Liz Johnson - Navy Seal Security

But she didn’t owe Gary Heusen any answers. In fact, she had plenty of questions of her own.

“What are you doing here, Gary?”

He held out a bouquet of roses. More white roses. More reminders that he’d once known her and claimed to care about her.

Her heart picked up speed, and a bead of sweat formed on the back of her neck, trailing below the collar of her shirt. She pressed a hand to the wall for support, hating her body’s reaction. Hating that she couldn’t control the way she responded to the memories and that the broken heart he’d left behind suddenly felt all too fresh.

“Luke, why don’t I go with you to get the wheelchair?” Tara’s voice broke the trance in the room, but Luke scowled at the idea.

“Are you okay, Doc?” While he clearly addressed Mandy, his eyes narrowed on Gary, a warning written across his features.

“I’m fine. Please, would you go with Tara? I can handle this.” She could. She would. Forcing her shoulders square and her back straight, she watched Luke follow Tara out of her office.

When the door closed, she turned on Gary in a hushed but firm voice. “What are you doing here?” she repeated. “I don’t want you here.”

Gary’s eyes looked in the direction of the path Luke had just taken. “So you’ve replaced me?”

Anger shot through her like a volcano, unbridled, untamable. “What are you talking—”

Two voices from down the hall suddenly joined them, and Mandy clamped her mouth closed, trying for a stabilizing breath. “We can’t do this here.”

“Then let’s go to your office.” He tucked the flowers back into the crook of his arm and held open the wooden door to the back hallway. She didn’t have any choice. She knew he wouldn’t be going anywhere until he said whatever he’d come here to say.

Marching down the hall, she led him to her office. The minute he was inside, she spun on him in a hushed growl. “You have two minutes. This better be good.”

The cool assurance on his face dimmed for a split second, before he amped up his toothy smile and held out the flowers. “You’re as pretty as ever, Dee.”

“Don’t call me that. I don’t like it,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You used to.”

No, I didn’t. But this was not the time to argue with him. “Get to the point. What do you want?”

He twisted the bouquet in his hand, showcasing his empty ring finger. “A lot’s been going on lately.”

The last time she’d run into him, Gary had been wearing a gaudy gold ring, a symbol of his marriage. The one he hadn’t bothered to tell her he was about to enter while he wooed her. The one she hadn’t asked about. Mandy pinched the bridge of her nose and pressed her other hand to her hip.

“I’m not interested in playing your games. I have a busy day, and you don’t need to be here.”

“Don’t you understand? Camilla and I aren’t together anymore. You and I can finally have a future.”

“What?” She shrieked the word so loudly that everyone in the building probably heard it.

Gary reached for her hand, but Mandy jerked away, shaking her head. “Camilla knew,” he continued. “She knew that I always loved you best.”

“Love? Is that what you call it?” Mandy gave up trying to keep her voice low, her tone even. This man was crazy if he thought she’d have anything to do with him after what he’d done. “Lying to me? Leading me on? Breaking my heart? That’s love?”

“Baby, it was you the whole time.” He gave her his best smile, and it succeeded only in making her stomach turn.

“Listen to me very carefully. You’re not welcome here. I don’t want your flowers. I don’t care what happened between you and Camilla. I don’t want to see you again.” She took a step in his direction, hoping he would back up, but he didn’t, and suddenly they were closer than she wanted.

His smarmy grin turned just a little bit cruel.

How had she ever fallen for his act, for the facade? Oh, he’d been a good actor, for sure. Attentive. Interested. Caring. And she’d wanted to see those qualities in him. She’d wanted to believe the best in him so much that she’d ignored every warning.

Except he’d done it all to feed his own ego, to prove to himself that he still had whatever it took to win a woman’s heart. But after the winning, he’d been more than happy to crush it. And now that she knew it, it was easy to see in every facial expression, easy to hear in every word.

“Oh, you’ll see me around,” he said. “You forget we have ties to the same circles.”

“What circles?”

“The Pacific Coast House carnival fund-raiser is next week.”

“You wouldn’t.” She narrowed her eyes and pressed her hands to her waist. “You’ve never cared about anyone as much as you care about yourself. You wouldn’t show up at the carnival.”

“Sure I would.” He let the flowers drop to his side, still holding her gaze. “And Camilla might be there, too.”

“Why? She has no connection to PCH.”

He shrugged one shoulder beneath his dark brown leather jacket. “She always said she didn’t like you. Maybe she thinks you’re the reason our marriage fell apart.” He turned on the charm as if he’d flipped a switch. “Of course, I know that’s not true. We were doomed from the start. She has a terrible habit of lashing out when she’s angry.”

A scene from Mandy’s waiting room four years before flashed through her mind, and her insides twisted like a screw. Camilla’s eyes had been wild with rage, her motions fierce. She had knocked over chairs and broken a lamp and left the office in disarray. Gary had sworn she wasn’t normally like that. When she was on her medications.

Mandy covered her mouth with her hand, her breath suddenly short.

If she wasn’t taking her medications, Camilla was prone to lash out. Like trying to run someone over.

A brick settled on her lungs, and Mandy fought to speak. “Is she taking her meds now, Gary?”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure.”

“Okay. You need to go now.”

Gary opened his mouth to refuse the request, but instead of his voice, another one filled the room. “You heard the doc. It’s time for you to go.”

* * *

The guy Mandy had called Gary took one look at Luke—even on his crutches—gave a silent nod, tossed the flowers on Mandy’s desk and ducked out of the room. The bell on the door declared his exit from the building.

Luke kept his distance from Mandy, trying to read her face, but she’d put a mask on, all professionalism. “Let’s get to work.” She marched past him and down the hall toward the exercise room. She pointed to the closest exam table. “Hop on up.”

He bit back every question racing through his mind and did as she said, letting her have this moment of control.

When he was settled onto the table, she rested her hands on his back. Even through his T-shirt, they were like icicles, and he jumped.

“Sorry.” She blew on her palms and rubbed them together until they whistled at the friction. “Go ahead and lie down. Let’s get this brace off and see where your range of motion is at.”

He did as she instructed while she began loudly peeling back the Velcro strips. “Lift your leg.” She helped him raise it just enough to slide the brace out of the way. He felt a hundred pounds lighter and also as if he might fly apart given a stiff breeze. The knee brace had been his companion since the surgery, and without it, he was incomplete.

“All right. Really carefully, we’re going to bend your knee.” She put her hands around his calf and pulled gently.

He inhaled sharply. His leg felt as if it would split into two pieces. Like a freight train running him over, the pressure against the stiffness was more than he could handle. He pinched his eyes closed and brought a fist to his mouth.