Dana"Liar. You haven't sounded happy since high school and you know it." I smiled at the memories we had from high school. Growing up sucked seeing that it took away your excuse for being a relationship-idiot. I was still floundering around on the topic of making a relationship work. It would seem I was handicapped in that area, as I'd always been."Don't start this again. Luke and I are going to get married eventually. It just works.""It? What's it?""Him and me together." She cleared her throat. "Enough about me... how are things at the hospital? You started your internship, right?""Yeah." I glanced back as the door opened and three nurses I didn't know walked out. "It's good. I love the work and the patients. The nurses are bitches, but I guess that happens to some people after years of working around misery. There has to be some way to protect yourself from feeling too much.""I can see how you might get emotionally wasted by it day after day.""I love it here." I stood up and
KendalThe dark-haired beauty that calmed Mandy walked out of the room, and I was grateful for the quiet. My baby sister slipped into a restful sleep as I brushed my hand down the back of her hair and rocked her as best I could. Every part of me hurt for her, longed for a way to transfer my good health to her and let me take on her disease for her. It wasn't going to happen, but it didn't stop me from wanting it.I laid her down and moved back from the bed as my heart ached in my chest. She was the perfect replica of our mother at twenty-four. Long brown hair and green eyes, pale skin and a huge smile that pulled everyone in to see what she had to say. Too bad I hadn't seen it for the last two to three years.I glanced over my shoulder, wanting to chase down the nurse that had the power to calm my sister. I needed to thank her, and truth be told, I wanted to study her unabashed. Her long dark hair was a beautiful accent to her tanned skin and hazel eyes. She had to have been a head sh
Kendal"It's obvious." She crossed her arms over her chest, accentuating just how full her breasts were. Need pulsed through me as my mouth grew dry. How nice it would be to make love to a woman and feel her body bend to my will, to touch her and taste her in ways that left her begging for more. There wasn't much I wasn't willing to do for the girl I took to my bed, but it had been too long, and I was almost too needy. Damon would have had a field day giving me shit over my sensitive nature should he have known about it."How so?" I slipped my hands into my pockets and tried to turn my attention to anything but her. I failed in my efforts and decided flirting wouldn't be a bad thing necessarily."I could just tell." She shrugged. "Your sister is a great girl. I'm sorry for all she's going through."My bravado waned a little. "Yeah. It's been a long life for her.""You as well." She tilted her head to the side a little. "Are you always having to fend off women?"I chuckled. "More often
Dana"Happy hour!" Jackie bounced on her feet beside me as I tried to finish logging in my rounds for the afternoon."It's Monday. Where is there a happy hour around here?""No clue, but we're going to find it, and if not, we'll flirt with the right group of guys to get a free beer or two out of the deal." She pushed her blond hair off her shoulder and gave me a warm smile."Maybe you can flirt your way into free liquor, but I've yet to learn that skill." I smirked before glancing down and trying to wrap up. It'd been a long day, and the encounter with Kendal had me second-guessing my relationship with Cameron. It was sad that meeting someone new would leave me recycling the same tired conversation in my head, but there it was again...I deserved someone better. Someone that would see me for who I am and not pick at the extra fifteen pounds I'd gained. Someone who could appreciate me as a nurse and not see me as a student who needed to be coached through life."You want me to invite t
Dana"Is everything about sex with you?" I'd known her for four years since starting the nursing program together at UT Dallas. Everything was most certainly about sex for her, and from what I could tell, no one was going to be changing that anytime soon."I take that as a no." She sat back as the server appeared beside us and smiled warmly."Ladies. Can I get you anything to eat tonight? It's happy hour in the bar, and I'm happy to give you those discounts if you want something." His eyes lingered on me a little longer than was comfortable, which was odd. Jackie was stunning, and I looked like a tired, overweight nurse with no hope for a good time anytime soon."Buffalo wings or potato skins?" I asked her and tried not to let the guy's stare unnerve me."Both." She handed the server the menu and waited until he was gone to let out a sharp laugh. "Did you see the way he was watching you? Did you know him?""No." I turned and let my eyes follow him as he disappeared behind the bar. "He
KendalI couldn't seem to shake the desire to make a stop by the hospital to check on my sister. Part of it was to make sure she was doing better today than she was the day before when she had her melt-down. The other part was the hope of running into her nurse, Dana.Jogging up the stairs to the business building, I tried to let my wayward thoughts go and get focused on the meeting with Dean Durham I had in twenty minutes. He was a great guy, but a hard-hitter. He was the kind of guy that could look at someone and assess any situation in a matter of minutes. He was classy and the kind of guy I wanted to be when I got older. Running the accounting department was a dream I hadn't shared with anyone, not even Damon. It seemed too farfetched after being put under probation for two of my six years on staff. Getting tenure was at the top of my list of things to do just to ensure I could cover my ass should another false allegation arise."Kendal. You got a minute?" Eliza Turner moved up be
Kendal"Family problems. You're going to mentor our new professor." He turned and spoke to the woman for a few minutes as I tried to figure out how I was going to nicely tell him no. Where we were close enough to talk sex, women and past failures, he was still my boss.I stood up and figured I would suck it up and help him out until we found someone else to do it. No reason to deny him my help when I had the time and he'd finally come through on the promise to give me an advanced class to teach. Hopefully the woman's legs were no prediction of her body. I didn't need a fox beside me to tempt me into being the man I was in college. I'd buried him in the sand six years back, and fuck if he didn't try to poke his ugly head up from time to time."Kendal, this is Heather Turner. She's from UCLA and has been highly recommended for this new spot with us. You'll be her mentor until she gets her feet wet." He moved back, and I nearly choked. Not only was she ten steps past gorgeous, but I didn
DanaThe smell of bacon and eggs woke me up the next morning, my stomach grumbling loudly at the idea of something beyond delicious to start the day. I rolled onto my back and let out a long sigh. Cameron's side of the bed was made already, his pillow in its place. What I wouldn't give to wake up to a man wrapped around me, his body hard and ready for another round of what happened the night before. Where I couldn't help but tease Jackie about everything in her world being about sex, the truth of the matter is that I was hella jealous. Love seemed a far off desire, incapable of being reached by the average commoner, but sex? Lust? They were waiting for a spin around the dance floor of life, and weren't choosy at all about which partners they got.So why not me? I slid my hands over my breasts and down my stomach to linger at the top of my panties. How nice it would have been to lay there and enjoy the softness of my skin, the tight warmth between my thighs, but by the sound of things