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I stood up straight when I realized it was Jax. What in the hell was he doing out here? How could he be a respected, big time lawyer and a murderer? My heart was beating at an alarming rate, since I never once in my life had to use my self-defense training before. He continued to lay there protecting his face and looking pretty pathetic. He was no killer, that was just my adrenaline making me think that way, so I leaned over to help him up.
“Oh my God,” I said, laughing. “I’m so sorry, but you shouldn’t jump out at women while they’re jogging.” I kept giggling as he brushed himself off and scowled at me.
“I didn’t jump, I stumbled. I got separated from the guys, and the trails are barely visible here. I got turned around somehow, and there was no phone signal. This is nothing like Central Park.”
I had to laugh just a little bit more at how flustered he was, then admired his muscular physique in clothes that I was sure only ever saw the inside of a gym. “You’re lucky I didn’t pepper spray you.”
His scowl turned to a look of disbelief, and he ran his hand through his blonde waves, lodging a bit of leaf in the tangle near his ear. I suppressed the urge to pluck it away for him, wondering if his hair was as soft as it looked.
“Is there that much crime around here?”
Being a true crime fan, I knew exactly how many murders took place in the Appalachians, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of thinking we had anything in common with New York City. “It’s smart to be prepared no matter what,” I said primly.
“Of course, you would be a Girl Scout,” he muttered, shaking his head.
I was running low on sleep. There had been a spate of extremely disgusting food poisoning cases in the ER the night before, and he had just interrupted my running zen by scaring the daylights out of me and making me think I was going to join the list of trail murders. Now he was trying to make being a Girl Scout a negative thing? Every last ounce of goodwill I had from our fun time dancing started to dissolve.
“Fine. Good luck finding the main trail again.” I turned and jogged on my original path.
“Wait,” he shouted when I was about twenty feet away. I slowed, feeling sorry for him, but kept going, determined not to get roped into his nonsense just because I was a nice person. “I’m sorry,” he shouted when I was about to round a bend.
Damn it. He wasn’t actually that far from the parking lot leading to the trails, but if he really was an inept city slicker, he could end up anywhere. He might be the next on the list of trail murders if I didn’t help him out. I stopped and waited with my hands on my hips. He hurried to catch up to me. I kept waiting.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, his face softening. “Truly. For…”
“Okay,” I said. I knew what he meant and hated to bring it back up, especially since we already had our swing music truce in place. My goodwill toward him stopped crumbling, and I gave him my sunniest smile. He rolled his eyes. Well, he was who he was, I supposed. Some people were just born grumpy. “Go back that way. When you get to the fork, stay to the left and you’ll be back in the parking lot in no time.” I looked at him sternly. “Don’t leave the trail again. I would have thought you’d know better.”
His cheeks turned red under his fresh tan. “I was trying to get pictures of all this wild nature.” He pulled a small camera out of his cargo shorts pocket. “I hope it’s not broken.”
He raised his eyebrow at me, but I didn’t fall for his bait. As he clicked on the camera and it was perfectly fine, I leaned over to see the pictures he’d taken.
“Those are actually nice,” I said. “This one with the two trees and the sky in the middle is pretty artistic.”
He smiled, miracle of miracles. “Don’t hurt yourself getting that compliment out, but thanks. It’s the only hobby I have that gets me out of the house, which is why I started it.”
“Computer gamer?” I guessed, trying to hide my disdain.
He however, made a face that showed exactly how I felt about it. “Thankfully I’m too old to be into that. Reading and listening to music. I get to the gym, but that’s not really a hobby, is it?” He flexed his arm self-consciously while clearly waiting for my reaction to his impressive muscles.
“Fishing for more compliments, there, Thor?” I was teasing but still couldn’t help reaching out and squeezing his rock hard biceps. “And you’re not old, or else so am I. What are you, twenty-eight, nine?”
He shook his head and smirked. “Big three-oh this year.”
“Pffft, that’s not old. Maybe you forget you’re not sixty, though.”
He burst out laughing, and I realized we were meandering along in the direction I had been jogging. I didn’t mind spending a little more time with him since it was a half-day at Dr. Keller’s office, and I didn’t have to be in until the afternoon.
“The guys are always telling me I act old.”
“Well, gramps, do you want to see a really amazing view? It’s not too far from here.”
He was a little bit charming when he put forth the effort, and I didn’t want to let him head back.
“Only if it’sreallyamazing,” he said.
I pointed. “Okay, just go that way and—”
“Wait, I’m not getting Miss Loblolly as my personal tour guide?” he cut in.
