Page 23 of Before and After

My gaze narrowed. I’d add them to my list of things to keep an eye on.

Chapter 7

Allie

Ollie looked cute as hell in his woolen hat and jacket. I grinned at him. Thank God it was Saturday and my day off.

The sun was shining, but the air was cold. I stared up at the bright-blue sky. We’d get our first snow soon. One thing I loved about Windward was its four distinct seasons. When I got sick of the hot weather, winter rolled in. And when I’d had enough of snow, the trees turned green, and summer would appear.

But right now, I was enjoying the fall. Halloween was coming up and I wanted to make it fun for Ollie.

He and I walked down the main part of the town. The main streets were pedestrian only, and lined with stores selling art, clothes, souvenirs. On the weekends, the stores were busy. Day trippers from Denver filled the shops and bustling cafés.

“Have you decided on a costume for the Halloween Spooktacular next week?”

His nose wrinkled. “Not yet.”

“A superhero, something spooky, a Jedi?” I’d been peppering him with options for weeks.

He made a non-committal noise.

Okay, I’d have another run at that later. “You want to go and play in the playground?”

Ollie glanced over at the colorful playground equipment that was crawling with kids. “No, thanks.”

I kept my face even. “All right, well, we can get a coffee at Mountain Brew.”

He rolled his eyes. “Allie, I’m too young for coffee.”

“You are? Hmm. Well, what else can we do?”

“Get ice cream.”

Now I rolled my eyes. The kid had a one-track mind when it came to ice cream. Summer or winter, hot or cold, he wanted ice cream.

I felt that familiar prickle of guilt. I should be feeding him less sugar. “I don’t know, Ol-ster.” That’s when I noticed he was glancing at some older kids throwing a baseball. “Are you keen to play baseball?”

He looked away. “No.”

God, parenting should come with a manual.How to Read Kids 101. Along withHow Not to Screw Kids Up 102.

We wandered a bit more, moving close to the trail that ran along the bottom of the mountain and along a pretty, burbling creek. My gaze snagged on a man running along the trail, and I forgot all about my urgent need for coffee. I forgot about Ollie and eating too much sugar. Hell, I forgot my name.

He wore black running shorts and no shirt, although I could see it was tucked into his back pocket. He had powerful legs and abs, and so many sweat-slicked muscles I didn’t know where to look first. He moved with athletic grace and ease, obviously knowing the limits of his body. Something told me that he could run all day, if he needed to. My gaze drifted higher, and I noted he had ear buds in his ear, and that’s all I got before I noted dark eyes that were locked on me.

Caden.

Oh, God.

My lovely appreciation of his hot, muscled body turned to pure lust. It arrowed through my belly and between my legs.

Now, I was imagining that powerful body moving on mine, inside mine, my hands digging into hard muscle. I watched as he ran toward me.

“Allie?”

Ollie’s voice jolted me out of… Whatever the hell my hormone-saturated brain was doing. “Yeah?” My voice was one level above a squeak.

“Are you okay?”