Dylan spent the next hour moving between humiliation and laughter, being tutored by Piper, who was way too sexy in exercise gear. The seniors offered him compliments when he got it right, which was humbling, as they always got it right. He was hopeless, it was fair to say, but while he sat with them drinking tea after, he realized that he’d enjoyed doing something silly. Something that did not build his career or enhance his wealth. Something that was just... what the hell was it? Good for the soul, and totally out of his comfort zone.

He needed to take Pearl’s meatballs and sauce recipe and get out of Ryker Falls.

Chapter 7

“I am not my cousin, Miss Marla.”

“No, but I want to check you don’t have the same abilities as Joe.”

“I don’t.” Piper adjusted the blindfold. “We established this the last five times you made me do this.”

She was in Tea Total, the Robbins sisters’ tea shop. It had the best scones in town, and may be a strange thing to have in a Colorado mountain town, but it worked, and tourists and locals loved it.

The Robbins sisters used to teach at the local school before branching into business, and between them and their niece, Mandy, they ran this place.

“I just came in here for some of my tea, Miss Sarah.” Piper heard the click of heels. The Robbins sister always wore heels and dressed as if they were going out on the town.

“Sure, and you can leave with some.”

“Buzz is outside,” she tried, looking for any angle to get this blindfold off. “He walked me here after we spent the morning with Mr. Goldhirsh helping out with the seniors.”

Shock had been the only word Piper could come up with when she’d watched Dylan Trainer walk into that room at the hospital. She hadn’t expected him to join in, but the seniors could be persuasive when required.

He’d handled himself well. Sure, he was pretty hopeless at the exercises, but for all that he’d been polite and kind to the seniors, and as they were important to Piper, that had gone a long way toward her forgiving him for being an asshole—which actually hadn’t been strictly his fault, she had to admit. A hot, sexy asshole who knew how to kiss the thoughts from her head and leave her hot and flustered.

“Aww, is he?” Miss Sarah said.

Piper heard the click of heels again, and then the door opened, and a deep, soft woof was heard.

“Hello, pup, would you like a biscuit?”

“Miss Sarah, you know Joe’s got him on a diet.”

“Pffft, a big boy like Buzz, he doesn’t need to lose any weight, he’s just perfect.”

Piper sighed as she heard a crunch.

“Hey, Buzz.”