After arriving at recovery and before I embarrassed myself further, I left him with his cockiness to finish some paperwork. I chatted with Kate, who seemed in a much better mood today. Things must have improved with CJ for now. It was hard to keep up with their saga.
Suddenly, a strong presence slipped in right behind me. Incredibly close behind me. So close no one saw the firm hand that slid its way down to rub my ass. I held my breath. One wrong move and there was no more hiding anything from anyone. Definitely not Kate.
“Hi, Dr. Colton,” Kate said meekly. She didn’t know Chase all that well. No one at the hospital did. Hell, I barely knew him and I was sharing his bed. Aside from being new, he gave off a very intimidating, distant vibe. Add that to being hurt-your-eyes gorgeous, most of the female staff were easily flustered by him. Present company included.
“Nice to see you’re back, Kate.” After the last CJ fiasco she took a couple of much needed “mental health” days. “Now that you’re feeling better, tell me who I need to speak to—I’ll make sure you’re assigned to all my cases from now on.”
She looked a little green with Chase’s acknowledgement of her impromptu hiatus after seeing her hot mess display. “Umm, why? Did anything go wrong this week?”
“No. Just not a fan of people rotating. That’s when mistakes happen. I need to know who I’m leaving my patients with … that they’re on my page, doing things my way. I understand residents need to rotate as part of their training, but otherwise, I want my own team. Jackson’s got it covered in the OR and I want you in recovery. So again, who do I need to speak with to make that happen?”
Kate looked like she just won the Golden Globe for Best Nurse, if such existed. Meanwhile Chase’s assault on my ass continued, as if I needed reassurance. There was nothing suggestive in his tone, only professionalism. Dr. Sexy was all mine. I had no doubt.
“Probably the recovery room coordinator. But I’m not sure how that would work. It’s always been the nurse who is free takes the next patient. I don’t think you can choose.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Yes, I can.” Dr. Bossy was very matter of fact. “Just do me a favor. In the future, give me some notice before you take time off so I don’t schedule any of my high risk cases then.” Coming from a world-renowned neurosurgeon, the compliment was huge. Her personal life was circling the toilet, so a professional boost couldn’t have come at a better time. And it was well deserved; she was a kickass nurse. Clearly Chase was stacking his team with the best.
“Sure. You got it.” Kate looked adorable, smiling ear to ear.
“I’ll make it happen.” Of course he would. Who was going to say no to this man? Brain surgeon, inventor, sex god. “But if you don’t mind, Ms. Porter and I have some details to bang out.” He grabbed my ass harder, pressing his fingers low between my cheeks. Kate was too distracted by the new company standing next to Chase to notice my gasp.
“Your patient’s stable, told you there was nothing to worry about.” The awful expression on Dr. Jenning’s face mimicked the strained sound of his voice.
Kate, visibly uncomfortable by the hostility between Chase and Carl, retreated to the supply closet. If Chase’s hand weren’t now snaked down the back pocket of my shit brown scrubs, I would have done the same.
Chase shook his head in disgust. He had zero tolerance for incompetence and clearly thought the dry anesthesiologist sucked at his job. I half expected him to berate Carl Jennings right there for existing, but Chase was too professional for that. Without another word, Carl strolled away, leaving Chase and I standing uncomfortably close in a room full of people.
“Um ... that was awkward.” I widened the space between us. Chase’s hand slipped from my pocket.
“No. He’s a fucking moron. Awkward…” he said, parting his lips into a one-sided half smile that stirred my butterflies. “Awkward was hearing my team talk about my girl’s clear skin.” His accentuation of “clear skin” made me bite my bottom lip. No argument there. That was definitely awkward.
“Um, trust me. Just be glad you walked in then and not before. That would have redefined awkward.” The heat hit my cheeks a-freaking-gain.
Chase tipped his head back and snickered. “I don’t think I want to know. I’m sure you realize, baby, I won’t be leaving you alone in my OR with the boys again.” Welcome back, Dr. Possessive. The humor behind his eyes turned sultry. “Now I’m pretty sure, you agreed to ... come with me. Or do you need our OR nurses to remind you?”
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.”