her head held high. He liked that about her. Mick, his old commanding officer in the Navy SEALs Special Ops, had told him a month after his amputation that the surgeon who’d removed his leg wouldn’t back down. Even when Mick had tried to scare her off.
He’d been told how his surgeon had fought for him to get the best medical care he needed. How she’d sat at his bedside. She’d seen him at his most vulnerable. Something he didn’t like people to see.
Vulnerability, emotion, was for the weak.
He’d been trained to be tough.
He’d been in Special Ops for years, even though he’d started his career just as a naval medic like Erica.
And then on a failed mission in the Middle East they’d become cornered. He’d thrown himself in front of a barrage of bullets to save Tyler from being killed. Bullets had ripped through his left calf, but he’d managed to stop the bleeding, repair the damage and move on.
Only they’d been surrounded and they’d had to resort to the old sewer system running under the city to make their escape and meet their transport.
The infested and dirty water was where he’d probably caught the bacteria which had cost him his leg, but it was his leg or his life.
For a long time after the fact, he’d wanted to die because he couldn’t be a Navy SEAL any longer. He’d almost died. Just like his twin brother, Liam, had on a different mission. He remembered the look of anguish on Liam’s wife’s face when he’d had to tell her that her husband was gone. It was why Thorne wouldn’t date. Seeing the pain in Megan’s eyes, the grief which ate at her and her two kids … It was something Thorne never wanted to put anyone through. It was best Thorne severed all ties. He wasn’t going to stop serving and it was better if he didn’t leave behind a family.
And it was his fault Liam was dead and that Megan was a widow. One stupid wrong move, that was what Thorne had done, and Liam had pushed him out of the way.
Liam had paid with his life and Thorne would forever make penance for that mistake.
Thorne had enlisted in the Special Ops and was accepted as a SEAL. It had been Liam’s passion and Thorne planned to fulfill it for him.
And then he’d lost his leg saving another.
He didn’t regret it.
Though he was ashamed he was no longer in the Special Ops. When he’d taken that bullet for Tyler he’d been able to see Liam’s face, disappointed over another foolish move.
Thorne had returned to serve as a medic ashamed and numb to life.
He wasn’t the same man anymore, and it wasn’t just the absence of his leg which made him different.
At least he still had surgery. When the assignment to command the general surgery clinic in Okinawa had come up, Thorne had jumped at it—and when he’d seen that Erica, a highly recommended and decorated surgeon in the Navy, was requesting reassignment to Okinawa Prefecture, Thorne had wanted the chance to know more about the woman who’d taken his leg and saved his life.
Had she?
His mother didn’t like the fact he’d gone back to serving after he lost his leg.
“I lost your brother and almost lost you. Take the discharge and come home!”
Except Thorne couldn’t. Serving in the Navy was his life. He might not be an active SEAL any longer, but he was still a surgeon. He was useful.
He was needed. If he couldn’t be a SEAL and serve that way, in honor of his brother he could do this.
Thorne scrubbed his hand over his face. His leg was bothering him and soon he’d head back to his quarters on the base and take off his prosthetic. Maybe soak his stump in the ocean to ease the pain. He couldn’t swim, but he could wade.
Water soothed Thorne and aided him with his phantom limb syndrome. Seeing Erica face-to-face had made his leg twinge. As if it knew and remembered she’d been the one to do the surgery and was reacting to her.
Perhaps bringing her here was a bad idea.
She knew and had seen too much of his softer side. He’d been exposed to her, lying naked on her surgical table, and Thorne was having a hard time trying to process that.
Perhaps he should’ve kept her away.
A flash behind him made him turn and he could see dark clouds rolling in from the east. It was typhoon season in Okinawa, but this was just a regular storm. The tall palm trees along the beach in the distance began to sway as the waves crashed against the white sand.
A dip was definitely out of the question now.
The storm rolling in outside reflected how he felt on the inside and he couldn’t help but wonder if he was losing his mind by bringing her here.
When had he become so morbid and self-obsessed?
He couldn’t reassign her without any just cause. It would damage her reputation and he wouldn’t do that to Erica.
No, instead he’d force her to ask for a reassignment on her own terms.
Though he didn’t want to do it, he was going to make Erica’s life here in Okinawa hard so that she’d put in for the first transfer to San Diego and he could forget about her.
Once and for all.
“YOU’VE BEEN HERE a week and you’ve been getting some seriously crummy shifts.”
Erica glanced up from her charting at Bunny Hamasaki, a nurse and translator for the hospital. A lot of the residents of Ginowan knew English, but some of the older residents didn’t. Bunny was middle-aged, born and bred on Okinawa. Her father was a Marine and her mother a daughter of a fisherman.
She’d been born at the old hospital down the road and seemed to know everyone and everything about everyone.
“I could say the same for you,” Erica remarked.
Bunny snorted. “I’m used to these shifts. This time of night is when I’m needed the most. Plus I can avoid my husband’s snoring and bad breath, working the night shift.”
Erica chuckled and turned back to her charting.
Bunny reminded her of her scrub nurse, bunk mate and best friend Regina. Truth be told, she was a wee bit homesick for the Hope and for her friends.
This is what you wanted. You’ll make captain faster this way.
And that was what really mattered—proving herself.
“I don’t think I’m getting crummy shifts.”
Bunny snorted again. “Commander, with all due respect, you’re getting played with.”
Bunny moved away from the nursing station to check on a patient and, as Erica glanced around the recovery room, she had to agree.
Since her arrival a week ago all she’d been getting was night shifts.
Which seriously sucked, because by the time she’d clocked out she was too exhausted to explore, socialize or make friends in Okinawa. Then again, she was here to work, not to make friends. After her shift, she’d return to her housing on base and collapse.
Maybe she’d unpack. Though she didn’t usually do that until she’d been on-site for at least a month.
No. She’d probably just crash and sleep the day away. Except for the first day she’d arrived and met with Dr. Wilder, she hadn’t seen Okinawa in the daylight.
He’s putting you through your paces.
That was something she was familiar with.