it came to relationships. And that included the time in shop class when he’d slipped while working with a circular saw and needed twenty-two stitches. At least he’d only tried cutting his fool hand off.
Lilah Fairchild had done her best to rip out his heart.
But Mollie was nothing like his ex-fiancée. She was sweet and kind and funny, and Zeke didn’t like the idea of her being alone.
And Patrick wouldn’t have, either.
Zeke took a deep breath and refocused his attention on Mollie and the new dogs as Charlie raced over at full speed and jumped up, planted a pair of muddy paws right on Mollie’s chest and dropped a tennis ball at her feet. Zeke knew plenty of women—Lilah included—who would have been annoyed. But Mollie merely laughed and bent to pick up the slobber-covered green felt. “Somebody needs a few lessons in the proper way to greet people, but look what a smart girl you are to find a ball!”
The silly Lab basked in the praise, tail wagging her entire body, pink tongue hanging out the side of her mouth. Zeke wasn’t surprised. Mollie had always known how to encourage him, too, how to cheer him up like she had in the days following his broken engagement.
Lilah wasn’t good enough for you. You deserve someone so much better.
Mollie deserved the best, which would make finding the right guy for her a tall order. Not that plenty of guys wouldn’t be willing. Even though Mollie wasn’t the type to waste time messing around with her hair or piling on makeup, she had a fresh-faced beauty. With her reddish curls, blue-green eyes and freckled skin, he’d always thought she was cute.
He watched as Mollie tried to engage the dog in a game of fetch, but Charlie clearly had other ideas. Like playing keep-away by racing around the yard, prized ball clutched in her drooling jaws. The dog zigged every time Mollie zagged, and her laughter grabbed hold of something inside his chest.
Cute? Hell, she was gorgeous.
The late-afternoon sun brought out the blaze of golden highlights in her hair. Her royal blue Best Friends T-shirt showed off her toned arms and the thin material hugged her breasts. Her jeans were well-worn and faded, one of the back pockets partially torn off and flapping against a perfectly rounded backside. The tattered square seemed to taunt him to reach out and give a tug, and he didn’t think it was any latent OCD tendencies that had his palms sweating.
Almost as if sensing the wayward direction of his thoughts, Charlie charged toward Zeke, grass churning beneath her paws, and launched straight at his midsection. He might have withstood the blow if Chief hadn’t wandered up behind him, close enough that the back of his knees connected with the dog’s sturdy body as he stumbled backward, upending him as easily as the stupid prank-playing jocks back in high school had.
He landed flat on his back with a grunt, squinting up at the bright sky overhead. The fragrant grass was cool through the material of his T-shirt, but not cool enough to keep the heat of embarrassment from sinking into his skin.
“And to think, I didn’t even have to train them to do that. Such natural talent!”
“Very funny,” Zeke grumbled, glaring up at Mollie’s smiling face as she moved to block out the sun. Not that her smile was any less bright or less effective at warming the blood pumping through his veins.
She held out a slender hand. Determined to regain control of his baffling desire, Zeke reached up, caught her by the wrist and pulled too hard...just like he would have done back when they were kids.
Mollie lost her balance, her startled shriek cutting off with a soft “Umph,” as she tumbled down to the ground beside him. Charlie, thinking this was another new game, nosed her way in between them, bouncing the disgusting ball off Zeke’s forehead before trying to lick the two of them to death.
Chuckling as he lay on the ground, it was like he was a kid again, running wild with Mollie, Patrick and Shadow, and all seemed right in his world once more. Mollie was still the ponytailed, tagalong kid he remembered, the one who always had been and always would be his friend.
But then she sat up, shaking her hair back with a toss of her head as she leaned over him. Time jumped forward from one heartbeat to the next, and suddenly she was all woman. The smell of fresh-cut grass mingled with the wildflower scent of her skin, and Zeke’s body clenched in reaction.
The hazy mist of nostalgia burned away under the unexpected blaze of lust, followed quickly by an equally scorching wave of guilt. Mollie wasn’t that little girl anymore. The dog dancing around them was Charlie, not Shadow, and Patrick was—
Cutting off the thought, Zeke pushed to his feet. Charlie sat a few yards away, the ball at her feet, and if ever a canine could look smug, she did. “You’ve got your work cut out for you with that one,” he said, his tone sharper than he’d intended.
Mollie frowned up at him as she slowly stood. She brushed at the blades of grass clinging to the back of her jeans, and Zeke had to force his gaze away. “It’s been too long since you’ve had a dog. You’ve forgotten how much energy a puppy has to burn.”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
Acting as though she hadn’t heard him, Mollie said, “I can think of a really easy way to remedy that.”
They’d had this discussion plenty of times, and the familiarity of the argument helped settle his unease. “I don’t think so.”
“I don’t understand why not. You know how much you loved Shadow.”
“I did. She was the greatest. But you did the heavy lifting.” Mollie had been over at his parents’ house all of the time—willing to walk the dog, play fetch with her, keep her well groomed.
“Taking care of someone you love is never work.”
Zeke wasn’t sure why his eyes automatically went to the newly built stairs leading to Mollie’s back porch. That had been a lot of work, but he’d been more than willing to do it because...because...
“It’s a responsibility,” he argued, not even realizing he’d said the words out loud until Mollie started talking again.
“Owning any kind of pet is a responsibility.” She shot him a grin. “But you’ve always been a responsible guy.”
He was a responsible guy, and by default, Mollie was his responsibility. Whether she liked it or not. He would never admit it, but a part of him was glad that Mollie had a stubborn tendency to resist his efforts. Any show of gratitude would only have added to his feelings of guilt—and Zeke already had plenty of that where the McFadden siblings were concerned.
Years ago, Zeke had made his best friend a promise. Straight out of boot camp and ready for a tour that would take him overseas, Patrick McFadden had asked Zeke to look out for his little sister.
Zeke had immediately agreed. He and Patrick had grown up as neighbors in an affluent, historic section of Spring Forest. Patrick had been the closest thing Zeke had to a brother. And just as Zeke and Patrick had always been best friends, meeting up after school, playing sports, exploring the woods around Spring Forest on the weekends, Mollie had always been the kid sister wanting to tag along. Looking out for her came as naturally as hanging out with Patrick.
Both men knew Mollie had a big heart—maybe too big. She was always willing to think the best of people, to give anyone who asked
