1. Belle

one

Belle

A Few Days Earlier

"Wait a minute, are you still a virgin?" Kelly shrieks in the middle of the hospital cafeteria. "Aren't you like twenty-five or something?"

"Shh, keep your voice down," I say, tugging her arm and pulling her to sit in the chair next to me.

I glance at Claire. Her face is bright red, and she looks down at her salad as if it's the most interesting thing she has ever seen. She slowly picks through the lettuce with her fork, avoiding eye contact with Kelly.

Following my gaze, Kelly takes one look at Claire's red face and turned down gaze, "Not you, too? Holy shit, I'm surrounded by virgins." The bite of pizza in her mouth is forgotten as she sprays pizza crumbs all over Claire.

"Gross, Kelly," wiping the crumbs off her scrub top with a napkin, Claire glares at Kelly.

"What do you expect? I was shocked to find out I was sitting at the same table with two twenty-five-year-old virgins." She waves her hand between Claire and me.

"First of all, I'm only twenty-three, and Claire is only twenty-two."

"Same difference." She shrugs, taking another bite of her pizza, keeping it in her mouth this time.

Swallowing her bite of pizza, Kelly continues, "So what are you going to do about it?"

"Do about what?" I squeak, looking at Claire for help, only to find her still inspecting her salad.

"You know, your V-card." She waves her hand around the middle of my body with a shrug of her shoulders.

This day can't get any worse.

"Ladies, are these seats taken?"

No-no-no, please don't let them, of all people, overhear our conversation. Brad, Chad, and Barry are the three horniest interns at the hospital. They're doing their Burn rotation right now in our department. They have a reputation for hooking up with a nurse in each one of their rotations. Claire, Kelly, and I are the only three single nurses in the burn unit, not that having a boyfriend or husband has ever stopped those three from going after someone they want.

Not waiting for an answer, they proceed to sit down at our table. Chad, in between Kelly and me, with Brad and Barry on each side of Claire, trapping her body with their larger ones.

Claire keeps her eyes focused on her salad, pulling her arms closer to her sides in a failed attempt not to let Brad and Barry touch her. Her face turns a deeper shade of red, extending down her chest.

I watch as Brad and Barry try to look down Claire's scrub top, moving in closer so that she is now tightly sandwiched between them.

I look at Kelly, silently willing her to help Claire, but she is too busy laughing at everything Chad says to her, running her hand up his arm before squeezing his flexed bicep.

Knowing Kelly is no help. I stand up, reach across the table, and grab Claire's arm. Her fork falls from her fingers and lands on the table with a loud thud, "Our lunch break is over. We have to get back to work. Right, Kelly?" I nod.

"But you didn't finish your lunch, Claire bear." Brad grabs Claire's fork from the table and waves it at me, Kelly, and Chad, "Why don't the rest of you go back to work? Barry and I will take care of Claire." He smirks, stabbing the salad with Claire's fork and putting it in his mouth. Licking the fork clean, he moans, "Fuck, I can still taste your sweetness."

"What does she taste like?" Barry leans in, smelling the fork.

Gross .

"Like a sweet, untouched virgin peach," Brad replies, giving the fork to Barry.

Barry licks the fork, groaning, "We don't mind sharing you, little peach."

Crap, they heard our conversation. "We've got to go." I pull a still-stunned Claire away from the table, rushing toward the elevator, leaving Kelly to fend for herself.

Once inside the elevator, with the doors closed, I turn to Claire and ask, "Are you okay? Those guys are such creeps."

"I'm fine. I don't know why I froze like that. I can usually brush them off with a smart-ass comment, but having them sitting that close to me while they know I'm a virgin caught me off guard."

I brush Claire's hair off her shoulder and wrap my arm around her in a side hug. "It's okay. They've probably forgotten all about you and are hitting on Kelly. Knowing how sexual Kelly is, she'll probably take care of all three of them at once."

"I wouldn't doubt it." Claire snorts, putting her arm around me and returning the side hug.

The elevator stops on three different floors, letting people on and off before finally reaching our floor. When the elevator doors open, we face Kelly. Her arms are crossed over her chest, and her eyes glare daggers at us.

"How did you beat us here?" I question Kelly, looking around the bank of elevators.

Holding up the emergency elevator keycard in her hand, she shakes it in front of our faces, "I bypassed all the other floors using this."

"Kelly, you shouldn't have done that. That keycard is only for emergencies." Claire scolds, grabbing for the keycard.

Kelly smirks, moving the keycard out of Claire's reach, "You need to loosen up a little bit, Claire. If Belle hadn't interrupted, you could be in the doctors' lounge with Brad and Barry right now, losing your virginity."

"Fuck you, Kelly." Claire whips around and stomps to the nurses' station.

"Do you always have to be so crude, Kelly?" I step around her to follow Claire back to the Burn Unit.

Kelly grabs my arm, stopping me, "Come on, Belle. I was just kidding. Besides, I have a plan for how you can lose your V-card."

"I never said I wanted to lose my V-card. Even if I did, it wouldn't be to any of those three horndogs."

I try to pull out of her grasp, but she squeezes my arm tighter. "Not them. Remember that firefighter Greg I dated a couple of months ago? He's a member of a sex club, and he took me there a couple of times."

I know Kelly is sexually adventurous, but I never thought she would go to a sex club. I guess I don't know her as well as I thought I did.

"They have guys there called Pleasure Doms." When I don't say anything, she continues, "You might not be ready to rid yourself of your virginity, but you are wound up too tight. You need a little sexual relief. That's what those guys are for. Their only job is to give pleasure in numerous ways for numerous hours." She wiggles her eyebrows up and down with a half-smile playing across her lips. "I can get you a guest pass for one night if you want." She shrugs, letting go of my arm, then walks towards the nurses' station.

I chew on my lower lip. Maybe I should take her up on her offer. One of the reasons I have avoided a romantic relationship is that I'm inexperienced. If I had some practice with someone I would never have to see again, I could gain the confidence to seek out a relationship without feeling awkward.

It's a crazy idea, but it might actually work. With a smile on my face, I run after Kelly before I change my mind.

"Kelly, wait up." My shoes squeak on the newly waxed floor with each step I take in my haste to reach Kelly.

She stops and turns around, facing me with a huge grin on her face, "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist the temptation."

"You don't have to be so smug about it, Kelly." I roll my eyes, huffing out a breath.

Her smile widens as she puts her arm around my shoulders, "So, what are you going to have him do to you? Finger you? Eat your pussy? Maybe your ass too?"

My head snaps back, and I blink at her words, "I-I don't know. I'll have to do some research and come up with a list of what I want."

Kelly barks in laughter, causing Claire and our other co-workers to look our way from the nurses' station. "Oh, that's priceless. I would love to be a fly on the wall when you pull out your list of expectations for the Pleasure Dom." Wiping at a stray tear running down her cheek, she continues, "I can see it now. You may touch my pussy but not my ass. I will allow you to touch my breasts, but you may not pinch my nipples."

I know Kelly is only teasing, but I'm not in the mood for her humor, "Just forget I said anything, okay."

Holding her hands up in front of herself, she concedes, "Come on, Belle, you know I'm just yanking your chain. The only other person that needs this more than you is Claire." She nods her head at Claire, who is glaring at us from her seat at the nurses' station.

"I'll text Greg and get everything set up for you. All you need to do is get yourself a sexy dress and wait for my instructions." She starts to walk back down the hallway toward the nurses' station, "oh, you might want to get waxed. You know, so he'll have a nice clean plate to eat from." She turns around with a snicker, and I feel my face heat up. "Don't forget to finish your list." She yells over her shoulder with a wave of her hand.

I stand frozen in the hallway, wondering what I got myself into, watching Kelly pull her phone from her scrub pants pocket sending a text message to someone I can only assume is Greg.

"What is going on with you and Kelly?" Claire tugs on my arm, pulling my attention from Kelly.

I was so lost in thought watching Kelly that I didn't hear Claire's approach. "Um, nothing." I stammer, not sure if I want to let Claire know what I'm going to do.

She continues to stare at me with her lips pursed. "Okay, fine. She is getting me a pass to a sex club." I whisper, my eyes scanning the hallway, making sure we aren't overheard.

"What!" She screeches, her eyes comically wide like a cartoon character.

I tug at her arm, pulling her closer to me. "Shh, keep your voice down. It's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal. This is Kelly we are talking about. Nothing good can come from anything she does."

"I know, but I really want to do this. Please, Claire, I don't need a lecture. I need my friend to support me in any crazy mess I get myself into."

Claire steps back, crosses her arms across her chest, tilts her head to one side, and finally rolls her eyes with a sigh. "Fine, I don't like it, but I will support you. I want all the details of the club and the guy when you meet him, so when you come up missing, I can tell the police something."

I roll my eyes and smile, "Yes, mother."

"Hey, you never know if someone is a kidnapper or a murderer."

"You really need to lay off all those crime podcasts you listen to. They're turning you into a conspiracy theorist. Not everyone is a bad guy." I tease.

"Well, when you end up dead, you'll be thanking me for helping the police find your killer." She cocks an eyebrow, giving me a sly smile.

"In that case, I'd better thank you now since, you know, I'll be dead." We both laugh at our morbid sense of humor, but it comes with the job. When you work around death, you either have to adapt through humor or fall into depression.

I've seen too many nurses burn out from the stress of the job—the long hours, the death. It takes a toll on a person. Most of my co-workers have husbands or wives to go home to or children they transport from activity to activity, something else besides work.

I don't have any of those things, so I end up working extra shifts and holidays, only having my spicy romance novels waiting for me at home after a long day at work. But I want the husband to come home to and cuddle with at night and the kids to chauffeur to basketball practice or gymnastics.

The first step to accomplishing my dream is getting over my fear of sexual incompetence. Once I'm more sexually sure of myself, I will have the confidence to date and find a husband.

With my mind firmly made up, I link my arm through Claire's, and we stroll back to the nurses' station.