Hot SEALs: SEAL's Ultimate Challenge Read Free Page B

worked with wounded warriors in Bethesda at the Walter Reed Bethesda National Medical Military Center. She loved working with the military men and women under Eric’s mentorship. When she’d been offered a fulltime position on the staff after completion of her coursework and certification, she’d happily accepted.
    “Here he comes with his fiancée.”
    He was tall, but then everyone was tall compared to Leigha. With blond hair hanging longish down past his collar, a sexy five-o’clock shadow at eleven in the morning, and gray-blue eyes, the man was incredibly attractive. Even Leigha, who’d seen some amazing men pass through the rehab center had to admit he made butterflies flap in her belly. “What’s his name?”
    “Cory Nipton.”
    The SEAL frowned as he approached with a pretty, sandy-blond-haired woman. “I understand my normal therapist left.”
    Eric stepped up to him and smiled. “That’s right. But Leigha will be taking over. She’s just as capable and will help you through your sessions.”
    The frown deepened, his brows coming together. “She’s just a kid.”
    A spike of anger rippled up Leigha’s spine. But she remembered Eric’s warning. Many of the patients had been through a lot. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was a real issue with depression as a nasty side effect. She reminded herself how she’d felt when her blown-out knee had cost her the only job she’d ever wanted. She’d been sad, angry and depressed. Fighting that range of emotions along with the pain of recovery had been an uphill battle.
    Cory Nipton was no different.
    She nodded. “The package might be small, but I know how to get the job done.” Since she’d come to work with the wounded warriors, she’d learned speaking softly got a lot more cooperation than yelling. But she knew how to be firm and didn’t take a speck of guff off anyone.
    Having read his file she knew he’d been through several surgeries over the past month, the docs scraping out the shrapnel and shattered bone and cleaning up the dead tissue. Phantom pain had been his enemy during all of that time and still continued to plague him on occasion.
    Leigha could work with that. She’d only give him as much as he could handle.
    “Can I request a male therapist?” Cory insisted.
    His fiancée touched his arm. “Give the woman a chance. She wouldn’t be here, if she didn’t know what she was doing.” She held out a hand. “HI, I’m Delaney O’Connell, Cory’s…fiancée.”
    Leigha gave Delaney a grateful smile. “That’s right. So, if you’ll come with me, we’ll get started.”
    Cory and his fiancée followed her to a bench near a window that overlooked the well-manicured landscape surrounding Walter Reed. She pointed and said, “Sit.”
    “You have a lousy bedside manner,” Cory grumbled.
    “What did you expect? You insulted me.” She held out a rubber strap. “Put your injured arm—”
    “For the love of Mike, call it what it is. It’s a Goddamn stump.”
    Again, biting on her lip, Leigha forced a smile and a calmness she wasn’t feeling, and then nodded. “Okay. Put your arm in the sling. Anchor it around your neck and pull it across your chest. One hundred times.”
    Cory’s eyes widened. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
    Leigh crossed her arms over her chest. “Nope. You’re not leaving this room until you’ve done all one hundred.” She stepped back, but didn’t leave. “I’m waiting.”
    “You’ll be waiting a long time. I’m not playing stupid games.”
    “Are you afraid you can’t?” she asked, her brows rising.
    “Hell, no.”
    “Then what’s your problem?” she asked, her chin lifting.
    “He could be in a lot of pain,” Delaney said, her mouth drawn tight.
    Cory raised his hand, and Delaney didn’t say anything else. He took a seat on the bench, eased his stump into the rubber sling, and pulled it across his chest. “This is too easy.”
    “Stick to the one hundred. When I think you’re