“Fuck, yes,” he growled in my ear and sped up his thrusts.

Heat built between my legs, and I moaned louder as my orgasm exploded through my body like fireworks on the Fourth of July. My pussy clenched around his dick, and he groaned loudly against my chest. His teeth bit down on my nipple again, heightening the pleasure as I convulsed and spasmed. It was glorious and made me giddy.

The alcohol had fully taken effect now, and my eyes were heavy with relaxation and lust, and I claimed his lips again for another kiss. Cole’s hunger continued while my body began to come down, and I started moving against him, finding the rhythm he set and grinding in time with his thrusts.

“Oh, fuck…” he groaned against my mouth. “I’m gonna…”

I bit his lower lip and rocked harder, grinding my hips into his as he came. His cock jerked inside me, spurting his load deep inside me, and he growled a low rumble that vibrated my chest.

“Wow…” he panted, collapsing back against the seat.

I collapsed against his chest, my panting mixing with his as our breaths came in ragged gasps. My dress was around my waist and my panties were still pushed to the side around him. Cole’s dick was still inside me, and I felt him twitching, my muscles clenching around him.

“Damn,” I finally managed to say, lifting my head and looking at him through heavy-lidded eyes. “That was…”

“Incredible,” he finished for me, and he kissed me again. This time, it was sloppy and wet and messy, but I didn’t care. I felt so dizzy and sleepy, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my forehead on his shoulder.

His head reclined backward on the headrest and his arms pulled me against him. I never felt when he got soft or if he moved me off his lap. Before the waves of pleasure ceased, I had passed out, drunk on alcohol and sex, and totally at ease in his arms.

11

COLE

Isat outside the boardroom with my head resting on the wall behind me and my eyes closed. We'd just gone through a very intense meeting about the pending lawsuit aimed at the hospital, primarily, but they were looking for a scapegoat now. Corporate would rather tank my individual career than admit fault, and now they had a nurse willing to testify that she knew it was my mistake.

Anger didn't even begin to describe what I was feeling and I just wanted to escape. I thought of Friday night last weekend when Rose got a little drunk and did that lap dance for me. Everyone in that club was fifteen years younger than me and it made me feel a bit out of place, but when she started doing that, I was lost in her and nothing else mattered.

I lost a bit of control over myself too, getting carried away with the idea that she actually wanted me. We were both drunk and it led to incredible sex in my car, after which she passed out on my chest for a good thirty minutes before I felt sober enough to drive her home. She rattled off her address, and I walked her up to the front door. Her roommate didn't seem thrilled to see hercoming home black-out drunk, but I was a perfect gentleman once I realized how drunk she was.

We'd spoken this week a few times too, and while things were slightly awkward given that we couldn't just come out and talk about the sex because we were at work, she gave no indication that she was upset with me. It was a mild relief to my heart that good things could coexist among the weeds in the garden that was my life.

"Dr. Hastings?" I heard a voice say, and I opened my eyes to see my HR rep standing next to me. I wasn't a fool. These HR people never looked out for the individual. They weren't employed by a third-party company designed to advocate for employees the way a union operated. They were employed by the hospital and its greater owners to advocate in the interest of what was best for the organization. It made me hate everything about working for such a large entity now that I was under the gun.

"Yeah," I said, and I scrubbed a hand over my face and rubbed my eyes. Then I looked over at her as she sat down in the seat next to me.

The blue pencil skirt she wore inched up above her knees as she placed her laptop on her lap and rested her hands on it. She'd been in the meeting with me and heard everything the hospital board was saying about this situation. I'd been forced to give testimony detailing the entire procedure down to trying to remember what we talked about or whether any jokes were told. I swore they paid off that nurse to say what she said, that I'd known about the patient's comorbidity and drug interactions. But none of that was on his chart until after the procedure was finished and he was in his recovery room.

"Dr. Hastings," she started, and she glanced around nervously, "I'm not here on official business from Premier Health." This was interesting. She looked nervous to be talking to me, and if she was nervous, it wasn't because I was a threat. It was because she was taking a risk.

"Then why are you here?" I was too grumpy to deal with drama or hearsay. Their throwing me under the bus was a load of shit. I didn't deserve to have my career tanked because someone in administration flaked on their responsibility and a patient was injured. The hospital didn't want the suit to come down on them, and they were finding ways to make it someone else's fault to distance them from the mistake that was clearly their responsibility to correct.

"I just wanted to tell you, I think what they're doing to you is a crock of shit." Her lips pursed and I watched her nostrils flare. Hearing that was a surprise, but it changed nothing. If I couldn’t fight them, she couldn’t either. They'd just fire her and replace her as easily as they were ousting me.

"Tell me about it," I grunted, and I laid my head back against the wall again.

"I mean, if you fight this, you could win. There is actually a paper trail indicating that someone else didn't update the patient's files the way they were supposed to." Her voice grew so quiet I almost had to strain to hear her. I turned my head and narrowed my eyes on her.

"What do you mean?" If the board was withholding information in this lawsuit that would clear me, I was going to be livid.

"I mean, they pay me to watch out for them, but I think it's disgusting. You don’t deserve what they're doing, and I think youshould seek legal representation before they tell the patient that their investigation has fingered you." Her tone was so hushed now, I knew she was scared of losing her job over this. "And I think you should do it soon."

So I had the one decent human being to ever take a position as HR advocating for me for a change, but it still felt impossible. I had the money to fight this but Premier Health was a huge organization. Twin Peaks was only one of their hundreds of hospitals. They could bury this easily, pay off the patient and make it go away, but they wanted someone to take the fall instead. They weren't going down without a fight.

"Thank you for telling me that…" I closed my eyes again and sighed. there was no point in hanging her up in this. "You should go before one of the board members sees you talking to me and figures out you're on my side." I knew two of the board members personally—self-righteous jerks who'd definitely go for the jugular with her if they saw her cluing me in.

"Alright… Just… I’m sorry," she said in a rushed voice as she stood and tucked her laptop under her arm and walked away. I watched her scurry like a church mouse and sighed.

The entire thing pissed me off and I felt powerless to fight the giant. But if she thought hiring a lawyer would help, it was probably a good idea. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but this slight tremor in my hand would tell a different story. The board would find out and that would be it. They would fire me without hesitation and leave me to defend myself. As it was, right now, the hospital's legal team was handling things, but even they weren't fighting for me. They just wanted the suit to go away.