Serving the Soldier - Part 3 (An Alpha Military Romance) Read Online Free PDF

front of me wore nice clothes—a little too nice for a physical therapist to wear to a session. Crisp tan linen slacks, black pumps, a red, sleeveless and low necked silk blouse, and a large number of silver and gold bangles on each wrist. Her long, fire engine red fingernails clutched a Gucci bag. Long brunette hair in luxurious waves dropped over her shoulders. Her face was sharply defined and her bone structure exquisite, and I felt a tinge of envy. Perfectly arched eyebrows, luscious eyelashes, and gorgeous hazel eyes. Unfortunately, the only thing that detracted from her beauty was the slight frown she wore on her lips.
    In fact, the way she gave me a once over, her look slightly disapproving, if I had interpreted the slight smirk on her face as she took in my shapeless dark blue scrubs correctly, annoyed me. She inspected my crocs and then brought her gaze back up to my face, assessing.
    She wasn’t the physical therapist.
    “May I help you?” I asked.
    “And just who might you be?” she asked. “Where’s Jackson?”
    “Stephanie!”
    I glanced over my shoulder to see Jax making his way down the bottom third of the stairs. I was glad to see that he was wearing clothes; a pair of cargo shorts, a collared polo shirt, unbuttoned of course, and a pair of sturdy leather sandals. The pleasure on his face was plain, but I also noted some wariness in the expression. Where did that come from? I didn’t know him well enough to determine his emotions. I turned back to the woman standing at the door. Before I could even move, she roughly brushed her way past me and entered.
    “You look great,” she said, rushing toward him. He had barely reached the bottom of the stairs before she wrapped both arms around him, squeezing tightly. She couldn’t possibly have seen the wince of pain that her tight grip around his waist elicited. I frowned in disapproval.
    “Watch his—”
    “It’s okay, Angie,” he commented, and then gently pressed against the woman’s shoulders, putting some distance between them.
    He looked at me.
    “Angie, meet my ex-wife, Stephanie.” He glanced down at the gorgeous woman and smiled. “Stephanie, this is my number one nurse, Angie.”
    Stephanie merely glanced over her shoulder, gave me a little sniff, and then offered a barely polite nod. “Pleased to meet you.”
    She didn’t wait for a reply, but clasped her hands around Jax’s forearm and literally pulled him toward the kitchen.
    “It’s been ages! I just got in from Seattle,” she said, her fire engine red lips in a pout. “Why didn’t you meet me at the airport?”
    His reply disappeared as they entered the kitchen and I stood in the open doorway, frowning. Ex-wife? I felt a twinge of jealousy surge through me. I didn’t know he had an ex, but then I had to remind myself that it was none of my business. In fact, nothing about his private life was any of my concern.
    Scowling, I closed the front door and re-keyed in the alarm, and only then did I head to the kitchen. I stopped short at the doorway when I saw the two of them kissing in the middle of the kitchen. Stephanie had her arms wrapped around Jax again, but his hands had slid casually into his pockets. Nevertheless, it would’ve taken a crowbar to pull those two apart.
    “Excuse me,” I said. “Don’t let me interrupt. I’m just taking the keys to the gray sedan, Jax. I’ll be back in a little while.”
    Stefanie glanced at me over her shoulder, frowned a bit, and then turned to look up him. “What happened to the SUV?”
    “We had a bit of an accident—”
    “She wasn’t driving, was she?” Stephanie interrupted. “I’ve told you, Jackson, you shouldn’t let the help drive your cars. They—”
    “It wasn’t her fault,” Jax said.
    “But—”
    “But nothing,” Jax repeated, pulling away from her and moving to sit down at the kitchen table. “So what brings you out this way?”
    I wanted to stay and listen, but knew I couldn’t. Questions raced