“Would you object to company?”

“I don’t want to hold you up,” she answered.

“You won’t. You’re fast.”

“Well, feel free to pass me anytime you want,” she answered, starting to run again.

He dropped in next to her. “I will.”

Running wasn’t the same with Tyler next to her. She couldn’t relax, and struggled to settle in to a steady tempo. Instead she felt as if she had two left feet. Her breathing was ragged. Her muscles felt tight. Her good mood was inexplicably gone.

At the park she slowed to a walk, and then she used one of the benches to stretch her hamstrings.

Tyler was doing the same. She tried to ignore him though. It was nearly impossible. He wasn’t breathing hard at all, and his running pants hugged his quads and hamstrings, while the fabric wrapped his glutes. He had long, muscular legs, and a great butt. She hated that she noticed, but he had big shoulders and muscles everywhere. From a purely physical perspective, he was pretty much perfect. But from a personal perspective, he was really getting under her skin.

“Go ahead,” she said, gesturing to the path. “I think I’m going to just take it easy and walk back.”

“Happy to walk back with you, unless you don’t want the company?” He glanced at her, his green gaze inscrutable.

No, she didn’t want company, but how could she tell him that? She promised Bette that she would be nice to him, and she would be nice to him, even if it killed her.

“Company would be lovely,” she lied.

His lips quirked. He looked amused. “How often do you run?”

“I try to get out here a couple mornings a week, and then in summer, I’ll run after work, because we have such lovely long days. In June and July it stays light until well after nine o’clock, but then we pay for it in winter with really short days.”

“Do you have any other favorite places to run?”

“In good weather I’ll head up to Miracle Lake, but I won’t do it now. Too much ice still. And if I’m short on time, I’ll do a big loop around downtown, from Crawford Park, around the courthouse, down Bramble, over to the Wolf Den, past the Depot, the Graff, to the park, and back home.”

“The Wolf Den?”

“It’s a bar, a bit on the seedy side.” She flashed him a smile. “But there are plenty of men who like it. Karaoke on Mondays, ladies’ mud wrestling on Thursdays and pole dancing nightly.”

“Here in Marietta?”

“We’re right off the highway. Truckers love it. You should check it out.”

“I don’t think Gram would approve.”

“I won’t tell her.”

“Ha! Somehow I doubt that. I think the two of you are in a league of your own.”

“Maybe we are,” she said with a wink, before taking off, sprinting down the path paralleling the river.

She heard him closing in behind her, so she kicked it into higher gear, and ran faster, harder, harder than she’d gone in a long time, running as if the finish line was just ahead and a first-place finish was at stake. She ran the last mile that way, arms and legs pumping, heart pounding, and it was electric. She felt fantastic, strong and free. Mandy only slowed when her path took her up to the courthouse in Crawford Park, the historic copper dome gleaming in the sunrise. Turning, hands on her hips, she glanced behind her, and there was Tyler, right on her tail.

He flashed her a grin.