Page 12 of Her Property

“Oh, I’ve tried,” she said. “I don’t really do relaxing.”

“Just like you don’t do thrill-seeking, and yet so far you’ve seen a man naked and gashed your hand open within the space of an hour.”

Catherine’s skin went a brilliant shade of crimson. “I—I…” “Don’t worry, we’re here,” he said, pulling into the lot. She had the door open before he killed the engine.

“I’ll just wait in the truck,” he called after her.

Catherine Jones may work for the enemy, but she sure as hell was fun to play with.

Cat

“How’d you manage this?” the doctor asked as she examined Cat’s palm. She was a kind woman, probably only a little older than Cat, who’d introduced herself as Dr. Mason.

Oh, just staring at a gorgeous, naked man and then falling on my ass.

“Just a clumsy accident,” she said, not meeting the doctor’s eye. Thankfully, Dr. Mason didn’t press.

She thought of Jake, waiting outside in his truck. Thought of the searing heat that had spread through her when his hand wrapped around her thigh. Her breath had caught in her throat, only releasing when he pulled it away again.

The doctor finished taping her hand up. “Ms. Jones?”

Cat looked over at the doctor. Had she said something?

“Are you feeling okay?” Dr. Mason asked.

“Yes, fine. Thank you. Are we all done?” Her hand had four neat stitches in it that made her queasy to look at.

“Just about. Do you have someone to take you home?”

“Yes,” she said. “My…” she paused. She was going to say,friend.That was laughable. She and Jake couldn’t be further from friends. What were they? Nemeses once removed? “Someone’s waiting for me outside,” she finished awkwardly.

Dr. Mason was looking at her strangely, but she nodded. “Well, you let reception know if you need them to call you a cab.”

A cab, of course. She could have told Jake she would take a cab back. She didn’t realize there were cabs in small towns like this, but of course there were. How city was she? Though by the fact he’d insisted on driving her here himself she had the feeling Jake wouldn’t have agreed to her taking a cab back to Ruby Lake. Not that it was up to him.

The truth was that even with all things considered—Alfred, the skinny dipping, the serious injury—she’d liked the drive into town with Jake.

Probably just because she was going stir-crazy being at the lake house by herself.

Ten minutes later she reemerged in the waiting room. Jake’s truck was parked outside the window. But the man himself wasn’t inside.

Maybe she could get a cab after all. She could tell the receptionist to tell Jake she’d gone home. She could avoid seeing him altogether—which would at least be a relief for the jumble of feelings rolling around inside of her. She wasn’t supposed to go near this man, yet she enjoyed being in his company. She was supposed to be relaxing, but she was going crazy and gettingmorestressed out on her own.

She was doing her best to relax on the deck when she’d seen the neighbor naked.

Cat cringed at the whole situation. How thehellhad she screwed up so badly yet again? No, this was her opportunity to nip this in the bud. Go back to Alfred’s, wait out the week, and pretend the whole thing never happened.

Pleased to have made a decision, she turned to the receptionist desk, where the young woman sat engrossed in something on her computer. She needed to act fast if she was going to slip out of here before Jake came back from wherever he’d wandered off to.

“Hi,” Cat said.

The receptionist looked up and smiled. She was pretty and couldn’t be more than her early twenties. Cat suddenly felt very tired again. How was it she’d felt more exhausted in the first week she’d taken off work in years than she did practically camping out in the office seven days a week back in the city?

“How can I help you?”

“Did you see the man I came in here with?” Cat asked.

“Jake Colson?”

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