He looked anyway. As if fully aware of what he was thinking—and how hard he was fighting it—her lips twitched even more. There was only one good way he could wipe that smirk off her face, and it involved making her mouth so exhausted she could do nothing more than moan his name. Repeatedly.

Which was why he did the one thing necessary to keep himself in check. He didn’t bother fumbling for the right words, and he didn’t sweep her into his arms.

Instead, he ran.

* * *

Sophie watched Harrison go, trying not to look as disheartened by his rapid departure as she felt.

He’d taken off down his drive at a brisk clip, his long legs eating up the distance as though it were nothing. One look at him in his track bottoms and tight-fitting shirt had been enough to set every feminine feeling she had fluttering. He was powerful without being aware of it, his movements graceful and easy.

In other words, he was as hard on the outside as he was on the inside.

His speed only confirmed it. As he loped away from the house, it was obvious he couldn’t get away fast enough—from Bubbles, from his father, from her.

Which, okay, wasn’t exactly the outcome she’d been looking for, but no one had said this was going to be easy. That was how walls worked, right? Every time they came down, he had to rebuild them. Except he used stronger materials, better techniques.

He was learning. Like artificial intelligence gone rogue, he was becoming more powerful with each passing day.

With a sigh, Sophie took off after him. Although she’d hoped he might be a little more approachable after that kiss in the kitchen, it seemed she was out of luck. A hard, painful run it would have to be.

To be fair, it wasn’t the worst possible way to approach this task. For Bubbles to learn what Harrison’s low blood sugar smelled like, he had to have low blood sugar. And since his was so often caused by physical exertion, a long and carefully supervised jog was the best way to do it. They’d gotten his doctor’s approval and calibrated his continuous glucose monitor, which meant all that was left was the actual task of running.

But if he thought he was going to outpace her, he had no idea what was coming. For years, Sophie’s primary job had been puppy care. She fed the animals, cleaned up after them, taught them the basics. She also took them for runs—long, tiresome, rambling runs to build up their stamina and reveal their personalities under stress.