I heard, rather than saw Meleyna’s truck rattle to a stop in the parking lot. Parker picked up his head toward the door and whined.

“Traitor,” I scolded. “Who do you belong to, eh?”

Parker yawned and put his head on his paws again. He’d stayed in that spot for several hours as I worked to scrub the kennel. My Marine training didn’t let me stop at just the one. I moved dogs around as I hit each of the runs, and by the time I was done the kennels were spotless and the stainless steel in the working area where Meleyna groomed the dogs and served them their food gleamed. It brought me back to my days at Parris Island when I, like the rest of the grunts, had to scrub every surface to a polished shine.

The screen door opened and slammed shut.

“Hey!” I called out. “Your grandmother brought you lunch.”

“Not hungry. Did you walk the dogs?” Meleyna asked. She opened the refrigerator, then shut the door and came around the corner. Immediately I noticed a tired, drawn look around her eyes.

“No. Just getting ready to.”

“Well, you take one group, I’ll take another.”

Meleyna grabbed a bunch of leads and handed me a set. Parker nosed her knee.

“I should be jealous.”

She absently rubbed Parker behind the ears.

“You’re a better man than that,” she said quietly. She lifted her head. “Besides, I can’t help it that all animal kind love me. Come on, guys.” The dogs in the runs picked their heads up immediately, and most sat at attention. Meleyna’s hand went to her pocket, and she drew out a dog cookie as she went to the first cage.

“Yeah. It’s your incredible animal magnetism and has nothing to do with bribery.”

Meleyna shook her head and smiled wanly.

“Flattery will get you nowhere.”

“I’m pretty sure I gave you a dig,” I said, smiling back.

Meleyna put a lead on the first dog, and continued down the run, calling the dogs’ names, giving them a cookie and attaching their leads. She handed the leashes to me.

“They know the way. Just don’t go off the path. Otherwise, we’ll be grooming poison ivy out of their coats.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The animals eagerly crowded at the door jamb and pulled me through the doorway straining against their leads. Parker followed staying by my knee as he was taught.

“Heel,” I called when they cleared the building and pulled me to the path that led to the woods. I had maybe four hundred pounds of dog leading me, and that would not do. I swore. Parker picked up his ears and then took off to head up the gang. He stood in front of them and gave a single bark.

Meleyna followed with another group and called “stop” when she reached me. All the dogs then sat on their haunches.

“Is your animal part herding dog?”

“He’s always surprising me.”

“Surprises me too. Let’s go.” Meleyna took the lead, Parker returned to my side, and we traveled the trail with the dogs sniffing and stopping to do their business. I might not have minded walking behind her because of the view I could get of that marvelous ass, but she was acting distant and cold. I reviewed what went on between us last night and this morning. I could think of nothing that would offend her, and I wondered about her standoffish behavior.

The trail climbed steadily after we walked past the turnoff that led to the cabin. In the past year during my recovery, I hadn’t pushed myself nearly as hard as I had in the Marines. My conditioning obviously took a hit. Between the dogs and Meleyna’s pace, I was feeling winded.

“Hey,” I called out. “Hold up!”

“Stop,” called Meleyna. She looked over her shoulder. “Something wrong?”

“Just old,” I said, not liking this feeling of weakness.

“What I see is a city boy who can’t take a hike.”

I thought of the twenty-mile hikes I took as a Marine with a fifty-pound pack on my back, and I glared at Meleyna with a determined look.

“Run,” I said to the dogs. And Parker, used to this command, ran to the head of the pack leader, spurring on both of us and the dogs. I pushed hard, taking the incline that grew steeper in with each step, with Meleyna calling after me.

“Wait, Matthew!”

The trees looked as if they cleared ahead.

“Matthew,” called Meleyna more frantically.

But the dogs were yapping on this wild run, and I didn’t hear everything she called, I was so determined to get through the path to the clearing. Suddenly, Parker stopped, and belatedly I saw we’d come to a shelf that overlooked a gorge cut by a fast running stream. The other dogs did too, but it was too late—I went flying over the edge.

“Matthew! Oh my god!” I heard Meleyna call out.

I slid down rocks and gravel head first, the edges of weathered stone cutting my stomach and elbows that I had thrown over my head to protect it. There was nothing I could do. My forward momentum added to the incline had my body in its clutches. I had to ride this out and hope I didn’t get too badly injured.

Parker dashed down the hill barking after me.

Finally, I slid into the muddy bank. For a stunned second as the water rushed by my head, I couldn’t move. Parker took a hunk of my shirt in his mouth and tugged.

“Matthew! Are you okay?” Meleyna cried, finally reaching the top of the shelf. There was real anguish in her voice.

I held up an arm to signal I was okay as Parker bounced around me and licked at my face.

“Okay, boy,” I groaned. “I’m okay.” My fingers sunk into the red mud as I worked to push myself upright.

“Don’t move,” Meleyna cried.

I flipped my body and pulled myself upright.

“I’m okay,” I yelled.

“Damn fool,” she said. Her voice rang on the rocks around me.

I surveyed the damage and found I was extremely lucky. Except for some road burn, I appeared unharmed. I stood up, looking up at her.

“See?”

Relief broke out on her face. “Next time, idiot, listen to me when I tell you to stop.”

“Hey, that’s no way to talk to an employee who just hurt himself on the job!”

“What was that? You say you’re sorry? That’s okay.” I heard the obvious relief in her voice.

“How do I get out of here?”

“Beats me,” she said. “I wasn’t fool enough to fall off.”

“Hey!”

Meleyna laughed. “Just around the rock to the right. You’ll find a walking path that leads to the top. I’ll meet you there.”

My boots squelched in the spring mud, forcing me to exert myself even harder to navigate the trail, and by the time I reached the top of the path, my muscles were more than sore. They were hurting. Bad.

Meleyna, as promised, was at the top of the path, holding the leads of both packs of dogs.

“God damn,” she said. Her Arkansas twang was more prominent than usual. “Do you always dive head first into trouble?”

“Just give me those leads,” I said irritably. I was annoyed at making myself look foolish, especially in front of her.

“Sure, if you can handle it.”

“Of course, I can handle it. I handled more than this in Iraq.”

“Okay, but are you sure you are okay?” she asked again.

“Let’s get back to the kennel,” I grumbled.

This time, perhaps feeling chastened by Meleyna, or maybe by my foul mood, the pups behaved and didn’t pull at the leads. We made it to the kennel without incident. When we entered, I spotted a wicker basket with sheets and a quilt by the door. She walked past it, and we secured the dogs. But I noticed her giving me thoughtful glances.

“Come here.” She motioned for me to follow. She led me to the grooming area and patted the top of the stainless-steel grooming table.

“What?”

“Sit up here. I’m looking at your wounds,” she said firmly.

“Look, all I need is a shower and I’ll—”

“Don’t argue with me,” she said sternly. She pulled one sleeve, then another of my now tattered button-down off my body. Parker watched both of us carefully, as she pulled up my tee which was now filled with rips and holes. She sucked in a breath when she saw the bloodied and raw skin on my abs.

“Damn,” she muttered. “This is going to be hell to clean.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Lay down. You aren’t going to pick these stones out of your own skin. Or do you want to go to the emergency department?”

“No.”

“Damn fool,” she muttered again. She pulled a bottle of brown liquid from a cabinet over the table.

“What’s that?”

“Disinfectant.”

She poured a good amount over my stomach.

“Ow, fuck,” I hissed.

“Shush. We have to let that sit to disinfect the area before I start pulling out stones.”

“You have a lovely bedside manner,” I said between clenched teeth.

“Well, usually my patients can’t talk back.”

“Patients?”

“I wanted to go to veterinary school.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Money,” I said plainly. “It’s a pricey proposition. Sixteen thousand a year, without books and living expenses. I’d end up with more in student loans than I could ever pay off.”

I thought it was a shame that Meleyna didn’t pursue this dream. She’d be a natural at caring for animals. She already was. “You’re still young, in your twenties. I imagine any school would be lucky to have you.”

“Can’t. I’m not leaving my grandma alone. I’m all she has. Hell, all we have is each other.” Meleyna’s mouth formed a tight line. “Ready,” she said holding a pair of tweezers.

“I don’t know. It seems you are practicing medicine without a license, Miss Harris.”

“It’s either that or the emergency room. Say, I just thought of something. When was the last time you had a tetanus shot?”

“Fully immunized. Marines made sure of it. I’m immunized against bugs from around the world.” I smiled at her. Okay, it hurt. But it was kind of fun having her standing over me ready to play doctor.

“I guess I have to trust your faulty recollection of your military health care,” Meleyna said with a frown. Wisps of blonde hair hung in her eyes in an adorable way, and it was driving me crazy.

“Should I take off my pants?” I offered with a mischievous grin.

“Shush,” she said for the fourth time that day. “This isn’t playtime.”

“Oh,” I said, disappointed.

Meleyna began picking out the stones, and damn if they didn’t hurt. I winced each time the tweezers dug into my skin. But her hand lightly touching my skin was electric, I felt my cock stir. Damn. I couldn’t help but think of her as sexy. She was turning me on without even trying to.

But Meleyna was ignoring everything but her work. Even when my erection became too noticeable to ignore, she didn’t even give it a glance. After about a half hour of concentrated work, she put more disinfectant on the wounds.

“Maybe, just maybe, we’ll get away without an infection,” she said. She pulled out some large gauze pads and put them on my stomach.

“Don’t get these wet,” she said as he taped the bandages to my skin with white surgical tape.

“How am I supposed to get clean?”

“You are filthy.” I smiled at the double entendre.

“Sponge bath,” said Meleyna.

“Will you give it to me?” I asked with a wicked grin.

Her lips grew taut. She wasn’t joining in the fun.

“You are a big guy. I think you can handle it. Look, I’ll go to the cabin and get it ready for you.”

“I’ll help you.”

“No. Someone has to be here to hand off the dogs. I’ll be back in a little while.”

Meleyna walked quickly away and scooped up the wicker basket. I sat with a small groan and swung my legs off the table, careful not to jar my body too much.

“Not my most comfortable billet,” I said to Parker.

Parker nuzzled my knee.

“I know. Meleyna is acting strangely.” I slipped off the table and rummaged through the stacks of clean towels in the cabinets in the area. Maybe she had a couple of spare tee shirts she had thrown in the wash that might fit me.

“Luck!” I exclaimed when I fished one stuffed in the corner, and I pulled it on. It was extremely tight on me but she probably swam in this shirt; I guess she liked to wear baggy shirts around the kennels. But it wasn’t as clean as it looked, and it carried a faint whiff of her intoxicating scent, reminding me of the brief time we’d spent together just this morning.

I didn’t understand why Meleyna, who was so warm to me this morning was as cold as ice now. We’d had a great morning and had fun working together.

But it was true that she saw the worst of me when I had that flashback in the hotel. Maybe she thought better of getting involved with someone as broken as me. Maybe I was too damaged for her to want to have any kind of serious relationship with.

Parker danced around my legs, sensing my mood dropping like a rock. I pulled up the metal stool in the grooming area and sat and put my head to Parker’s.

“She’s a great woman, Parker. But I don’t blame her. She deserves someone better than me.”