Beautifully Awake(62)

“Chase-”

“Don’t.” He cut me off mid-sentence. “You don’t give me the address I’ll fucking Google it.”

“Fine. I’ll text it to you.”

“Baby, I want to sleep with you.” His voice softened. “This isn’t about sex. This is about sleeping ... with you ... in our bed, just sleeping, no talking. Just silence, me listening to your soft breaths. That’s truth.” And once again this man had completely disarmed me with words alone. “See you soon, baby.”

Silence filled my ear. I turned and dropped my phone on the bed.

“You’re not going to tell him, huh?” Sierra raised her eyebrows and frowned.

“I don’t know, but I’m definitely not ready tonight.”

“This thing with Dr. Hot-as-Balls is serious, isn’t it?”

I couldn’t help but nod. My gut told me she wasn’t wrong.





“Wow, it’s jammin’ in here.” Jackson entered the OR with his dripping wet arms held high. “Colton, you good with this?”

Chase’s discomfort with music was not lost on many. He was already scrubbed, gowned and gloved and fiddling with his instrument table. His back faced us so I couldn’t read his eyes. His eyes were always the words not spoken.

“Blame Lili.” Sam was prepping the sedated patient’s head. “She’s into rock now.”

“What—I can’t do something nice for my three favorite guys?” I defended my song choice.

“Three favorite guys?” Guy sauntered in, casually holding the mask over his mouth and nose, strings hanging loose at the side. He wasn’t scheduled for this case. “What, doll, I don’t count?”

“Guy, aren’t you one of the girls?” The room chuckled at Jackson.

“Whatever, Jack, that’s not what she said last night.” Guy was totally joking, but my breath caught watching Chase’s back tense in response. Chase definitely wasn’t laughing.

“Oh ha-ha, Guy, aren’t you funny?” Not sure why, but I wanted to quickly diffuse for Chase’s sake.

“Come on. You love me, doll. Admit it.”

“Why. Are. You. Here. Dr. Hunter?” Chase turned around to face the room. With just his eyes visible above the brim of his facemask, I saw he was burning.

“To see you.” Guy’s eyes widened, taking in Chase’s irritation. “A major head trauma is heading in on copter. ER chief needs your help with inducing hypothermia. Said something about using the new equipment.”



“Fuck. Are you kidding? He’s the one who postponed my damn inservice. Guess he’s getting a crash course today. What’s the ETA, Hunter? I need to get this surgery going, the patient’s already asleep.”

“Twenty minutes.”

“Carl,” Chase barked at his not-so-favorite anesthesiologist. “Dr. Jennings, we ready to start?”

“Yeah, yeah. Go ahead.” Dr. Jennings stared up at some green numbers on the little screen on his cart like he was watching the series finale of Lost, never looking at Chase.

“Go scrub, Hunter.” Chase wasn’t asking. “Not happy about this, but get your ass in here.” He turned to look at Jackson who was scrubbed and ready, standing at the unconscious patient’s head. “Jack, you waiting for a fucking red carpet? Make the incision.”

Jackson was totally grinning beneath his mask when he made the incision. Before Chase stole him to be his personal PA, Jackson was used to doing most of the lazier surgeon’s cases. But Chase was more territorial over his patients. One night while we were lying in bed talking about the demands of being a surgeon, he told me he preferred to stay in the operating room from the first incision to the last bandage being taped. “My patient, my responsibility.”

I loved that about him. From that first day with Kelly, I saw how committed he was. Not to the job, but to the patient. If Chase was stepping out of the room, whatever was going on in the ER must be really important. He was not thrilled.

“Jack, you and Hunter dissect down. That’s all I want you to do. Understand?”

“Yeah, yeah. Colton, I’m good. Done this procedure hundreds of times.”

“I know, Jack. But I don’t want anything done while I’m gone. Got me? No fucking heroics.”

I was no expert, but dissecting down sounded pretty heroic on its own. Jackson didn’t flinch and I considered giving him a heads up once Chase left. By the way, dude, avoid doing “anything” above and beyond whatever he just said or didn’t say, because my Dr. Sexy can turn into a psycho instrument tray-throwing lunatic. I glanced over at a nervous looking Sam standing next to Jackson, and he gave me an eye raise. Clearly, he hadn’t forgotten the tray-throwing episode either. Yeah, I definitely liked my spot on the other side of the short curtain.