Not Just The Girl Next Door

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The objects that were too scary for the shepherd to face on his own had been so much easier to handle with Charlie leading the way. Mollie had watched in satisfaction as the Lab wandered off with Chief happily trailing behind.

“That’s great, Mollie.” Pride filled Zeke’s expression as he smiled down at her, and it was easy to forget how frustrating he could be sometimes. “Sounds like you’re making real progress.”

“Yeah.” With Chief. Too bad she couldn’t say the same for herself. Standing so close to Zeke, basking in his praise, it was easy to forget the realization she’d had working with the dogs.

On a professional level, Mollie appreciated the tethering technique. But on a far more personal level, as she’d watched the two dogs together, she couldn’t avoid the obvious comparison.

As the kid sister, she’d always been the one tagging along, following her beloved big brother and his best friend. But Patrick was no longer there for her to follow, and Zeke—

Zeke would never see her for the woman she was as long as she was still walking in the same steps as the girl she’d always been.

“I’m meeting some colleagues for lunch,” he was saying. After glancing at his watch, he offered, “You want to come?”

Tagging along...

Mollie shook her head. “I still have my shopping to do.”

“Ah, yes. Your chew toy. For the dogs.” His lips lifted in a teasing smile, one Mollie was suddenly determined to wipe from his gorgeous face.

She needed to prove she was woman enough to choose her own path. And if he didn’t see that—if he couldn’t see that—well, then, maybe it was time for Mollie to turn her attention to a man who did.

“That’s right, and something for me.”

Spinning around, she stepped toward the lingerie store. In the split second before the automatic doors to the vanilla-and-spice-scented shop opened, she caught a satisfying glimpse of Zeke’s stunned expression in the reflective glass.

Chapter Four (#ua5ce53fa-ed50-5295-8ce1-b0bf0edfff69)

“Hey, sorry I’m late.”

Zeke looked up from his coffee as his friend Matt Fielding claimed the seat across from him. “No worries.” He lifted his cup in greeting. “I just ordered.”

The two men typically met at Whole Bean Coffee Saturday mornings before heading over to the local gym to shoot hoops. Matt was still working his way back from injuries sustained while he was in the army but insisted the games of b-ball were far less stressful on his leg than the rigors of physical therapy.

“How’s everything going?” he asked over the din of caffeine-laced conversation going on all around them.

As usual, the coffee shop was crowded. He’d spotted Mollie’s friend Amanda and the new shelter director, Rebekah Taylor, earlier, but Mollie wasn’t with them. Not that Zeke expected her to be. Her weekends were usually booked solid with the group classes she offered. Most evenings she gave private lessons to dogs and owners who either preferred one-on-one meetings or needed more individual help.

Add in the two new foster dogs and the additional work she’d taken on since the tornado had hit the shelter, and she certainly had her hands full.

No doubt that was the reason she hadn’t returned his calls or texts for the past few days.

“And then Ellie and Sparkle decided to run off and join the circus.”

“That’s great, Matt, and—wait, what did you say?”

“Does it matter?” his friend asked wryly. “Since you haven’t been listening since I sat down.”

“Sorry, I was thinking about Mollie.”

Matt’s eyebrows rose. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Zeke sighed. “I’m worried about her. Seems like all she does is work with her dogs.”

“Some people could say the same about you and your patients, not to mention all the time you spend at the veteran support group.”

For Zeke, volunteering was the least he could do to try to repay the soldiers who had sacrificed so much. Soldiers like Patrick... In the months after his friend’s death, Zeke had reached out to the local VA and organized a therapy group for former soldiers to come and share their experiences. But no matter how many hours he spent helping the wounded warriors who had returned home, the time had yet to ease his own feelings of loss.

Of guilt.

“I’ve been home for months, and you haven’t mentioned seeing anyone special.”

Giving his head a quick shake, Zeke reached for his coffee and took a large swallow of the strong brew. “Maybe it has been a while,” he told his friend. Zeke realized he couldn’t remember the last woman he’d gone out with. Not that Matt would have known about his dates either way.

Ever since his broken engagement, Zeke had kept his dating life separate from his friends and family. Oh, sure, someday if he met a woman and things got serious, he’d have to cross that line, but he didn’t see that happening. Not for a long, long time.

Not after Lilah...

Lilah had moved to town right before his senior year, and the elder Fairchilds and Harpers became quick friends. Much to his teenaged mortification, his parents asked him to show Lilah, the new girl, around. They hadn’t understood how ridiculous the request was. In a small town like Spring Forest, the blonde, beautiful newcomer was instantly the most popular girl in school.

All the boys, including Zeke, were smitten. But even as a geeky teen, he’d known he didn’t stand a chance. Lilah had a type, and he didn’t fit the star quarterback, homecoming king, cool kid mold. She and Patrick had even briefly dated the summer before his friend went off to boot camp.

She’d left after graduation, but a few years ago she’d stunned the town by moving back home. At the time, Zeke hadn’t given it much thought. He’d grown up. He’d moved on. Lilah—and his ridiculous crush—were part of his past. Or so he thought, until he’d gone out with his coworkers and spotted her at the hottest new nightclub in Raleigh. In all the years they’d known each other, she’d never given him a second look. But that night, he’d felt the full-on impact across the crowded bar as she’d checked him out head to toe...

And with one look, he’d been hooked.

Their parents had been thrilled when he and Lilah started dating and absolutely ecstatic when they got engaged. Friends for over a decade, they’d celebrated the idea of becoming family... But when the engagement ended, so too did that friendship.

“I offered to fix Mollie up,” he told Matt.

“You?” Choking on a sip of coffee, Matt set his mug aside. “Sorry if I don’t see you in the role of cupid.”

Zeke waved the image of the arrow-shooting cherub aside. “I know Mollie better than anyone, and I’m good at reading people. I thought I could find the right kind of guy for her.”

“I’m, wow, really not sure where to start with any of that, but okay, Mr. People Reader. Who’s the guy?”

When Zeke had first mentioned the idea to Mollie, at least a dozen single guys had come to mind, but since then... Since then, he’d watched Mollie walk into a shop filled with sexy lingerie and he hadn’t been able to get the image of her draped in satin and silk and lace out of his mind.

If mixing his dating life with his friends and family was a line in the sand he wouldn’t cross, then even considering any kind of romantic relationship with Mollie was the Great Wall of China. He and Patrick had long ago sworn they were brothers in every way that mattered, which made Mollie like a sister to him, and he would not—could not—think of her in any other way.

But there was nothing to stop any guy she went out with from imagining all that and more...and he really had to ask himself why he thought Mollie dating was such a good idea in the first place.

“I’m—I’m not sure,” he muttered. “It can’t be just anyone.”

“Well, what about Dan Sutton?”

The local lawyer was well respected in Spring Forest despite the fair share of gossip surrounding the disintegration of his business partnership and marriage after his partner and his wife ran off together. Still, Zeke shook his head. “He has his hands full raising his three girls.”

“I don’t know,” Matt argued. “Maybe as a single dad he’s looking for someone to help lighten the load. And look how Dillon helped bring Ryan and Amanda together.”

Dillon was Ryan’s six-year-old son, and what had started out as a pretend engagement to appease the boy’s grandparents had quickly turned into a genuine love match.

“Dan’s a good guy, but he’s not right for Mollie. He’s a bit too conservative.” Zeke couldn’t see the man putting up with a layer of dog hair all over his expensive suits. “Mollie needs someone more down-to-earth.”

“What about Cade Battle then? You can’t get much more down-to-earth than a farmer,” Matt pointed out, but Zeke was already shaking his head.

“Cade’s too much of a loner.” Though the hardworking man had a soft spot for the Whitaker sisters and partnered with them to foster some of the less domesticated animals that showed up at the shelter, he barely gave the time of day to anyone else.

Matt brought up a few more guys—Grant Whitaker, the Whitaker sisters’ nephew, and Davis Macintyre, a vet tech at the shelter, but Zeke shook his head. “Grant is heading back to Florida after the renovations on the shelter are complete. And Davis is even more introverted than Mollie. She needs someone who can help bring her out of her shell a little.”