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“Want to race?”I ask Ruby Wednesday morning, eyeing the rubber track a few dozen yards from where we’re parked.

“Race? Take it easy, L. We’re here for a leisurely stroll. Let’s stick to the paths.” Ruby looks at the gravel footpaths that wind in and out of the trees at Cooper’s Park, a huge, multipurpose space just a few minutes from Shafer’s campus.

“I’ve been taking it easy for weeks. Come on. Scared to lose?” The morning’s thunderstorm has cleared off, and I breathe in the raw, mineral scent of rain-soaked soil that’s left behind. My muscles prime with the memory of hundreds of practices spent breathing the same air.

“Lose to someone who’s not allowed to walk faster than one mile per hour?”

“Doc cleared me to get my heart rate up a little bit.”

“You didn’t tell me that. Though it explains your good mood.”

“I was thinking of keeping it to myself and then watching you have a heart attack when I started power walking.”

She crouches to retie a loose shoelace. “I’m not that overprotective.”

“Yes, you are. Total mother hen energy ever since I got out of surgery.”

“Yeah, well, this mother hen’s about ready to disown you if you don’t start showing some appreciation.”

I throw my good arm around her shoulders and pull her tight to my side. “I appreciate you,” I say just as I catch the scent of her shampoo from her ponytail settling on my shoulder. She looks at me and I add, “And if I ever regain full mobility, I’ll make it up to you.”

Ruby holds my gaze, her eyes wary, but there’s a playfulness there, like she’s trying to decide how she wants to interpret this. I push her gently away before she can see how much I want her to interpret it in the dirtiest way possible. I swear a switch got flipped over the weekend in Lakeside, and now no amount of willpower can stop the thoughts I’ve been having about her.

“All right, let’s go.” I take off toward the track. “Time for me to beat your power-walking ass.”

Ruby jogs to catch up with me. “So what else did Dr. Halpert say?”

“He said no reason to think I won’t be in peak condition in time for the Combine.”

I feel her hesitate, but by the time I look at her, her face is unreadable. “That’s great. Not that I didn’t know that already.”

“Long way to go between here and there. But yeah, it is great. Now let’s race.”

We make it a mile around the track before I realize how much fitness I’ve lost in the weeks since surgery. It’s a bummer. Not that I’m winded, but a mile doesn’t feel like nothing the way it should.

“So ... we racing or what?” Ruby asks as I slow down. Her smile is teasing.

“Yeah.” I take a big step over the finish line. “And I just won.”

“Cheater.”

“You want a rematch?” Thank god I kept up a lower-body routine. At least my legs feel strong.

“In a minute. I need to stretch a little.” She steps off the track into the grass. I have a feeling she’s doing this for my benefit, not hers, but I’m grateful for the break. “I’m so tight since that stupid dance class I did.”

I try to fight off the sexy image that conjures and stretch out my neck while Ruby starts some kind of disjointed stretching routine of her own. It takes work not to stare at her. Ruby isn’t really a leggings-and-T-shirt type of girl, so seeing her in tight spandex combined with memories of her bare skin on the boat and the weight of her straddling me in bed is ... well, toxic for a man halfheartedly trying to fight his attraction to his beautiful best friend. And then she bends over and I have to turn my head away because her leggings definitely aren’t squat-proof. I position myself in front of her to avoid the amazing view.

“You’re doing it wrong,” I say as she moves into a forward fold that unfortunately gives me a perfect sight line to her cleavage.

“How?”

“You’re looking at me. Let your head hang down.”

She drops her head.

“And don’t bounce.” I need her tits to stop jiggling, because I’m literally powerless to look away.

“Jeez, you’re annoying!” She stands back up and puts her hand on her hip. “Okay, Coach. Why don’t you take me through a proper stretch routine?”