Flaming Desire - Part 1 (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (4 page)

We spent the half hour cleaning up both trauma rooms. Thankfully, it was turning out to be a relatively slow day, but then again, it was early afternoon during the middle of the week. I knew that come the weekend, most of the trauma bays would be filled and I and my fellow nurses would be scrambling to keep up with the demand.

By the time I glanced at my watch, I realized it was nearly two o’clock. We had just finished organizing what we could do in the bays. Maintenance had come in as well and were ready to start mopping the floors of blood. We took the carts to the supply room one at a time and I watched while Matt restocked the trauma carts. He was a little slower than me, but only because he wasn’t familiar with where all the supplies were. I helped when he couldn’t find something, but other than that, he did great. With that task completed, I smiled. “Ready for a break?”

“Am I supposed to shadow you for that too, or can I go out and sit in my truck for a while?”

I shrugged. “You’ve got thirty minutes to do whatever you’d like to do. Clock out and I’ll meet you back here in thirty.”

With that, he nodded and headed toward the small alcove at the far end of the hall, opposite the nurse’s station and Diane’s office. A small room there held the time clock, notices, bulletins, and served as a sometimes break room although there was a larger one available for them at the other end of the hall near the elevator banks.

During break, I usually just sat on one of the bottom steps inside the stairwell, resting my brain, calming my thoughts. If I was hungry, I might go to the cafeteria and grab a fruit plate, but I wasn’t hungry today. Today, my thoughts were focused on Matt. Then, they soured when my thoughts drifted to Doctor Linder.

Figuring that the doctor was still busy with his patient upstairs, I moved into the stairwell and sat down on the bottom step. I made myself comfortable, leaning my back against the wall, my legs stretched out in front of me on the step. Suddenly, the door to the second floor banged open, startling me. Every one of those doors had a different sound, and I knew them all. I glanced up, not surprised to recognize Vanessa.

“I hear we’ve got a hot one!” She giggled as she quickly made her way down the stairs.

“That didn’t take long,” I said.

Vanessa laughed. She made no bones about the fact that she loved men. More specifically, having sex with men. Of course, there was a rumor that Vanessa swung both ways, but that was something I didn’t even want to know about. There was no doubt that men loved her as well. In fact, I had heard rumors that Vanessa and Doctor Linder had gotten into it a time or two. The thought nearly made me gag.

“Where is he?”

Distracted, I had lost my train of thought. “Who?”

“The new guy, the new male nurse… where is he?”

“He’s on his break,” I said. “And he isn’t a new nurse. He’s a transfer.” I wasn’t about to sic Vanessa onto Matt—I gave up. I was trying to keep my distance, keep him impersonal, but it was useless. For some strange reason, the thought of Vanessa stalking after Matt pissed me off. That gave me food for thought.

Why should I care whether Vanessa set her eyes on him? Hook-ups happened all the time in the hospital, even though administration discouraged it. It wouldn’t be the first time I accidentally walked in to find a couple going at it. Once, I had even inadvertently looked into one of the empty surgical suites to discover two male surgeons going at it. The fact that they were gay didn’t bother me nearly as much as the fact that they were fucking on one of the surgical tables. That image had been burned into the back of my eyes forever.

Still, the thought of Vanessa getting her claws into Matt instigated a surge of anger in me. I couldn’t understand it, but acknowledged it. Jealousy? It couldn’t be. I’d known Matt for less than a few hours. He certainly didn’t belong to me. For all I knew, he could have a girlfriend or even a wife! He’d probably been snatched up long ago. If not, why? Was there something wrong with him that wasn’t visible from the outside?

I moved my legs and Vanessa quickly disappeared through the door. I sighed, burrowing my head onto my knees and taking deep breaths. No doubt about it, the next few days were going to be incredibly difficult. By the time my break was half over, I realized I needed to get out of the stairwell. Thoughts of Matt, his hands, and the color of his eyes, the desire to sweep my hands through his hair, had nearly driven me crazy.

I’d read of instant attraction. I’ve known couples who had experienced it. The words ‘love at first sight’ were tossed around carelessly enough, but I’d never come close… not within miles of feeling so instantly drawn to another human being.

It worried me.

It excited me.

I stood up and figuratively shook myself. I needed a distraction. Maybe I would go back to the supply room and check to make sure that Matt had checked off what he had taken to replenish the trauma carts, even though I was certain he had. He was more than efficient. Still, I needed to do something. He should be coming off his break soon as well, and I would keep an eye out for him on the way to the storage room.

Heaving a groan and thanking my lucky stars that I only had a few more hours left on my shift, I slowly made my way down the hallway. I paused in front of the supply room door, taking a quick peek through the small square window inside like I always did to make sure I didn’t bang the door into someone as I entered.

I froze.

What the hell?

Vanessa… and Doctor Linder?

Oh God, Vanessa was pulling off her scrub top, exposing her more than ample caramel colored breasts to Linder’s obviously approving view. You’d think he’d never seen tits before the way he gaped. Without waiting for him to move, Vanessa reached behind her back and unhooked her bra, letting it drop to the floor.

I stood frozen as Vanessa grabbed the doctor’s hands and pressed them up against her breasts. She licked her lips and tilted her head up to kiss him. After a brief moment of hesitation, his focus so attuned to her breasts, he pulled his gaze away and kissed her; a sloppy, wet kiss by the looks of it.

I wasn’t sure if I was turned on or appalled when Dr. Linger began to gently squeeze her breast, his thumb teasing the nipple and circling Vanessa’s dark areola. In return, Vanessa reached for the waistband of his surgical scrubs. She tugged at the drawstring and then shoved his waistband down around his hips. With her lips locked against Linder’s, she slipped her hand down inside the man’s boxers.

I stared in dismay as Vanessa shoved down his underwear and carefully stroked the doctor’s now engorged and erect penis. Its tip was dark, almost purple. Vanessa stroked her hand up and down his shaft.

I knew that I should turn away, but I couldn’t. I was rooted to the spot. It was like passing an accident. Horrifying yet hypnotic. I watched as Vanessa slowly knelt down and then took Linder’s cock into her mouth. She sucked hard while she caressed his balls through his pants. He leaned one hand against a shelf while he stared down at the number she was doing on his cock.

Vanessa encouraged his other hand to keep tweaking and fiddling with her breast. She suckled harder, and then began to bob her head, trying to take as much of him into her throat as possible. Vanessa’s tits were as hard as pebbles now, elongated and obviously seeking more of Linder’s touch. Vanessa quit bobbing for a minute, and then teased the head of Linder’s cock with her tongue, circling, lapping, and suckling.

His cock disappeared deep into her mouth again and I watched as his buttocks muscles clenched and contracted with his increasingly frantic thrusts. It was obvious that Vanessa was taking him into her throat. Despite my dislike of Vanessa and her slutty ways, I was nevertheless impressed that Vanessa could to that without gagging.

The doctor suddenly pulled his slick cock from Vanessa’s mouth. As she stood, she wrapped her fist around his cock and, still stroking, she threw her head back and arched her back, braced against the shelves. Linder’s head dipped toward her breast, taking her entire nipple into his mouth, sucking on it as fervently as she had sucked him just moments earlier.

His hips pumped frantically as Vanessa encouraged him to orgasm with her hand. She rubbed her pubis onto the doctor’s leg, for all intents and purposes dry-humping him. I wondered if Vanessa was going to come too, even without any additional help. My curiosity was answered when, in a matter of seconds, Vanessa opened her mouth as if she was going to scream. The doctor quickly moved his mouth from her breast to her lips, and then their tongues tangled playfully for several moments as he continued to pump in her hand, although slower and more languorously than before.

I saw the white liquid gush out of the tip and land on Vanessa’s abdomen. Seconds later, I watched as the doctor pulled himself from her grasp. As she released him, she stared up at him with a ridiculous expression on her face.

Within moments, she bent down to retrieve her bra and scrub top, after grabbing some paper towels to wipe off his cum. Doctor Linder turned toward the supply room door as he moved to tuck his cock back into his pants.

Before I could move, he looked up and his gaze locked on mine.

Moments later, the doctor emerged from the supply room and quickly closed the door behind him. He eyed me and then offered a smug smile. I did my best to keep my expression blank while a myriad of emotions ran through my brain—disgust, shock and frustration. I wanted nothing to do with Linder and regretted that I’d witnessed them together. Still, something else was bothering me.

I wanted it too.

Not
him
.

Gag.

But someone.

It’s not that I was jealous, but a boyfriend might be nice. Some sex—hot, driving sex—certainly wasn’t out of the question. It had been a while.

It wasn’t as if I wasn’t experienced, as I certainly wasn’t a virgin, but I’d never had stand-up sex, never done with a guy what I had seen Vanessa do to the doctor, and certainly never in the workplace. With that thought, I refocused my gaze on Linder’s face. The supply room door opened and Vanessa quickly stepped out. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw me, but then she merely offered a shrug, a grin, and then the grin widened into a smile as she looked up and down the empty hallway, cupped both of her breasts in her hands as if rearranging them in her bra, and then sauntered away.

I tore my gaze from Vanessa back to the doctor. If he was embarrassed, he didn’t show it. His expression was as smug as ever. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I gasped, startled that the words came out of my mouth that way.

That seemed to catch him by surprise. He lifted an eyebrow.

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” he snapped. “You couldn’t see what I was doing?”

I felt the heat of a blush travel up my neck and into my cheeks. “Oh for God’s sake, I know what you were doing, but why?” Again my words came out wrong. I cringed. I sounded like a harpy. All I received in reply was a lifted eyebrow.

“You jealous?” he asked, his eyes flicking down to my lips.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he fastened his gaze once again on my breasts and then back up at my eyes. Had I imagined it, or was he gazing down at me in challenge? I shook my head. It didn’t matter.

He offered a shrug, glancing up and down the hallway. “She walked in. She made an offer, I accepted. What’s the big deal?”

Again my mouth dropped open in shock. “What if someone had walked in? What if someone saw you—?”

“You did,” he shot out and took a step closer. “And you didn’t do anything. In fact, you just stood there watching. How much of that did you see?”

It was the first indication that he showed any concern over what I had witnessed. “Enough,” I muttered. “Enough to know that you could get into big trouble—”

He grinned. “Are you going to tell on me?”

I felt my temper rising. He knew I wouldn’t say anything to anyone, because all he had to do was deny it. I knew very well that Vanessa would deny it too. It wasn’t the first time the woman had behaved in such a manner. While rumors certainly floated around, no supervising staff had actually caught her in the act, and heaven knows, none of the doctors or other staff involved in such extracurricular activities with her were going to report her either.

He walked away. I stood there, not sure what to do about any of it when a deep voice behind me startled me. I jumped, then turned around to find Matt approaching.

“What’s going on?”

I shook my head, not one to spread rumors or gossip, especially with someone I don’t know very well. Still frustrated and disgusted by Linder’s behavior, I cautioned him, “Just a word of warning, Matt, especially when it comes to a couple of the nurses in the building.” I pointed to his crotch. “Some of them are trouble. They’ll go after anything with a dick.”

“Indeed?” He straightened to his full height.

I had to tilt my head to maintain contact with his eyes. I didn’t care how handsome, big, or well-endowed he was—or that I imagined him to be. “You as well as I know that… that stuff goes on in hospitals, but I don’t want you to get into trouble, okay? You’re good. I’d hate to lose you over…” I sighed and gazed pointedly at his crotch, and then back up to his face. “Keep it in your pants.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said, offering a mock salute.

“Don’t be an ass!” I snapped. “I’m just trying to help you!” I wasn’t quite sure why I was so peeved by his lackadaisical response. Maybe he had been on the receiving end of such attention at the hospital in Sacramento. And besides, who was I to tell anyone how to behave.

Still, deep down, I had a feeling I knew why I was reacting this way. I had no doubt that if Vanessa wiggled her little finger at him and opened her legs in invitation, he would dive right in, just like all… like
most
of the other guys around here did.

I shook my head and tried to push images of Vanessa and Doctor Linder going at it out of my mind. I wanted to wash my eyes with disinfectant, take a shower, anything that would help me forget the sight of Doctor Linder’s purple penis and Jessica’s head bobbing up and down along its length. Disgusting.

I turned and began to walk back toward the nurse’s station, away from the supply closet and the image of everything that had transpired there just moments before. Would I ever be able to go into the supply room and not have that vision etched into my brain?

Matt kept pace with me. “Jesse… Jessica!”

I paused and glanced over my shoulder at him.

“You saw them in there, didn’t you?” he asked, keeping his voice low. “That doctor and one of the nurses.”

“Yes,” I replied, not wanting to discuss it when I was working so hard to purge the image from my mind.

He laughed. I was surprised what that brief chuckle did to my insides. What the hell? Was I suddenly made of jelly? The chuckle that rumbled deep in his chest and that grin gave him a playful, boyish appearance. Boy? No, he certainly was not a boy. No, Matt Drake was all man, every inch of him.

He smiled down at me with a teasing grin and I suddenly got the feeling that I was giving him plenty of ammunition to push my buttons, if he chose to push them. I was responding to him too well. I had never been so off-kilter mentoring a nurse, and I had mentored over a dozen in the past. Still, there was something about Matt that made me feel like a beginner; uncertain and doubtful of my own skills.

I sat down in one of the rolling chairs in the nurse’s station and maneuvered myself in front of one of the computer keyboards. I gestured for him to take one of the other chairs and roll himself over next to me. The nurse’s station was equipped with three flat screen computers. It was also crowded with a printer, a combination phone and fax machine and numerous odds and ends… the detritus of the nurse’s career. Matt pulled another rolling chair from the other side of the nurse’s station beside me. “Jesse— Jessica,” he said, placing one hand on the counter, the other lightly touching my upper arm. “Maybe after work, we can hang out for a while, talk… I’d like to know more about your firefighting experiences.”

I felt surprised. He wanted to talk to me about… well, to say I wasn’t flattered would be a lie. I would like nothing more than to have someone to talk to about my experiences who understood everything I was saying… the excitement, the rush of adrenaline…

Just the slight touch of his hand on my arm sent a shiver through me. For crying out loud, he was just a man! Horny man, probably. A lot like Doctor Linder, although heaven knows he was a lot cuter. Would that make a difference? No, I thought. The thought of Doctor Linder touching me with his pale, clammy hands disgusted me and turned my stomach. The sensation of Matt’s light and brief touch was something entirely different.

Was this what they called chemical attraction? I’d never experienced it before and was at odds with my own reaction. I glanced down at his hand and he carefully removed it from my arm. I almost made a sound of protest. Did he think I didn’t want him touching me? I did! No, I didn’t.

Shit.

Did he think that I didn’t want him touching me because I was disgusted by him? It wasn’t that. He misunderstood. Did I care? Sure. Crap. He had me off balance and I wasn’t used to feeling off balance.

“Matt,” I began, working my way up to accepting.

He shook his head. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, Jessica. I understand where you’re coming from. You think it might be awkward.”

No, I didn’t. Really! But the moment passed.

I tried again. “I’d actually like that, to talk to someone who really understands what it’s like…”

He grinned and I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Those full lips, those white teeth, the way his blue-grey eyes crinkled at the corners. I liked him, I really did. I also knew that I couldn’t like him too much. I shrugged, trying to seem casual and added, “Maybe after work, okay?” He nodded and I sighed, glancing down at the keyboard. I had a report to write up.

He leaned forward, his gaze on the computer screen, the conversation apparently over as far as he was concerned. I turned my attention to the computer and opened up the dashboard that enabled me to access the electronic medical records platform.

“Did you have this platform in Sacramento?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“Okay, well, it’s fairly easy, though the coders could probably make some improvements… some places the dash asks for the same info and, as far as I’m concerned, it’s redundant. So streamlining it would be a lot easier and faster.” I glanced at him. “But you know how all that goes, I’m sure.” It wasn’t a question but a statement. I had yet to meet any experienced nurse who couldn’t find some way to improve a data entry system.

Sitting so close to him, I could smell him. Like the outdoors. Earth. Man. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to find that he spent all of his off time outdoors. His musculature and, of course, that gorgeous tan. He probably spent most of his time rock-climbing or—

“Is it always so quiet in here?” he asked, breaking into my thoughts. “I thought this hospital—”

She gazed at him in alarm, her eyes wide and mouth open as she shook her head. His eyes widened in surprise when he realized what he just said.

“Oops,” he muttered.

“No, you’ll jinx—” I said at the same time. Sure enough, the mobile command unit on the opposite corner of the nursing station crackled to life, and I gave him a rueful look. “Too late.”

The mobile command unit was connected to a variety of first response systems in Santa Fe; private ambulance services, paramedics, police departments and fire houses as well as outpatient facilities in and around Santa Fe and its surrounding communities. Emergency dispatch and response was essential for the hospital. Without me having to ask, he rolled his chair out of the way as I pushed my own rolling chair with my feet over to the EMS system.

“Unit 32 to Santa Fe General,” the voice crackled over the intercom.

I pressed a button on the machine. “Santa Fe General. Go ahead, Unit 32. Over.” I glanced at Matt, all serious now.

“We have two car accident victims; one twenty-eight-year-old female with minor lacerations and one child, approximate age ten years old, multiple blunt force trauma. Adult female, stable. Child with sporadic heart rate, O-2 stats seventy-five, pulse weak and thready. Over.”

I pressed the button again. “ETA? Over.”

“About two minutes out. Over.”

“Standing by,” I said. “Out.”

I didn’t waste a moment, but turned to Matt and pointed. “Wait for me in Trauma Bay Three.”

Diane emerged from her office, pulling a walkie from her waistband. She spoke into it, requesting location status for the ER doc on duty, Doctor Linder. The guy was such a putz. Instead of taking care of his patient, he was screwing around with Vanessa.

Seconds later, the hallway bristled with activity. I turned around and saw Melody and Serena quickly moving down the hallway in my direction. I gestured with my chin toward Trauma Bay Three, and they disappeared inside while I gave a quick rundown to Diane. Diane headed toward the nurse’s station to call upstairs to orthopedics, almost always needed in the case of auto accidents, and then to ensure they could get the child quickly into the MRI or CT.

Seconds later, Doctor Linder appeared. I briefly filled him in on the situation. “The adult female is going into Trauma Bay Three and a child into Trauma Bay Four.”

A moment after Doctor Linder appeared, I saw Doctor Jackson, the orthopedic surgeon, step from the elevator. Next to him stood Doctor Swanson, a vascular surgeon. They quickly moved down the hallway in preparation for the seriously injured child that I would direct to Trauma Bay Four.

It didn’t matter how many emergency cases came into the department; every one of them caused my heart to pump with adrenaline. I quickly peeked into Trauma Three to find Matt standing next to Serena while they arranged the anticipated equipment that might be needed. Matt knew what he was doing. He glanced over Serena’s shoulder at me, and I gave him a thumbs up.

I turned from the bay and prepared to move into the other trauma room, thinking that I would help with the child. Just then, the outside emergency room doors burst open, bringing with it the sound of a sobbing woman.

Damn. The child was silent. Not good. I’d take screaming and yelling any day rather than this.

“Take care of my child! Baby, you’re going to be fine!” the woman cried.