by Grey, Helen
Flaming Desire
PART 1
By Helen Grey
Copyright © 2015 Helen Grey
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Book Description
This is Part 1 of "Flaming Desire" – a five part Hot Alpha Billionaire Romance Series by Helen Grey.
When the hot, sexy new male nurse walks into the trauma unit, everyone's mouth drops to the floor. They'd been dreading having to train another male nurse, the last few had been such disasters. But now, they're tripping over themselves to help the incredibly gorgeous alpha male who’ll be working in the emergency room.
Not Jessica.
Well, not exactly. Sure, he’s gorgeous and charming and capable. And sure, maybe her stomach does funny things when she looks at him. But, dammit, she's a professional! And his mentor. She’s committed to do her job and then she’ll move on with her life.
If only they didn’t have so much in common like a mutual love for wildfire fighting and the adrenaline rush it brings. Soon she knows if she isn’t very careful, the embers burning low in her belly might just erupt into flames that can’t possibly be extinguished.
This book is intended for a mature audience, 18+ only.
Chapter 1
“Oh my God, not another one!” Melody gasped, slapping her hand across her forehead.
“Come on you guys, don’t be that way,” I said, trying not to laugh. “I don’t care if they’ve hired a monkey. We need all the help we can get. We’ve been so short staffed lately, it isn’t even funny anymore. I for one am tired of picking up extra shifts.”
“We’re getting paid for them, aren’t we?” Serena said, more of a statement than a question.
I glanced at both of them. Standing at the end of the nurse’s station, we had just received news that a nurse would be assigned to the emergency room department today—a male nurse. “Yes, we are, but what’s the point of making money if you never have time to spend any of it?”
“You do remember what happened with the last one, don’t you?” Melody commented, rolling her eyes and then dropping her face in her hands.
“He was new!” I pointed out. “This new guy isn’t new; he’s just transferring from a hospital in northern California.”
“Well, has he worked in the ER department before?”
I shook my head. “From what Diane told me, he worked the critical care unit.”
Diane was our nurse supervisor for the ER department here at Santa Fe General. The girls kept talking as if they hadn’t heard a word I said.
“He fainted!” Serena pointed out, rolling her eyes. “Remember the traffic accident we got? There we were, trying to get CPR going, trying to stop the bleeding, and he took one look at the guy and his mangled arm and literally fainted right there at the foot of the gurney.”
“Let’s be fair,” I broke in with a gentle laugh. “That was a rather grisly scene.”
“Aren’t they all?” Melody asked, rolling her eyes, her arms crossed over her chest.
“It’s not just a male nurse thing,” I reminded them, trying to stop my lips from twitching. “Remember Leslie?”
A universal groan swept through the small group. Nods all around.
“You know we’ve all had our fair share of good as well as bad nurses. A lot of people want to become an ER nurse for the excitement, but not everyone is cut out for it.” I lifted a shoulder. “I stumbled a bit when I first came on, and so did you, Serena.”
Serena gave me a scowl and then abolished it with a slight shrug. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”
”Still, that last one… some people just don’t have any business graduating from nursing school,” Serena agreed. “In fact, I don’t know how that last one even managed to wipe his ass let alone pass a class. Do you know that it took him nearly five tries to get an IV push started on that elderly gentleman that came in with dehydration? Shall I discuss the numerous med errors he made? Or the fact that he was just a creep?”
I chuckled good naturedly with the rest. We weren’t really serious about bashing our fellow nurses—male or female. As a matter of fact, the majority of them were excellent, and once they got their feet under them, they performed to the highest standards. Still, I had to agree with my friends on this one. “Okay, so we haven’t had much luck in male nurses lately, but that doesn’t mean—”
“And he stank!” Melody interrupted, her nose curling up as she waved her hand in front of her face. “You could smell him coming a mile away. He had those hairy arms, and to tell you the truth, Jessica…” she leaned forward and lowered her voice “…he kind of acted like a pervert, didn’t he?”
I gaped at Melody in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve forgotten already?” she asked. “He had a wandering left eye, which unfortunately gave people the impression that he was not paying attention to anything you said. Not to mention that he was all thumbs in the emergency room, which could have been overlooked if he hadn’t acted as if he knew everything already.”
Serena nodded in agreement. “Every time I turned around I caught him staring at my ass or my tits, and I can tell you, I didn’t appreciate it one bit.” She cast a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure nobody was listening. “But I can tell you that I caught you-know-who flirting with him more than once.”
“Eww,” Serena groaned. “Are you serious?”
Jessica knew exactly who they were talking about. There were two particular nurses that she didn’t get along with very well—at all. Megan worked the cardiac unit and Vanessa was in pediatrics.
Megan thought she was God’s gift to man. The problem was, Megan had artificially enhanced just about everything God had given her. She had breast implants that were so huge and obvious it was almost laughable. They were like two big, ripe cantaloupes positioned so perky on her chest that no one in their right mind would think they were natural. She also had lip enhancements that gave her a permanently fish-on-a-hook look, a far cry from the pouty I’m-ready-to-be-kissed look she had been seeking.
I might have felt sorry for Megan and her pitiful attempts to catch a man, but the woman was a bitch. The only time she was nice was when there was a penis around to impress.
Vanessa made no bones that she was on the prowl. She hit on just about everything with a cock not only among the emergency room staff, but, as rumor had it, every department in the hospital. While many of the doctors and surgeons claimed caution about hooking up with her—the gossip mill was rampant in the place—others were less concerned about being caught ‘doing the dirty’ with her. She was a woman who took what she wanted and offered nothing but her body in return. Someone who enjoyed sex and flaunted it so much probably could’ve found a different line of work a couple of blocks away.
“So this new guy’s going to be fair game, I suppose,” Melody sighed. “Well, he better have his wits about him, that’s all I can say. As soon as Megan and Vanessa get wind of new meat, you know they’re going to be down here hovering.”
”Well, he can’t be worse than Jack or the previous nurse who fainted at the sight of blood, can he?”
I smiled at my friend. “Let’s not be too hard on him, okay? After all, we all have our quirks. There’s a few things that still bother me, and I definitely know there’s a few things about patient care that turns your stomach.”
Serena laughed, looking at
Melanie. “Yeah, you start gagging at the first whiff of poop.”
She pointed to me.
“And you… you get so grossed out and practically turn green when someone hocks up a loogie.”
“Ugh.” I made a face. “Don’t even mention it. That’s so gross.”
“Yeah,” Melody laughed playfully at Serena. “And shall we talk about your paranoia of ear wax?”
They laughed and I joined in. We had worked together long enough to know these things about each other and often stepped in when one of us was forced to deal with a ‘gross pet peeve’. It was the way we worked and supported each other. I hoped the new nurse was a team player.
I shook my head, smiling as my fellow nurses continued to lament the arrival of yet another male nurse in the emergency department. She knew, as they all did, that ER nurses were a special breed, even among other nurses, including those found in the critical care units. We had to maintain a sense of calm under some of the most extreme circumstances. Those were tall orders for any nurse, in any situation, let alone the trauma unit such as ours.
I was fortunate that I’d had a good nurse manager. When I arrived at the hospital two years ago this coming fall, Melody, Serena, and the other nurses on the floor, along with the nurse manager had supported me every step of the way.
“All right, all right, what are you girls complaining about now?”
Jessica turned and smiled at their nurse manager, Diane Reynolds. Diane was a no-nonsense, just-get-it-done type of nurse.
“We just heard we’re getting a new male nurse in the ER,” Melody said. “You do remember what happened with Jack, don’t you?”
Diane smiled as she shook her head. “Not a new nurse, a transfer.”
I had to smile as I watched my friends multitask between updating the electronic medical records on the computer, gossip, and peruse copies of paperwork that Diane handed them. Melody Stanford and I had been lab companions during nursing school. Melody was slim, blonde, and long legged; a ‘looker’ as my older brother always used to say.
“I’m going to go pee while I have a chance. Be back in a sec.” I saw a couple of vague nods and then hurried toward the bathrooms at the end of the hallway. The key for each bathroom hung on a hook. Each key was attached by a small link chain to a piece of wood about the size of a ruler with the word ‘RESTROOM’ stamped on it.
I quickly entered, took care of business and then stood in front of the sink to wash my hands. I glanced at my reflection in the mirror and saw that my straight, sandy-blond shoulder length hair was already coming out of its high ponytail. I tried to tuck it back in place, leaning forward and tilting my head so that I could see better in the mirror.
Unfortunately, the close-up only served to remind me of my detested freckles; a swath of them on my upper cheekbones and across my nose. They made me look, in my opinion, like a teenager. I was already small boned and petite, and the freckles didn’t help. I couldn’t even remember how many times I’d been mistaken for a high-school student volunteering at the hospital by various staff until they got to know me. It still happened on occasion.
Melody told me I was lucky to look younger than I actually was, but the problem was that I often felt like I wasn’t taken seriously—by men at least. When I talked to older men, I always expected them to pat my head or tweak my nose, or worse, laugh at me for pretending to be an adult.
At twenty-four, I was an adult, dammit! I just didn’t look like one. Oh, I had a decent enough figure, I supposed. I stepped back from the mirror and gave myself an assessing gaze. Not that the scrubs helped any, but beneath the not-very-flattering-scrub attire I had C-cup boobs, a narrow waist and not too large hips. I was athletic, thanks to my volunteer work as a wildfire fighter. Next to nursing, my work fighting wildfires was my passion. Talk about adrenaline!
I sighed and left the bathroom. By the time I got back to the nurse’s station, the girls were still discussing male nurses in general with Diane.
“Come on, Diane, you know that the last one turned out to be more trouble than he was worth,” Serena said.
I glanced at Serena and shook my head. Serena Jackson was one of the best ER nurses I’d ever had the pleasure to work with. Her mocha colored skin, gorgeous brown eyes, and shoulder length corn-rowed hair set off her facial features to perfection. She could’ve been a model, and she sometimes modeled in her spare time.
“Okay, so Jack didn’t exactly work out. It doesn’t mean that this one won’t.”
“And what about the male nurse before Jack? You remember him?” Melody pressed.
Diane nodded. “Of course I do. So, he didn’t work out either.” She sighed and looked each of us in the eye. “Give the new guy a chance.”
She turned to me. “You’re going to be his mentor. He’ll shadow you for a week. I’ll need you to give him a hospital tour as well as work with him in the ER. You’ll also take him out on ride-alongs with the paramedics. We’ll get those scheduled.”
I nodded. As part of the continuing education and ER training process at this hospital, all new nurses working in the trauma unit were required to spend a week riding along with a paramedic rescue unit. As part of the mentoring process, we’re trying to literally walk a mile in another’s shoes. Understanding how the paramedics and rescue squads work and what is expected of them in the field helps us to better prepare for incoming patients in a variety of emergency situations.
Diane nodded. “You should know that we’ve also broached a new model program with administration in which the paramedics also spend a couple days in our trauma unit, not treating patients of course, but observing activity and learning and gaining greater understanding of what happens after the patients are delivered through our doors.”
“Sounds good,” Melody agreed. Serena turned to me. “You like mentoring, don’t you?”
“I love it,” I said, smiling. I was one of three mentors that rotated new nurses into Santa Fe General; I worked ER, Deena rotated through cardiology and Cathy rotated through pediatrics. We were trying to coordinate more for all hospital departments, but so far the budget didn’t allow for it. During the mentoring period, I received extra pay—a bonus if you will. It was a nice perk, but not the reason I had taken the position following Diane’s recommendation. I knew what it was like to be a new nurse, fresh out of school.
“I remember my first day on the job. Even though I graduated from nursing school near the top of my class, and soared through my r exams and clinicals, I felt like an idiot on my first day. I swear, Serena, panic set in the moment I stepped onto the floor.”
She nodded in agreement. “I felt that way too.”
“I was mentored by a wonderful nurse—”
“Sally, the one who retired last spring?”
I nodded again. “If I can pay it forward, you know, help a new nurse feel less intimidated about starting in this field, I’m all for it. I know, in my situation at least, that if I hadn’t had a mentor like Sally, I would have been so scared, uncertain, and overwhelmed that I might have left after my first day and never come back.”
“I know I felt really nervous on my first day too,” Melody said, a little smile playing on her lips. “You’re good with people, Jessica. You have the patience of a saint, and you have good people skills. Sometimes I wish I had more patience, especially when—” She stopped suddenly. “Oh well, it doesn’t matter.”
“So when is the new guy supposed to come in?”
“Actually he should be here any minute. He’s up in Admin now finishing up with paperwork and getting his ID badge.” She eyed all of them. “I’m serious. You guys give him a chance. Share the sandbox, okay?”
Diane smiled and walked down the hall toward her office at the end of the linoleum tiled hallway and then disappeared down a short corridor that ended with her office, beside the stairwell to the upper floors. On the opposite end of the short hallway stood the elevator bank, with two lifts that accessed all upper floors of the hospital, including the surgi
cal department. No one could venture past the walled-in front desk of that department however, without permission and/or reason—and a hospital ID or Visitor’s badge.
The emergency room department was one of the best layouts that I’d had the pleasure to work in. The department was relatively new, refurbished a few years before I arrived. The linoleum hallway floor was outlined in a bluish gray faux tile color, with alternating oblong panels of off-white and camel colored tile sections in the middle. It gave the emergency room and updated, fresh and comforting appeal.
Each emergency room or bay was self-contained. Five bays on one side of the hallway, each equipped with either sliding or automatic push open glass doors with steel frames. A dark blue fabric curtain could be pulled inside to offer greater patient privacy, as well as to shield family members or loved ones from the results of numerous accidents, procedures, or life-saving measures. Each emergency room was well equipped with state-of-the-art technology, computer systems, and on-site diagnostics, equipment, and rolling crash carts divided into drawers and trays.
One of my jobs at the beginning of every shift was to insure the crash carts were fully stocked with medications, IV solutions, intubation supplies, tubing, and more. Inspecting the crash carts and ensuring they were kept well stocked was the first thing I usually taught the new nurses. The carts were large, like rolling toolboxes found in auto shop garages, but with larger drawers. The top drawers contained some of the most common ER medications like epinephrine, lidocaine, dopamine, and sodium bicarbonate for cardiac patients coming in with heart attacks. Other drawers contained saline flush syringes, airway tubes, forceps, and scopes; always in high demand every time a patient was rolled in, especially those involved in auto accidents.
I was to make sure that each cart had adequate supplies of surgeon’s gloves—even though boxes of sterile gloves were mounted on the inside wall next to every trauma bay door—sutures, suction catheters, and cut down packs. As part of my mentoring duties, Diane had also asked me to supervise training for all oncoming nurses when it came to not only dealing with crash cart supplies, but all aspects of the emergency room operations, including the emergency response communications system.
