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therapeutic. She even knew the perfect spot, a secluded section a short walk from an isolated parking lot. For years this had been her refuge, her sanctuary away from an over-protective family and her own struggle to be normal.
    She steered the car into a deserted parking lot. Oreo jumped back and forth over the front car seat in fevered anticipation of a romp through the woods. “I suppose there’s no harm in letting you off the leash.” Angela looked about, verifying there were no strangers around to object. “Looks like we’re all alone.”
    She opened the car door, escaping only seconds before twenty pounds of black and white fur. Oreo raced on ahead, stopping a few feet away to sniff at the innocuous ground. Angela retrieved the dog leash from the front seat, just in case, before closing the car door.
    They walked together through the woods bordering the reservoir, Angela lost in her thoughts over the past week, Oreo lost in the titillating smells of leaf mold and wild animal. The dog trotted ahead of her, sniffing at rotting logs and upturning piles of brown leaves with her nose before chasing a surprised chipmunk or squirrel. Accustomed to her forays, Angela paid little attention until Oreo’s mad dash through a low clump of bushes generated a very human, and very male, cry of alarm.
    She ran after Oreo through the bushes.
    “What in the— Oreo!”
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    In a Heartbeat
    Angela’s foot caught in the low branch of a bush, propelling her forward, head first into a blur of flannel.
    She landed face down in a strange man’s crotch.
    “Don’t move!” A strained voice, forced and breathless, warned. Taut denim brushed the humiliating heat of her cheeks. She breathed the deep, musky scent of the man’s most intimate parts. Oreo would be proud, she thought with a shudder.
    If only her limp body could somehow dissolve into the ground, she wouldn’t have to eventually see this poor man’s face.
    “I’m so sorry,” she said, but the words were lost in the stream of obscenities overhead. The man took a deep breath, inadvertently causing her head to sink deeper into the warm nest of his thighs.
    “Jesus.” His voice regained some control and depth, and for an instant, seemed vaguely familiar. “Are you all right?”
    Soothing fingers gently pulled at her hair, exposing an ear and part of her cheek to the air and the searching thrust of Oreo’s cold, wet nose.
    “Shoo.” He pushed the dog away. “Did you hurt anything?”
    My pride, she wanted to scream.
    She turned her head, acutely aware that her chin dragged up the inside of a very muscular thigh. Pushing her hand against the ground, she struggled to sit up until a sharp pain slammed up her leg.
    “My ankle,” she groaned.
    “Don’t move,” he commanded again. She froze as his thighs jostled beneath her. A steady hand cradled her chin briefly. “Here, rest your head on this.” The synthetic lining of a jacket replaced his hand. He slipped out from under her.
    First, she saw retreating denim, then the muddy bank of the reservoir, then his shadow stretching over her onto the bank beyond. She gulped. It must be a trick of the light that his shoulders spanned that impressive width. The shadow doubled over, hands on knees.
    “Are you okay?” she asked.
    “Catching my breath.” His voice still sounded a bit shaky.

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    Donna Richards
    He dropped to one knee. “For a little bit of a thing, you sure pack a wallop.” She turned her head from side to side, but he was too far back for her to see.
    “Which ankle?”
    “The right.” He worked the laces of her hiking boot and gently tugged it free. Oreo pressed her furry body tight against her side, worming her dog head under her arm.
    “Stop that,” Angela scolded. “You’re going to be a mess, scooting along the bank like that.” Oreo responded by inching up higher.
    “What kind of dog is that?” the man asked, peeling back her sock.
    “A