Beautifully Awake(59)

“Was the text about meeting for lunch?” I questioned.

“Yeah, all it said was don’t forget-lunch at noon, love. You know how Sierra is, she always uses endearing sentiments, that’s just her.”

“You’re kidding me, right? He saw a fucking text, and that’s it? Goes ape shit on you. Didn’t ask for an explanation,” Leanne hissed. “This is crazy. He’s a loser, you need to dump his sorry ass.”

“You guys don’t understand, he was never like this. I’ve never, ever seen him lose his temper like this before. I don’t understand. How could he ever think I would cheat on him? I love him.” Her tears reignited, while Leanne and I exchanged what-the-hell-are we-going-to-do looks. “I know what you’re both thinking.” She choked on a sob. “How could I love him? And he’s nothing but a stranger to you.”

“Um Kate, sweetie, look at me.” She uncovered her face. “Maybe you need a little break; he obviously has some anger issues. He needs to sort himself out. Let him figure out how totally irrational he’s being. Let him cool off and come find you. He needs to apologize without you running back to him.” She silently looked me in the eyes. “Promise me you’ll wait until he finds you, please don’t go running back, you need to be strong here. I know you love him and you may not want to hear this, but you need to worry about you.” I sat back on my heels waiting for her to agree.

“Lili.” A loud knock and a steel voice that made my heart flutter interrupted our conversation. Leanne spoke up. “Yeah, she’s in here. Give us a minute.” I knew a minute was going to be way too long for Dr. Impatient.

The door flew open. “Blue, I’ve been looking all over for you, I thought something hap-” He stopped mid-sentence and took in the entire scene. “Shit, what happened? Kate, are you all right?”

Kate quickly wiped away her smeared mascara before glancing up. I hoped she and Leanne were consumed with the drama of the situation to miss the whole Blue part.



“Lee, hun, you got this. I’ll be right back.” I stood and gave Chase a get-the-hell-out-of-the-room look. He retreated out the door and I followed.

“Baby, you freaked me out, I thought something happened to you. You didn’t return my text, so I thought we were meeting in fifteen minutes. When you weren’t there in twenty, I texted again and still nothing. You can’t do this to me.” Hmm, Dr. Possessive and Dr. Ramble. One cute; one not so much.

“Um, Chase, if you didn’t notice, something urgent came up that I needed to deal with.” I rolled my eyes. I was annoyed and he needed to know it.

“I can see that now, but I didn’t know that fucking five minutes ago when I thought something happened to you.”

“I’m sorry I scared you, Dr. Handsome, but I’m a grown woman at work. What was going to happen? Besides, I’ve been doing a pretty damn good job taking care of myself the past twenty-seven years.” That got me a very public, very aggressive kiss in the middle of the fifth floor hallway. I melted into his chest for a second. “Chase, what are you doing?”

“I told you I’m not a very good actor.” He smirked. “And you call me Dr. Handsome like that again, fuck, baby, everyone will see what a bad actor I am.”

I blushed, big time.

“Come to lunch with me, I’m starving. Had to skip breakfast. I had a very hard time getting out of bed this morning.” He wryly raised his brow and a current shot straight to my sex. “Also, I have a long case this afternoon, so I’m not gonna see you for hours. Unless you’re interested in sitting in on a spine case?”

No chance. That wouldn’t be obvious or anything. Not that a case manager sitting in during brain cases was routine or anything, but no one seemed to flinch at the idea. Since patients were woken up mid-case, I at least served a purpose, keeping them calm and focused.

“Fine, lunch, but I need to check on Kate, then I’ll meet you.” I should have said no, said that I already had plans, but damn he was irresistible.

“Let’s do 11:30 so we can eat and then I can take care of some business.” He grinned.

“You’re insatiable, Chase.” Super fast food sounds perfect. His light blue scrubs and what was hiding underneath were reason enough to eat fast.



“You love it, Blue.”

Love it, or you? That thought had to go, stat.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and kissed my temple. “What’s going on with Kate, she okay?”

“We’ll talk at lunch, and no, she’s not okay. Now, please leave so I can tend to my friend.”