Did he imagine it, or was her face turning a shade of red that bespoke embarrassment, not exertion?
“I didn’t come to Whitehorn to meet men.”
“I didn’t say that you did,” Josh answered, plodding on with his offer. “But you’re a young woman. Certainly you’d like a social life. I have friends who—”
She shook her head. “Please, Josh. I don’t want to meet anybody. Please.”
The tone in her voice was urgent. Anxious.
Despite her discomfort, he had to admit he felt that satisfaction again. “Okay. Sure. No problem,” he answered.
“Josh.” She abruptly stopped running and he skidded to a halt beside her.
“What?” he asked.
Her chest moved up and down, her breaths still coming fast. Josh tried not to stare, focusing instead on her dark eyelashes that hid the expression in her eyes.
“I’d even be grateful,” she said, “if you’d…pass the word around the gym.”
Josh blinked at her. “Pass what word?”
Her shoulders hunched in an embarrassed sort of shrug. “I’ve…sworn off men for the moment, okay? I’m not eager to meet any, date any, become entangled with any.” She darted one swift look at him. “With anyone, no matter how…appealing.”
With him, she meant.
Then she dashed off in the direction of the women’s locker room, leaving Josh staring after her. Well, he thought. Finally, there was his answer. It wasn’t mixed signals. It wasn’t him misreading. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel the same attraction he did—she’d even implied she found him appealing. But the fact was, she’d sworn off men.
He could understand that. Appreciate it. Abide by it. For God’s sake, he hadn’t paid any but the most cursory attention to his own social life in the last five years.
And why she’d sworn off men was none of his business either.
Josh showered and dressed quickly, telling himself he was glad to have the Lori problem straightened out. It meant he could refocus his attention on business. That he could smother the attraction he felt for her because she wanted to smother it too.
He even managed a cheerful goodbye to the kid who manned the check-in desk as he left. Even when he encountered Lori at the door leading outside, his lightened mood didn’t change. Much.
He smiled at her as he held open the door. “I’ll be in around ten. You can get me on my cell phone, though.”
“The Feeney site,” she replied, stepping onto the concrete sidewalk, her gym bag in one hand.
The morning had grown colder in the hour he’d been working out. Lori’s second step found a patch of ice that had been a shallow puddle sixty minutes before. The sole of her shoe lost purchase, and Josh saw her heel slide out from under her.
Her free arm windmilled.
Without a second thought, a first, any thought at all, he reached out, sliding his arm around her waist. With a jerk, he swept her upright and against him.
She screamed.
Startled, Josh’s arm tightened. It wasn’t a shriek of surprise, or an I’m-about-to-fall squeal. It was—
She screamed again, fighting wildly against his arm.
Startled again, he let her go.
She whirled to face him, her face white, her eyes huge pools of blue fear.
Fear.
He remembered her reaction when he bumped into her on the running track Christmas Eve. He remembered her shrinking back against her car when he’d stepped close to her in the parking lot.
Her free hand lifted. “I’m sorry,” she said hoarsely. “I’m sorry. I was…”
“Scared?” he supplied.
Color rushed up from the collar of her coat to redden her cheeks. At least she didn’t look like she was seeing a ghost anymore. “Yes. But thanks for not letting me fall.”
“Anytime,” Josh replied. He wasn’t surprised when she hurried away from him, in the direction of her car. “Anytime,” he said again, staring after her retreating figure.
Of course, the next time he probably would let Lori fall. Because he couldn’t bear to frighten her again. And touching would. Getting close to her would. He was certain of that.
Because there was a terrible, sick feeling in his gut that told him exactly why Lori Hanson had sworn off men.
Lori bustled around the Anderson, Inc., office, grateful that Josh was stopping by the Feeney site before coming in. She needed the opportunity to recover her composure. She needed time to convince herself that right this minute Josh wasn’t booking his skittish temporary receptionist a rubber room.
She needed to believe he wasn’t aware that a man’s touch—any man’s touch—made her jump as if she’d been recently beaten.
Because that wasn’t the case. Her ex-husband hadn’t hit her in over two years.
Lori closed her eyes against those memories, thinking instead of Josh. As he’d saved her from falling, his big body had been warm against hers. He’d smelled of soap and cold Montana air. And though her heart had been pounding with its old, instinctive panic, there had been another feeling running counter to the fear. Feelings.
Interest. Curiosity. Excitement.
But that was just all the more confusing! She’d been honest with Josh when she’d said she’d sworn off men. Yet the truth was, when he’d brought up the idea of her socializing, of her dating, for a moment she’d wondered what it would be like to date him.
Of course, after her little panic attack outside the gym this morning, he probably couldn’t imagine fixing her up with someone, let alone himself. But that was fine. That was what she wanted. She wanted to do a good job as his receptionist, nothing more.
By the time Josh arrived from the Feeney site, she had her emotions back under control. As the door shut behind him, she scooped up the pile of pink slips that were his messages.
“Good morning,” she said, as if they hadn’t already encountered one another that day. “Your messages, Mr. Anderson.” She held them out.
He approached her desk. “Josh,” he countered, though his voice was mild. “You’re supposed to call me Josh.” When his large hand slid the papers from hers, their fingers didn’t touch.
She was glad. Though she’d promised herself to curb her jumpiness around him, her reactions weren’t always easy to control. Her breath, for example. As he hesitated in front of her, she couldn’t seem to catch her breath.
She swallowed, trying to meet his eyes without flushing. “Is…is everything okay?”
There was something different about Josh now, she noticed. His big body seemed stiller, calmer than before. Which only made her feel that much more gauche. “Did you want something?” she asked, when he didn’t say anything.
“No.” He smiled, that slow, wide, warm one that seemed to brighten the whole room. “Everything’s fine now.”
The rest of the morning echoed his words. For the first time they worked in an atmosphere of friendly harmony. He didn’t bark out assignments, she didn’t jump when he walked into the reception area. It was almost as if Josh had turned his personality on Low. While he couldn’t do anything to mitigate his massive size, she thought he’d somehow banked his normal forcefulness.
Their business relationship might just work out.
At noon, she retrieved from the refrigerator a salad she’d made at home and carried it to her desk.