Loving the Billionaire Army Doc

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

David Landi had been preoccupied with his thoughts when he’d bumped into the beautiful young lady wearing a cream-colored turtleneck tucked into form-fitting jeans and paired with high heeled ankle boots. Yes, she was stunning with a chic bob that only served to highlight her glowing skin, pert nose, and long eyelashes. Only someone without eyes would think otherwise. She looked up at him through dark sunglasses that only added to her loveliness.

“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” he asked as he reached out a hand to help her up.

She took his hand, hers small yet fitting just right in his that he felt a hesitation to let it go. But she might think him a pervert if he didn’t. So he released her hand.

“Thank you,” she said. “I didn’t see you there for a moment. Sorry about that.” Then her phone rang. “Excuse me.” She turned to answer her call.

Their green-brown Globe-Trotter hand luggages had crashed into each other, so he pulled hers up before righting his. Interesting that they had similar tastes.

He watched her tuck an errant piece of hair behind her ear. Just like someone he’d known long ago in another life. But lots of people had this same mannerism.

She soon finished her call, thanked him, and headed toward the security exit. He felt a loss as he watched her walk away and disappear down the escalator, like he’d wanted her to stay and chat more with him.

David picked up his luggage. This was nuts. She was a total stranger and had nothing to do with him. Was he so starved for female attention because he’d been in the Army for so long? No, that couldn’t be the case. He’d done just fine there.

He shook his head and started for the security exit. This was not the time and place to be thinking about another woman, or anything else for that matter. David took a deep breath and looked around the busy airport as he headed down the escalator. He was finally back in Dexington.

The last time he’d been here had been the Christmas before Heather, the love of his life, died. He’d finished his plastic surgery residency and had flown home to the east coast to celebrate with his family and introduce Heather to his parents. It had been the best Christmas of his life. And then they had both returned to Los Angeles to plan for their wedding.

But it had ended up their last holiday together. The pain from missing her still hurt like it had happened yesterday. Heather had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a few months after they’d returned, and he’d watched helplessly as she passed away three weeks later.

A part of him had died in the moment when her coffin was lowered into the grave. He’d poured himself into his reconstructive microsurgery fellowship at UCLA to numb the pain, but the intense training hadn’t been enough. He’d almost gone crazy from being around everything that reminded him of her, so he’d signed up for the Army and shipped off to Germany as soon as he completed his fellowship.

But it had been a good decision despite the circumstances. His skills had saved many wounded soldiers, and it had been the healing he’d needed. He’d felt a piece of himself come back alive with each patient he saved from the brink of death. And once his three-year stint with the Army was up, he’d considered going home. A call from his mother had sealed the deal. His father had suffered a stroke, so could he return?

And so here he was, back to pursue his dreams again—doing reconstructive microsurgery and supporting the family business, though he’d felt overwhelmed at the thought of returning to Dexington and living a normal life again. He’d been able to secure an Assistant Professorship position at Dexington Medical Center and was expected to start work on Monday. And he still had an advisory role at Landisil Silicone, the billion-dollar company he’d founded with the silicone research that had been his brainchild in college—David held the patents to a silicone variant and its manufacturing process that reduced the leaching effect common with most silicone on the market.

Landisil Silicone now supplied silicone and its products to markets all over the world. It had entered the lingerie underwire business in recent years, where it now held a sixty percent share of the US market. Even though his sister supported his dad in running the company and they had a great management team, David knew it was not enough—his presence was still needed.

And that was all he wanted to focus on. Relationships didn’t fit into his schedule, and he didn’t need one to feel whole again. He still missed Heather with a deep ache, though it didn’t hurt as much as before. Sometimes, David couldn’t believe she was gone. Heather was probably the only woman he would ever love.

So, there was no room for anyone else in his life, even though a small part of him wanted to see the brunette lady again.

David looked at his watch and lengthened his strides. He would be late for breakfast if he didn’t hurry. He’d taken the red-eye flight from Germany just to make sure he arrived on time. His mom had insisted on the breakfast, and when he’d called his parents as soon as he’d landed, they had hinted they had something important to discuss with him.

But he had no idea what that could be.

Time to find out.