Riley Mackenzie - Beautifully Awake

After the case, Chase followed me into the little scrub sink room, tore his mask from his face and ripped his cap from his head. “Lili, go change and meet me in the lobby. And don’t get lost in the recovery room.”

Really. After seven hours of pure adrenaline, I was exhausted and just wanted to go home. “Um, okay.”

“And don’t worry about Mrs. Peterson. I have her heavily sedated for tonight, you can see her in the morning.”

How did he know that’s where I was headed?

Jackson popped his head into the tiny room. “Kiddo, you rocked it! You were a pro, you totally kept her calm.” He squeezed my arm.

“Thanks, Jack, appreciate it. The talking definitely lowered both our anxiety levels.” I smiled, remembering our conversation. Kelly relived their last beach vacation and gushed about how adorable her toddler twins were splashing in the water and playing in the sand. A memory I could only wish for.

“Totally.” Jack smiled and looked over at Chase. “Brilliant, man, sick job in there, great call having Lili sit for the case.”

Chase half smiled. At least he took a compliment gracefully.

“Lil, I’ll catch you later, I’m gonna take her to the recovery room and write her orders.”

“Jack, I’ll take her down to recovery, you just write her orders. Don’t be cheap with the pain meds either, I want her comfortable.”

Jackson looked confused; maybe attendings didn’t usually roll the patient to recovery. What did I know?

“Lili, I’m going to get her situated and find her husband. Meet me in the lobby.” His gaze locked with mine as he waited. “Yes?”

I just wanted to change and go home, but “yeah, fine” came out of my mouth.

He kept staring until I couldn’t take the awkwardness any more and looked down. Crap, these tan scrubs were freaking hideous.

“Found Mr. Peterson,” Chase said as he strolled through the very posh lobby of Philadelphia Hospital. Could have saved hospital money, leather wasn’t really necessary.

“Oh good. I know he was really worried.” I knew I was.

“Yeah, he was relieved the whole thing’s over.”

“They’re nice people. Kelly’s so sweet. She’s looking forward to getting home to her twins. They must miss her like crazy. She really seems like such a wonderful mama.”

“Mama?”

“Yeah, that’s what her twins call her. It’s cute, right?”

He looked at me so strange, I guessed he didn’t find it cute. Okay...

“By the way, the OR was awesome and such a rush. I can’t believe you get to do that every day. I was in awe when anesthesia woke her up, and you operated while I was talking to her…”

“I know, I know-” He interrupted my rant. “You ready? I’m starving.” His gaze was unnerving. He motioned for the exit with one hand, while his fingertips from the other brushed my lower back. My temperature spiked. Fresh air was going to be good.

“Hey doll, wait up.” Guy jetted toward us. Thank god for the pause. “Heard you rocked the OR ... bummed Jackson scrubbed, would’ve loved to have seen you in there. Anyway, just saw Kate, said Mrs. Peterson’s awake now and was so happy you were there with her.” He gave me a huge smile, flashing his adorable dimple. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks. I can see you had a lot of confidence in me,” I said, oozing sarcasm.

He grinned and held up his hand to give me a high five. “Come on, let’s go celebrate.”

“You’re so silly sometimes, really a high five—what are we ten?” I slapped his hand and he pulled me in for a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Oh you love it!” he teased.

“Hunter, you’re not done here.” Seems our sweet exchange was interrupted by a glaring Chase. One arm remained firmly crossed against his chest, while the other raked through his hair. He blew a sharp breath through his nose. “Sam needs help with the new admission. And are all my cases ready for tomorrow? I don’t want any hold ups ... at all.”

Guy retracted and nodded his head submissively. I understood you never talked back to your attending or you could kiss your career goodbye, but what the hell was that?

“Ms. Porter, you’re with me. Let’s go.”

I acknowledged him with a shake of my head and turned to say goodbye to Guy.

“See you in the morning, Dr. Hunter, have a good night.”

“Bye, Lil, you owe me ... a rain check?”

“Sounds good.” And it did.

I followed Chase across the street, not sure where the hell we were going or why. The first five floors of Franklin Towers were the surgery clinic floors; the neurosurgery clinic was on the second. The remaining fifteen floors were hospital housing. I was jealous of the doctors who got to roll out of bed and literally cross the street. At that ungodly hour nothing was more convenient.

“Are we headed to your office to look at tomorrow’s schedule? Wanna go over new admissions and discharges?” I rambled.

“Yeah, yeah, we can do that later, but I said I was starving. Get on the elevator.”

His face was expressionless, yet he stared right at me. Do that later? My mind spun with a thousand questions but couldn’t formulate a damn thought. I opened my dry mouth to speak, but I was floundering for a reason to not get on the damn elevator. His fingertips traced my lower back again, and I practically fell in. He put in his elevator key and pressed floor sixteen. Sixteen? His apartment? Confusion pummeled through my body, making my stomach flip-flop at the quick rise in the elevator.

“Make yourself comfortable, I’ll be back in a minute.”

Getting comfortable in my hot boss’s apartment—the boss I barely knew—there was nothing comfortable about this.

“If the doorbell rings, have them set the food on the dining room table.”

He turned and strolled down the hall and out of sight. The silence was interrupted with running water. A lot of running water. Was he taking a freaking shower?

I hadn’t budged past his apartment door mat. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping for a pause, a skip, hell, maybe a rewind, but instead my vision was clouded with images of his entire body, dripping wet.

I slowly peeled my eyes open, hoping for a distraction. The grey and black hues, the large inviting sectional, huge flat screen TV, and gorgeous mahogany dining set screamed bachelor pad, but so tastefully done. It was obviously nice to be a recruited attending invited to live in hospital housing. I placed my bag at the edge of the sofa and took a deep breath. Why was I here?

The harsh sound of the doorbell startled me. I peeked through the keyhole. Takeout and I didn’t have a dollar to my name. Crap. I meant to hit the ATM tonight, but I was in a state of distraction to say the least.

“Good evening, Miss, where would you like your dinner?”

“Um … oh … on the table, please,” I mumbled. “Do you take credit card?”

“Oh, Miss, no worries. Dr. Colton took care of it.” He arranged the dinner on the dining room table. “Have a pleasant evening, enjoy your dinner.” He turned and made a beeline for the door, quietly shutting it behind him.

I cringed at my lack of city manners. Sierra NEVER went without tipping, she would have killed me. I let out a giant sigh and headed toward the table. Sushi.

Wrangel didn’t do sushi. And I managed in the last three years to avoid it like the plague.

“Dinner.” His voice was sexy as hell. “Sit. You must be starving.” He barked instructions like he was still in the OR.

He made his way over to the table, while my eyes fixed on his unruly wet locks hanging down his forehead. I should have been formulating a coherent way of articulating how odd and borderline inappropriate it was for me to even be here, but instead I focused on how everything below tingled with the thought of running my fingers through that hair.