AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She nodded with her whole body and he moved his hands to stop her wriggling. “Tell me more.”
She wriggled deliberately again and laughed at his growl. “He was talking about how yoga was hard work and fun and helped you make good choices. I thought that was such a healthy mindset. Of course, it reminded me of how I loved working hard as a surgeon and how sad I’ve been that I can’t be a doctor anymore.”
“You’re still a doctor.”
She smiled wryly. “That never actually crossed my mind before today. I’ve been thinking of all kinds of careers and paths that I could take, but nothing sparked my interest. My whole life has been focused on medicine.”
Her next wriggle was pure excitement, not an attempt at seduction, but he had to grit his teeth to keep his focus on her words.
“Owen was talking about how the town is growing. From what Tansy tells me, he’s right. There are more businesses now, but there aren’t any doctors or nurses. I want to get a tour of that saloon and some other empty buildings. I want to see if I can turn one of them into a doctor’s office or some kind of health center. I could be a family physician instead of a surgeon. It could help Phail grow and provide another service. What do you think?”
Joe rolled her over until he was on top and she was grinning up at him. “I think you’re brilliant. Troy and Marcus will lose their minds with excitement over the idea. They’ve been wanting to recruit a doctor.”
Her eyes lit up even more. “Seriously?”
He nodded. “They’ve got plans and dreams for this place and you’re going to help them with that.” Plus it meant she truly wanted to stay.
She kissed him with a big smack. “Thank you. I never thought I’d be curious and excited about a different career, but I am.”
He laughed and kept tracing his fingers over her gorgeous skin. “Do you need to get different qualifications to be a small-town doc? Not exactly the same skill set you were using as a trauma surgeon in Atlanta.”
Her cheeks flushed. “I have a few sets of qualifications. I was too young to work in the field, so I kept taking specialities.”
“Have many kinds of doctors are you?”
“Just a few. Family medicine is one of them. I’m not currently licensed in Vermont, but I’ll check into what I need to do to change that.”
Joe’s mind nearly exploded. Several kinds of doctor. This woman had to be as smart as his sister and he hadn’t thought that was possible. “You’re amazing. You’ll make a terrific family doctor.”
She looped her hands around his neck. “Thanks. It’s the first time I’ve felt excited about my professional career since that day back in Atlanta.”
“I’ll call Troy and set up a time so we can check out some buildings. You’ll have to come up with a name for the place.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself. We have to find out if the town really has a need for a doctor first and then find a building and then figure out the details.”
He squeezed her. “You will. This is a fabulous idea and I love that when I look in your eyes, I can see that it brings you joy.” She’d been so lost when he’d seen her at the airport. He would do anything to keep that light in her eyes. “I’ve got some money saved if you need an investor.”
Her eyes widened. “Wow. You’re really something special, Joe, but that’s jumping ahead about six steps. Plus, I’ve been a surgeon for over a decade. I lived in a tiny apartment and basically worked all the time. I never spent that much on anything other than feeding myself. Plus I’ve got some money from the patents Tansy and I have on the surgical tools we created during that retreat in Colorado. This would be a good use for that money. Paying it forward to help more people.”
This woman. He shook his head. “You keep surprising me in the very best ways, Lia. You’re pretty selfless.”
She rolled her eyes. “Hardly. I’m looking to build myself a new career. One that I can love for a couple of decades.”
He kissed her. “I think you’re amazing.”
And then he went about proving exactly how he felt.
Chapter 11
Bending The Rules
Joe grinned at Sam as they locked the gate behind their final client for the day. “That was a great session.” A group of former marines had decided to create a bodyguard company down in LA. Today’s lessons had varied from situational awareness in urban settings to drills on reacting to an ambush to his presentation on how to talk down attackers. The group had also booked the following day with Graham and Flynn out at Midnight Runway to focus on driving techniques and detecting vehicular sabotage.
The group had taken the lessons seriously and asked good questions. They’d had fun with the active drills and there was nothing like pretending to be the wannabe kidnapper with a bunch of marines on your ass.
Sam grinned. “It was. And you could be doing this every day. You ready to commit yet?”
Joe nodded. “Maybe. I don’t want to make a permanent decision when I’m so worn down from the past couple of assignments though. I can’t tell if I’m tired of the job and ready to dive into something new or if I’m just tired.”
