Rescue Me: A Bad Boy Military Romance Read Online Free PDF

a little bit, but I just have to numb it first to make it nice and comfortable for you."
    Teddy's lip quivers.
    "You just squeeze this bear when you're scared, okay?" I say to him. He nods and I set to work. A few minutes and a few stitches later, we're all done. "Get him some children's ibuprofen and he'll be good to go," I say to Alexa, tearing my gloves off my hands and tossing them in the trashcan in my kitchen. "He doesn't have a concussion or anything. Just needs some rest and painkillers." I give Teddy a dose of liquid ibuprofen from a small bottle in my kit.
    "Thank you so much," she says. "We'll just get out of your hair."
    I yawn and stretch. "No, hang here a while! I've got videos on my phone he can watch while he curls up on the sofa. I think I have some hot chocolate in here if I remember correctly."
    Alexa smiles. "That sounds wonderful." She gets Teddy situated on the couch with my phone and some cartoons playing. He's asleep in five minutes. Alexa hoists herself up onto the barstools. "You have any coffee?"
    I open a few cabinets. "I think I do. So how have things been?"
    She smiles. "Really good, actually. As good as it gets in Buxwell, anyway."
    "How's Adam?" I ask her, thinking of her handsome husband.
    "Deployed right now actually," she says with a grimace. "He's not in the Middle East, though. Just on the East Coast doing some training. He might get called up at any moment."
    I pull out some instant coffee and set to work. "That still sucks, though. Must be hard being alone at home with-" I nod at Teddy.
    She smiles. "Yeah, it's not ideal. But I'm happy I can afford to be at home with him on Teddy's salary. We couldn't if it weren't for my parents leaving me their house." She pauses.
    "What?" I ask her.
    "Have you...been into town yet? Talked to anyone?" she asks.
    I shake my head. "No, just got into town in the middle of the afternoon and basically went straight to bed. Why?"
    She shrugs. "No reason. People are excited to see you, that's all. And I wanted to see who had the honor of getting to see you first."
    My mind flashes to him . On the street yesterday, lifting lumber out of a truck, his muscles rippling. I get goosebumps. "Is there something you want to tell me, Alexa?"
    She laughs and changes the subject. "California must have been nice. I guess you got the note from Tanya about the party welcoming you back home?"
    I nod. "Yeah, I did. Not going to say that I'm super excited about that or anything, but I guess it is what it is."
    "Any excuse to dust off the Masonic hall and have a barbecue, basically," Alexa says. "When do you think the clinic will be set up?"
    I sigh and pour boiling water into two different mugs where I've mixed the coffee crystals and cold water. "Might be another two weeks at least. I need to order supplies and the place is in need of a deep clean."
    "I've got a handyman who might be good," she says. I think for a second I see a gleam of mischief in her eyes, but the look passes and I forget about it. She reaches into her purse and writes down a phone number. "He's pretty good. He helped get this place set up, actually."
    "He did a great job, if this place looked anything like the clinic looks right now," I add.
    She smiles. "This place looked even worse, if you can believe that." She sips her coffee. "I'm so glad you're back, Ella. We all missed you and I never thought you'd make it back here."
    I bite back the truth: that there's no way I'd be here if I didn't have over a quarter million of medical student debt to pay back. "I'm happy to see you," I say, which is the truth.
    The rest of it can be left unsaid for now. There's no reason for me to disappoint her with my reality: that being here is more painful than I can possibly articulate.
    The past just won't leave me alone.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    ELLA
    ELEVEN YEARS AGO
    I slide my lunch tray to the side, reaching into my bag and pulling out my tattered copy of Pride and Prejudice. I flip open to the middle and stick my nose into