Beautifully Awake

were freaking hideous.

5 Sake

“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.

“You know, I really should be getting home, I don’t want to impose. I agreed to come because I thought we’d go over patients for tomorrow. It has been a long day and I’m exhausted.” I reached for my bag.

“Stay.” He didn’t even attempt to make it sound like a question. He pulled out a dining room chair and sat.

“Excuse me?” My anxiety peaked. It was really time to politely excuse myself.

“Stay, have dinner, I invited you.”

“You did?”

“I said I was starving and I know you must be and-” he paused, thinking. He bit his lower lip and ran his hands through his yummy dark chocolate brown hair.

I inhaled deeply then bit my lower lip so hard I thought I tasted blood.

“I thought you would join me. I told you I would feed you later. Sit?”

This time, it sounded more like a question. Not that it mattered, my body was not going to let me leave, even though my mind was screaming to get the hell out of there.

“Um, well okay, but I really can’t stay long.” I pulled out the chair across from him and sat, fidgeting with my nails. Why was I so nervous? I was acting totally ridiculous, but this felt oddly similar to a first date, even though I haven’t had one of those in, well ... years.

“Fine. Beer or sake?” he asked.