There was more to her mission than getting Winnie settled for the night. After the little time it took to accomplish that, she walked next door and knocked softly at Blake’s door. This could wait until the next day, but she remembered his trainer was coming to town and he might not be alone. For this she didn’t need an audience.

He opened the door and the house behind him seemed pretty dark, as though the lights were turned down. He wore exercise pants and a snug T-shirt but his feet were bare.

“Lin Su, this is a surprise. Is it my birthday?” he joked, grinning.

“If you have a moment...”

“Come in, please. You’re not worried about Charlie, are you? He seemed to be doing great.”

She shook her head. “Not at all. He’s home, reading his books, ready for a new week that now includes at least an hour in your gym every day and I’ve never seen him so enthusiastic. I want to thank you, Blake. This is made possible by you and your generosity. I could never have managed it as well.”

“I’m happy to do it. It’s not going to take that long, you know. He’ll be on his own in no time.”

“And I’d like to apologize,” she said. “You’ve been on Charlie’s team all along and I stood in your way.”

“Nah,” he said. “I understood your concern. Charlie’s not the first kid I’ve known who needed all the right circumstances to fall into place to get going. It’s too bad it started with an ambulance ride. But that’s the past. Onward.”

“I didn’t mean to stand in his way. I really didn’t.”

“It’s not your fault. He’s your boy. You want to do what’s best for him.”

“Some of it is just... I could never have gotten him to read a book about asthma. He didn’t even want to talk about his asthma.”

“I know. It felt like a ball and chain,” Blake said. “Besides, you’re his mother. He’d be more willing to listen to a coach—it’s that simple.”

“I barely know you, yet you’ve been such a help to us. There’s really no way to thank you properly.”

“Pay it forward,” he said with a shrug. “I got a lot of help when I was his age. But I didn’t have a parent resisting—the resistance was all mine.” He chuckled. “I was somewhere between an angry victim and a delinquent.”

“And who helped you?” she boldly asked.

“A foster mother, a couple of teachers, a coach. That’s just a start. Just as I needed something, someone appeared with the next challenge. I didn’t have asthma like Charlie, but I had a hard time growing up. Charlie’s going to be fine.”

“He’s such a great kid,” she said. “Sometimes he acts like he has to take care of me and I wish he didn’t. But he’s such a good son.”

Blake put his big hands on her cheeks and bent down, placing a gentle kiss on her brow. “And you’re a good mother. I know this was hard for you. You were very strong, letting him set his own limits.”

“Oh, I don’t want him to set his own limits. You’re there, you’re the coach!”

“I’m only there to catch him if he falls,” Blake said. He ran one hand down her arm and briefly took her hand in his. “He’s going to do this. He’s going to do it on his own and the feeling that will give him will fuel him for years.”

And then he let go.

“Well,” she said a little nervously. “You know what you’re doing. I just wanted to say thank you.”

“Anything you need, Lin Su. Just let me know.”

* * *

It was just as she remembered—a shiver that ran right up her back to the base of her neck, a fullness in the breast and a little gasp on her lips. It was the way a desired man’s first touch reached inside a woman and filled her with expectation and excitement. Her senses were consumed with the scent of him—soap and wind and musk and a little of the salt in the air. He had that unique scent that never seemed to change; if he was sweaty from exertion it only magnified his scent. His sweat, she had already noticed, smelled clean. How was that possible?

Lin Su was not that surprised. She was a bird in a snare. From the first moment she laid eyes on him she had been stimulated and intrigued. Then he became their hero and the intrigue took on speed. When a man protects you and your child, he owns a part of your soul. But then when he touches you with affection, he takes a piece of your heart.

She wished to ignore him and feel nothing but it would be difficult. After all, he embodied the qualities she admired most—strength, kindness, tenderness and power. And there was courage—he chased down those thugs to get her meager treasures. Maybe it was his foolishness she admired? She didn’t swoon for gladiators but she had a huge respect for a winning spirit, for a man willing to test his abilities. She happened to like his fearlessness. And she appreciated his humility. He wasn’t trying to win her with muscle but with softness.

He probably wasn’t trying to win her at all, but a part of her was won. He might not know that, of course. And if it was up to her, he wouldn’t know!

Well, she was good at concealing her emotions; she always had been. She knew how to take small steps and move with an economy of motion. Her older sisters would tease her and call her “little geisha.” She liked to think her mother had walked, talked and moved in the same way. It was also a holdover from her early childhood fears, from that time she was trying so hard to be small and invisible.

It would be hard to remain aloof, especially with Charlie spending so much time with him. It would be wrong to remain aloof. He deserved her gratitude and friendliness.

She would make sure he thought she was open and agreeable. She would laugh at his amusing comments and express her appreciation. But she would not be alone with him when the lights were turned low and he was feeling affectionate.

It would be dangerous.

* * *

Blake was waiting in the baggage area of the Eugene airport right after lunch. He had already secured a cart for the bags—Gretchen Tyrene would bring a lot. She had equipment and supplies she liked to tote everywhere. Sometimes he thought it gave her credibility more than served her needs. All he really needed for his own training was a stopwatch, a distance calculator, a heartbeat monitor, wet suit and bike. He had a lot of fancy equipment in his gym—he liked testing it and testing his readings to gauge the impact on his race. But he never carried all these things to races.