“One, which is more than enough.” He grabbed her hand when she would have pulled away. He understood the stress he saw behind her smile, but didn’t like it, nor the fact that he worried so damn much about her.

Socks jumped up to the couch, twitched her tail and scowled at them.

Summer ignored the cat, made a soothing noise in her throat at Joe, and sank her fingers into his hair, unerringly finding the nice bump he’d just given himself. “You always had bruises all over you. I hated that.”

He closed his eyes. “Red—”

“I cared about you. So much.”

“And now?” he asked before he could stop himself.

“I care about you now too.” She kissed his jaw, first one side and then the other, but then rose to her feet and gave him a hand.

He let her pull him up and eyed the delicate purple shadows beneath her eyes. “Are you off work?”

She nodded.

“I have more to do at the office but I could use a fun little run first.”

She arched an amused brow. “You were going to go for a run. Now. For fun, no less.”

It felt so good to see her knowing grin, he felt one split his face as well. “You know it. You could come with me.”

“You, Joe Walker, are a very sweet man.”

“Sweet?”

“Oh, is that not a manly enough adjective? How about strong. Smart. Gorgeous. Sexy—”

“Keep going.” He let her tug him to the front. Camille was gone, and so was Kenny. Summer locked the store up and they dashed out into the rain, which seemed to be coming down in sheets.

“Darn, I forgot about the storm,” Joe said, tongue firmly in his cheek. “Probably we shouldn’t run in this.”

“I happen to remember you love the rain.”

Yeah, he did. In the old days they’d wait out a storm in the back of the library, or the warehouse, or her house. It didn’t matter where. They’d watch MTV or play games or just talk. But he kept the memories to himself as they ran to the parking lot.

“Your car,” she said, hand out palm up for his keys. “My turn to drive.”

He grinned. “We drove the truck. Looks like Kenny took it and Ashes. You’ll have to drive us in the Bug. I need a ride home to get clean clothes.”

She navigated the storm and traffic with easy precision. By the time they parked at the marina and ran down the dock toward his boat, they were once again soaked. “I don’t know…”

“Baby,” she said. “Get your running clothes on.”