Handle Me

She didn’t need him pointing out the obvious, especially when it made her stomach feel like a hollow pit.

“I saw a park a couple blocks over when I drove in yesterday. Why don’t we get a change of scenery? It’ll be good for both you and Kaia.”

Van nodded. What else could she do?

She’d lived in the neighborhood for almost three years now. Driven past that park thousands of times. But couldn’t remember visiting once. It wasn’t her kind of place, full of people and kids. Dogs. Women in their little running shorts and matching sports bras.

When she needed stress relief she preferred a nice, clean gym to exercising in the elements. Climate-controlled and structured. That’s what she liked.

Whatever.

“Let me change my shoes.” If they were walking, the sandals she’d slipped on weren’t very practical. Sitting on the end of the bed, she pulled out her running shoes and stared at the laces as she tied double knots.

The rumble of Ty’s voice reached her, not enough to understand the words, but the tone was clear. He was talking to Kaia. She could hear the animation in his voice, inflection that wasn’t present whenever he talked to Van. At least not today.

Four months ago...

The memory of him looming over her in the dark, whispering words against her skin, assaulted her. Dirty words that made her blood sing. Sweet words that had her body melting. Nonsense that actually made all the sense in the world—at least, it had at the time...

Shit.

Screwing her eyes shut, Van pushed the thoughts away. They weren’t productive or helpful. In fact, if she couldn’t get them under control they were going to sabotage her.

A cold nose against her bare leg startled her. Her eyes popped open and looked straight into the warm brown ones staring patiently back at her.

“Good girl, Kaia,” Ty said. He filled the doorway to her bedroom, his wide shoulders pressed against the jamb and his thick arms crossed over the expanse of a muscled chest.

Double shit.

“What are you doing in my bedroom, Ty?” The words came out much more harsh than she’d wanted, tinged with the fear that she wouldn’t be able to control herself with his close proximity to her bed.

“Kaia was getting impatient. Hurry up.”

His dictatorial tone made her want to snap at him, but she bit back the instinct. She would not take the bait.

Growing up, Ty had delighted in making her react. It was a game he liked to play. How quickly could he get her to lose her temper? Back then, the answer was very.

Now, she prided herself on her self-control and no one, especially Ty Colson, was going to make her lose that.

Standing up, she rested a hand on Kaia’s head and spoke to the dog instead of the man. “Well, then, let’s get this show on the road.”

Ty turned and headed back down the hallway ahead of her. Kaia gave a little whimper, her gaze swinging back and forth between the two of them, unsure as to whom she should follow, but finally settling on a position between them.

A plastic bag swung from Ty’s hand, a leash twined between his fingers. At the front door he paused long enough to reach back and clip the end onto the harness Kaia was wearing.

She tried to stay behind Ty and Kaia as they hit the sidewalk in front of her house, but Kaia kept turning around to look at her. Eventually, Ty slowed down, matching his gait to hers and placing Kaia directly between them.

The dog seemed much happier with that arrangement, so Van let it be.

They walked in silence, but that didn’t stop her mind from whirling ninety to nothing.

She could feel him...the masculine vibe that emanated from his entire body. He didn’t even have to try, it was just there.

He was a man. Always had been. Even as a gangly teenager, there’d been something about him...something older than any kid deserved to be.

Van racked her brain for something to talk about, but nothing seemed safe. She didn’t want to discuss her brother, which meant just about every memory, friend and acquaintance they shared was off-limits. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to discuss their interlude in the tree house.

Kaia’s shoulder brushed against her thigh. She watched the dog’s limping stride, and not for the first time felt awed by how completely she compensated for the loss of her limb.

Guilt swamped Van. She should have been paying more attention to Kaia instead of worrying about her own bad mood, and should have walked slowly so the dog wouldn’t have to put in so much effort. Not that it seemed to bother her.

“She’s completely healed?” Van found herself asking, although she hadn’t planned on going there. Thoughts of Kaia’s injuries inevitably led to thoughts of her brother’s death.

“She wouldn’t be here if she wasn’t. She had to be medically cleared and then psychologically evaluated to ensure she could make a safe pet before the military would consider adopting her out.”

“Oh.”

He’d said something about that before, but Van hadn’t really thought about the process. She knew it had taken some time, but just assumed most of that had been for Kaia to heal from her injuries.

“Are there any residual medical issues? Any medications? Therapy? How can I help her?”

Ty turned, his gaze spearing into hers. She got lost in those stormy-blue eyes for a second, her mind emptying of everything but him...and how he could make her body hum.

Shaking her head, Van tried to pull herself back to reality.

“Nope, she’s fully healed. Nothing you need to do except love her.”

Love her. Why did that thought cause nerves, grief and longing to mix uncomfortably in her belly?

They reached the park. From several feet away, someone called her name.

“Savannah! Hey, Savannah!”

She looked over to find one of her neighbors waving frantically.

Nadine lived two doors down. The week Van had moved in she’d shown up at the door with a plate of brownies and a big smile on her face. She was sweet, nosy and—it didn’t take Van long to realize—the self-appointed neighborhood gossip.

“Did you hear about Mr. Macintosh? Poor thing. He shouldn’t have been trying to clean those gutters himself, though. My son Eric would have been happy to help. I didn’t know you had a dog. And who’s this tall drink of water with you?”

Nadine finally paused, staring up at Van expectantly from where she’d crouched down to pet Kaia’s head.

But before Van could answer, Ty stepped forward. “Ma’am, you should never approach a dog without permission from the owner.”

“Oh.” Nadine blinked and then scrambled up. “I’m sorry. I suppose you’re right. I’ve just never met a dog I didn’t like.”

There was something about the mega-watt smile Nadine flashed that set Van’s teeth on edge. Along with the neighborhood gossip, she was also known as the neighborhood flirt.

“What happened to the poor thing?”