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After several sputters and worrisome knocks, the motor went silent in her bug.
The parking lot was located at the back of Pinegrove’s oldest building and out of sight from Main Street. One of the few structures still standing from when the town was founded way before her time. Heck, before her parents’ time.
Sections of the stonework needed refurbishing. Winters this far north were brutal on exteriors while other areas needed a complete overhaul, but the quaint feel of the familiar building stirred fond memories of summers spent helping her parents while surrounded by flowers and happiness. Memories that warmed her stressed-out heart right when she needed it the most.
Sweet-smelling lavender greeted her as she slid from her car, coffees and doughnuts in hand. The whole area smelled of her mom’s favorite flower since as long as she could remember. She kept two large pots full of the flower by the back entrance and more at the front.
A loud bark that, for one heart-stopping second, sounded like a warrior cry served as the only warning.
Coffee and doughnuts flew as a streak of brown fur made a mad dash across the quiet parking lot, leash dragging behind him.
Genevieve sprang into a full-throttle run, made impossible from the coffee-drenched flip-flops. Each squeaky step became a miracle because she couldn’t keep the death traps from tripping her up.
High-pitched barks served like a radar ping under parked cars, through low rose bushes, and past a sleepy reindeer. Wait. Gravel slipped underfoot as she slowed. A sleeping reindeer?
Okaaaay? Whatever. She’d revisit that later.
Somehow, they got turned around and now the barks led back toward her car. And traffic.
Her heart clenched. No!This was bad. Very bad.
A horn basted in the close distance.
Oh no. She picked up her feet, pushed faster, but the loose gravel shifted, worked against her, and she was going down. Hard.
Eyes squeezed shut, she braced for an unpleasant gravel facial.
“Whoa there, beautiful. I’ve got you,” came a strange, deep sexy voice from her left.
Her breath whooshed from her lungs—from relief, fear…the near collision. All the above!
And true to his word, the big, buff stranger did have her, and right before the bumper of the Caddie did the catching, too.
“Umm, thanks. Good catch. I wasn’t looking forward to a second breakfast of pavement.”
A thick, strong arm wrapped around her just beneath her breasts, pushing the plump girls up like delicious offerings ready to burst out of her summery top. When picking the halter top she had no idea she’d almost be flashing her nipples to a stranger before noon.
With her back pressed against his body, he lifted and held her close until she regained her balance. She gripped his bicep with both hands. Whoa. His muscles had muscles and the bulges felt wonderful wrapped around her.
In his other hand, she noticed he wrangled her mischievous weekend guest like a troublesome football with legs. Only this football had a tongue and it was desperately trying to lick the man’s chin.
The stranger slid from her side and loosened his hold but left his hand resting on her lower back.
In the span of five seconds, her entire life played out before her eyes and her untimely demise. Her tombstone would have read: Death by Pug. Not how she wanted to be remembered.
“Whoa, there little man. Where are you off to? Are you giving your pretty momma a hard time?”
She stilled a fraction at the sound of that voice, her brows pinched.
No! It couldn’t be.
She straightened and turned in her squeaky flip-flops to the sight of a hazel-eyed man with an easy smile. Way to easy, only one man had that smile, she decided. His hand moved with her and once again rested on her lower back with her turned around.
“You okay, sweetheart?”
He had her drawn close enough she could see the gold flecks in his eyes and smell the divine scent of his cologne.
Both of which she knew intimately.
