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“You saved Samson,” one of the two sobbed.
Tears wavered in the other girl’s eyes. “We were so worried we wouldn’t catch him. He got away really fast.”
Even without the identical clothing, Olivia pegged them for twins. They had the same long, pale blond hair, pretty features and arresting golden-brown eyes.
Something about those eyes sparked a memory, one that shimmered just out of reach.
Olivia glanced around. Where were their parents? The girls were too young to be in the park alone. She plucked the puppy off Baloo and held him out. “Looking for this?”
“Oh, thank you.” Blinking away her tears, the girl on Olivia’s left took the dog, uncaring he was still wet. Now that the puppy was no longer harassing him, Baloo rolled back to his stomach and continued his nap.
“You look familiar.” The girl holding the puppy angled her head. “Do we know you?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve only just—”
“Megan, Molly,” a deep, masculine voice rang out from the hilltop behind the girls. There was a note of concern in the rich baritone, one Olivia hoped she alleviated with a brief wave of her hand.
His steps quickened, eating up the ground in long, sure strides. A thousand thoughts collided together in her mind. She knew that purposeful walk, that handsome face, that wind-tousled hair the color of sandy, Florida beaches.
Connor Mitchell. Dressed in cargo shorts and a faded blue T-shirt.
What was her brother’s partner in their family medical practice doing here, in the middle of a workday?
Olivia’s gaze met Connor’s across the lawn, and she immediately recognized the similarity with the two girls standing beside her, especially around the eyes. Even with his worried gaze, that was one good-looking man heading her way, as athletic and self-assured as she remembered.
Connor had been her brother’s best friend since before she could remember. He’d always been confident, kind and so blissfully unaware of his masculine appeal. During high school, Olivia had found herself weaving secret teenage dreams, with him playing the starring role.
That had been a very long time ago.
Yet memories took hold of her. Stupid, girlish hopes and dreams for a boy far too old for her—a full five years—who hadn’t noticed she was alive. He’d been too stuck on his childhood sweetheart, a woman he’d married right out of college. Shelly, Sheila, something like that. She’d died several years ago, leaving Connor a widower. And—as evidenced by the two girls standing beside her with those same striking Mitchell eyes—a single dad.
* * *
Relieved to find his daughters safe and the puppy no longer running loose, Connor let out an audible whoosh of air. The girls had darted away so fast he’d lost sight of them for a few terrifying minutes. Anything could have happened in that amount of time. The possibilities made him shudder.
Thankfully, nothing bad had occurred.
No doubt the woman standing beside the twins had played a large part in that. Gratitude nearly had him stumbling over his own feet.
He locked his gaze with hers and felt the blow of shocked recognition like a punch to his gut. His feet ground to a halt far too close to her. He took a step back. “Olivia?”
“Hello, Connor.” She gave him a slow, tentative smile that was a little shaky around the edges and yet devastatingly pretty. Ethan’s baby sister was all grown up.
“Hello, Olivia.” His voice sounded rusty and slightly stunned.
Who could blame him for his reaction? He had no way of knowing the shy, awkward teenager would become a woman of extraordinary beauty. How could he have known?
Olivia hadn’t come home since taking a job in... Connor couldn’t remember where. Somewhere in the South, he thought, but the specific location escaped him. It was possible Ethan had never told him. His medical partner was a man of few words.
Therein lay the problem. If Ethan had told Connor more about his sister, he would have been better prepared. Instead, he was stuck staring, struggling to reconcile his memory of the girl Olivia had been and the woman she’d become.
Little Olivia Scott had become a very attractive woman. The doll-like features had matured considerably. Her thick, mahogany hair hung in loose waves past her shoulders now.
A snarl of multilayered, complicated emotions surfaced, urging Connor to turn around and forget he ever ran into her today.
“Daddy?” Megan moved to him, tugged on his hand. “You know this lady?”
Connor shook himself free of Olivia’s gaze and focused on his daughter. Sometimes it hurt to look at either of the twins. Both girls resembled Sheila. They had her same small build, delicate features and light blond hair.
Their eyes, however, were all his. Mitchell eyes, a trait that had been passed down through several generations. Or so his mother always said.
That wasn’t the point.
What was the point?
“This is Olivia,” he said at last, glancing back at her. “Miss Olivia Scott.”
“Scott?” Molly’s forehead creased in puzzlement. “Like Dr. Ethan?”
“That’s right.” Olivia answered his daughter before Connor could. “I’m Dr. Ethan’s little sister.”
Not so little anymore, he thought. Not only had the round, girlish features matured, but her voice had deepened since he’d last seen her. It was husky now, somehow softer, an appealing alto that made him think...
What?
Feeling slightly ambushed, Connor took another step back. Away from the sweet kid who was no longer his best friend’s off-limits little sister, but a grown woman.
It felt wrong even noticing.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Megan bobble the squirming puppy. Welcoming the distraction, Connor reached out, catching the reckless mutt midair before tucking him under his arm like a football.
“Olivia. These are my daughters.” He angled his head to the right, “Molly, and—” he hitched his chin to his left “—Megan.”
“We’re twins,” Molly told her with no small amount of pride.
Olivia nodded. “I noticed.”
She gave the girls a warm smile, but Connor noted she wasn’t as calm as she appeared. Her breath was coming a little too quickly. She seemed nervous.
Because of him?
He cleared his throat.
“And this scoundrel—” he jiggled the puppy, earning him a happy yip “—is Samson, the newest member of the Mitchell household. He slipped out of his collar, which, as you can see, is still attached to this.” Connor lifted the leash in his other hand. “Apparently, I failed to cinch the buckle tight enough.”
“Ah.” Olivia reached out and scratched the puppy behind his ears. “I’ve never seen an animal this short and...um...round move quite so fast.”
“He’s fat but has lots of hidden moves.” Most of which Connor could live without.
The puppy had been his daughters’ idea and an added responsibility to his already full life, especially now that he and Ethan had discussed expanding their practice to include Saturday hours and two evenings a week.
Even without the added workload, as much as the girls tried to take care of their new dog, and they did try, they simply had no experience with pets. The bulk of the responsibility fell on Connor.
Dropping her hand, Olivia studied the puppy with laughing eyes. “I can only imagine what this little guy is capable of when you turn your back.”
Connor could give her a dissertation on the topic. “You have no idea.”
They shared a smile solely between them. For a brief moment, Connor felt the tension drain from his shoulders and the ache in his heart loosen just a bit. The sensation left him oddly shaken, as had this entire meeting.
He cleared his throat again.
Although the shyer of his two daughters, Megan moved in close to Olivia and tugged on her arm. “You’re very pretty.”
“Well, thank you. So are you.”
“What about me?” Molly asked, squirming in next to her sister.
Eyes crinkling at the edges, Olivia pretended to consider the question carefully. “You are easily as pretty as your sister.”
Both girls laughed.
Connor did, too. For the first time in days—months—he wasn’t worried about tight schedules, or running late, or forgetting something important. The girls were safe. The puppy found. And Olivia Scott was back in town.
Chapter Two
Standing close enough to make out the warm blend of bronze, amber and gold in Connor’s eyes, Olivia quietly studied him. Sure, he was good-looking. Really good-looking. But that wasn’t the reason for her sudden silence. It was the inexplicable desire to offer him comfort, as if she could somehow provide him with a place of rest from the outside world.
That made no sense.
The man was in the prime of his life. Strong, athletic, capable. Yet Olivia detected a hint of sorrow in him, a sorrow she understood all too well.
The slight sting she felt in her heart she attributed to missing her parents. Even now, over ten years after their car accident, the pain was still with her, would probably always be with her.
Did Connor suffer something similar?
How could he not? He’d lost his wife to cancer.
Olivia wished she could soothe away his grief, as he’d once done for her that day after her parents’ funeral.
Did he remember the momentary solace he’d given her with his kind words?
Out of the corner of her eye, Olivia could see his daughters watching her closely. She understood what they’d lost. But Olivia had enjoyed time with her mother for seventeen years. These girls had spent far less with theirs. The unfairness struck her. She smiled down at them.
They smiled back.
Shifting beside her, Connor drew Olivia’s attention back to him. He wasn’t looking at her, though. He was focused on his daughters. “Girls, it’s time to go.”
The arguments began immediately.
He shut them down with a look. “Say goodbye to Miss Olivia.”
A little grumbling ensued before Megan stepped close to Olivia and looked up. “Bye, Miss Olivia.”
Miss Olivia. Her heart tripped. Kenzie had called her that, too.
Olivia banished the thought, and focused only on the two girls staring up at her. They were at such a great age, when they still looked up to adults and chose obedience more often than not.
“It was nice to meet you, Megan.” Olivia circled her gaze to include the girl’s sister. “And you as well, Molly.”
Molly’s eyes rounded in response. “You can tell us apart?”
The surprise was understandable. On first glance the girls were identical. But on closer inspection, Molly held herself with more confidence. Her smile also came quicker, and with a mischievous glint in her eye. “Well, yes. I can.”
“That’s really...” Molly seemed to search for the right word “...cool.”
“Yeah,” Megan agreed. “Supercool.”
Connor set the puppy on the ground and reattached the collar. His elegant, efficient movements reminded Olivia of an artist’s expert strokes across a canvas. He had such nice hands, doctor’s hands. Steady, confident, yet gentle.
Still not looking at her, he gave the puppy’s collar a final check and then rose to his full height—all six feet two inches of casually clad male in those well-worn cargo shorts and a faded T-shirt. He was tall enough that Olivia had to tip her head back to look into his face. The shock of those intense amber eyes focused on her sent her heart stuttering.
What was wrong with her? Why this strange visceral reaction to the man? This was Connor Mitchell, for goodness’ sake. Her brother’s best friend since before Olivia was born. Ethan’s friend, she reminded herself, not hers. She hadn’t actually spoken to him for years before today.
“It was good to see you, Olivia.” He paused a moment, his expression easy. “I’m sure our paths will cross again while you’re in town.”
“I...” She tensed, started to tell him she was probably home for good, then thought, Why would he need to know that? “I certainly hope so.”
Even to her own ears, the words came out a little wistful.
And mortifying.
Hadn’t she learned her lesson when it came to single dads with demanding professions and adorable daughters in need of a woman’s love?
Having been ignored long enough, Samson gave a ferocious growl before initiating a vicious tug-of-war with his leash.
“Troublemaker,” Connor muttered, but obliged the puppy with a few hard snatches.
Samson hunched low, growled deeper in his throat, then whipped his head back and forth with fast, hard jerks.
A reluctant laugh escaped Connor.
Olivia gave in to her own amusement. The puppy was hard not to like. “That is one big, bad dog in the making.”
“So he wants us all to think.”
Samson suddenly let go of the leash, looked around and then pounced on Baloo.
Olivia reached down to pry the puppy loose.
