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howling up under my house. He was wet, dirty, and reeked. I think he had a run-in with a skunk.”
    She hugged the dog close. She didn’t have Mom’s talent with animals, but she loved them.
    Thunder echoed around the mountaintop. James looked overhead. “We should head back down. Rain’s picking up.”
    “Okay. I’m freezing anyway.”
    They set out on the trail down the mountain together, Sin running ahead. When the trail narrowed, Callie motioned for James to pass her.
    The rain came down heavy, but the thickness of the tree canopies shielded them from most of the downpour. It was as if Mother Earth enveloped them in a cocoon of protection and intimacy.
    Callie admired his tall, muscular body as he deftly negotiated tree roots and jutting rocks. He was lean and moved with an easy confidence. Whenever he held back a tree branch for her to pass, he smiled in a way that made her whole body tingle. Her unexpected encounter with the most handsome guy ever had a surreal quality. Maybe her luck was finally changing.
    The air hissed and crackled, and the already-dark sky deepened several degrees.
    “What’s that noise?” Callie stopped and looked around.
    James tilted his head upwards to the treetops. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
    A swirling mass of blue, purple, and green light rimmed the edges of several of the tallest tree branches overhead. The hissing grew louder, and the branches glowed brighter until it looked as if the uttermost tips of the limbs were dipped in indigo fluorescent paint.
    It was too spectacularly beautiful for Callie to be afraid, but Sin howled like a banshee. James picked him up in one hand and grabbed her arm in the other.
    “Run,” he ordered curtly.
    They flew down the trail so quick, it made Callie dizzy.
    “What’s going on?” she panted, fear taking root.
    A sudden illumination from the lightning bolt blinded her while thunder cracked in her ears. Its loud echo resonated like an earthquake. A tree exploded and large branches mixed with bark and wood splinters rained down. Callie shrieked and pressed her hands to her ears in a useless attempt to drown out the noise. She didn’t open her eyes or protest when James put Sin in her arms then picked them both up and ran. Callie held Sin close to her chest where he whimpered and trembled. A sensation of cold air blowing fiercely did nothing to calm her. She buried her face in James’s coat to avoid the stinging rain and flying branches.
    “I think we’re out of danger now.”
    She felt the low rumble in his chest as he spoke. She didn’t want to look up, wanted to stay in the safety of her head against his chest. But curiosity drew her away from the comfort of his body. She and Sin both lifted their heads and looked around.
    “How close did we come to being hit by lightning?”
    “Only a few yards I would guess.”
    They were clear of danger, and yet he still held her.
    She let him. After the piercing thunder faded into the distance, the mountain seemed hush. A light rain beat quietly on the tree leaves above. Like a lullaby.
    He set her down slowly, and her body brushed the entire length of his before her feet touched earth. Callie blushed and stepped back reluctantly. Sin jumped down and began sniffing and running, the storm forgotten.
    “Before the lightening hit, what was that ball of fire in the sky? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
    “St. Elmo’s fire. I’ve only seen it about three times in my life. This is the first time I’ve ever seen one during the day.”
    “I thought St. Elmo’s was an old TV show,” she said weakly.
    “The hissing sound and blue-green glow is from an electrical field called a corona. You only see St. Elmo’s during a thunderstorm when the negative charges from the ground collide with the positive charges above. I’ve seen the tips of cow horns and grass blades light up before.”
    Smart guy. And sexy and maybe even dangerous. She’d never spent a more exciting morning. “How