Just Let Me Love You (Judge Me Not #3)(48)

“We need to make sure we’re decent,” I whisper to Chase. “There’s someone in the hall.”

But Chase is not done with me.

He thrusts upward, hard. “Not yet,” he rasps, just before his hot mouth descends to one exposed breast.

“Uh, I don’t—” Another forceful thrust, and I’m panting a different tune. “Oh, my God, I changed my mind. Don’t stop, don’t stop.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Chase rasps.

When he feels my release, he lets himself go, and not more than a minute later, the door swings open.

“Close call,” I murmur as I’m adjusting my dress and jumping back over to the chair next to Chase’s bed with a speed I didn’t know I possessed.

“Sheesh,” I say, out of breath and still straightening my clothes. “We were almost caught red-handed.”

Chase adjusts the sheet on his bed and whispers over to me, “That’s what made it even more fun, right?”

I can’t argue that point, so I just smile.

A lady in a white lab coat, the doctor, walks over to the bed. She’s busy looking down at a clipboard, so I assume she’s seen nothing. Chase’s mom and Will are right behind her.

But just then, when I think our secret will never be discovered, I notice my pink panties sticking out from under the sheet covering Chase. Oh, no!

“How are we feeling today, Mr. Gartner?” the doctor asks, smiling kindly.

Thank God she’s focused on Chase and not me, because I can’t stop staring at the rogue panties.

Chase, unaware of my oversight in getting dressed, replies to the doctor, “Great, I feel really good. I think I’m ready to get out of here.”

“Well, let’s check you over and then I’ll make a final decision on releasing you.”

The doctor sends me an accusatory glance as she moves closer to Chase, and I’m fairly certain she’s figured out that we just had sex. After all, she is a doctor, right? She probably knows the signs to look for, like my flushed face, or Chase’s sly smile.

Crap, I hope it doesn’t smell like sex in here. And then there are those damn pink panties. Talk about a dead giveaway.

When the doctor glances back down at her clipboard, I attract Chase’s attention by nodding to the incriminating evidence of our lust gone wild. He chuckles when he sees the article of clothing I’m referring to. And then, to my relief, he covertly tucks the evidence farther under the sheet, all without the doctor noticing a thing.

Abby, though, sees Chase’s actions and frowns accordingly.

Will, the ever-observant little shit, barks out a laugh.

“Great,” I mutter under my breath. I know then that four of the five people in the room have now seen those damn panties.

The doctor looks up from her clipboard and gets down to business, focusing on her patient. After checking Chase’s vital signs, she examines his head wound. With the bandage off, the stitches are in full view, and I wince at how painful they appear. There’s a jagged line of black threads along the side of Chase’s head.

Covered, his injury didn’t seem so bad, not as real. But I can’t deny the icy stab of reality that comes over me when I see how badly he’s been hurt. It’s a grim reminder that Chase could have been ended up a lot worse than this.

Reaching over, I grab his hand and mouth, “I love you,”

“I love you, too,” he replies, his eyes searching mine. “You okay?”

“Yeah.”

Part of Chase’s silky, light-brown hair has been shaved off. When he sees me staring and staring, he chuckles and says, “Guess I’ll be getting this evened up and going back to a prison buzz cut for a while.”

“Guess so,” I say. But I’m sure you’ll still look hot, I think to myself.

Abby and Will continue to hang back, observing everything quietly.

While the doctor is writing notes on her clipboard, Chase asks her, “So, what’s the verdict, doc? Am I good to go?”

“Actually, yes,” she replies, glancing up. “I’m discharging you today.”

With his eyes moving to me, Chase asks, “Any travel restrictions?”

The doctor shakes her head. “No, no restrictions at all. But I want you to follow-up with your family physician when you return to Ohio. And, of course, anything unusual that pops up, like sudden-onset headaches, blurred vision, that sort of thing, I want you to head straight to the ER.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Chase replies with a mock-salute and a smile that delivers.

The doctor blushes at Chase’s charming ways.

“Anyway,” she says, smiling back at Chase. “A nurse will be in with instructions for your aftercare. I think if all goes well, you should be right as rain from here on out.”

“Not that he was all that right beforehand,” Will mutters.

He’s teasing, but Abby quickly chastises him. “Will!”

Chase laughs and says, “Relax, Mom.” Turning to his brother, he adds. “And you—just wait till I’m back to one-hundred percent. We’ll see who’s ‘right,’ then. Or more likely, who is left upright.”

“Bring it on, bro,” Will shoots back as he pretends to flex.

Abby rolls her eyes, but like how I feel, there is relief and happiness in her expression. She’s glad Chase and Will are both okay and able to joke around. I know this because the alternative is unthinkable…for both her and me.