Page 19 of Into the Lion's Den (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“A huge one.” Toby plucked the burr off the blanket and shook his hand vigorously when its sharp barbs caught in his skin.

“Sarah, are you okay?” I asked. Just my luck to have a workplace injury on the very first day.

“I’m fine,” she said, staggering. “A little rattled.”

“Her cheek is swelling,” Angel said.

“I’ll take her in,” I said. “She’ll need an ice pack. Angel, figure out what the deal is with this horse. If it was just about the burr, fine. But I’m not putting guests on an unpredictable animal.”

“Sorry, Reese,” Toby said. “Sarah said she wanted to get up on a horse. She never had before.”

I shot Toby an annoyed look as I escorted Sarah back inside.

“This is embarrassing,” she said, straightening her clothes.

“It wasn’t your fault.” It was my siblings’ fault. They should have checked things out better before they let her ride.

She laughed a little. “Did I at least look cool?”

“Cool?”

“You know…like the Lone Ranger when he was on his horse and it was rearing up?”

“I don’t think the Lone Ranger ever screamed and whirled his arms around like a windmill.”

“So no points for style?”

“Not this time.” I almost addedkitten, but I’d learned my lesson and held my tongue. Besides, that was my cat talking, not me.

I brought Sarah into the small room where we kept the first-aid supples and sat her on one of the two chairs.

“How bad is it?” she asked, gingerly touching her cheek. She winced.

“It’s just an abrasion for now. It’ll probably be a nasty bruise by tomorrow.”

I handed her two aspirin from the first-aid cabinet and some water from the sink. She took them down as I retrieved an ice pack from the small freezer.

I pulled the second chair in front of her and sat so our knees were touching—so close I had to turn my baseball cap around backward.

I pressed the ice pack to her cheek and used the opportunity to stroke my thumb along her jaw. Just once so she wouldn’t think too much about it, though it left me wondering what it would be like to stroke other parts of her body.

“You’re gentler than I would have expected,” she said.

My hand froze, and my eyes met hers.

She blinked and looked away. “And you really shouldn’t be allowed to wear your ball cap backward.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m saying any guy’s attractiveness goes up ten points as soon as he turns his cap around. You don’t need that kind of leverage.”

“You think I’m attractive?” The lion preened.

“You know you are,” she said.

A moment of silence passed between us, the energy so charged the small hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It got to the point that one of us needed to say something before I made last night’s dream a reality.

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