Mortified, I chewed my lip harder. “You, Dr. Colton, are an Asspuck.”
“Well you, Ms. Porter, are beautiful. And if you keep biting that lip, our little secret is not going to be a secret anymore when I kiss that sassy mouth right here.” His volume was two decibels higher than I would have liked, but the sexy sweetness in his eyes melted me. I almost wanted him to kiss me. Almost. “Let’s go back to my office. We’ll pound out those details and I’ll order us some food. Sushi?” He was so just one of the boys.
Luckily, we left the recovery room without any PDA and pressed for the elevator. Remembering the new piece of Chase’s puzzle I discovered today, I hoped his playful mood might open him up to me a little, so I went for it. “Hey, when did you have the time to invent that equipment you were talking about? You were one of those child prodigy kids, weren’t you? I should call you Doogie Howser, hmm.”
“You can call me anything you want, as long as it’s my name you’re moaning when I’m between your legs.”
“Chase!” I squealed and scanned the hallway to make sure no one heard him.
“That’s more like it, baby.”
His amusement was infectious, and damn, those bedroom eyes killed me. It was a welcomed change to see him this relaxed and playful at work.
“No, really. Why didn’t you ever mention inventing equipment before—was that the Boston company Asher was talking about that night at dinner?”
His demeanor shifted ever so slightly, but it shifted. “Never came up. Let’s get back to what you want to order. I already know what I’m going to eat.”
As much as Chase’s flirting turned me on, he was avoiding the topic. I understood not wanting to talk about his dead sister, but why dodge a career question? Chase was passionate discussing all things medicine. It made no sense. Before I could press the issue, the steel stair door swung open and Guy walked out looking content with himself.
“Hey, case all done? I’m looking for Petit, got some scut for him to finish.” Thankfully, he wasn’t interested in asking where we were headed.
“No you don’t, I want you both rounding on the kid hooked up to the KimCore. He should be in the ICU by now.” Chase easily snapped back into business mode.
“Why? He’s not our problem. He’s on the trauma service. You just showed them how to put the catheter in, right? That doesn’t make him a neuro case.”
“First of all, if I tell you to round on someone, you do it. No questions asked. Second of all, if we lay so much as a finger on a patient, they become our fucking problem. Understand? I don’t care whose service they technically fall under—you’ll make sure you put a goddamn note in the chart every day. That’s how I run my service.” Dr. Intensity resurfaced. I lingered back, speechless, while Guy’s face had what the fuck crawled up your ass written all over it.
Guy’s common sense kicked in and told him not to debate hospital policy technicalities with Chase. He was never going to win. “Whatever you want, Chief.” He held both hands up in surrender. “I’ll add the kid to the list, make sure we round on him.”
“Actually, any patient on the KimCore gets added to the list. Starting now,” he barked.
Guy had to be mentally counting down the days left on this rotation. Him and me both. But for polar opposite reasons. Jackson was spot on when he said Guy rubbed Chase the wrong way, so I couldn’t blame Guy for wanting off this service. I, on the other hand, had enough sneaking around pretending to only have a professional relationship with my boss.
“Sure.” Guy didn’t bother to hide his eye roll when he answered Chase’s last demand. I wondered if Chase was punishing Guy or if he really believed the KimCore patients needed neuro’s attention. Chase’s attention. God, I hoped it was the latter; otherwise my sweet, sexy boyfriend was just being a dick. What the hell was KimCore anyway?
When the elevator opened, I gave Guy a sympathetic wave before stepping inside. Chase wasn’t done.
“And while you’re at it, Dr. Hunter, remember your job is to actually teach the intern something, not just scut him out. Why don’t you give it a fucking try? You have time for sex tales in my OR; you have time to teach. Understand?” Point made. Loud and clear. Dr. Possessive was totally not over it.
Guy, being Guy, ignored Chase’s spanking and got the last word in. “Enjoy the elevator ride, Chief.”
Luckily, we didn’t speak about Guy or anything else from the morning during lunch. In fact, we skipped speaking in general. Instead, Chase did as he promised if I came with him, and fed me some delicious sushi.