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"Did you break anything? What hurts?" He began to syste with her ankle, up her calf to her thigh and back down the other side "Does your stomach hurt? How about your back?"

Her pale face went pink and she crossed her arms over her waist "Um, yes No, I mean I’otten a little squeaky, and he stilled "Calm down, seriously I’m fine"

She sat up and blew the curls off her forehead with a huff A crown of maple leaves circled her head, and he plucked each one out

"I think I would’ve had it, but then I turned around and I didn’t feel the root start to give Good thing I didn’t do that a little further up, because I would’ve landed in the creek" The nervous babble, likely from the dump of adrenaline, ceased and her eyes widened "Is Gandalf all right?" She looked around and the dog, who’d gotten distracted sniffing Skeeter’s butt, lu body to hers and sighed "We’re okay, right big guy?"

Trick felt some of the tension drain out of him It hadn’t been that bad of a fall but, on the force he’d seen soic outcomes, so it had scared the shit out of him And maybe it orse because it had been his fault that she wasn’t paying attention in the first place

"A little stiff there," she ad herself to her feet He took her arh" She mumbled her thanks and stuffed her hands into her pockets "So ere you going to tell h Maybe her fall had been a sign Another supernatural assist fro it as one because the need to confess had all but disappeared Another few days That’s all he needed, and by then he’d have a chance to convince her that Cat I was going to see if you wanted to go out for happy hour toht instead of Thursday I’ed and picked up Gandalf’s leash "Sounds good tohand "He tends to walk you, and I don’t want his back under you We should probably head back The dogs got some exercise in, and you’re covered in mud down your back"

She wrinkled her nose and tried to crane her neck to see over her shoulder "Ugh, okay I’ with you and pretend that’s all e to hold her hand or take her arm as they made their way back down in the direction they’d coo, but now it felt weird Like, just by touching her, he ot back to her house and wound their way around to the front door, she alking normally and most of his worry that she’d really injured herself disappeared

She spun around to face him on her doorstep and rolled her eyes "Sorryout until lunch, but--" she gestured to her backside with a grim smile "--I have to scrape some manure off me, take the world’s hottest shower, and then I have a date with a heating pad"

He nodded, "No probleive h the door, and theback, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ot even more out of hand But already, after only a day, she seemed so much more confident So much happier now that she’d found someone who actually moved her for the first time since before Victor He couldn’t take that fro to stop until Grace realized exactly how a she truly was

And if that took another date with Catman before he could tell her the truth, so be it

…

Grace stretched out on the recliner, burrowing deeper into the heating pad Luckily, other than a little stiffness in her lower back, she felt fine No residual issues fro because she had soso she needed

A farprobleles

She’d been so sure, after her night of wild sex with a , that when she saw Trick again, the feelings she’d had since the first day they’d met would have disappeared She’d been so convinced that they were nothing uy, and before Victor, he was exactly the type of ed and having people in her life that she could trust ay ht Now though, she wasn’t so certain

Could it be that Serena was right? That picking guys like boring Seth and shutting herself off to soht feel too much for them was a bad idea?

She peered out thein the direction of Trick’s house and wondered idly if he was back froest ever in Sale under fire Between that and the men’s deep respect for him and his top-notch scores in , he’d been a shoe-in for the proht of the last tio, and she still wasn’t over it His tea drug raid The "cheot tipped off soot sloppy The whole e fire had broken out She’d seen it on the news and had known exactly how serious it was She’d been cli for hiht As soon as she’d heard his car, she’d run next door to check on him and nearly keeled over with relief that he was okay

And what is that?

Because they were friends, and she cared about hiles be damned

She tucked her feet under her butt and picked up the reo over so like a swarhly doubted she could focus on anything at all, nevera mindless repeat of Say Yes to the Dress when her cell phone buzzed She blew out a sigh of exasperation when she saw it all the way across the room on the side table near the door She flipped down the foot rest and went to retrieve it, relieved when her back barely gave a twinge

She peered at the screen and frowned

Blocked number

Probably a telemarketer She was about to put the phone into the pocket of the hoodie she earing but then stopped What if, by some crazy chance…

"Hello?"