He let out a sigh as he accepted the card she handed him. “Can I page you anytime for any reason?” he asked with a wiggle of his brows.
“No, you can’t. That’s for emergencies only. If I get disturbed too much after hours, I get cranky, and no one wants a cranky woman with access to needles and scalpels.”
His grin fell away for the briefest of moments. “You’re a hard one, Doc. But I don’t give up too easily,” he said.
“I’m incredibly stubborn, Mr. Anderson,” she told him.
“And I’m incredibly determined, Brooke,” he quickly replied.
Her gut clenched again. There was nothing quite like a strong alpha male to make her feel more like a woman. She was stubborn and independent, and she valued her life. She didn’t let anyone tell her what to do, and she’d earned respect in her line of work. It was hard for her to date because most men couldn’t handle her.
She had a feeling Finn Anderson could not only handle her but also satisfy her in ways she couldn’t imagine. Shaking her head, she looked away from him. This wasn’t the time or place in her life for her to want anything from a man—especially a man like him.
“I need to close up,” she told him.
She heard his feet hit the floor as he jumped off the exam table. She kept her back to him.
“Plan B it is,” he said from behind her, his hot breath rushing across her skin, making goose bumps spread down her arms.
Before she had a chance to reply, he was out of the office. She didn’t move for what felt like forever. She really had no idea what he was talking about with a plan B. And though she didn’t want to, she was curious. Would he give up? Did she want him to? She wasn’t sure.
“I know exactly how you’re feeling. That man has charisma,” Rose said, making Brooke turn and look at the doorway where Rose was standing, fanning herself with a magazine.
“And he knows it,” Brooke told her with a crooked smile.
“That just makes him all that much more sexy,” Rose said. “I’m going home now. I’m going to listen to a hot audiobook while taking a bath and picturing Finn’s hands all over my soapy body.”
“Rose!” Brooke gasped. “Please, for the love of everything holy in life, don’t put images like that in my head.”
Rose just laughed as she turned and walked away.
Brooke wasn’t thinking about Finn’s hands on Rose as she locked up the clinic and began her mile walk home. No, she was picturing her and Finn together in a large tub filled with scented oils, their skin slipping and sliding . . .
“Stop it!” she muttered as she moved a bit faster, trying to outrun her thoughts. She wanted nothing at all to do with Finn Anderson. She didn’t want anything to do with any man.
She was too broken in her life right now, and it would be nothing but a disaster if she were to even try. She’d had her brother as a good role model in life, but her father had been worthless. Losing her brother had nearly destroyed her. She wasn’t in a place she could take a chance on falling for someone, of going through another loss like how she’d felt from the moment she’d learned of her brother’s death. Not that she thought Finn was the type of man who could be hurt, but it wasn’t fair for her to date when she wasn’t in a place she could give of herself.
Still, as she walked in her front door, she knew it was going to be a very long night—hell, a very long week, month, possibly even year. Maybe she should find some stranger and get laid. That would at least take one ache out of the equation.
But as soon as she had the thought, she knew she’d never do it. She wasn’t that kind of girl. She wished like hell she was, but she wasn’t. Finn was just a small obsession right now. She’d forget about him soon enough.
Maybe it was just because he was so persistent, and that was something that turned her on. He didn’t seem at all intimidated by her, which was a complete novelty. Maybe . . . no! There was no maybe. She wasn’t dating, had no desire to date, maybe never would again.
This was a time in her life when she needed to focus on herself. But no matter how much of a pep talk she was going through in her own head, it was blowing right out her ears, because as soon as she closed her eyes, she could see those bright-blue eyes looking down at her again . . . and she wanted him.
CHAPTER SIX
A rainbow rose from the ground in a perfect arch as fog drifted over the gently rolling hills, looking like an army of soldiers all coming to settle at the very spot the heart and soul of the veterans center was going to be built. The morning sun was just cresting over the top of the mountains, casting a halo of light upon it all.
Finn was a strong man; he had been through the depths of hell and clawed his way out of that dark place. He’d held men in his arms as they’d taken their last breaths, and he’d consoled friends over the unbearable loss. He’d been shot, stabbed, and tortured, and he’d led battles he hadn’t wanted to lead.
He’d lived a life that would’ve traumatized many men and women, but his love of family and his desire to be a good man in spite of his father had kept him from leaping over the edge into oblivion. He did feel lost at times, but he never allowed himself to wander too long before finding an anchor to hold on to.
But as he stood in this place, he felt a tremor shake his body, felt a sting of tears in his eyes, and, though he’d never admit it out loud, felt an ache in his soul. He could almost hear the cries of those lost soldiers who’d died for his freedom and the freedom of so many others.
Finn had once been asked why he did what he did. He’d been a Navy SEAL and had been through a training regimen most people in this world couldn’t survive and certainly wouldn’t choose to go through. And yet he’d been one of the few to volunteer, to take his career and his life one step further. One of the men at a base had asked him why he’d go through that—what made it worth the torture?
He hadn’t been offended and certainly hadn’t felt even the slightest hesitation in his response to the man.
“There’s a brotherhood among soldiers—something you will learn the longer you’re in this world. We will die for one another—that goes without saying, but it’s so much more than that. We will hold on to each other’s secrets, be there for every event that matters, and know it’s reciprocated. Sometimes in this life being great isn’t good enough. Sometimes we have to rise from the ashes we’ve turned into and become a man we can be proud of, a man we can look in the mirror and know we gave our all.”
“But why a SEAL?” the soldier had persisted.
“Because I knew I was capable of more. I knew mediocre wasn’t a word in my vocabulary, and I knew I had to push myself or else die a mental death. We don’t go through a training program like that to show the world who we are. We do it to show ourselves who we’re meant to be.”
The kid had stood there without any further questions, and Finn had walked away. Some men had what it took to lead an army, and some were meant to follow. There was nothing wrong with that. Not everyone in this world had to be a leader. But saying that, everyone had it inside them if they wanted to dig deep enough.
Too many men and women settled for mediocre. Finn wouldn’t settle for less than extraordinary.