Stubborn Heart (11 page)

Trevor could feel himself getting close. He reached down to grasp Mark’s pulsating rod and began fisting it to match his own rhythm. Mark screamed out his pleasure as he began pumping fluid all over Trevor’s hand, as well as his own chest and abdomen. Rope after rope of the white sticky stuff kept erupting forth. Mark clenched his ass muscles, which was all it took to send Trevor over the edge. With one final thrust, Trevor roared as his cock began to spasm and fill the condom with his seed. He collapsed on top of Mark, hungrily sucking in air. Mark used his arms and legs to hug Trevor close, sweat and cum mingling between their bodies.

Trevor lifted his head to gaze down at Mark. Not wanting to slip out of Mark and break the bond, he kept his lower body still. Mark reached up with one hand and pulled Trevor down for another deep, hungry kiss.

“That was amazing,” Mark said, softly combing his fingers through Trevor’s beard.

“You were amazing,” Trevor replied. “The way you tightened your muscle around my cock was incredible. I almost stopped breathing. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

“I’ve never done that before,” Mark admitted with a grin. “I think it was my body responding to you.”

“I like the sound of that.” Trevor smiled as he lowered his face, nuzzling against Mark’s ear and neck.

“We need to get cleaned up,” Mark said as he shifted his legs slightly.

Trevor sighed as he felt himself slip from Mark’s passage. He rolled on one side, allowing Mark to get up.

Mark returned a few moments later with a warm, wet cloth and a towel. He rolled Trevor over onto his back. He slipped the condom off Trevor’s still partially erect penis and used the cloth to gently clean it. He folded the cloth and used the clean section to wipe Trevor’s chest and stomach, trying to coax the now drying semen out of Trevor’s body hair.

“I think this is a lost cause,” Mark remarked as the stubborn little flakes refused to budge. He dropped the cloth and began toweling Trevor’s damp body so that he didn’t get chilled.

Trevor laughed and curled his fingers around Mark’s wrists, then tugged until Mark was lying stretched out beside him. He reached around Mark to pull him into an embrace. “I think I could learn to like this,” he said, giving Mark another squeeze.

“Yeah? Well, I think I’ll like you better once you are clean again,” Mark teased and kissed the tip of his nose. Getting out of bed, Mark pulled at one arm, and Trevor obediently followed behind.

Mark turned on the water for the shower. He opened a closet to remove two towels and placed them on the counter nearby. He reached in and adjusted the water to a comfortable temperature. Once satisfied, he held the curtain to one side and motioned for Trevor to go in first. Mark guided him beneath the spray, getting him wet all over. He filled a clean cloth with liquid soap.

“So incredible, Trev. I love your body hair,” Mark said softly as he swirled the cloth around, making soapy rings in the hair covering Trevor’s muscular chest.

“I’m really glad.” Trevor chuckled. “I would hate to have to shave it all off.”

“No!” Mark gasped, eyes wide with disbelief. “Don’t even joke about that. Your body is perfect the way it is.”

“Just kidding,” Trevor teased as Mark continued to wash him from head to toe.

Trevor insisted on returning the favor after Mark was done. That led to more petting and kissing, which continued until the hot water ran out. Laughing and now chilled, they turned off the water and began toweling each other dry.

They both dressed in baggy sweats. Luckily Mark had some loose enough to fit Trevor reasonably well. They reheated the Chinese food and then ate quietly on the sofa, watching an old detective show on television.

It was well after eleven when they went to bed. Mark set the alarm clock so that Trevor could get up in time for rounds at the hospital the next morning. He kissed Trevor once more and turned onto his side. Trevor turned and spooned himself against Mark’s back, placing one arm over Mark to hold him close. He kissed Mark once on the ear, then gently nibbled his lobe.

“What?” Mark squirmed and giggled in response to the nibbling at his ear.

“Nothing,” Trevor replied innocently. He reached around and began running his hands in wide caressing circles on Mark’s abdomen.

“Then stop,” Mark chided, taking Trevor’s hands in his own to hold them still. “You have to be up in about five hours.”

Trevor tightened his grasp, hugging Mark close. “Thank you,” he said softly.

“For what?” Mark asked, turning his head back toward Trevor quizzically.

“The best date ever,” Trevor said with a sigh. He gave Mark another squeeze, and then settled in to rest his face against Mark’s shoulder.

Mark smiled as he heard Trevor’s breathing turn to soft snores within a couple of minutes. He wriggled back until they were spooned together. He could feel Trevor’s chest move as he inhaled and exhaled. That was the last thing he remembered before he too drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 11

T
REVOR
worked late on Monday and Tuesday managing surgeries, so they didn’t get to see each other on either day. Their communication was limited to a few texts throughout the day. Mark returned to work on Wednesday and was surprised to find he had no assignment on the board. He wasn’t in charge, and he wasn’t caring for patients either. Puzzled, he located the staffing book to make sure he hadn’t mixed up his schedule. He flipped the book open to the day-shift page and saw the letters “AT” written by his name and a line drawn across the remainder of the pay period.
Admin time
, he thought.
What could that mean?
He called the staffing office and was informed that his unit manager had changed his assignment. Perplexed, he hung up the telephone and walked back to the assignment board.

He didn’t know what to do with himself until the manager arrived. He kept busy by helping some of the night-shift nurses finish up their work. At 7:45 p.m., Connie, the charge nurse, said he needed to go back to the manager’s office.

Helen Thornberry had been the unit manager for many years. Mark remembered first meeting her when he rotated through the unit as a nursing student. She had been the one who hired him after graduation. He knocked on her door and stopped in the entryway to stare. She was an attractive black woman in her late fifties. She always kept her hair, now liberally peppered with gray, tightly pulled back into a bun. She never wore makeup, and her starched scrub uniform never seemed to wrinkle. Until today. Today, she wore a smart red business suit. Her hair was beautifully curled and styled.

“Who are you?” Mark asked in astonishment.

“Come in here and be quiet,” she said, laughing and waving a hand to shush him.

“You look amazing,” Mark said as he followed to sit in a chair beside her desk. “I’ve never seen you wear anything but scrubs before.”

“Yeah, well, I’m trying out a new look.” She chuckled. She laced her fingers together and extended her hands, cracking the knuckles. “So here’s the thing,” she continued. “I have a new job.”

“I can’t believe it!” Mark exclaimed in astonishment.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Helen continued. “I’m not leaving Atlanta General. They wouldn’t know what to do without me showing up here every day. I’ve accepted a new position as the Director of Ambulatory Nursing. I move over to my new department next week.”

“Wow! You take two days off and the whole world changes.” He smiled and stood, extending his hand to Helen. “Congratulations!”

“Thank you,” she said, warmly squeezing his hand. “But I called you in here to talk about you.”

“What about me?” he asked, wondering what could top her news.

“I’ve recommended that you be promoted to Acting Nurse Manager to cover until a permanent manager is hired. I’ve cleared it with the front office and you start right now. You’ll be the acting unit manager for at least three months, even if you don’t apply for the permanent position. Of course, I’m hoping you will apply. I think it would suit you and the staff well.”

“I don’t know anything about management,” Mark said quickly. His face turned bright red.

“You know more than you give yourself credit for.” Helen stopped his further protests with a wave of her hand. “I know you very well professionally. The staff respects you; they will follow your lead.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Mark admitted shyly. “Except thank you.”

“It’s a great opportunity, and you deserve it,” Helen said with a smile. She walked around the desk and gave him a brief hug. “Now sit here for five minutes and then come to the conference room for coffee and cake. Your new staff want to welcome you.”

“Everyone already knows?” Mark asked incredulously. “How come no one told me?”

“I threatened to fire anyone who said a word,” Helen said jokingly as she walked out the door and down the hall. She turned back toward him with a grin. “Remember, I said five minutes. I’m ready for some cake!”

“C
ONGRATULATIONS
, handsome,” someone said, breaking through Mark’s concentration. He had been reviewing the schedule. He looked up to see Trevor standing in the doorway, smiling brightly.

“You knew?” Mark asked, returning the smile.

“Of course.” Trevor shrugged. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, practically filling the space.

Mark glared at him in mock annoyance. “And at no time did you feel it was necessary to give me a clue?”

“Not a chance.” Trevor shook his head slowly. “I was threatened just like everyone else.”

“What? You aren’t staff. That firing threat doesn’t apply to you.”

“Believe me,” Trevor said with a smirk, “I’ve worked in hospitals long enough to know what happens when you piss off the nurses.”

Mark laughed. “Don’t you forget it, either.”

Trevor backed away from the door and gave a slight hand wave. “Got to go. I just wanted to say congratulations in person.”

“Well, knowing that you already knew sort of takes the fun out of it.” Mark pouted.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Trevor said, his eyes sparkling. “We’ll celebrate later. What I’m going to do for you isn’t going to happen in this office.”

Chapter 12

“S
O
HOW
are you liking being the big boss man?” Carla leaned against the doorframe of Mark’s office. It was ten thirty in the morning on the Friday before Thanksgiving, two weeks since he had been promoted to acting nurse manager.

“It’s too soon to say,” he replied truthfully as he closed the schedule book and looked up. “I still have no idea what I’m doing here, except going to meetings. Every time I turn around, I am supposed to be at some new committee meeting. I can hardly get anything else done. And this working Monday through Friday is manure. You can’t get anything done on the weekends. Most places close by the time I finally get to leave here in the afternoon.”

“Yeah, but that’s got to be good for your love life,” Carla said with a smile. “Speaking of which, how are things with you and your doctor man these days?”

“I don’t have a ‘doctor man’,” Mark replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “But if you’re talking about Trevor, things are fine. We see each other a couple of times a week, unless he has surgeries.”

“A couple of times a week?” Carla asked incredulously. “I would have thought y’all would be at it all hot and heavy by now.”

“I’m going to pretend I don’t know what you are talking about. But yes, we’ve been out on a few dates.”

“I want details! Is it serious?”

“No,” Mark said dismissively.

“Do you want it to be?” Carla asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I want it to be fun. And that’s what it is. Besides in a couple of months, he’ll be leaving for a new job wherever. It isn’t like he’s in any position to set up housekeeping right now.”

“You’re not answering my question,” Carla persisted.

“What I want—” Mark paused for effect. “—is to have fun and enjoy it while it lasts.” He opened the scheduling book and looked down, signaling that the conversation was over.

“That’s all you’re going to say?”