A final daunting hill appeared on the trail in front of Bryony, just at the point when her legs sometimes failed to want to carry her up it. Gritting her teeth, she dug in and charged. Passing her running companion in a burst of speed, huffing out a single burst of laughter as he muttered something about dirty pool, she ran up the hill on two legs that today felt as strong and solid as they'd ever been.

The second she reached the top of the rise, Bryony hit the brakes, whirled around, and flung up her fists in victory. "I am a champion!" She hollered out the words like a war whoop, not caring about the other joggers and casual Sunday walkers who also traveled the river pathway. A few of them smiled at her, one guy even reaching out to do an air high-five as he passed her along the flat part of the trail.

With a somewhat theatrical groan, Shelton, her best friend's fiancé and also Bryony's physical therapist and training partner, made it over the top of the steps. "Way to hand a guy his balls," he complained in a cheerful if slightly breathless tone. "Good job, Bry." He smiled at her with the genuine pride of a trainer who had done his job well. "You owned this run. Just like you owned the last five runs. I think,” he gave her a huge grin in the bright sunshine of the early fall day, “we're gonna have to declare you officially fit and ready to go back to work."

Breath catching in her throat, Bryony stared at him as she let her ams fall back to her sides. “Shut up,” she said in a near whisper. “For real? You're going to declare me fully healed?”

Shelton nodded. “You just ran like you were on fire and beat the hell out of me. For the third time this week. My official word is that you're healed, Bryony,” he said in a gentle but firm voice. “For real.”

With another shriek, Bryony leaped forward to give him a quick hug before whirling away to dance an excited jig on the pathway, fallen maple leaves crunching underfoot. This time she got more stares and a few giggles, but they all still seemed cheerful.

Happiness, she decided as she danced around, was infectious. Just like it should be. She was whole, she was healed. Most importantly, now she'd be able to get the hell out of Serenity, Illinois, a.k.a. the most boring place on the face of the planet, and go back to doing the thrill-seeker work she loved. Just being here, trapped at her parents' house for the past seven months while she recuperated from a near devastating tibial fracture, had been making her go mad.

Could be going mad literally, the dark little voice in her mind taunted. Frowning suddenly, Bryony angrily shoved the thought away. No. That was just a ghost of her prior self, the nervous, scared, doubting girl she'd been before she'd escaped dullsville Serenity the first time when she graduated high school. She wasn't insane. She just hated being an invalid, and hated being back here.

She, Bryony Elyse Jones, was a survivor as well as a totally sane human being.

Whipping a bright smile back into place, she stopped her little dance and walked around the pathway railing to drop into some light post-run stretches. "You're awesome, Shelton, thanks. You're the best physical therapist in the world, and the best guy I ever could've hoped for for Maddy. I'll tell her she can keep you," she added with a decisive little nod.

Shelton laughed as he, too, walked around the railing to do some stretching. “Gee, thanks. Though I'm pretty sure she already decided to keep me.” He happily flashed the engagement band on his left hand as he stretched his quads.

Bryony's glance flicked to the bright glint of the brushed titanium band that indicated Shelton's taken status. Swallowing the sharp lurch of a sigh, she just smiled before hiding her face between her arms as she grasped the railing and leaned back. Stupid, she muttered to herself as she stretched her grateful muscles. She was about to go back to the most amazing life ever, and never once in all her twenty-four years had she thought she needed a man to complement it.

She liked guys, of course. She dated them and vaguely considered that one day, she'd have a kickass daredevil partner who liked to greet life the same way she did: with brass balls and an eye to experiencing the most risky, most exhilarating adventures possible. But it wasn't like she pined for a normal life for two, complete with white picket fence, a sweet goofy dog, and a little bun in the oven.

She wasn't like her best friend, Maddy, who was happy just to settle down with Shelton into a normal, safe life here in Serenity, complete with stable if unexciting jobs at a local wellness clinic, and a nice little house that did indeed have a white picket fence and a very sweet, goofy golden retriever in residence. In fact, Bryony wasn't like any women she'd ever met. None of them had her special little skill. The one, she thought with another brief frown, that seemed to have been abandoning her with each passing day she'd spent back here.

No. The sooner she could flee Serenity, the sooner she could get back to living life out loud, the better off she'd be. It sure didn't mean she needed a permanent guy back in the exciting hustle and bustle of worldwide travel and adventure guiding.

Then why, she reluctantly mused, did seeing an engagement ring make her feel wistful? Worse, why did it make her think of a certain pair of brilliant blue eyes, talented lips, muscles that went on for days, and a quick, funny, interesting mind that turned her on like no other guy she'd ever met?

Stop right there, she commanded herself. Her physical therapist had just said he would clear her. She was leaving Serenity, and that was that. Brilliant blue eyes be damned. She shoved away the weird little pinch somewhere in the vicinity of her chest as she thought that.

Abruptly straightening up, she turned back to the path. “Do you mind if we head back to the cars now? If you're going to clear me, I really want to start packing. Today.” Without looking at Shelton, Bryony slipped around the railing and began to walk with a brisk stride to the small side path that led out to the main street and the parking lot.

“Uh, okay,” he called from behind her, jogging the few steps to catch up. He didn't ask any questions. Shelton was a guy, he didn't like to delve too deeply into things. Instead, he gestured broadly at the day. “You'll be back here in a month for the wedding, though, right? Maddy will kill me if I said you were ready to go and it meant you were gonna bail on being the maid of honor.”

Bryony snorted and nodded vigorously, her long dark braid whacking her back. “Maddy's been my best friend since kindergarten. I've known since I was five that I'll be in her wedding. She'd kill us both. Trust me, I'll be back.”

“Sounds good.” Shelton's easygoing nature was part of the reason Maddy liked him, Bryony knew. Simple, uncomplicated, nice. Just like Maddy.

“So,” Shelton said, pulling up alongside Bryony as they headed down the shade-dappled, uncrowded little side trail that led to the small parking lot, “did Maddy tell you about dinner tomorrow night? Just a few people from the clinic and some of her grad school friends. We planned it to be just a get-together, but now we can make it a going-away dinner. A temporary going-away, that is,” he added quickly, laughing a bit and slinging a brotherly arm around Bryony's shoulders as she rolled her eyes. “We need to emphasize that to Maddy or else—”

A sudden movement from the curve in the trail before them turned into a huge yet graceful guy running around it, his face casual yet his stride somehow taking up all the space on the trail. Tall, broad, drop-dead gorgeous with the most amazingly bright blue eyes and a dark beard Bryony had just once felt scrape across her face, raising a thousand delicious tingles and the desire to feel that beard scrape somewhere else on her body, too. The second he laid eyes on Bryony, though, he stopped dead.

Her heart simultaneously jumped and squeezed. “Wyatt,” she breathed, as startled to see him here as he was her.

Or rather, startled to see her here with another guy. A guy whose arm was around her shoulders. Wyatt's brilliant blue eyes narrowed as his entire face turned to granite. Shelton seemed to sense danger, his companionable arm slipping off of Bryony's shoulders and his feet rocking him to an abrupt halt.

In a split second, Bryony knew exactly what was going to happen. With her odd little talent, she could see it. “Oh, no—” she managed to get out, before all hell broke loose.

Wyatt lunged forward, his mouth opening in a snarl, his hands reaching right for Shelton's throat to squeeze the life out of him.