First Love, Second Chance. Cara Colter

running up the trunk of a nearby tree. His leash wrapped around Connor’s legs and then Sunny’s, round and round, pulling them closer and closer together.

      “Rufus, stop!” she hollered. But it was too late to get the leash off her wrist and Rufus was too strong and too rambunctious. She and Connor were quickly bound together by the tangled leash, his big body pressed intimately up against hers.

      Rufus quit barking and the leash went slack. The silly dog whined, looking everywhere for that darn squirrel.

      Doing nothing to extricate himself, Connor looked down at Sunny, his darkening gaze zeroing in on her, and said, “Your dog needs a firmer hand.”

      Sunny stared up at him, stunned into inaction, heat building inside, almost drowning in his gorgeous green eyes. She could only nod, wishing in some far, foolish corner of her brain that he would kiss her.

      Oh, my stars! He must have had the same idea. A moment later, he lowered his head, bringing his hands to her shoulders and his lips to within inches of hers. “Although I guess there are some advantages to having a naughty dog, right?” He moved closer still, his breath washing over her, his male heat searing her. Her heart raced and her breath stalled in her throat. He dropped his head—

      Rufus yanked on the leash, hard, barking frantically again. In an instant, she and Connor went from almost kissing to falling over like a giant, leash-wrapped felled tree. Sunny squealed and Connor let out a hearty “Whoa!”

      Fortunately for Sunny, but not for Connor, he landed on the bottom with an oof, cushioning her fall. She came to rest on top of him, her legs entangled with his, her body plastered from head to toe against him. His masculine, spicy scent surrounded her, warming her from the inside out.

      Bad reaction. She struggled to get free, wiggling and flailing, letting out a few unladylike grunts, one thought front and center in her mind:

      He’d almost kissed her!

      Worse yet, she’d been well past the brink of letting him. Luckily, Rufus’s antics had stopped that in the nick of time. Connor wasn’t the man she was looking for. She had no business kissing him.

      She needed to get away. She tried to stand, but her lower legs were still tangled in the leash. Muttering dark thoughts, she rolled off Connor to the ground, her feet still bound to his.

      “Rufus, you big, stupid mutt, come here!” she said, pulling on his leash. Rufus whined and meekly obeyed. Sunny quickly unhooked his leash from his collar, then unwrapped it from their legs, still holding him with one hand.

      As soon as she could, she stood, brushing herself off with one hand, hoping her blush had faded. She re-hooked Rufus’s leash, took a deep breath and looked at Connor, who’d stood, too.

      “I’ll be going now,” she said to Connor in as normal a voice as possible, unable to meet his probing gaze. “I’m sure you’ll be able to explain why I didn’t accept your little deal to your father.”

      With that, she started walking, her head held high, Rufus trotting along at her side. She softened her earlier harsh words with a stroke to the dog’s big head. Connor didn’t stop her this time, and she was glad. He flustered and confused her and she hated that. She might be broke, but she still had her pride, despite their little near kiss.

      And Connor Forbes was right where he wanted to be before his dad stepped in.

      On his own.

      His runaway heartbeat was thundering in his ears as Connor watched Sunny walk away, noting with lots of male appreciation how her blond hair looked like white gold glowing in the sun. He wished she’d come back here and tangle herself up with him again. He’d come so close to kissing her, to letting his desire run its course. He was sure he would never forget the feel of her soft, curvy body moving around on top of him…

      He snorted, jerking his thoughts back to what mattered, forcing himself to focus on the cold, harsh, unexpected reality that had nothing to do with how much he’d enjoyed their leash-and-fall incident:

      Damn, she’d actually turned him down!

      He made himself stand still and not run after her, needing time to regroup and cool his blood. He couldn’t deny that he admired the hell out of her at this moment. Okay, so her pigheadedness was pretty irritating, but he had to appreciate the pride he’d seen burning like hot coals in her eyes. She had principles. He liked that.

      But what he liked—and it was becoming clear he really liked a lot of things about Sunny Williams—didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was walking away.

      He rubbed his chin, acknowledging that his priorities had changed in a big hurry. But he’d blown it and he had no idea how to fix things.

      He’d always been more comfortable immersing himself in books than talking to people; even as a boy, he’d spent hours reading science books by himself, hoping to make a connection with his father by learning as much as he could about medicine. Personal relationships weren’t his forte.

      He started walking back to his office, looking at his problem from a practical viewpoint. The truth was, he needed Sunny Williams in a way that went far beyond his desire to have her laying on top of him again. Now, he just had to figure out a way to talk her into changing her mind—for the sake of becoming a medical researcher and jettisoning Mr. Commitment back to his dad, of course.