Page 59 of 15 Summers Later

“You are far from a baby.”

Something in his low voice sent shivers rippling down her spine.

“Want me to put your sock back on?”

Despite the pain receding, Madi suspected it would be best not to mess with her toes more than strictly necessary. “No. Just my shoe.”

He loosened the laces on her sneaker further, gripped her heel and slid the shoe on. If someone had told her she could be this stirred up sitting in a barn while a man put a shoe on an injured foot, she would have told them they were making up ridiculous stories.

Yet here she was, holding her breath as if he were taking items of appareloffinstead of the other way around.

Was it her imagination or did his hand pause on her ankle a little longer than strictly necessary? The heat of his skin seemed to burn through her.

Stop it, she chided herself. This was Luke. Her friend. Her boss. For all intents and purposes, he was her partner in the Emerald Creek Animal Rescue, as he had been behind her every step of the way and gave as many volunteer hours to the sanctuary as she or anyone else.

She couldn’t screw things up by letting the tiny crush she had always secretly nurtured grow into something bigger, like a true infatuation, with all the complications that would entail.

What if it was too late?a voice whispered.

She ignored it.

It wasn’t. She wouldn’t let it be. She only had to forget about this simmering attraction and do her best to keep their relationship in the friend zone. She could do this.

“Come on,” he said, rising. “I’ll help you back to the house.”

He reached a hand out and she let him pull her up.

She gingerly put weight on her foot and was relieved that the pain had eased considerably.

“I’m doing much better. I’ll be okay. Thanks for taking a look.”

She took a step toward the door, then wobbled, not because of her foot but because she was forced to rely on her weaker leg, now that the other one had been injured.

Luke stepped forward and caught her before she could stumble into something. “Here. I’ve got you. I won’t let you fall. I’ll give you a ride back to the house.”

“I can walk. It’s only a hundred yards.”

“But a hundred yards on a sore foot versus five to my pickup and five more up your steps. I think the ride is a much better plan.”

He had a point, she had to admit. Luke hooked his arm through hers, his body warm and comforting beside her as he helped her to his truck, then lifted her up into the seat.

She wanted to tell him she was fine, that she could handle this on her own, but it felt nice to lean on his strength.

He drove the short distance she usually walked several times a day. The small farmhouse looked welcoming in the darkness, with the light she left on for her dogs beaming out through the yard.

He pulled up to the porch then helped her out of the truck. She tried not to notice the strength of his arms or the heat of him or his delicious scent of sage and juniper.

She loved evenings here at the farmhouse. Crickets chirped and she could hear the distant call of a coyote somewhere in the surrounding mountains as they made their way up the porch steps.

“Do you have a key?” Luke asked at her door.

She pulled her key ring out of her pocket and unlocked the door. He pushed it open and turned on the foyer light as her old golden retriever, Mo, waddled out, followed close behind by Mabel, her little schnoodle.

“There you are, guys. Do you need to go out? Come on.”

She limped to the back door, where she could let the dogs out into the enclosed yard.

“Sorry,” she said to Luke. “I have to let them out first, especially Mo. If he gets too excited, he’ll have an accident.”

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