Harrier's Healer (25 page)

lowered dangerously as it turned sarcastic.

Her eyes flew to his. “Don’t take that tone with me!” She

stepped back
.
“You know, just as I do, we are break—”

“Breaking the rules. I know. I get that,” he snapped, cutting her

off. “Jesus, Alexis, can you ever get past that?” Scott shoved his fingers

through his short hair. “We don’t serve together and there is no way

you would ever be working with me.”

Those tiger eyes narrowed with building rage. “No way? And

why would that be? Because you are nothing more than an arrogant,

egotistical man who happens to be a Navy SEAL? And I am nothing

more than a mere woman?”

“That isn’t what I meant,” he growled.

“Then what? Why would I never be working with you? Not

smart enough? Tall enough?
White
enough?” Alexis moved away from

him and took refuge beside her silent brother who stood watching this

interaction with amusement. “Maybe you should leave,” she told Scott.

Disappointment was plain as he shook his head. “I think you’re

right. I guess I was wrong when I thought we had gotten past this

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whole color thing. I never lied to you, Alexis. I meant everything I said,

especially the part about being too old to play games.”

Scott shrugged as he fought to get the next words out. “When

you are done with these foolish thoughts and believe you are ready for

a real relationship with a
man,
not a boy, let me know.”

However, mere seconds passed and Alexis was in his arms

again. “I know I’m arrogant, but we both know I am the
only
man who

can make you feel complete.” His lips possessed hers for a moment

before he released her and said to her sagging body, “Goodbye, my

healer.” He was gone.

C h a p t e r T w e n t y - T w o

Groaning, Alexis pushed up from her kneeling position in front

of the toilet. “I feel like shit,” she moaned to the room as she washed her

mouth out again and flushed the handle on the porcelain god she had

just spent the past few hours worshipping.

She stumbled back into her bed and collapsed. It had been two

weeks since Scott had left her place. No calls, no visits, nothing but an

endless supply of memories. “Okay, I get it. I was wrong for jumping

to conclusions,” Alexis yelled to the empty room. As the thought of

never seeing him again crossed her mind, another wave of nausea

swept her.

Despite the hot summer night, she curled up under the thick

down comforter. Eyes closed, she felt her body finally begin to relax.

Good, I need some sleep.
She could see Scott in her mind, reaching out for

her, beckoning to her. His face was full of forgiveness for her stupidity,

yet just as their fingers were about to touch….

The sound of her pager vibrating on the bedside table along

with the loud ring from her cell phone jerked her back awake.
Both?

Why the hell would they both be going off?

Her eyes opened reluctantly.
Wow, I must have gotten some sleep

after all.
It was dark. Picking up the pager, she turned on the light by her

bed and looked at the number just as her phone began to trill again.

The hospital.

Alexis responded immediately. Adrenaline raced to every part

of her body as she dressed in record time, stopping only to grab her

purse and keys before her shoed feet were running her swiftly down the

hall of the building and out the door to her vehicle.

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Eighteen hours later an extremely exhausted Alexis groaned as

she sipped her bottled water. There were times that working in a

military hospital was worse than being in residency. This was one of

those times.

“You okay, Lex?” another doctor Sharon asked as she stopped

by, grabbing a seat in the break room.

“Just wiped. I wasn’t feeling the best when the call came in to

get here,” Alexis answered, rolling her shoulders to get the tension out.

It didn’t work.

Sharon looked on with concern. “You haven’t been yourself for a

few weeks now. Is everything okay?”

“Fine. Just still getting settled in. Thanks for asking.”
Sure I’m

fine, why wouldn’t I be? I chased off the best man in the world!

“Well, let me know if there is anything I can do to help you out.”

“Thanks, Sharon, I appreciate that.” Alexis stood and swallowed

to keep the bile down. “I have to get some shut eye.” With a wave over

her shoulder, Alexis left the room and soon the hospital.

“What?” Alexis screeched. “That can’t be! Run it again!”

Sharon just looked at her. “I know what I’m doing, Lex. Those

are the results.”

“We need to do another blood draw just to be sure,” Alexis pro-

tested, walking towards a new syringe pack.

“No, we don’t.” The pale hand grabbed hold of Alexis and

stopped her. “We checked, double-checked, and checked again. These

are the results, and getting more blood isn’t going to change that fact.”

Sharon’s green eyes were honest and straightforward as she made sure

to meet Alexis’s gaze.

“Aww, shit. I know you’re right. I just…” Alexis trailed off as

she sat down on the black stool and rubbed her face.
What else can go

wrong for me?

Closing the door, Sharon grabbed another stool and pulled it

close to Alexis and sat down so they were knee to knee. “Look, Lex, I

know we haven’t known each other for very long but I do consider you

a friend. A good friend. And since I know I am a good friend,” she

quipped playfully. “I am going to be nosy.”

Alexis smiled at her friend. “Go on and be nosy then.”

“Were we not pleased with the news?”

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153

Pleased? Pleased? More like shocked.
“I’m not sure how I feel yet.

Except amazed.”

Sharon raised a plucked eyebrow. “Didn’t they explain to you

how this happened?”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, a laugh erupted out of

Alexis. “I think I heard something about it along the way.”

“What are you going to do?”

Therein, my dear friend, lies the question. What
am
I going to do?
“I

don’t know, Sharon. I don’t know.”

“He deserves to be told,” Sharon’s smooth voice said.

“I know. I’ll do it,” she said solemnly, looking at the door like

there would be some big thing to stop her from having to deliver the

news.

“Will you be okay? Do you want me to go with you?”

“No!” Alexis touched her friend’s arm. “I didn’t mean to snap. I

just think that it would be best for me to do this alone.”

“Well, you know how to find me. Call me, page me, or just yell

really, really loudly, until I hear you,” Sharon said with a small smile.

“I’ll see you in twenty-four.” Then the blonde woman was gone. A few

minutes passed before Alexis left the examination room to do rounds,

her mind still reeling from what she’d just learned.

Hours later, a very solemn Alexis walked into her apartment.

Her body was on autopilot as she went through her normal routine.

Listening to her messages, she got herself a small bite to eat. There was

nothing from her machine that needed to be attended to right now.

Stomach feeling a bit better, Alexis took a shower. Her body

clean, relaxed, and dressed in a simple white silk two-piece sleepwear

set, she washed her dishes and straightened up her apartment. As she

cleaned, she noticed the light flashing on her machine again. So, after

pressing the “play” button, she listened as she refolded the blanket to

go over the back of her couch. It was from the admiral. He wanted her

at his office before she reported for duty.
Jesus, this man is a pain in my

ass.
Jotting the information down where she would remember it, she re-

secured the lock on her door and went to bed.

Nodding at the couple in the elevator, Alexis slipped into the

back and rested against the cool panel. Two more people entered as the

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Aliyah Burke

door shut, but Alexis just kept her eyes closed. She didn’t want to invite

conversation.

Getting off on the fifth floor, Alexis smiled at the four people as

she got off. A real smile found its way onto her face when she saw

Sharon waiting for her. “Morn’, Sharon. How are you?”

“We are on the way to see the admiral, how do you think I am

doing?” she responded with a smile.

“Yeah, I wonder what we did this time.” They fell instep with

one another.

Walking around the corner, a high feminine laugh reached

them. Both women looked at one another and just shook their heads. It

was a laugh that shouldn’t be allowed in public. The grating sound

came again as they headed around the last corner before they reached

the corridor that housed the admiral’s office.

Alexis almost tripped over her feet. There, leaning against the

corner, stood Lieutenant Commander Leighton laughing and talking to

a tall, leggy blonde woman.
Didn’t take him long to get over me.
Biting the

inside of her lip to keep her face emotionless, she focused straight ahead

and kept walking.

Scott felt Alexis before he saw her. He was standing in the hall-

way with a woman who had been glued to him for the past two weeks.

Every time he showed up here, she followed him around. He believed

her name was Lisa, but he couldn’t for the life of him recall that with

any certainty.

He knew he laughed politely at her joke, but everything else fled

his mind except for the all-consuming passion he felt for a woman he

hadn’t seen for a few weeks. Scott didn’t know the woman who walked

beside her, but he didn’t care. He only cared about Alexis.

Hell, he missed her. Hotheaded and full of male arrogance, he

had walked out on the best thing he’d ever had. Being in the same town

with her and not seeing her was killing him. Going to the hospital just

to lay his eyes on her radiant beauty was a frequent thought in his

mind.

Now that he was here, Scott couldn’t believe his bad luck. He fi-

nally gets to see Alexis and this “Lisa” character was occupying his

attention. Knowing Alexis saw him standing there, he grew stony as he

felt her slight. He could demand she acknowledge him, but the last

thing he needed to do was reinforce the difference in their ranks.

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155

Intense blue eyes followed Alexis and her friend’s progress

down the hall until they knocked and entered into a room. “What are

you staring at, Commander? Or should I say whom?” The abrasive

blonde’s voice reached his ears.

“Huh?” He blinked and had to struggle to focus back on Lisa. “I

thought I saw someone that I worked with a while ago. Sorry, what

were you saying?”
Not that I care. I want to know how my Alexis is doing.

Lisa began to ramble off again and was still talking as the love of

his life and her friend walked back down the hall towards him, an

exhausted look upon her beautiful face. This time Scott made sure to

make eye contact with both women.

Barely slowing, both of the approaching women gave him the

proper greeting due him because of his rank before they moved on and

out of his sight. Scott noticed the medical symbol on the uniform of the

woman with Alexis.
Must be a woman she works with.
Very reluctantly, he

gave his attention back to the skinny blonde who stood talking
at
, not

with
, him as he counted down the minutes until he could once again

leave her annoying presence.

“Was that him?” Sharon asked in a hushed voice as they

climbed into the blue Subaru Impreza.

“Was that who and who is him?” Alexis returned as she fas-

tened her seatbelt and waited for Sharon to drive off.

Waggling a long finger topped by an emerald green nail, Sharon

laughed. “That handsome SEAL you were trying to avoid eye contact

with.”

Damn, she noticed.
“I know him. Very arrogant and you know

that I don’t like always having to stop what I’m doing to snap out a

salute or stand at attention just because they went to OCS while the rest

of us ‘worked’ our way up.”

“Um-hmm.” The disbelieving sound echoed through the car.

“What was that for?” Alexis turned and looked at the woman

driving them to the hospital.

“When are you going to tell him?” Green eyes met tiger eyes at

the red stoplight.

Alexis’s mouth worked furiously but nothing would come out.

Finally, she dropped her head back against the leather headrest and

groaned. “I don’t know how to tell him.” Sitting up, she looked at her

friend who just knew way too much. “How did you know it was him?”

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“Well, the angry huff you took when you saw him with that

blonde, the whimper you gave as your eyes moved all over that body of

his—which is sexy as hell, let me tell you. And then after we passed

him, the way your hand cupped protectively around the as-of-yet