Hearts on Fire 7: Claiming Catalina(11)

“I’m leaning closer toward applying. I heard from one of the supervisors on the board, and word spread quickly that I’m the only one in the hospital now that has the credentials and experience.”

“You sound a little unsure. What’s holding you back?” Jeremy asked, leaning forward in his chair.

She took a deep breath and exhaled.

“I love working in the ER and being there when things happen. I feel like I can truly be beneficial to patients and the doctors during some of the most intense moments.”

“Would this position not allow for you to still assist?” Cody asked her.

“Well, technically, I would be spending less time in the ER hands-on as a nurse and half the time doing some administrative work, like dealing with grants, bringing funding to the different departments in need. But the position is new, and there aren’t specific guidelines, and it seems to involve a lot of responsibilities. It’s like being the head nurse of the ER. In our hospital, the position only allows eight-to-ten-hour shifts, but also doing administrative work. The hours don’t seem right. Right now, they’re only in need of the days, so I would work a normal eight-to-four shift. I just don’t know if I would be happy.”

“Well, not working crazy hours or nights sounds like a ideal position, especially when you not only get to do a job you love but also remain with the staff who knows you and more than likely respects you already,” Jeremy told her.

“I’m so used the chaos of the night shifts, too, but I’m tired of this pasty night-shift coloring I have.” She ran her hands along her arms.

“You look pretty damn beautiful to me,” Cooper told her from across the table.

She felt her cheeks blush and cleared her throat.

“What about you and Cody? Any ideas what you want to do, or are you guys considering different positions in the agencies you work for now?” she asked.

“I guess I’m kind of feeling like you are, Catalina. Like if I leave, something might go down where, if I had been there, it could have made a difference. It’s the not knowing,” Cody admitted.

“That’s understandable, but sometimes change is good and things happen for a reason. I was pretty close to moving out of town completely,” she admitted.

“Really? Why?” Jeremy asked her.

“I thought there was nothing more for me to achieve here in Treasure Town, and to be honest, I’m seeing all these changes around me with a lot of my friends, and I started wondering if I could be stuck in a rut. Five years have gone by so quickly. Five more and I’ll be thirty and trying to decide on a retirement plan, or maybe I might be burned out by then, because a lot of ER nurses do get burned out. I could miss this opportunity and great pay for this new position. It’s so stressful and emotional at times, and you have to keep it together. It takes a toll.”

“I think that’s what Cody and I are feeling, too. Like we could get burnt out, or we’re in a rut and need something new, yet what we do is our calling, so how do we give it up?” Jeremy asked.

“Maybe we don’t give it up. Maybe we try to find something similar but with less danger, stress, or the things that we can identify as stuff that could burn us out. I don’t know. I guess life is about taking chances, and this is one I’m going to have to face and just decide already,” Cody said.

“Us too,” Cooper added.

“If that position you mentioned is new, can the responsibilities be altered or better clarified to your specific interests, capabilities, and experience? Maybe discussing that possibility with your boss might help clarify things and direct you toward making the right decision?” Jeremy suggested.

She stared at him, in awe of his idea. The fact that she’d sat here talking to the four of them for hours now was unreal. She could get used to this, to having them around to bounce ideas off of and to have their support, but Cody and Jeremy were still unsure where they were headed. Did it even matter to her? She felt so attracted to them, especially now as all four added their comments and their support to her.

She smiled and then looked at Don as he gave her a wink but cringed.

“You aren’t feeling well, are you?” she asked.

She stood up and placed her hand on his shoulder. She reached for his napkin and wiped his brow. “What you went through was traumatic for your body. Sometimes you need to listen to it and take a rest. You should take some painkillers and lie down.”

He gripped her wrist and brought it to his lips, kissing the inside of it. She held his gaze. His other arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her close. She nearly wound up on his lap.

“Don, I’ll hurt you.”

“Never,” he whispered and kissed farther along her arm from wrist to elbow.

“Don.”

“Help me out here, Catalina.” He pressed her thigh against him and then lowered his good leg so she had to straddle it. He pulled her by her ass up onto his thigh, and she gasped and grabbed onto his shoulder.

“Kiss me, Catalina,” Don told her.

It was odd, but she was entirely turned on by his masculinity and his move to get her this close. She worried about his injured leg while she straddled his good one, but she wasn’t worried about the audience.

He released her wrist, and she ran her hands along his chest and shoulders as she stared down into his gorgeous eyes. The feel of both his hands massaging her thighs and then moving under her dress had her shaking with need. His hands massaged her ass cheeks. She pressed her lips gently to his and then pulled back.

“More,” he whispered, giving her thighs a squeeze.

She ran her fingers through his hair and caressed his cheeks as she kissed Don deeply. His hands held firm, and he kissed her back, deepening the kiss, plunging his tongue into her mouth in exploration. She felt hot, on fire, as she moved closer. When his hand reached under her dress again and cupped her ass cheeks, massaging them, pressing them apart and then together, she moaned into his mouth. He pulled her back and forth as she rocked her hips until she felt his finger glide into the crack of her ass against her anus.

“Don,” she gasped after pulling from his mouth.

It was so wild, and her mind erupted in crazy, sexy thoughts of being with all these men and having them touch her intimately, making love to her together and filling every hole. She gripped Don’s shoulders and caught her breath.

“I want to feel how wet you are. I want to taste you.” He pulled her higher up, parting her thighs and stroking her crack.

“So do we,” Cooper said, and she swung her head around to see Cooper, Cody, and Jeremy watching her with hunger in their eyes.

“I thought we were going to take this slow?” she asked, breathless.

“Slow is overrated,” Don said and pulled her down for a kiss.

He explored her mouth with his tongue, and she could hear the dishes moving, chairs scraping against the floor, and then she felt the second set of hands on her shoulders from behind. She wasn’t sure who joined them until Cooper spoke.

“Let us pleasure you, baby, and get to know this body. We’ll only go as far as you want,” he whispered and kissed her bare shoulder.

Don stopped kissing her.

“Help her onto the table. It’s the perfect height for me to taste her sweet cream,” Don said to Cooper as he began to lift her up.

“Don. Oh God, I don’t know about this.” But as she said the words, Cooper lifted her up with Don’s help and gently laid her on the kitchen table. Don pressed her dress upward and caressed her legs from ankle to thighs. When he got to her hips, he held her gaze.

“Lift up.”

As he removed her panties, she shivered and shook, felt her pussy leak with anticipation of his touch, and Don smiled.

“This is what I really need. You’re my medicine, baby. Every gorgeous inch of you.” He leaned forward, cringed a little from his obvious pain from his leg, and then stroked a finger along her pussy lips. He used his thumb to spread her cream and cause little vibrations to fill her pussy. Then she felt his mouth on her inner thigh, sucking, pulling, leaving love bites on his pathway to her cunt.

Cooper leaned over the table and cupped her cheeks.

“You’re more than we could have hoped for. Your body is perfection.”

He kissed her deeply just as Don pressed his tongue to her pussy and began to feast. It was sensation overload when she gasped and lifted her hips, then felt her top being pressed down and her breasts exposed. Cody joined in the fun and began to lick her nipples and then suckle her breasts with his hot, wet mouth. Her belly tightened, and she felt Don switch from tongue to two fingers, eliciting another moan from her.

Cooper released her lips and began to feast on her breasts.

“Holy fuck, you’re gorgeous, Catalina. I want to taste you, too,” Jeremy said, and the look in his eyes was so dark, so deep, she felt a shiver run through her system. He leaned forward from behind her, traced gently along her jaw as he held her gaze. It was a strong contrast to the deep, hard sucks on her breasts from Cooper and Cody, as well as the hard, fast strokes from Don. She felt so alive, so desirable it had her shaking with need for more, but as Jeremy gently cupped her face and kissed her from above, suckling her lower lip into his mouth, nibbling on her chin and then plunging his tongue into her mouth, the sensations overwhelmed her system. She felt her body explode as the orgasm rocked her from head to toe.