Page 110 of Asystole

My stomach flips.

“I’m glad he did,” I start. Chase’s eyes snap to mine, obviously misunderstanding me, and I snake my arms around his waist, pulling him against me. “I’m glad he did because I felt nothing. Nothing but happiness for him and Hanlon. Chase, I know this is probably fast, but⁠—”

“Is it?” he laughs. “I feel like we’ve been dancing around it for months. Kind of makes sense that it would move quickly once we finally got our shit together and called it what it is.”

I chuckle, but Chase continues.

“So, you’re really over Stone?”

“I’m really over him,” I confirm. “All I can think about is getting back to our room and being with you. Now, how are you doing? Your parents are, uh…intense.”

Chase’s head drops back on his shoulders as he blows out a sigh.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about them.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I just hate how you feel like you have to change around them.”

“What do you mean?” Chase asks.

Hooking my fingertips into the waistband of his pants, I run them back and forth. His shirt is tucked in, so it’s prohibiting my access to his skin, but at least he’s close.

“It’s not an accusation, Chase,” I clarify. “And I’m not asking you to do or say anything to change your relationship with them tonight.”

Chase places two fingers under my chin to tilt my face up to his.

“But?” he prompts.

“But you lose your spark. You tamp it down because they don’t approve, and I hate seeing it go away. You’re so…alive when you talk about Marcy and the kids upstairs. Trauma dulls your passion, just like being around your parents.”

“You got all that in three minutes?” he asks.

“I got most of it long before we arrived today,” I admit.

Chase slides a hand to the back of my neck and speaks directly against my lips.

“You know what reignites my spark?”

I nod as his lips part. He wastes no time driving his tongue into my mouth. It’s amazing how I can miss him even though he’s right in front of me.

I moan, trying to get closer still when a low whistle permeates the room.

“Logan, we can’t keep meeting like this,” Hanlon’s deep voice calls from the now-open doorway.

I wince. One of the last times I saw Hanlon, I was basically forcing myself on Stone out of spite and anger, desperate to get him to see he was making a mistake. As it turns out, the mistake was mine.

I try to jump away, but Chase secures me to him with his giant arm around my lower back.

Breaking our kiss, he touches his forehead to mine and smiles.

“Hi, Hanny.”

“Dr. Matthews, I believe you have some explaining to do right after you get your apparently bisexual ass over here and hug me on my wedding day.”

Chase and I bark out a laugh as he shoots me a wink and spins toward Hanlon, engulfing him in a hug a second later.

They rock back and forth like middle-aged women who haven’t seen each other since college, despite seeing each other at the rehearsal last night.

It warms my heart.