Perfect Stranger (Serendipity's Finest 2.50)

He set a twenty on the counter and waited for the bartender to make his way back to his end of the bar, which took a while since the place did a steady business.

Finally, Luke got his change, left a tip, and started for the door at the same time someone ran inside shouting. “Alexa! Get out back now. Cara needs a doctor!”

To Luke’s surprise, his onetime dance partner turned and bolted toward the rea

r exit.

A doctor. Something about the information made him grin.

Luke couldn’t stop the impulse to follow the crowd out back. Alexa—he knew her name now—knelt by her friend, the woman she’d been so protective of.

“What happened?” he asked the man next to him.

“Cara was attacked.” The guy, who appeared about the same age as Luke’s almost thirty, suddenly eyed him warily. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

He hailed from a small town himself, where everyone knew everyone else, so this man’s distrust didn’t surprise him.

Luke shook his head. “No, sir. Here to stay with a friend.” He wasn’t about to mention Sawyer’s name, not wanting to draw any attention to himself as a pro athlete while he was here. “But I was dancing with Alexa earlier,” Luke said, more to reassure the man that he wasn’t a part of whatever had gone down here.

“I see.” The man nodded slowly, seeming to take Luke at his word. “Well, she’s the best doctor we have. She’ll be running University Hospital one day when her father steps down.” Before the man could continue, a siren sounded in the distance, the noise growing closer and making it impossible to continue the conversation.

The paramedics arrived and things got even more hectic. They loaded Cara onto a stretcher and Alexa went in the ambulance, after insisting the ex-boyfriend meet her there with his car. Alexa had been too preoccupied to even realize Luke was in the group of people surrounding them, and soon the ambulance doors slammed shut and the vehicle sped away. The crowd slowly dispersed, the fun gone from the night.

Luke climbed into his car and turned on the engine. The directions to Sawyer’s place were in his GPS, yet instead of turning it on, he picked up the southern route on the highway he’d taken here, and exited at signs for the hospital. The same exit he’d passed on his way to Serendipity.

He parked near the emergency entrance and scratched his head, asking himself what the hell he thought he was doing. The woman was a stranger to him but she intrigued him on a level no woman ever had. And that was saying something, considering the smorgasbord of choices laid out for him over the years. He’d enjoyed it when he was younger, but he’d be thirty next month and he was over the lifestyle that came with the fame. The booze, the women, the occasional bar fight. So. Over. It. His teammates called him an old man. So be it. Luke knew he could take each one in a fight and still have energy left over. He just knew there was more to life than partying and he was ready to find it. Whatever it was.

Right now, it was Alexa.

He’d first seen her as a sexy woman with haunting green eyes and a hot body that Luke was damned attracted to. She’d transformed into a loyal friend who’d given up a sure thing—since Luke couldn’t see himself turning her down if she’d wanted to hook up—in order to look out for a pal. Then later, she’d morphed again, this time into an in-control doctor, capable of putting away her emotions and treating her unconscious friend.

In the span of thirty minutes, Luke discovered Alexa was not just beautiful but multifaceted, and as a result, she’d captivated him completely. He couldn’t leave without finding out if her friend was okay and how she was doing after the night’s crazy events.

Although, as he walked through the sliding ER doors, Luke had to ask himself if he wasn’t a little crazy himself, pursuing a perfect stranger he’d never really met.

CHAPTER TWO

Once Alexa checked Cara over and had tests run, she diagnosed her friend with a concussion and a bruised trachea. The abusive bastard who’d attacked Cara had done so because he’d blamed her for his wife leaving him, not only because Cara was a police officer but because she was a human being who’d cared enough to take the woman under her wing. Now he was behind bars and denied bail, so Cara was safe from the man. As for Mike, Alexa had stuck around to make sure his presence didn’t upset Cara, but with the sedative, she was out cold. And Mike had sat by her bedside all night, never leaving. Alexa snoozed in the on-call room, waking up to check on things before allowing herself more sleep time. By the time eight A.M. rolled around, she’d all but forgiven Mike, knowing he would do anything to repair his relationship with Cara. Alexa had no more reason to stay.

She stopped by the nurses’ station and wrote down discharge instructions, then ran through them with the nurse assigned to Cara’s room. “And now, I’m leaving. Call me if something urgent comes up, otherwise I’m indisposed.”

She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. “I need a good meal and a couple of solid hours of uninterrupted sleep.” Though at this point, she didn’t know which would happen first. She might fall facedown before she ever ate.

Emily, an older nurse who’d been on staff when Alexa’s father was first starting out, shook her head. “Honey, you need more than that if you’re going to get a glow back in those cheeks. Do you even know what the word vacation means?”

Alexa laughed. “Not really. The chief of staff here drives me pretty hard, you know.”

Emily frowned. “That father of yours is going to work you into an early grave, and for what? To keep a Collins in charge of this hospital?” A buzzer sounded, distracting the older woman, and she glanced down. “That’ll be Mrs. Evans in two eleven. I swear she better need more than her pillow fluffed or I’m going to scream.”

Alexa laughed as Emily walked away, but her words lingered. During these weeks of Alexa’s discontent, there had been many issues she couldn’t verbalize, even to herself. There were simple things in life that other people took for granted, things that Alexa just didn’t have time for, like a regular social life, dating, or even a relaxing night with a friend.

She gathered her jacket and purse, and headed for the elevator. With her mind clear of worry about Cara, Alexa’s thoughts immediately strayed to the sexy stranger who’d danced with her last night. The man who’d given her more in thirty minutes of dancing than she’d had in years. Her body tightened at the reminder of that too short carefree moment. Serendipity didn’t get many strangers passing through, so chances were she’d never see him again. The sad fact was, even if they did cross paths, Alexa had no time for sex. But if their chemistry was any indication, he’d be so worth her making the time for.

Which brought her thoughts full circle. No time for sex, no time for a future. That was what she’d been trying so hard not to dwell on. But the sad truth was, the longer she accepted her father’s mantra, that a Collins puts work first always, along with his plans for her future, the less likelihood there would be of her ever getting married. Having children, a family. And Emily was right about working herself to death, even if the other woman didn’t mean it literally.

There were some days Alexa barely remembered crawling into bed at night because she was so exhausted from being on her feet at the ER.

Exactly how she was feeling now.