Page 7 of The Love Shack

The noise continued as she completed her morning chores. Hunger tried to divert her—she hadn’t yet had breakfast—but seeing how anxious Hero had become, she washed her hands, hooked the leash to the dog and set out. She’d be back in a few minutes and then she’d get a bowl of cereal or something.

Without makeup or her usual array of earrings, her hair stuffed into a ball cap, she ventured into the woods. Morning dew left the ground damp while the rising sun filtered through the trees, providing shadows that shifted around her.

Hero didn’t do his usual investigation of every weed, rock and leaf. Instead, the muscular dog made a beeline for the sound that grew louder with every few feet they traveled.

Since getting settled into her house, she hadn’t ventured off quite this far and now she had second thoughts. That was, until the tree line opened onto a cleared property and she saw a man, shirtless, shorts drooping over trim hips, using a chain saw on a downed tree.

A funny thing happened to her. Sheadmiredhim.

That tall, honed body, the flex of biceps as he handled the heavy saw, the firm set of his jaw...

“Lawson?” She’d barely breathed his name, a mere whisper of surprise, so it was unfortunate that he’d released the chain saw trigger at the same time.

Suddenly aware that he was no longer alone, he turned his head.

From the distance of twenty feet or so, they stared at each other. At first she saw confusion, and then recognition.

“Berkley?” He straightened, inadvertently showing off that powerful body as if it were nothing. A light dusting of brown hair covered his chest, sweat-damp in places despite the mild temps of the morning air.

Her breath shuddered in, but good God, the man was half-naked. For years now, she’d made a deliberate effort to avoid situations like this, and here she’d just blundered into one. “Hi.” Pathetic. She supposed the weak greeting was better than Hero’s effusive welcome. The dog’s entire body jiggled with the need to run to his new friend.

After glancing around, like maybe he thought she’d brought others along, Lawson zeroed in on her again. He set the chain saw aside, ran a forearm over his face and asked, “What are you doing here?”

His question galvanized her. Shaking off her aberrant admiration, she came forward with a lot of attitude. “That should be my question to you.”

With obvious confusion, he shook his head. “I live here.”

Abruptly stopping, she almost tripped over her own feet. Hero continued on, and that meant she got dragged reluctantly forward so that the dog could greet Lawson with eagerness bordering on adoration.

“You can’tlivehere.” Absurd. That would put him right behind the shelter...and her own house. How could she avoid him if he was so close?

Smiling, he knelt to welcome Hero with a few rousing pets and even a hug. “Good to see you, too, bud.” Then in a loud whisper, he asked, “What’s she pissed about this time?”

Berkley started to reply, but then it dawned on her that she was a wreck. Worse than a wreck. Without her makeup and jewelry, her usual hairstyle, she felt exposed. Raw. Like that same young girl from years ago.

She wasn’t even wearing a bra.

The urge to fold her arms over her chest nearly overwhelmed her. Automatically, her hand tightened on the leash and she blinked once, twice, three times, trying to gather her wits.

“Hey.” Lawson stood again. “You okay?”

Her audible swallow seemed to echo over the placid surface of the lake behind him. “I’m fine.” But she wasn’t. “Why wouldn’t I be?” No one saw her like this. Not since...

She abruptly turned away, then stopped again, stumped as to where to go, or even how to leave when she had a dog still worshipping at Lawson’s feet. Dragging the dog away would be unkind. Bracing herself, she tried to think of her next step.

“Want a drink?”

Aware of Lawson moving in the opposite direction, she peeked over her shoulder. Yup, that was him heading toward a building.

Or...a house? Overgrown shrubs and trees nearly hid it, so she hadn’t noticed it right off the bat.

Hero whined. Obviously, the dog wanted to follow him. “What is this?” she asked, taking a tentative step forward.

“I told you, I live here. I know it’s not much right now, but I got it for a steal and I’m fixing it up.” Bounding up to a wooden deck, he turned. “Want to come take a look around? I’ll pour some tea, or water, or I might still have a cola in the fridge.”

“You don’t know?” Curiosity had her trailing after him. It helped that he hadn’t even seemed to notice her near panic, or the fact that she was pared down to her old, insecure self.

Maybe his thoughts hadn’t made the same mental leap. Maybe, to him, she was still just boring Berkley, a girl hardly worth noticing—then or now.

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