Blood mars his beautiful face and I can’t stop myself from racing over to cup his cheek to make sure he’s okay.

“Chase, what happened?”

His hands circle my wrists. “I’m okay, Andi. Just a little misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding?” I repeat in disbelief. I lightly rub a fingertip over the bridge of his nose. “It’s probably broken.”

Glazed, but sad eyes hold mine with fierce determination. He removes my hand from his face and my heart cracks. Every other time I’ve seen him over the years, he’s welcomed my touch. Not today. I drop my arms with no choice but to accept the boundaries he’s drawn between us.

“That’s why I’m here,” he slurs.

The reek of alcohol permeates the air between us. I’m about to speak when he takes a wobbly step forward and winces. He presses his palm to his chest. Had his bloody nose been the result of him getting into a brawl? He nearly takes a tumble with his next step. I duck under his arm and help him inside. Thankfully, he doesn’t push me away.

I use my employee card to get through the secured doors. I recognize one of the nurses once we get inside. After seeing me, she waves me through to the back. I steer him toward the triage area when Beth sees me.

“Hey,” she says with wide eyes and immediately moves to his other side to help me with the big man.

She guides us into the main emergency area and into one of the empty rooms. It’s not protocol to skip triage, but working at the hospital and having my best friend be a nurse in the emergency department has its perks.

Relief sets in once he’s seated on the bed. Beth gives me a what the fuck glance before turning her eyes on the patient.

“Can you tell me what happened, sir?”

I don’t think when I cut in and introduce him.

“This is Chase.”

Her jaw comes unhinged and her eyes bug out. “The Chase?”

I nod and glance over. However, my former flame isn’t tracking our conversation. When he opens his mouth, it’s clear he’s been stuck at her first question.

“What happened? I’ll tell you. The fucking asshole’s friends didn’t appreciate me taking down the guy a peg. Figures. They have to be stupid not to understand football by definition and logic is a sport you play primarily with your foot and not your hands.” He chuckles and continues to speak as if each word was connected. “I showed them what you do with your hands. And well, I would have won if they didn’t all come at me at the same time.”

“Uh-huh,” Beth says, used to multitasking.

She’s checking over his face and notices his split lip.

She sighs. “Any other places you’re injured?”

“His chest,” I say before Chase can. He glares at me, so I add, “He might have a few broken ribs. He was grabbing it when I found him.”

“Where?” she asks. I point to the spot he’d clutched earlier. She directs her next question at him. “Anywhere else? Abdominal pain or lower back?”

He shakes his head and says, “No.”

“Can you tell me your pain level from one to ten, ten being the worst pain you’ve experienced in your life?”

A lopsided grin forms on his face. “Does that include a broken heart?”

Damn him, the flirt. She gets his smile and not me. I don’t want to be jealous, but envy grows like a weed in my chest.

“I bet you’re the heartbreaker,” she says.

“Okay,” I say, annoyed and wanting them back on track. “One to ten, Chase?”

“I don’t know.” He ends with a little laugh, reminding us both he’s drunk.

Beth shifts to the computer. “Let me get him in the system so we can get a doctor in here. Someone from up front will be in here as soon as I enter this for your insurance information. Your name?”

When Chase hesitates, I answer, “Chase Wilde.”

“Address?”

“Rome,” he says, thinking he’s funny. Beth shoots him an exasperated look.

I rattle off his parents’ address in Waynesville.

“Thanks. I need to get his blood pressure and temperature, and someone will probably be in to draw blood for labs.”

Stepping back, I put more distance between us, giving Beth the opportunity to do her job. After she’s done, she hands him a gown. “Get undressed and the doctor should be in shortly. Do you need assistance?”

“He’s fine,” I say, although with him being as drunk as he is, I’m not so sure.

She gestures with her head, asking me to follow her. Once we pass the boundary of the curtain, she closes it to afford him some privacy.

“What the hell?” she whispers.

“I have no idea. He came by yesterday and I haven’t heard from him since. Not that he has to check in with me. I just happened to run into him in the parking lot as I was leaving after my shift when he stumbled out of a car.”

“Are you okay? Did he come to see you?”

My shoulders slump. “I don’t think so. Not that it matters. He’s engaged.”

She gives me a dirty look. “When were you going to tell me all of this?”

I shrug. Had he come here to tell me about his engagement? The thought makes my eyes burn. Beth, reading my thoughts, pats my shoulders.

“We’ll talk later. I’ve got patients.”

“Okay.”

I take a moment before entering Chase’s room. When I do, he’s all tangled up in trying to get off his shirt. It’s halfway up his torso, revealing a swath of lightly tanned skin with all its ridges and planes. Luckily, his face is covered. He doesn’t notice my riveted stare or my hesitation. The idea that he might flinch from my touch is reason enough for my reluctance.

Finally, I help him. My palms burn against his skin as I push the shirt up until his head pops free, leaving his hair a static cling mess. For a second, we both freeze. We’ve never been this close without acting on our lust since that first time we were together. My heart beats a thousand times faster, skipping a few here and there. Finally, I move back, tugging at the cloth until his arms are out of the holes. What had tethered us together crumples in my hands as I fight my need to touch him.

“You need to remove your pants as well,” I say.

For privacy’s sake, I turn, giving him a view of my back as I fight to regain my composure. I have loved this man since the first day I laid eyes on him. He’s been my biggest champion, my defender, and my first for so many things.

It all began so long ago and he’s never treated me differently, always an equal. He taught me how to play all sports, including his beloved football, though then he called it soccer. Seems living overseas, he’s adopted a new attitude about that, which brought him here today.

A loud thump jolts me from my thoughts. I spin around to find Chase bent over, clutching his chest with one hand. The other tries but fails at pushing his pants down while braced against the hospital bed.

In a rush, I’m at his side helping him back onto the bed.

“Lie back,” I say, hating the pain etched on his face.

Then as clinically as possible, I remove his pants after I get his shoes off.

I want to sag after he’s dressed in a gown with a blanket over him. I can’t think of another time I helped him undress that we weren’t on the verge of fucking each other’s brains out. For a second, I close my eyes, trying to fight those memories. Hell, it’s not just the sex I remember. It’s the way he’d look at me after. The way he’d tenderly touch my face and how I wanted to believe I’d meant everything to him. I fight the urge not to cry at my stupidity. When I open them, I find his lids firmly shut.

Panic sets in. I may be a neonatal nurse, but I know all about concussions. Knowing his jaw might be sore as well, I place a gentle hand on his cheek and call his name. Those stormy gray eyes of his open. My name is a mere whisper on his lips before his hand snakes around the back of my neck, drawing me down. I plunge into the well of desire, drowning in lust and need for a man I can no longer have.

Before I’m lost and pulled by the undertow of lost love and heartbreak, I yank back, drawing in a lung full of air, needing it to breathe.

“I’m sorry,” he slurs.

He blinks so rapidly, I’m sure he doesn’t fully realize what he’s done.

“It’s nothing. You just need to stay awake until they determine if you have a concussion.”

His head bobs. “I think I’m drunk.”

His confession comes out of nowhere. I laugh from the absurdity of it. At least the tension dissipates.

“That’s an understatement. Why were you out drinking in the first place?”

I need to keep him talking, but after I ask, I panic. Has he guessed my secrets?

“Because I’m stuck in a snowstorm and I can’t fly.”

He makes no sense. It hasn’t been snowing. Clearly, he’s had a few too many. Though there had been talk about an incoming storm.

His lids drift shut.

“Chase.”

When he stares up at me, I’m sure he’s seeing someone else. There’s a reverence there that can’t belong to me.

“I should have told you I love you,” he says.

The most confusing thing about what he says is that it comes out coherently. Suddenly, my mouth is dry and I’m speechless. There’s no way to respond because Justin breezes in. He glances between us before walking over to Chase.

He pulls a small penlight from his lab coat and says, “Mr. Wilde, I understand you had an altercation this evening.”

Chase holds up an unsteady hand. “To be fair, I was outnumbered. But you should see the first guy.”

Justin uses a light to make sure Chase’s pupils are responding as they should. If they don’t, it could mean that he might have severe brain injury. “I can imagine. Let’s get some pictures to see what’s going on with your nose and ribs.”

When Justin doesn’t linger on his eyes, I breathe a little easier. Before he finishes, a tech guy shows up to take Chase to X-ray. Because Chase is looking at me like he won’t see me again, I mouth, I’ll be right here before he disappears.

Knowing this won’t take long, I use the opportunity to call Owen. “Hey, Owen.”

“Andi, everything okay?” Owen asks during my pause.

“Yes and no. Something came up. I’m running late. Do you mind watching Violet for a little longer?”

“No problem. Are you working late?”

“Something like that. I’ll explain when I get home.”

“Yeah, sure. She’s eaten dinner. I’ll grab her pajamas from your place and she can bunk here overnight if you want.”

“Thanks. I might take you up on that. You’re a lifesaver.”

I hang up and wonder why I didn’t tell him about Chase. But I do know. Things are now weird between us. It’s better if I fully explain when I see him. Potentially, Owen could be the next guy I date. The last thing I need is for him to come to the wrong conclusions wondering about Chase and me. The truth is, I don’t want Owen to ask me questions I can’t yet answer, like what my feelings are for Chase. The only answer I have at the moment is complicated …

Grateful for Beth and Justin expediting things, Chase’s results come quickly. Justin’s ruled out a concussion, and the radiologist arrives to report on the X-rays.

“Mr. Wilde, looks like only your nose is broken. Your ribs are bruised and will heal on their own, although they’ll hurt like the devil. I suggest you not be alone for the next twenty-four hours just in case. We’re waiting on the ear, nose, and throat specialist to get here so he can set your nose. It’s an easy thing, really. We’ll give you a local anesthetic along with something for the pain and he’ll do his thing. It’ll take him five minutes tops.”

Chase asks, “You can’t do it?”

“You don’t want me to do it. You’ll end up with a big hump on your nose. That’s why we call in the experts. He’ll send you home with a pretty bandage too. But you can’t be alone tonight, understand?”

Justin glances at me. I shrug. Chase brought his fiancée. Though why isn’t she here?

“I’m in town alone,” Chase answers my unspoken question.

That surprises me.

“He can stay with me,” I blurt. I hold up a hand when Chase tries to protest. “It’s not up for discussion. Your mother would kill me if I didn’t watch over you.”

That keeps him quiet.

“Good,” Justin says. “I can have the pharmacy fill your pain prescription.”

“Yes, please,” I answer for Chase, not wanting to make another stop on the way home.

Justin leaves and the registration nurse comes in to get Chase’s insurance information. He produces a black American Express and I’m not surprised.

While Chase is getting his nose taken care of, I head to the pharmacy to pick up his prescription. By the time I get back, he’s chatting up a storm about nonsensical things that have to do with football and Germany. I can’t make out a thing he says.

Later, when we stumble through my apartment door, I’m barely two steps inside before Chase makes a beeline for my couch. He’s flat on his back and asleep before I can offer him my bed. I cover him with a blanket because there is no way I can carry him to my room. When I do, my heart hurts seeing him so vulnerable. I take a chance and brush my lips over his temple, whispering words he’ll never hear. Then I dutifully set an alarm on my phone so I can check on him every few hours over the course of the night. With phone in hand, I almost call his parents. But there is no need to worry them. It’s only a broken nose. So after one last lingering glance to ensure he’s breathing, I exit my apartment to go to Owen’s to get Violet and awkwardly explain why I’m late.