Hot Bodies Boxed Set: The Complete Vital Signs Erotic Romance Trilogy

by Hughes, Jill Elaine

  She cut him off by way of unbuttoning his crotch. His huge cock pointed skyward by the third button, just like before. It was obvious he was as ready to go as she was. “At least let me give you a sneak preview,” she cooed.

  She closed her mouth around Harlan’s cock, relishing the salty-smoky taste of the happy juice that had already formed on its tip. At first Harlan writhed in shock at the sudden wetness of her mouth on his most sensitive organ, but he soon settled right into it, bucking his hips with each stroke she made with her mouth and tongue. She alternated between long, slow deep-throat strokes that took in almost his whole shaft and short, nibbling strokes that focused on his sensitive glans. She worked his foreskin back and forth with her tongue in small circular motions, making him groan in ecstasy.

  “Mmmmmmm,” he groaned, relishing every move Joanna’s mouth and tongue made. “This is so, so good, Joanna. But I think I know how to make it even better.”

  Joanna looked up, stopping her mouth on his cock mid-stroke and pulling away. “What exactly did you have in mind?” she asked, licking his salty taste from her lips with the tip of her tongue.

  “Watch,” he replied. Then he keyed the ignition. “Go back to what you were doing, Joanna.”

  She stared back at him, wide-eyed. “You want me to do this while you—drive?”

  He nodded. And as he did so his cock did the same, beckoning her.

  She went down on him as soon as his foot hit the gas.

  Joanna sucked him hard, her head bobbing up and down in front of the steering wheel as he drove. She was thankful that it was dark and the streets deserted, because any passing driver or pedestrian could have seen the unladylike obscenity happening right in her own vehicle. Harlan’s breathing became more and more labored as he drove into her condo building’s well-lit parking lot. He slid the car into a parking space directly opposite Joanna’s front door, and settled back into the front seat while Joanna brought him to orgasm. Harlan exploded his seed into her mouth with such force that she would have choked had she not already been fully prepared to swallow.

  Joanna had only gone down on her ex-husband Bob once or twice at the beginning of her marriage, and she’d certainly never swallowed before. But sucking off and swallowing Harlan came as naturally to her as breathing. It seemed as if she’d spent her whole life sucking dicks—and that was just fine by her. A whole new world of sensual freedom had just opened itself up to her.

  But it seemed that new world wasn’t going to last very long.

  The moment was interrupted by a loud banging against the car’s roof. Joanna looked up from Harlan’s crotch and out the driver’s side window. She was shocked by what she saw there.

  Joanna’s ex-husband Bob was standing in front of the car, pounding his fists against the Honda’s rusty roof. He’d obviously watched the whole thing.

  And Bob did not look happy.

  SIXTEEN

  Harlan barely had enough time to stuff his equipment back into his pants before Bob started trying to break into the Honda. Joanna leaped out of the car and put herself between it and her ex-husband, who had picked up a tree branch from the side of the parking lot and looked about two seconds away from ramming it through the windshield. Joanna remembered a snippet of her Army self-defense training and managed to get the thing out of his hands before any damage was done. But Harlan was right behind her, ready to throw a punch with his good hand if need be.

  “Bob!” Joanna shouted once she’d gotten control of the situation. “What in God’s name are you doing here?”

  “Well, I’m not here to get a blowjob,” he hissed. “Unlike your lucky friend here.”

  This didn’t sit well with Harlan. He rolled up his sleeves and looked seconds away from sucker-punching Bob. “Now see here—“

  Joanna held up her hand, calling him off. “It’s all right, Harlan. I can handle this just fine on my own. Stand back and give us some room, please.” He obeyed, but was none too happy about it.

  Bob had always had a lousy sense of timing, and today was no exception. “I’ve been trying to reach you all day,” he snapped, taking no notice of Harlan and thrusting himself right into Joanna’s face. “I called you at the hospital, and they said you weren’t there. I called you at home, and you weren’t there. I called your cell, but got a recording that the number was out of service.”

  Joanna had changed her cell phone number three weeks earlier solely to keep Bob from bothering her. “Bob, please leave. I don’t want you here.” Joanna tried to walk past him to her front door, but Bob blocked her path.

  “I won’t leave,” Bob shot back, grabbing Joanna by the shoulder. “You and I have some unfinished business to take care of.”

  “No, we don’t,” Joanna hissed, wrestling away from him. “Bob, we’re divorced. Our marriage is over. Accept it. I have.” And to illustrate her point, she grabbed Harlan’s arm and pulled him close to her.

  “I’m not here to try to win you back, Joanna,” Bob retorted. “But I am here to talk to you about our finances—“

  “Your finances,” Joanna quipped. She could already tell where this was going. “When we got divorced, your money problems became yours alone. Remember? The judge even said so himself.”

  Undeterred, Bob clenched his fists and inched in closer. “Joanna, I came here to ask you for a loan. And after what you put me through in our marriage, you owe me.”

  At this, Joanna actually laughed. “Ha! Get real, Bob. Our marriage was a total joke and you know it. We didn’t even have sex for the last two years we were living under the same roof, for God’s sake. And I’m up to my eyeballs in debt because of you as it is. I’ll be paying off my share of the marital debt for the next six years. Or have you forgotten? And now you actually have the balls to show up here and ask me for more money?”

  Bob’s face fell. “Joanna, this isn’t like all the other times. This is different.”

  Joanna scoffed. “Bob, even if I did want to loan you more money—which I don’t—I don’t have anything left to give. I’m flat broke. Between your out-of-control spending habits and your desire to invest in every pyramid scheme ever invented, I’m lucky I still have a roof over my head.”

  Bob flinched at this, but then strengthened his resolve. He glanced from Joanna to Harlan, and back to Joanna again. “Joanna, that’s not true. I happen to know that as long as you’re bonking Dr. Moneybags here, you have access to as much cash as you want. How much is he paying you to fuck him like that, anyway?”

  Joanna’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”

  Harlan clenched his uninjured fist. “I’m warning you, buddy—“

  Bob didn’t back down. “No, I’m warning you,” he yelled, wagging his finger in Harlan’s face. “I know a lot about you already, Dr. Wilkinson. Yeah, that’s right, I know your name. My attorney’s been looking into your background, and it seems to me you and my ex-wife are into some kind of sleazy business together. And I don’t mean between the sheets, either.”

  Harlan clenched his teeth. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

  Bob grinned. “Don’t give me that crap. I know all about what happened to you back in Boston. And I know what kind of financial arrangements you have set up with Covington Community Hospital, too. Looks to me you’re hot-n-heavy with my ex-wife here just so you can create a distraction for what’s really going on over at the hospital.”

  Joanna gasped. She glanced from her heaving ex-husband to an increasingly red-faced and nervous Harlan, and back again. It was obvious that her ex had touched a nerve with him—and a deep one at that. What did Bob know that she didn’t?

  “I’d watch your back if I were you, Doctor,” Bob went on. “My ex-wife is a cold, conniving bitch who’s probably only interested in your money. God knows she needs some. And so do I. Joanna, my attorney will be in touch.”

  “I don’t know what for, Bob,” she sputtered. “We’re divorced. We don’t have anything to do with each other anymore.”

  “Not if I
can help it,” he shot back. “My attorney will explain everything to you tomorrow.”

  With that, Bob turned on his heel, got into his battered Geo Metro, and drove away.

  As soon as Bob was out of sight, Joanna spun around and faced Harlan, who by now had gone almost purple with rage. “What was Bob insinuating, Harlan?” she demanded. “He obviously knows something about you. And I know Bob well enough to know that he understands how to sniff out money—especially dirty money. He’s made a whole career out of trying to rip people off.”

  Harlan didn’t answer. He just huffed and puffed and kicked at the dust on the asphalt.

  That didn’t sit well with Joanna. “Harlan, I know we’re not exactly the romance of the century right now. We’re fuckbuddies. I can accept that. But if you’re really using me to cover up something unsavory at work, I think I’m entitled to know. My career is on the line, after all.”

  Harlan took a deep breath and blew it out. “I’m not using you, Joanna. Please trust me when I tell you that what your husband is insinuating is totally false.”

  “Ex-husband,” she corrected. “If that’s so, why does your head look like it’s about to explode?”

  Harland didn’t answer. He just stared at the ground.

  Joanna felt her crotch go cold. “Harlan, if you can’t be honest with me about this, I think it’s time you went home.”

  He gave her a single nod. “I’ll call myself a cab,” he said.

  That’s it? Joanna thought. He’s not even going to argue?

  That probably meant Bob was telling the truth.

  Joanna’s heart sank as she watched Harlan walk away from her and go stand on the corner. He called a cab with his cell phone, and five minutes later, he was gone.

  SEVENTEEN

  Shirley had had her fun with Dr. Grenoway. Now it was time to move on to the next big thing.

  The only question was, where would the next best thing come from? The pickings around town were pretty slim, after all. Dr. Grenoway was the only hot-to-trot young male surgical resident in the whole hospital. And now she’d already been there, done that. But there had to be at least a few attractive, eligible young men floating around the hospital. The only question was, where?

  It was high time for her to start expanding her horizons beyond the operating room.

  As she stood under the locker-room showerhead, scrubbing off the remnants of both a long day’s work in the OR and Dr. Grenoway’s sex juice, Shirley silently wondered to herself, If I were a hot young single guy under the age of twenty-five with a hospital job and I weren’t a doctor, where would I work?

  The answer came to her in a split second.

  The Janitorial department. That’s where the orderlies worked—young men, all of them. And pretty much all the orderlies were cute, fit, and under twenty-five. Hell, a few of them were under twenty-one—fresh meat right out of high school. Shirley knew that the bright young things who pushed gurneys and swept up vomit for eight bucks an hour would be easy pickings as far as sex was concerned. Some of them were probably virgins, too—looking for their first sexual experiences, preferably with a sophisticated older woman like herself. Shirley licked her lips at the thought of just how luscious those kinds of encounters could be. If things went her way, those trysts would make her wild evening with Jason The Drunken Fratboy look like child’s play.

  And if Shirley’s escapades among the orderlies went well, she’d move right on up to the cafeteria, where she knew local college students worked part-time. And then maybe she could check out some X-ray technicians. There were a bunch of those over in Radiology, not a one of them over the age of thirty.

  The possibilities for sex in this small community hospital alone were endless—if only one knew where to look.

  Why didn’t she think of this before?

  Maybe it was because she was a repressed, asexual, and stressed-out ball of nerves before. It was really amazing what a few good fucks could do for the psyche—Shirley was seeing opportunities right under her nose that she’d never known existed. And she had Dr. Harlan Wilkinson to thank for it. Unbeknownst to him, he’d inspired her to open up and explore her long-hidden sexual self, after all.

  Shirley rinsed off and stepped out of the shower. As she wrapped a towel around herself, she knew what the final step in her newfound sexual adventures would be.

  Once she’d had her way with the hot young boy-toys scattered around the hospital, she’d shift her attentions to conquering the man who’d inspired her sexual transformation in the first place. Sure, the man was obnoxious as hell—a cool and charismatic McDreamy he sure wasn’t—but he was still smoking-hot. And if the beautiful and sensual Joanna Watson could get into his pants (as Shirley now knew she had—the tender way she’d reacted to his palm-slicing made that pretty obvious), why couldn’t Shirley? She’d already managed to seduce a boy-toy almost half her age and a handsome, engaged doctor-in-training in less than two days’ time.

  Shirley knew now that she obviously had what it took to be very, very fuckable. And that knowledge was powerful, indeed. Because now Shirley also knew that she had the power to take back what Joanna Watson had stolen from her.

  And she would stop at nothing to make that happen.

  EIGHTEEN

  As Joanna watched Harlan walk away from her and disappear into his cab, she felt sick to her stomach. He’d just rejected her—and in the worst way possible. Joanna had never taken rejection well—probably why she’d agreed to marry her loser ex-husband Bob in the first place—but this was different. Harlan Wilkinson had refused to look her in the eye and tell her the truth about something she had the feeling was very, very sinister indeed. And in doing so, Harlan had pretty much confirmed Bob’s accusations.

  Just a few short moments ago Joanna had given Harlan a blowjob in public, her body so hot with sexual energy that she could barely contain herself in his presence. And now, she stood alone and cold in a parking lot. And all because her ex-husband had shown up out of the blue and pulled the proverbial rose-colored glasses right off her face.

  Talk about a twist of fate.

  Her heart sinking, Joanna skulked off to her condo. She broke down into sobs as soon as she crossed the threshold. And not just because she now felt dirty and cheap—but because now she knew there would probably never be a chance for her to win Harlan Wilkinson’s heart.

  Humiliated, she holed herself up in her condo and didn’t eat, shower, or speak to anyone for three days.

  ****

  Even if Joanna Watson was hiding from the world, the world didn’t stop turning just because she was holed up in her condo crying her eyes out, guzzling too much cheap vodka from her freezer, and generally feeling sorry for herself.

  Her answering machine was loaded with phone messages, all of them unanswered. There were at least twelve angry and frantic ones from her ex-husband Bob, all of which Joanna deleted on the third day. Three or four more from Bob’s slimy attorney, who greeted her politely, then ordered her to call him back immediately—or else. Finally, there were at least half a dozen from Maryam Malone at Covington Community Hospital—each one sounding increasingly desperate and nervous.

  By the time her vodka had run out on the afternoon of the third day, a half-drunk Joanna finally had the courage to call Maryam at the hospital.

  "Surgery and Recovery, this is Maryam," the old nurse answered in her friendly, raspy voice.

  "Maryam, it's Joanna."

  "Joanna! Why the hell didn't you call me back sooner? I’ve been trying to reach you for three days.”

  "Sorry, Maryam," she slurred, smelling the acrid alcohol on her own breath and wincing. "I've been—indisposed."

  "Well, Joanna, I just called to tell you that Administration came back with the report on Dr. Wilkinson's surgery accident. It's exactly like you said. They're saying it's his own fault, and he's been placed on paid leave until further notice."

  Joanna said nothing. It was just how she’d expected things would go, but the tho
ught of Harlan being disciplined by the hospital administration hurt her terribly. How ironic it was that on the first day she'd known him, Harlan had threatened her with administrative discipline. It was an almost karmic coincidence, in fact—yet another painful reminder of the now-severed connection between them. Joanna blinked back tears.

  "Joanna, are you all right?" Maryam asked.

  "I'm fine, Maryam, really,” she lied. “Was there some other reason you were calling?"

  "Yes, actually, there was." The older nurse sounded worried. "With Dr. Wilkinson on suspension, we're without an attending surgeon. We've only got senior surgery residents to work with, and they can't get us a temporary attending until at least late next week, maybe longer. So Joe Middleton himself has asked that you come back to work right away and help the residents out in the OR. They need someone with a lot of experience to guide them, and you're the closest thing we've got to an attending surgeon until the fill-in guy gets here. I'm afraid you'll have to go back to double and triple shifts for a while, starting today."

  Joanna flopped down on her sofa. "But what about my two weeks' vacation? Am I ever going to get to take it?"

  "I'm afraid not, hon. I'm sorry. I'll try to be as easy on you as I can—just please, pretty please, don't quit on me, okay? I'm already short on nurses as it is. And the ones I’ve still got are acting mighty strange. Like Shirley Daniels. I don’t know what’s gotten into that woman lately, but her mind’s on something other than her job, if you know what I mean."

  I know exactly what you mean, Joanna thought to herself. If Maryam only knew what was really going on in the elevators and parking garages of the hospital—the poor old woman would probably drop dead of a heart attack.

  "I won't quit Maryam, don't worry," she said, but she knew it was a promise she might not be able to keep.

  "When can you come in?" Maryam asked, obviously anxious. "There are two complicated procedures scheduled for this evening, and the residents are nervous about them."