Not Just The Girl Next Door. Stacy Connelly

heat, desire, want she saw shining in his eyes was her own.

       And oh, God...

      What if Zeke could see it, too?

      Because the only thing more completely humiliating than a hopeless crush on her best friend would be her best friend knowing about it!

      She stumbled back a few steps, nearly falling into a nearby trash can before catching her balance. “Yes, shopping! For a new chew toy. For the dogs,” she blurted out, just in case Zeke actually thought the chew toy was for her. Her cheeks burning in helpless mortification, she waved a hand down the line of shops. “There’s a pet store around the corner.”

      “Oh, right.” Shaking his head, Zeke gave a small laugh that held a slight hint of relief. “Pet store. How are the new dogs?”

      Grateful to focus on something else, Mollie said, “Charlie’s settling in.” She’d introduced the two foster dogs to Arti, and as she’d expected, her goofy hound dog had greeted them with eager sniffs, happy to have some new playmates. She definitely didn’t have to worry about the two girls...

      Almost as if reading her mind, Zeke asked, “And Chief?”

      “He’s...coming along.” In the few days since bringing Chief home from the shelter, Mollie had witnessed how truly traumatized the poor dog was. The large backyard both Charlie and Arti loved was too big and intimidating for the frightened shepherd. “It’s going to take time, but I feel like I had a breakthrough yesterday using a tethering technique with Charlie.”

      “Tethering?”

      Nodding, Mollie explained how she’d used a carabiner to hook the end of Charlie’s leash to Chief’s collar, connecting the two dogs. “Charlie isn’t afraid of anything, and it doesn’t take much to get her to run around the yard.” With a soft laugh, she added, “Poor Chief didn’t have any choice but to follow.”

      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.