts “delivers exactly what it says on the tin: poignant story, sweet romance, great characters, chemistry and hot sex scenes. Radclyffe knows how to pen a good lesbian romance.”—LezReviewBooks Blog
Wild Shores “will hook you early. Radclyffe weaves a chance encounter into all-out steamy romance. These strong, dynamic women have great conversations, and fantastic chemistry.”—The Romantic Reader Blog
In 2016 RWA/OCC Book Buyers Best award winner for suspense and mystery with romantic elements Price of Honor “Radclyffe is master of the action-thriller series…The old familiar characters are there, but enough new blood is introduced to give it a fresh feel and open new avenues for intrigue.”—Curve Magazine
In Prescription for Love “Radclyffe populates her small town with colorful characters, among the most memorable being Flann’s little sister, Margie, and Abby’s 15-year-old trans son, Blake…This romantic drama has plenty of heart and soul.”—Publishers Weekly
2013 RWA/New England Bean Pot award winner for contemporary romance Crossroads “will draw the reader in and make her heart ache, willing the two main characters to find love and a life together. It’s a story that lingers long after coming to ‘the end.’”—Lambda Literary
In 2012 RWA / FTHRW Lories and RWA HODRW Aspen Gold award winner Firestorm “Radclyffe brings another hot lesbian romance for her readers.”—The Lesbrary
Foreword Review Book of the Year finalist and IPPY silver medalist Trauma Alert “is hard to put down and it will sizzle in the reader’s hands. The characters are hot, the sex scenes explicit and explosive, and the book is moved along by an interesting plot with well drawn secondary characters. The real star of this show is the attraction between the two characters, both of whom resist and then fall head over heels.”—Lambda Literary Reviews
Lambda Literary Award Finalist Best Lesbian Romance 2010 features “stories [that] are diverse in tone, style, and subject, making for more variety than in many, similar anthologies…well written, each containing a satisfying, surprising twist. Best Lesbian Romance series editor Radclyffe has assembled a respectable crop of 17 authors for this year’s offering.”—Curve Magazine
2010 Prism award winner and ForeWord Review Book of the Year Award finalist Secrets in the Stone is “so powerfully [written] that the worlds of these three women shimmer between reality and dreams…A strong, must read novel that will linger in the minds of readers long after the last page is turned.”—Just About Write
In Benjamin Franklin Award finalist Desire by Starlight “Radclyffe writes romance with such heart and her down-to-earth characters not only come to life but leap off the page until you feel like you know them. What Jenna and Gard feel for each other is not only a spark but an inferno and, as a reader, you will be washed away in this tumultuous romance until you can do nothing but succumb to it.”—Queer Magazine Online
Lambda Literary Award winner Distant Shores, Silent Thunder “weaves an intricate tapestry about passion and commitment between lovers. The story explores the fragile nature of trust and the sanctuary provided by loving relationships.”—Sapphic Reader
Lambda Literary Award winner Stolen Moments “is a collection of steamy stories about women who just couldn’t wait. It’s sex when desire overrides reason, and it’s incredibly hot!”—On Our Backs
Lambda Literary Award Finalist Justice Served delivers a “crisply written, fast-paced story with twists and turns and keeps us guessing until the final explosive ending.”—Independent Gay Writer
Lambda Literary Award finalist Turn Back Time “is filled with wonderful love scenes, which are both tender and hot.”—MegaScene
Applause for L.L. Raand’s Midnight Hunters Series
The Midnight Hunt
RWA 2012 VCRW Laurel Wreath winner Blood Hunt
Night Hunt
The Lone Hunt
“Raand has built a complex world inhabited by werewolves, vampires, and other paranormal beings…Raand has given her readers a complex plot filled with wonderful characters as well as insight into the hierarchy of Sylvan’s pack and vampire clans. There are many plot twists and turns, as well as erotic sex scenes in this riveting novel that keep the pages flying until its satisfying conclusion.”—Just About Write
“Once again, I am amazed at the storytelling ability of L.L. Raand aka Radclyffe. In Blood Hunt, she mixes high levels of sheer eroticism that will leave you squirming in your seat with an impeccable multi-character storyline all streaming together to form one great read.”—Queer Magazine Online
“Are you sick of the same old hetero vampire/werewolf story plastered in every bookstore and at every movie theater? Well, I’ve got the cure to your werewolf fever. The Midnight Hunt is first in, what I hope is, a long-running series of fantasy erotica for L.L. Raand (aka Radclyffe).”—Queer Magazine Online
Unrivaled
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Unrivaled
© 2021 By Radclyffe. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 13: 978-1-63679-014-5
This Electronic Original Is Published By
Bold Strokes Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 249
Valley Falls, NY 12185
First Edition: April 2021
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Editors: Ruth Sternglantz and Stacia Seaman
Production Design: Stacia Seaman
Cover Design by Tammy Seidick
eBook Design by Toni Whitaker
By Radclyffe
The Provincetown Tales
Safe Harbor
Beyond the Breakwater
Distant Shores, Silent Thunder
Storms of Change
Winds of Fortune
Returning Tides
Sheltering Dunes
Treacherous Seas
PMC Hospitals Romances
Passion’s Bright Fury (prequel)
Fated Love
Night Call
Crossroads
Passionate Rivals
Unrivaled
Rivers Community Romances
Against Doctor’s Orders
Prescription for Love
Love on Call
Love After Hours
Love to the Rescue
Love on the Night Shift
Honor Series
Above All, Honor
Honor Bound
Love & Honor
Honor Guards
Honor Reclaimed
Honor Under Siege
Word of Honor
Oath of Honor (First Responders)
Code of Honor
Price of Honor
Cost of Honor
Justice Series
A Matter of Trust (prequel)
Shield of Justice
In Pursuit of Justice
Justice in the Shadows
Justice Served
Justice For All
First Responders Novels
Trauma Alert
Firestorm
Taking Fire
Wild Shores
Heart Stop
Dangerous Waters
Romances
Innocent Hearts
Promising Hearts
Love’s Melody Lost
Love’s Tender Warriors
Tomorrow’s Promise
Love’s Masquerade
shadowland
Turn Back Time
When Dreams Tremble
The Lonely Hearts Club
Secrets in the Stone
Desire by Starlight
Homestead
The Color of Love
Secret Hearts
Short Fiction
Collected Stories by Radclyffe
Erotic Interludes: Change of Pace
Radical Encounters
Stacia Seaman and Radclyffe, eds.
Erotic Interludes Vol. 2—5
Romantic Interludes Vol. 1—2
Breathless: Tales of Celebration
Women of the Dark Streets
Amor and More: Love Everafter
Myth & Magic: Queer Fairy Tales
Writing As L.L. Raand
Midnight Hunters
The Midnight Hunt
Blood Hunt
Night Hunt
The Lone Hunt
The Magic Hunt
Shadow Hunt
Rogue Hunt
Enchanted Hunt
Acknowledgments
The twelve months during which this book was conceived and written—February 2020 to February 2021—were some of the most challenging in my life, and probably for the majority of the people in the world. In the twelve years I spent as a medical student and then a surgery resident, we had a saying: You can do anything for a month, when we would be assigned to a service or a rotation that for one reason or another we did not want. But we knew there was a beginning and an end to our time there. COVID-19 changed the timeline to one of open-ended uncertainty, which is much harder to endure. Even now we cannot see the finish line—if there will ever be a hard line that says “the end”—but we are at least moving toward a place where we can live and work together again. I’d like to thank the people who have made these past months not only endurable, but productive and even enjoyable—for time is the one commodity I do not wish to squander: Sandy Lowe, who works and plays beside me every day while keeping BSB not just moving, but moving forward; my friends and colleagues who support, encourage, and share the journey, Eva, Jenny, Paula, and Molly; the amazing team of friends and colleagues at BSB, Ruth, Cindy, Toni, Carsen, Stacia, Susan, and so many others too numerous to count; our readers everywhere who support and inspire us; and my wife, Lee, for endless patience and faith.
I hope you enjoy this one. Read it in good health, hope, and happiness.
Radclyffe, 2021
Chapter One
West Mount Airy, Philadelphia, PA
July 1, 5:03 a.m.
A dilapidated red Volkswagen Bug careened around the corner and missed T-boning Declan’s shiny new black Range Rover by an inch. Dec caught the blur of motion out of the corner of her eye just in time to yank the wheel to the left. The big SUV swerved across the road and bounced up onto the grassy lawn of a pale yellow West Mount Airy Victorian, narrowly missing the low stacked-stone wall that marked the entrance to the drive. White-knuckling the steering wheel, her vision blanking out and sweat bursting from every pore, she gasped against the crushing pressure in her chest. Couldn’t breathe. Her arms trembled and her midsection cramped as if she’d been punched. Sirens blared. Help was coming. They’d be here soon. Hurry. Have to hurry.
Screams echoed the piercing cry of the sirens.
The screams were hers, in her memory.
Just a memory.
Dec fought her way through the fog of remembrance. Air flowed into her lungs, and the stampeding thunder of her heart slowly settled. Reality returned and her vision cleared.
She took another breath, and then another. The sirens still wailed, but they weren’t coming for her this time. Glancing in her rearview mirror, she checked that the road was clear and carefully backed out onto the narrow residential lane. The hospital was two blocks ahead, and though she hadn’t driven this route in almost ten years, she could have navigated with her eyes closed. The trees along the way were taller, the slate sidewalks fronting the three-story single Victorians a little more uneven from the ravages of winter frost, and the cars parked in the driveways a little more upscale than in the past, but all the same, she knew this place. Nothing essential had changed, except her.
She’d almost reached the medical center when a string of rescue vehicles overtook her. She pulled over, allowing them to pass, and followed them past the big sign indicating Trauma Admitting—that was new—down the drive to the ER entrance. When they screeched to a halt in front of the wide double doors, she swung around them and darted into an empty staff parking slot. Whoever D. Abrams was hopefully wouldn’t be too upset that she’d taken their slot. On still-trembling legs, she climbed out just in time to see a ragtag quartet of women pile out of the red Bug a couple of parking places away. The small brunette who jumped out of the driver’s side led the pack toward the ER with the speed and grace of a gazelle and, from what Dec could make out as she grabbed her shiny new laminated ID from the Range Rover’s center console, was wearing a ragged gray tank top, flip-flops, and…boxers? A lanky brunette in jeans and a rumpled shirt along with two blondes hurried along behind. Suddenly, the lithe blonde in the sleeveless pale green shirt and sage capri pants sprinted around the others and made it to the ER doors first.
Another ambulance tore into the emergency area, and Dec had to jump out of the way to avoid being sideswiped. She landed awkwardly on her right leg, and the swift stab of pain shooting from her hip reminded her she wasn’t who she used to be. As if being here wasn’t reminder enough. Shoving the thoughts aside, she headed for the rear of the first ambulance in line. The back doors swung open and the EMTs—a male and female in navy blue pants and shirts, each looking about thirty and fiercely focused—slid the stretcher out, letting its folding legs open as they eased it to the ground.
“What’s the situation?” Dec asked the one closest to her.
“Multiple car accident on the Schuylkill. They’re still extracting the injured.”
“How many are we expecting?” Dec jogged along beside them, ignoring her burning hip.
“Hard to tell. At least eight cars were involved, most of them with multiple passengers.”
“All right. What’s the status—”
“What have you got?” a young guy in wrinkled green scrubs, whose name tag read A. Armand, MD, Emergency Medicine, yelled as he rocketed out the ER doors.
The female EMT replied, “Restrained male driver. Closed head trauma, alert but disoriented in the field. Fractured left humerus and left lower extremity, hypotensive to seventy systolic, pulse one thirty, responded to fluid resuscitation.”
“Bracketing injuries,” Dec said to the resident. “That means chest and abdomen may be involved. Make sure you get a chest X-ray and abdominal ultrasound as soon as you get the lines in.”
“Who are you?” Armand said.
Dec tapped the ID hanging from the pocket of her pale blue Oxford shirt. “ER attending. Get going.”
The young guy’s eyebrows rose, but he said, “On it,” and disappeared inside with the patient.
When Dec turned around, three more ambulances began disgorging patients. A redhead in sky-blue scrubs ran over to her.
“I’m the ER charge nurse. Donna Carlisle.” She spared a glance at the line of rescue vehicles. “God, I hate July first. A house full of newbies and this. Please tell me you’re staff?”
“Yep,” Dec said.
“Are you triaging?”
“I can unless you need me inside,” Dec said.
“We’ve got plenty of residents, but we’re light on staff right now. Dr. Blake is directing inside.”
“Then I’ll triage. Can you get me a couple of residents out here?”
“Got it.” The nurse frowned, staring at Dec as if trying to place her. “Who are you again?”
