Page 60 of 15 Summers Later

“I get it. I’ve got an old lady of my own.”

“Right. How is Ruby?” she asked of his chocolate Lab.

“She’s good. Funny as ever. She still loves to cuddle and she’s still afraid of the telephone.”

She smiled. “How old is she?”

“Eleven now.”

“Mo is twelve. That’s getting up there for a golden.”

“He’s still doing okay, though? Anything I need to look at on either of your dogs?”

She shook her head. “I think you’ve done enough tonight, Dr. Gentry. Put away your stethoscope. A goat, a miniature horse and me with my bruised toe. That’s a full evening, especially after a party. Believe it or not, you don’t have to take care of the whole world.”

His smile. “It’s a hard habit to break, one I think I inherited from my dad.”

“He was a good man. And so are you.”

On impulse, she reached up to kiss his cheek. She couldn’t have said why she did it. Maybe it was out of gratitude for his constant generosity of spirit toward her and all the animals she loved or the deep well of gratitude she felt for all his help with the animal shelter.

They had been friends long enough that casual physical affection between them wasn’t all that unusual, though perhaps more rare these days.

This brush of her lips against his skin somehow didn’t feel casual.

He had a hint of evening stubble on his jaw and he smelled even better this close.

He gazed down at her, eyes wide with surprise. They looked at each other for a long time, the only sound their mingled breathing.

The moment seemed to stretch out, delicate and fragile, then an instant later, Luke shifted his mouth to hers. Her breath caught, tangled with his as his mouth brushed across hers with aching slowness.

What was happening right now?

Madi reeled, dizzy with shock. Luke Gentry was kissing her—her—in her kitchen, his arms holding her close, as if she were infinitely precious to him.

She forgot about the dogs, about her sore toe, about anything else but him and this moment.

She hadn’t kissed a man in a long time. Not since her summer fling the previous year, when she had dated a cute cowboy who had come to town to work as a wrangler at one of the dude ranches nearby.

Luke did not kiss like that guy, whose name she couldn’t even remember right now.

In fact, she could not remember ever experiencing another kiss like this one, where she felt every heartbeat echo through her, and was certain the world outside this farmhouse had suddenly tilted on its axis.

She didn’t want to stop. She wanted to stay forever right here in his arms, where she felt safe and warm and cherished.

They might have stayed there kissing until the morning, if Mo hadn’t barked softly to be let in from the other side of the door.

At the sound, Luke froze. His eyes flew open and she could see exactly when the soft, dreamlike state lifted and reality returned.

The expression in his gaze shifted from one of hazy desire to something closer to astonished dismay.

The mouth that had been so delicious on hers sagged open for an instant, before compressing into a tight line.

As he dropped his arms from around her, Madi felt something inside her begin to shrivel, something soft and vulnerable and wonderful that had flared to life during the kiss.

“That was... I shouldn’t have... We shouldn’t have...”

She should probably say something to ease the extreme awkwardness that has suddenly blossomed between them, but she could not for the life of her, think of any words beyondwow, which she didn’t think would be quite appropriate.

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