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One whole week.

Grace had been arriving for their scheduled therapy sessions for an entire week and she still couldn’t seem to get past his defenses. She knew just as much now as she did last week.

Riley was a single child to a father who didn’t agree with him signing up for the military. He served fifteen years and was charged with disorderly conduct and given early retirement.

Beyond that, he hadn’t opened up much.

There were moments when he made her feel like she was just a silly little girl, which only made her want to talk less. How was she supposed to connect with him on a topic she knew nothing about?

That was why she sat in Shane’s office before her session today. He’d been out chatting with one of his employees and told her to wait for him. But the longer she sat in his empty office, the more she felt like she was being ridiculous. She had the education. She had the training.

Telling Shane she didn’t feel equipped to work with Riley was like saying she didn’t think she should even be working here. What did that say about her? One week and she wanted to quit?

She shot out of her seat, prepared to slip out and tell Shane she’d figured everything out, but then he entered the office and shut the door. His hands were full of files, and he had a genuine smile on his face that seemed to make his eyes that much brighter.

Working for Shane had been more fun than she had expected. The job wasn’t just being someone for Riley to talk to. It was more than that.

Risking losing it all wasn’t something she was prepared to do.

Her eyes followed Shane as he walked around her and toward his desk. “Now, what can I do for you, Grace?”

A lump snagged her throat and she shot a fleeting look toward the door. How could she play this off as a mistake? What could she blame her being here on?

“Nothing. I was just—”

He gestured toward the seat she’d just vacated. “Have a seat. What’s going on?”

Slowly, she lowered herself into her chair and forced a smile. This was a mistake. She shouldn’t have come. She should have known better than to think she’d make a difference in one week. But now that she was here, there didn’t seem to be anything she could do to change it.

Heaving a long, slow breath, she stared at her hands. “I wanted to talk to you about my client.”

“Mr. Scott? Oh, that’s right. I was going to call you in to talk about him.”

Her head snapped up and her heart fell over itself.

Great. What had Riley been saying about her? He probably complained about her being judgy. That would be the biggest thing. She wasn’t supposed to even suggest that the clients needed to change their outlook, especially not this soon. They needed to come to that opinion on their own.

Might as well rip off the Band-Aid. She’d done her best, but it wasn’t good enough. “I’ll understand if he wants to see another therapist—”

“What? No. That’s not it.” Shane dropped his file on the desk and pulled out his chair. “I had a nice talk with him the other day, albeit short.” The chair creaked with the effort it took to hold a human body. Shane leaned back in his seat and clasped his hands behind his head. “There was only one thing he wanted to tell me, no matter how I tried to change the subject and check in on how he was doing since he’d arrived.

Pins and needles were a drastic understatement.

Shane didn’t appear to be upset or disappointed at all. If anything, he appeared thoughtful. “I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but it’s working.”

So many emotions and sensations burst through her body at the same time. Her heart stopped and started all at once. Her breathing hitched and her stomach dropped. “Pardon?”

Shane shrugged and leaned closer to his computer. “Yeah. I asked him how things were going. He said they were going as well as could be expected. When I pressed for more information, the only thing he said was that he liked you.”

She blinked. It was the only thing her body could do to react to his statement. Riley liked her? She hadn’t done much of anything for him that she could tell.

Her boss chuckled. “Don’t look so surprised. I knew you would make a good fit for him. It just took some getting used to.”

“I’m pretty sure he just doesn’t want to have to wait for a new sponsor to be assigned to him. You remember the last conversation we had.”

“I do.”

“Riley—Mr. Scott is only here to fulfill a requirement. If he had it his way, he’d be out of here faster than a horse shot from the starting gate.”