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He started slowly rolling his shoulder up and down. “My left side feels tight, and I need to hold on with my right.”
    I nodded my agreement and started to step past Mark to get to the other side. I looked back over at Connor, and saw he had turned off the hedge cutter and was setting it on the ground. When he looked up, our eyes connected. I felt a moment of panic being caught looking, but it quickly faded as my foot suddenly caught on something and I nose-dived into the pavement. At that point, all I felt was sheer humiliation. I wasn’t sure if Mark had tripped me or if I stumbled over my own feet. I didn’t really care at the moment. I just wanted to get up before Connor noticed that I fell like a clumsy fool. I groaned, remembering that we had been looking at each other when I fell, so there was no way Connor hadn’t noticed. Fucking fantastic .
    Laughing, Mark said, “Watch where you’re walking there, buddy.” He followed it up with more laughter.
    I started to push myself up, when a firm hand gripped my arm and helped pull me to my feet.
    “Are you okay?” Connor asked, keeping a hold of my arm as if he was worried I might fall again.
    I opened my mouth to say something, though I wasn’t quite sure what, but Connor didn’t give me the chance to speak. “Maybe you should sit down until we’re sure you’re okay.”
    “You’re right,” Mark chimed in, appearing on my other side and feigning concern before Connor could try to make me sit down. I glared at him, not sure what he was up to. “We can’t wait for Devon though, we have got to go empty the truck, and it’ll take at least ninety minutes. Can you stay with him, and we’ll come back and pick him up after dumping this load and refueling?” Mark phrased it as a question, but his tone didn’t leave any room for refusal.
    My glare deepened, and I knew I was probably looking at Mark like I wanted to kill him. Before I could say I was okay and that the truck wasn’t full or needing gas, Connor responded, “Of course, I’ll make sure he’s taken care of.”
    “Thank you,” Mark told Connor before leaning into my ear and whispering, “You’ll thank me for this later.”
    The last time he said those words to me, I ended up being robbed when he and his wife had taken me out to my first gay bar for my twenty-first birthday. Yadda yadda, I woke up to find my shit, which I had cleverly hidden in the oven, gone. It was not a fun experience, and I still blamed Mark for that disaster to this day.
    “I’m Connor, by the way,” he said, as the truck pulled away, leaving us standing in the street.
    Even though he wasn’t looking at me, I smiled and said “Devon. Nice to meet you.”
    ****
    When Connor then spoke the words, “Let’s get you inside and cleaned up,” I had a feeling Mark was right. Connor led me toward his house, and as I glanced back at the truck fading into the distance, I thought I might end up actually owing Mark for this one. I might even have to forgive him a little for the birthday disaster. Maybe.
    As much as I wanted to go inside with Connor, I felt bad for troubling him. He hadn’t sounded put out or inconvenienced when he spoke earlier, but just in case, I offered him an out. “I’ll be okay if you’re busy. You don’t have to stop your work to help me.”
    Connor’s pale blue eyes met mine. “I was already done with trimming the bushes, and I’m not just going to leave you out here waiting for them to come back.”
    He pulled my arm towards his house. I glanced down at his hand, realizing that before, so much was happening that I really didn’t notice how warm his hand was, or how good it felt against my arm. I was so distracted thinking about how that hand would feel wrapped around a different part of my body that I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that I was letting him guide me. Unfortunately, I failed to see the curb and stumbled forward. I would have fallen again, but Connor had quick reflexes. He