by Turner, CJ
“Perfect. That’s where I’m going.”
Chase stared in disbelief. Bumping into him at Security, then on this plane, and then on the same island? What god set up this comedy?
“I’m on my way to help with hurricane relief. I’ll be very busy with that.”
Brad smiled at him with his eyes wide. Chase deduced it must be from the epinephrine in the EpiPen. “Of course. I wouldn’t expect any less from you.”
Chase didn’t know what to make of that statement and stared awkwardly at Brad. Needing to put distance between them, he defaulted into doctor mode.
“How do you feel?”
“Spacey. Tired.”
“That’s normal.”
“No,” said Brad. “Nothing about this trip has been normal.” Brad’s eyes burned once more with what looked like something other than a drug reaction. Chase tried to distract himself by pressing the stethoscope to his patient’s chest. The man’s heart continued to beat too fast and incredibly seemed to beat in time with Chase’s own. But what was worse was that Chase got a good whiff of the man’s cologne again, and that worsened the situation with his unruly cock.
“Lay back and relax. Your heart is beating too fast.”
Brad pursed his lips.
“Is that a bad sign?” Brad asked.
“You need to relax.”
“Easy for you to say. Listen, I don’t want to go by myself to a hospital in a town I don’t know. At least with you there, you can make sure they are taking care of me the right way.”
“You barely know me.”
“I feel like I know you,” said Brad. “Or at least I should. How could we live in the same area and not meet?”
“I live in Boulder.”
“Ah, Denver.”
“See.”
“Not really. Hey, look, there’s my EpiPen.” Brad pointed to it stuck between the seat and the bulkhead. “It jerked out of my hand when the plane hit turbulence. Here, let me get it.”
“Not a chance.” Chase reached across Brad’s chest and realized his mistake because he couldn’t avoid brushing against the sexy man. He snatched the EpiPen from its landing place and jerked away from Brad. He looked into Brad’s eyes while his heart did the conga. This was impossible. He couldn’t sit by the man much longer.
Damn it. When would they get to Miami?
Chapter 4
Brad
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are on approach to Miami International Airport. Please remain in your seats after landing while the EMTs off-load an ill patient. Don’t worry. He is under medical care and doing well.”
Brad did not like the idea of the doctor handing him off to another set of caregivers. So he felt a little shaky. Anyone would after getting an epinephrine injection and inhaling albuterol.
“See, I’m doing well. I don’t need to go to the hospital.”
“Because I am a skilled physician.”
“Exactly,” said Brad. He smiled, hoping to engage the doctor’s favor.
But he returned a stern expression. “And for this reason, you should listen to me. You need to be under medical observation for at least four hours.”
The sexy doctor radiated an air of medical authority. And the damnable thing was, Brad liked his cocky self-assuredness. And he didn’t want the man to melt into a crowd, never to see him again.
The pull he felt for a man he just met today was a little crazy. But hell? How often did Brad find someone this sexy? Up to now, he found men attractive but hadn’t settled on one he’d like to get to know. But this doctor? He spun all of Brad’s wheels.
“Doctor,” said the flight attendant. “We’re about to land. Can Mr. Hunt sit up to wear a seat belt? The EMTs are at the gate, and we will get him off the plane as soon as possible.”
“What do you say, Mr. Hunt? Feel up to it?”
Oh, there was something he wanted to feel up, but he didn’t think the doctor would go for it, which was a shame.
Geez, Hunt. When did you get brazen?
Maybe it was the sudden realization that he had been missing out on life. That he had tried to live a life that wasn’t his. He was tired of being someone he wasn’t. And the sudden freedom of releasing those bonds made him want to reach for all he’d shut out for the sake of propriety.
“Sure,” he said. The doctor held out his hand, and Brad grasped it. What a difference to grip a hand as strong as his own and feel the pull of masculine muscles to help him stand. It was a moment over all too briefly, leaving him with the barest taste of what he’d been missing.
But he felt lightheaded. He had stood too quickly.
“Are you okay?” the doctor asked.
It was odd, but while he dated Terry, she didn’t make him feel as cared for as this stranger who stepped up from the goodness of his heart to help a fellow passenger.
Or was it me? Did my lack of connection with Terry make me ignore caring vibes from her?
It was all very confusing. Brad felt lightheaded again and fell into his seat.
“Look,” said Chase with concern. “We can lay you back down.”
Brad thought the ‘lay’ part sounded good. Then he realized that meant putting him on his back once again. But that didn’t sound so bad as long as the doctor did the laying down. He chuckled at that thought. Only the chuckle was a strangled sound in his throat.
The plane began its descent, and Brad encountered the curious sensation of being weightless for a few seconds. The doctor reached and pulled his seat belt across Brad’s lap, and damn if he didn’t wish the sexy doctor’s hands to go just a little lower.
“Brad?” said the doctor. He snapped his fingers before Brad’s eyes.
“Damn,” he thought he heard the doctor mutter.
“Brad, lean toward the window,” the doctor said. Chase’s hand pushed Brad toward the window.
“Sure, doc,” he muttered. Brad fell face-first into the airplane window. The cold felt good. But the next second, a sharp jab made him start, and he banged his head into the glass.
“Sorry,” said the doctor. “You needed another shot.”
The doctor had his hands on him again to pull him away from the window. Brad’s heart raced from the second shot as the airplane hit the ground and rumbled on the runway as it came to a stop. He was barely aware of these things. Mostly, he experienced hot then cold flashes of air and the doctor speaking into his ear that he would be okay. He heard the seal of the aircraft door open, and more cold air, and the sounds of men speaking. He heard Chase’s voice giving facts and figures that made no sense to Brad, and then men lifting him and laying him down on a stretcher. Someone rolled up his sleeve, and another pinch in his arm. Another cold stethoscope on his chest, and the squeezing of a blood pressure cuff, and the crackling of a radio as an unfamiliar man spoke into it. He heard the words “transport” and “hospital,” and panic rose in his chest and throat.
“Doc,” Brad said. “Doc!” He was frantic now. Then he felt a firm hand take his.
“Relax, I’m with you.”
“Don’t go.”
“I won’t. I’m right here.”
The idea that the doctor wouldn’t leave him calmed Brad. He was exhausted and needed to close his eyes for a few seconds.
Brad woke to the slap of a paper hitting a hard surface. His eyes flew open, only to be blinded by bright lights. He blinked and tried to focus while he became aware of the beeping of medical equipment.
“Sorry,” said a familiar voice. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I just never realized how boring waiting in a hospital was.”
Brad focused on the doctor, who sat in a chair next to his bed. A cup of stale coffee sat on the table by his bedside, along with a magazine.
He noticed he still wore his shirt and slacks, so Brad must be in a hospital emergency room.
“Will I live?” said Brad with a smile.
“Yes,” said Chase in a serious voice. He stood and slung a jacket over his shoulder. “I called the airline, and they secu
red your luggage. I wrote their number down on that pad, and you can call them and let them know where you want it. Sorry, I went through your wallet, and I took the liberty of calling the number on your business card. They put me through to your father. He tells me your fiancée will catch the next flight out, so she’ll be here later tonight.”
Fiancée? Oh, good gracious, Lord. No. He did not want Terry here. And the doctor made a move for the door.
“Wait? What? You’re leaving?”
“You are out of danger, you’re in a secure setting, and you have family on the way. If I hurry, I can catch my flight. It’s a good thing the layover was long.”
“But—”
“You need to stay here until tomorrow at least. Your reaction was severe, probably exacerbated by the stress of flying. I’m glad you are doing better.”
“But—”
“Goodbye, Mr. Hunt. Please take care of yourself.”
Brad watched with horror as Chase left the hospital room. Was it his imagination, or did the doctor’s shoulders stoop ever so slightly? As the blond disappeared from his sight, a sensation of wrongness gripped Brad. In one of the few irrational moments of his life, he jumped out of his bed, only to feel the tug of an IV in his arm. Brad tore off the heart monitor, grabbed the IV pole, and wheeled it to the door. Different equipment alarms went crazy, but he didn’t care.
“Wait,” he called. “She’s not my fiancée.”
But the doctor had walked farther down the hall and didn’t hear him. He continued to move down the corridor. Brad swallowed hard.
He hadn’t thanked him. He should do that, shouldn’t he?
You shouldn’t let him go.
“Why are you out of bed?” A feminine voice came at him from below.
Brad looked down to see a short woman in a nurse’s scrubs staring up at him with a stern expression.
“I need to speak with the doctor.”
She scrunched her eyebrows together as if to gauge the truth of his words. “I’ll tell him.”
“No. I mean the doctor that was with me.”
“Oh, you mean, Dr. Chase, the physician from Denver?”
“Yes! He left.”
The nurse shrugged. “He did say he had a flight to make. Now let’s get back into bed, Mr. Hunt.”
“No, I mean, I can’t stay. I need to make the same flight.”
“Let me get the doctor to explain your condition to you. Meanwhile, please, for your own safety, lay down. The doctor is admitting you for the night for observation.”
Just then, the phone in her pocket rang, and she drew it out and answered.
“Okay, I’ll be right there.” She put the phone in her pocket. “I need to help another nurse, and then I’ll get the doctor for you. Please, Mr. Hunt, get back into bed.”
This was ridiculous. Brad was a grown man and didn’t need this diminutive woman to hover over him. He’s had an anaphylactic reaction before. Sure, this one was rougher than the others, but he felt fine. And he didn’t want to stay in the hospital, especially when Dr. Chase had left it.
“Sure, I’ll go.”
“Great.”
She followed Brad into the room and hooked him back up to different monitors while Brad thought with a sinking heart about the sexy doctor getting on the plane without him. He also thought about Terry, who would make a fuss and make it impossible for him to grab another flight to St. Croix. She’d probably come with marching orders from his father. His father would send a message for Brad to not worry about one subsidiary of their vast business holdings if Brad’s health was at issue.
Brad couldn’t let this happen. He watched the nurse leave and then winced as he yanked the needle in this arm. His arm bled, and Brad swiped kleenex from a nearby dispenser and jammed a wad up his shirtsleeve. Quickly, he took his wallet, phone, and the slip of paper with Dr. Chase’s handwriting from the side table. He slipped on his shoes and found his jacket in a tiny closet.
Fully dressed, he didn’t look like a patient, and Brad felt confident he could make his escape as he stepped into the corridor and followed the same direction as Chase did fifteen minutes prior. He pulled out his phone as he walked and called a cab. Then he made for the entrance of the hospital to wait for the taxi. Brad was disappointed that he missed Chase, but he’d catch up with him. As a cab stopped before him, he was sure of it.
Chapter 5
Chase
Chase gripped his phone as his one tether to reality on the way to the airport because leaving Bradley Hunt behind seemed akin to walking down a long, dark tunnel. And this disgusted Chase because this magnetic pull for a man he met today was ridiculous.
His sexual reaction to Bradley Hunt was inappropriate and unprofessional. Chase had experienced nothing like the force of attraction to the man that had hit him in that airplane, and it upset him.
He repeated to himself the lessons drummed into him in medical school. Sexual or romantic interest in a patient harmed the physician-patient relationship and compromised the patient's care. But doing the right thing was cold comfort in a sunny Miami airport surrounded by strangers.
He pulled out his phone to check his electronic boarding pass with its gate information. Chase checked the airport map to find Gate E and shook his head. It was a huge airport, and he had little time to reach the gate. Chase hurried through Security and dashed to the Skytrain. Debarking at the station, Chase almost despaired he'd arrive on time since he found he must catch another train ride to his gate. After dashing to the gate, he found the passengers boarding and joined them. And now settled with hours of flight time before him, Chase was alone with his obsessive and dangerous thoughts about one Bradley Hunt.
Just thinking of the man with those startling gray eyes made him shiver, and this was wrong. Chase reasoned it was impossible to burn with desire for a man he recently met. Was his condition a danger signal? Chase researched his problem on the internet while still having internet service and found that an attraction to a patient could be a marker of career burnout.
Chase had too much invested in his career to throw it away on forbidden conduct. Plus, he didn't want to harm any patient through his idiotic actions.
It was much, much better he had put distance between him and Bradley Hunt. And after a few weeks in St. Croix, working to help people affected by the disaster, he’d forget all about him.
Next to him, a passenger stared over the top of his seat.
“I wonder what’s taking so long?” the man said.
Was it taking too long to get off the ground? Chase hadn’t noticed. He shook his head at his self-absorption.
“I’m sure it will be fine,” said Chase. Though he didn’t mean to, he used his doctor’s voice to calm patients.
If you can’t be a regular person, then you need time off.
But soon, the main doors to the craft shut, and the flight attendant parroted the standard safety speech.
The plane rattled down the runway and lifted from the ground, and Chase lay his head back and sighed. Mr. Bradley Hunt was in a Miami hospital with his fiancée on the way to care for him. The fiancée had been a shock and was another pail of cold water on Chase’s fantasies, which was a good thing. Had he not known there was a woman in Bradley Hunt’s life, he might have done something ridiculous, such as hang around.
So you dodged a bullet. But you have an issue here. How will you solve it?
It was about time Chase developed a social life and a non-work outlet for his energies. A man can’t go without sex forever, can he? He had to admit that ‘stress relief’ in the shower was like eating a hamburger when you want steak. But random encounters with strangers weren’t an option either. His doctor’s training made him all too aware of the illnesses random humans harbored.
But what could he do? Hang out in bars? No. Not a professional look should someone recognize him. He was an ER doctor and saw many patients in a week.
Online dating? No. Same thing. Besides, he never knew what to write about himself. H
i, I’m Owen. For fun, I enjoy blowing up surgical gloves into balloons. Um, no.
“Oh God,” he muttered as he closed his eyes. What will I do?
“Dr. Chase.”
Chase popped open his eyes to see a flight attendant peering at him.
“Yes?”
“Please come with me.”
“Excuse me?” Was there another emergency?
“You helped a person on another one of our flights?”
“Yes?” He disliked the sound of this. How many good deeds do I need to do in one day?
“Good. Please come with me. We have upgraded your seat.”
Chase widened his eyes in surprise. “I’m fine.”
The flight attendant smiled. “If you haven’t flown first class, you don’t know what you’re missing.”
“If he doesn’t want the seat, I’ll take it,” said the man sitting in the window seat.
The flight attendant didn’t look at the window seat guy but kept her gaze on Chase. He got the idea she wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
“Why not?” said Chase.
The flight attendant showed him the last window seat by the bulkhead that separated first class from the main passenger cabin. “What would you like to drink?” the flight attendant asked.
“I don’t drink,” he said.
“A soft drink? Water?”
“Water.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Chase admitted the wider seat was more comfortable, and he put his head back and relaxed. Sitting in first class did make a difference. It would be great to take a nap.
Another person settled into the next seat, and Chase wrinkled his nose. The expensive cologne that Hunt had worn tickled his nose. That must be a coincidence.
“Here you go, sir. And your friend wanted water.”
“Thanks. Just put them on my tray.”
Chase’s eyes flew open to see Bradley Hunt sipping a glass of whiskey.
“So you’re not asleep,” said Brad with a smile.
“Your friend?” Chase arched an eyebrow.
“Well, I hope so.”