Trails of the Heart: Medical Lesbian Romance (eBook)

When confident Med Flight pilot Andy Jones meets socially awkward ER doctor Rachel Chen at a family wedding, neither expects a casual encounter to become the most important journey of their lives. Against the backdrop of life-and-death emergencies and breathtaking mountain trails, two women discover that the most terrifying journey might be the one directly to each other's hearts.

- Age-gap romance
- Butch/Femme
- Workplace romance
- Opposites attract
- Healing through nature
- Shared trauma
- Near-death experience

Andy pushed herself forwards, splashing her arms into the water as hard as she could to splash cold droplets over Rachel, soaking her all over again. "It's freezing! I trusted you!"
"I know, I know!" Andy laughed, holding her hands out to protect herself as Rachel sent another wave crashing down on her. "I'm sorry!"
"Come here!" Rachel grabbed her arm. "I'm dunking you under the waterfall, come here! You're going under, Andy!"
After splashing about in the pool like a pair of kids, the two enjoyed a relaxing swim, and when their legs tired of aimlessly kicking about the water, they swam towards the edge of the pool, and Rachel hopped onto the stones, dangling her legs in the water. Andy leaned against the side, floating there as she looked up at Rachel.
"Sorry for telling you it wasn't that cold," she said eventually. Rachel giggled and flicked a little more water in her face.
"I'm never trusting you again."
"Never? Really? And here I was, thinking that I'd made such a great impression on you." She moved, so that she was directly in front of Rachel, and planted her hands on either side of her, so that she could push herself up and out of the water, just like before, so that they were only a few inches apart. There was no mistaking it this time; Rachel leaned in.
"You did," Her voice dropped to a whisper, and this time Andy was certain that Rachel's gaze flickered between her eyes and her lips, once, then twice.
"And then I had to go and ruin it all, didn't I?" Andy nudged her nose against Rachel's gently, and by now they were so close that their lips brushed against each other lightly, almost by accident. Almost.
"Yes, you did." One of Rachel's hands came up so that her fingers could dance across Andy's cheek with a featherlike touch, almost as if she was uncertain, a little unsure of herself. "What are you going to do about that?"
Andy didn't waste time thinking about it before she leaned in and pressed her lips to Rachel's, catching her lower lip between her own. Thinking would have complicated things, and neither of them needed that.
It took Rachel a moment to respond to the kiss. Maybe she just needed a second to realize what was happening, because as soon as she did, both her hands were on Andy's cheeks, so that she was cupping her face gently, cradling her to try to pull her closer. Slowly, Andy lowered herself back into the pool, and once her feet were back on the rocks, she pulled Rachel closer.
"Come here," she whispered, pulling back for just a moment. "Come back in with me."
Rachel didn't need to be asked twice. She pushed herself off the edge of the rocks and slid back into the pool easily, before leaning back in to kiss Andy again. Her hands felt like they were everywhere, on Andy's cheeks, the nape of her neck, the base of her spine. As Andy parted Rachel's lips with her own, she knew that one of them would have to put an end to this sooner rather than later; this was a popular tourist spot, and she didn't want them to be slapped for indecent exposure.
But it was hard to think about that with Rachel kissing her like that, especially when her lips moved from Andy's to her jaw and then to the column of her throat.
What was I thinking about again? Indecent exposure or something... Oh shit, did I just hear something?
Andy pulled back sharply as she heard rustling nearby and pushed herself a respectable distance from Rachel just as a family with two young boys came up on the trail they'd used earlier. The family seemed a little surprised to see people already at the falls, but as Andy assured them, they had been just about to leave.
They gathered their things, got dressed, and made their way back down the trail as quickly as possible, stealing glances at each other out of the corner of their eyes every step of the way.

Med Flight pilot Andy Jones has flown through war zones and navigated treacherous rescue missions, but nothing has prepared her for meeting Dr. Rachel Chen—the shy, brilliant physician who catches her eye at a family wedding. Despite Andy's confident charm, Rachel's hesitation is obvious. But Andy isn't one to back down from a challenge.
Fresh from a year serving with Doctors Beyond Borders in Haiti, Rachel is focused on establishing herself at City General Hospital. The last thing she needs is distraction from the charming, relentless pilot who seems determined to break through her carefully constructed walls. When Andy convinces her to venture into the wilderness for a hiking trip, Rachel discovers there's far more to the adventurous pilot than her flirtatious exterior suggests.
As they trek through stunning landscapes and share their deepest secrets under starlit skies, both women must confront the twenty-year age gap between them and their fears about an uncertain future. Just as they begin to imagine a life together, a catastrophic helicopter crash forces them to face the possibility of devastating loss.
In the chaos of emergency rooms and smoke-filled crash sites, Andy and Rachel realize that some journeys are worth every risk—especially when the destination might be true love. But will they find the courage to confess their feelings before time runs out?
A moving story of finding connection in unexpected places, TRAILS OF THE HEART reminds us that the most meaningful adventures often begin with a single step into the unknown.