Not His Type Read online

  “I’m supposed to be at work today!”

  “Brooke, I don’t think you realize how serious this is! You could’ve died. You were in very real danger of bleeding to death!”

  “But I need that job!” she said. Her green eyes shimmered. “And I needed to take that test! And I…I – oh, no! Boo!”

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  “Boo! Nobody’s fed Boo!”

  “Oh. Is that the name of that horse that lives with you?”

  “He’s not a horse, and he’ll be lonely and hungry and I can’t even imagine the mess he’s made in my house, and –“

  “Brooke, I took care of it.”

  “You – how? And how do you know my name?”

  “I know your name because it was on the contract for the property next to yours. I’m your new neighbor.” He smiled. “And I tried to figure out where you might hide a key, and I found it. I heard your horse – I mean your dog – barking.”

  “Thank you…I think.”

  “Some watchdog you have there. He nearly licked me to death when I let myself in your house.”

  “Yeah, he’s like that.” She lay silently for a moment. “I thought you were just a builder.”

  “Not by trade, no,” Travis answered. “I used to work for my uncle’s construction company when I was in high school. I worked on my own house to make sure everything was exactly as I wanted it.

  “Any idea when they might let me out?” Brooke asked suddenly. She seemed distracted, not really listening to everything he said.

  “The doctor said maybe tomorrow.”

  Travis could tell his answer disturbed Brooke. She looked away, chewing thoughtfully on her lower lip.

  “Listen, I’m watching your place while you’re here,” he said. “All you need to worry about is getting better.” He rubbed a hand over his military cut hair. “I’m really sorry about everything. The tire, the worker and the guttering that sliced you open.”

  Brooke waved dismissively. She shifted uncomfortably, a pained grimace on her face.

  “You okay?” Travis asked frowning.

  “Leg hurts,” Brooked admitted. “A lot.”

  Brooke shifted again, pushing herself up in the bed as if she could leave the pain behind. Her breathing seemed to be growing shallow. A film of perspiration glistened on her pale face. Travis reached for the call button for a nurse.

  “You should’ve said something,” he said. A disembodied voice broke into the room asking how it could help. “Miss Valentine is in a lot of pain.”

  “Hmm…it’s a little early for her next dose,” the voice said. “Someone will be with you in an hour.”

  “What, no!” Travis said. “She needs something now!”

  “Sorry, it’s too soon,” the voice answered, all business.

  Travis looked at Brooke. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was now sweating heavily. Travis could see a pulse fluttering at the base of her throat. He’d seen enough injured men to know this wasn’t good. She moaned and swallowed hard several times, prompting Travis to grab a nearby plastic tub. He slid an arm under Brooke as her body began to heave; she’d not eaten in over twenty-four hours, so the only thing that came up was bile. When she finished, Travis gently lowered her to the pillows; he wiped her face with a cool, damp washcloth.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said tightly. “Just hang on, Brooke.” Travis strode from the room; he approached the nurse’s station. “I don’t care if it’s too soon for Miss Valentine to have more pain meds,” he snapped at one of the three women behind the desk. “I think she’s going into shock!”

  “Valentine?” one of the nurses repeated. She looked down at a chart, her eyes widening. “No, it sounded like – never mind! I’ll be right there.”

  Travis returned to Brooke’s room. As soon as he saw her, he slammed the door open again, shouting for a nurse. Brooke Valentine had gone into a full-blown seizure, the muscles in her body so taut she was shaking. Her eyes had rolled back in her head and her back and neck arched backward.

  Several people poured into the room. Travis stepped back, out of the way. Orders were barked out and syringes flashed. Within a minute or two, Brooke’s body went limp. One of the doctors stepped back and looked at Travis.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “She was in severe pain,” Travis explained, his anger clear. “I called the nurse’s station, but they said it was too soon for her to have anything. I saw enough injuries on my three tours of duty to recognize when somebody is going into shock, so I went out to talk to a nurse. When I came back, she was having a seizure. Is she all right?”

  “She’s stable,” the doctor replied. He frowned. “I’ll check the dosage of pain meds we have her on. If I need to, I can up the –“

  “Um, doctor.” Travis and the doctor turned to look at the nurse from the nurse’s station. She seemed embarrassed. “There was a mistake. This patient is Brooke Valentine; two doors down is Mrs. Cabot, who had pain meds more recently than Miss Valentine.”

  The doctor blew out a sigh of frustration and snapped at the nurse, “I’ll talk to you more about this.” It was clearly a dismissal, and the nurse left; the doctor turned back to Travis. “That’s twice she’s been lucky you were here.”

  Chapter 3

  Travis sat in his office at his new house. Brooke Valentine’s enormous harlequin Great Dane snoozed at Travis’ feet under his desk. When he’d arrived the night before to check on the huge dog, the beast had behaved like a big baby, whining and whimpering until Travis relented and took the dog home with him. Boo obviously missed his mistress and was lonely in the house by himself.

  Travis and the dog both started when a cell phone jangled noisily. Boo set up a racket barking as if the Manson family had come for dinner. Travis reached for Brooke’s cell phone. He’d kept it on, the battery charged, just in case someone – a friend maybe – called looking for her.

  “Hello?” Travis answered.

  “Uh…I must have the wrong number,” a male voice said. “I was trying to reach Brooke Valentine.”

  “This is her cell phone,” Travis said. “May I ask who’s calling?”

  “Yeah, this is her boss at the diner,” the man replied. “Who’s this?”

  “Travis Cooper, her neighbor. Brooke’s in the hospital. Can I give her a message?”

  “Oh. Is she sick?”

  “Injured in a motorcycle accident.”

  “Oh, that’s a shame,” the man said. “Well, uh, I guess you can give her a message. Tell her I’m real sorry, but – well, when she didn’t call in and missed three shifts, I had to replace her. Just let her know she can pick up her final check when she brings her uniforms back.”

  “Wait!” Travis said, sitting up straighter. “You can’t fire her! Didn’t you just hear me? She’s in the hospital!”

  “Sorry,” the man said. To his credit, he did sound as if he regretted the decision. “But I gotta have my waitresses. She’s only part-time, but I can’t hold her position. If I have an opening when she’s better, I’ll hire her back. She’s a hard worker and honest, too.”

  “All right,” Travis said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

  Travis hung up the phone. He set it on his desk and looked down at Boo. The dog’s forehead twitched as if he were raising eyebrows questioningly.

  “What am I gonna do now, Boo?” Travis asked. “I just cost her one of her jobs. I don’t think your mom is gonna be happy with me.”

  The big dog let out an enormous sigh and put his head down on Travis’ foot. Travis leaned down and scratched the dog behind his ears. He wondered how badly Brooke needed that waitressing job. He remembered the other “uniform” in her backpack; something about hot dogs…Hot Diggity’s, that was it! Travis looked it up on the internet and found it; it was located in the food court at the mall. Travis used his own cell phone, dialed the number and asked to speak to a manager. A moment later, a very young sounding voice – complete with pubescent cracking – cam
e on the line.

  “Bryan Hodges speaking, may I help you?”

  “Mr. Hodges, my name is Travis Cooper,” Travis said. “I’m Brooke Valentine’s neighbor, and I wanted to –“

  “Brooke!” the young man interrupted. “Where’s she been? She was supposed to work yesterday and she’s supposed to be here now! Mr. Schmidt’s gonna fire her if she doesn’t show up tomorrow!”

  “No!” Travis said quickly. “Brooke’s in the hospital!” He stopped and took a deep breath. “Look, when will Mr. Schmidt be available? I’d like to speak with him about Brooke’s situation.”

  “Why’s she in the hospital?”

  “Motorcycle accident,” Travis muttered. “So…Mr. Schmidt?”

  “Oh, he works during the day most days,” Bryan answered. “He’s usually in by ten. I gotta tell ya, man, he’s not very happy with Brooke right now. He’s already started callin’ some of the people who’ve applied lately.”

  “Look, please leave him a message. Tell him I’ll call him tomorrow about Brooke, and ask him to please not fire her until I talk to him! Would you do that for me, please? For Brooke?”

  “I’ll tell him, mister. But I can’t make any promises, y’know.”

  “I know,” Travis said. “Just do the best you can, please.”

  As Travis ended the call and set his phone down, Brooke’s rang again. He flipped it open and saw the caller’s number was blocked. Hesitating a moment, he answered the phone.

  “Hello?”

  A recording began playing, a woman’s nasal voice saying, “This is a message regarding an urgent business matter for Bunny Brooklyn Valentine. Please call Community Credit Union regarding your account.” The voice went on to leave a phone number and extension.

  Travis put the phone down and sighed again. He rubbed a hand over his face and looked at Boo.

  “Well, that didn’t sound good,” he said. “I wish I hadn’t answered it.”

  Travis leaned back, idly rotating his chair back and forth. In the two months it took to build his new house, he’d watched his neighbor coming and going. He’d noted her odd hours, but it simply hadn’t occurred to him that she was hurrying to and from two jobs and college classes.

  He thought about her house and what he’d found inside. The place was cozy, homey and neat as a proverbial pin; it was also outdated, well worn and bordering on shabby. What he’d seen of her furniture appeared to be thrift store rejects in most cases; it was worn and mismatched. Travis had also taken her mail inside; he wasn’t trying to be nosey, but he couldn’t miss seeing a pink notice from the electric company. He wondered what she’d done with the money he’d paid for the lot next door. Travis needed more information, but there was something going on with his neighbor, and he didn’t think it was good.

  He glanced at his watch; eleven-forty, time to take a break and go check on his neighbor. He knew she’d had no other visitors; he’d asked two different nurses and neither of them had seen any visitors going to or from Brooke’s room. The doctor had chosen to keep Brooke one more night after the seizure she’d had, but Travis thought they might release her today.

  When he arrived at the hospital, Travis paused outside Brooke’s room; he heard voices from the room. He recognized Brooke’s voice, but not the other one.

  “So you have no insurance?” the voice said. “I understand this was the result of a motorcycle accident. Perhaps your auto insurance would cover some of your expenses then.”

  “No, I…I just have the most basic coverage,” Travis heard Brooke reply.

  “Well, Miss Valentine,” the first voice said. The voice was polite, but clearly unhappy. “We’ll have to work out a payment plan. Before you leave the hospital, you’ll need to stop by the business office and make at least a partial payment.”

  “Oh…okay,” Brooke answered.

  Travis pushed the door open; he smiled at Brooke, then turned to the woman in the dark suit. He offered his hand and she automatically took it.

  “I’ll be taking care of Miss Valentine’s expenses,” he said firmly. “It’s my fault she’s here.”

  “Oh!” the woman said, pleasantly surprised. “Well, okay then.” She looked down at her paperwork. “Are you Travis Cooper?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I am.”

  “Well, if you’ll come with me to the business office, we can make arrangements for payment.”

  “Wait!” Brooke protested. She looked from the woman to Travis. “Can I have a minute with Mr. Cooper?”

  “Certainly,” the woman said. She smiled at Travis. “I’ll just go on to the business office and see you there.”

  Travis nodded. He turned to look curiously at Brooke. Her heart-shaped face bore a slight frown. She seemed to be searching for the right words.

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked finally.

  “What do you mean?” Travis asked.

  “Why are you offering to pay my expenses, Mr. Cooper?”

  “First, I’m not offering,” he replied. “I’m taking care of this because it’s my fault you’re here.”

  “It was an accident,” she argued, her gaze not meeting his.

  “An accident that could’ve been avoided,” Travis said. “The flat tire was caused by carelessness of one of my builders. That caused you to take your bike in the rain. Then one of my guys walked out from between two trucks.” He snorted derisively, shaking his head. “Isn’t that one of the first things every little kid learns? Don’t walk out from between parked cars? And then, it was carelessness that a piece of guttering was lying in the road. In other words, if I hadn’t been building a house next to yours, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

  Brooke lay there for a long moment. She understood and could see the logic in what Travis Cooper said. She also understood that he’d been in her house and had looked in her backpack. She knew exactly the impression he would’ve gotten from her house: clean, but shabby. She knew what he would’ve found in her backpack: uniforms from two different low-paying jobs, used textbooks and a wallet containing a grand total of three dollars. Brooke pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes, feeling the sting of tears of embarrassment.

  “I’m not a charity case, Mr. Cooper,” she said evenly.

  “I never said you were,” Travis responded carefully. “I just feel badly about the whole thing. Brooke, if I’d run into you with my truck, wouldn’t you expect me to cover your expenses?”

  “I…well, yes.”

  “There’s really not much difference. Okay?” Brooke nodded once, briefly. “Good, then that’s settled. I’ll go take care of things at the business office, then I’ll come back and we’ll see about getting you out of here.”

  “You don’t have to do all this, Mr. Cooper.”

  “You know, I think we’re a little past Mr. Cooper, aren’t we?” Travis said, smiling wryly. “I mean, you sat in my lap and bled all over me. I think you can call me Travis, don’t you?”

  “I don’t – don’t really remember any of that.”

  “Well, how ‘bout this? We’re neighbors. Unless you’re planning on moving anytime soon, we might as well get to know one another, right? Be on friendly terms and all that?” He gave her a smile. “So…Travis?” Another brief nod from Brooke. Travis’ smile broadened into a grin. “Can I call you Bunny?” Brooke groaned and Travis ducked out of the room.

  Chapter 4

  Brooke watched the door swing shut behind her neighbor, and released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She couldn’t figure out what his angle was and it bothered her. In Brooke’s experience, nearly everyone had an angle, a “what’s in it for me” attitude; and far too often in Brooke’s experience, she had been on the losing end of those types of situations. Her own mother thought nothing of calling Brooke and telling her she needed “a little help” making ends meet, all the while knowing Brooke was working two jobs in an effort to make her own ends meet. So what did Travis Cooper expect to get in return for his investment?

  Brooke w
as certain it had nothing to do with her, personally, as Travis Cooper was the kind of man who could walk into a room and have just about any woman of his choosing. He didn’t need a woman who, at twenty-four, still didn’t have her college degree and worked two jobs but still couldn’t make ends meet. And Brooke didn’t even want to think about the extra fifteen pounds or so she could never seem to lose, or the fact that all of her clothes were either ugly work uniforms or thrift-store purchases.

  Brooke broke off from her musings when a nurse entered her room. The nurse smiled and held up a pair of blue scrubs.

  “I found something for you to wear home,” she said. “I’ll help you get dressed before that hunky man of yours gets back.”

  “Oh, he’s not – I mean, he’s just my neighbor!” Brooke corrected quickly.

  “Nice neighborhood!” the nurse quipped, grinning.

  By the time Travis Cooper returned from the business office, Brooke was dressed in the loose scrubs. The nurse smiled at Travis.

  “I’ll just go get a wheelchair and she’s all yours!”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Travis said, returning her smile.

  A short time later, Brooke was settled in the soft leather seat of Travis Cooper’s big Hummer. Travis climbed in behind the wheel and the diesel engine roared to life. He tossed a grin Brooke’s way.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “Um-hmm,” she answered.

  Brooke stared out the windshield as Travis drove. She was already thinking of phone calls she needed to make; she needed to call both of her jobs to see if she still had a job at either place. She needed to see if she could reach her professors; maybe her economics professor would still let her take that test. Brooke also felt certain she needed to contact her utility companies; she knew she was late paying her electric bill and they were quick to shut the power off. And then there was her mother.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” Travis said, glancing at her.

  “Oh.” Brooke hesitated for a moment. “Just thinking of things I need to take care of, people I need to call, bosses, professors, that sort of thing.”