Free Hard Edge by Tess Oliver Page A

“Topic change. Did the squirrel make it?”
    Caden pushed a loose strand of my hair back off my face. “Yep. He might have to change his squirrel underpants after that close call, but he made it thanks to your quick maneuver. Not many people would throw themselves onto the hard, unforgiving cement just to avoid hitting a ground squirrel, but that’s one of the things I’ve always loved about you, Trinket.” He stood up, and his giant shadow cooled me briefly. “Should I help you up?”
    I didn’t answer, still feeling flustered by my earlier confession.
    Caden walked behind me. His hands circled my waist, and he lifted me to my feet. My back pressed against his chest, and for a fleeting second, he held me like that, as if we were more than just two old friends, as if heat and emotion and something even deeper, floated between us. Our bodies stayed close as if a powerful magnet held them together. I was that teenage girl again, hopelessly in love with the boy across the street and nearly dizzy with the notion of standing in his arms. Only this time was different. This time he held me back, as if he wasn’t ready to let me go easily.
    Reluctantly, he lowered his arms. I stepped forward, away from the magnetic field, away from the heat of his body. I turned around to face him. Caden looked just as stricken as I felt. It had been one of those strange moments in time, when it seemed that something unspoken and significant had passed between us, only neither of us could understand it.
    I leaned over and looked down at my knees. Thin rivers of blood trickled down both shins. “Great. I’m going to have to wear bandages on my knees. That won’t be humiliating. I wonder if my mom still has my Hello Kitty bandages in her medicine cabinet. I might as well go all out on feeling like a little kid again.”
    “They don’t look too bad, but we need to get you cleaned up. Then I’ll ride back and get my truck.” Without warning he swept me up into his arms.
    “Oh, wow, was not expecting this.” I wrapped my arm around his neck and relaxed in his strong arms as he carried me toward the abandoned depot. I sniffed the soapy fragrance on his skin. “You smell good, by the way.” I dangled my feet in the air as my legs hung over his arm. “This is nice. I’m already plotting my next embarrassing kerplunk in my head just so this can happen again.” The moment of hot tension, when I’d stood against him, had vanished but nothing seemed quite the same. I was flirting, blatantly flirting, with Caden, and I couldn’t seem to switch it off. I’d let loose with the crush reveal, and it seemed I wasn’t going to be able to tuck away those feelings anymore. Caden still stirred every one of my senses. I hadn’t expected it. I hadn’t considered that my admiration for him would still be so strong after so much time had passed, but it was still there, every ounce of it.
    Caden kicked some of the debris out of the way as he carried me into the depot. His beard stubble rubbed against my forehead. I liked the feel of it, abrasive, but in a good way. “I’ll sit you down inside, out of the sun and then go back and grab one of those water bottles to clean off the dirt and blood.”
    The inside of the empty building had just as much graffiti as the outside. Caden set me down on the bench running alongside the walls. The windows were long gone and a nice breeze blew through the structure. A bird chirped and fluttered wildly as it swooped down over us from a nest that had been built in the top corner. It dashed frantically out of the building.
    “I think we just disturbed someone’s egg sitting.” I got up and hobbled across the floor to the other side, away from the nest, as Caden hurried back outside to get the water bottle. I sat still, trying to quiet the heartbeat in my chest.
    I gazed at him as his long stride carried him along the path back toward me. Strands of his dark hair had fallen loose from the band holding it. The