Greatwater Lake (M) Butterflies taste through their feet.

She didn’t bother looking backward at first, entirely confident her smell would hook him like a fish. Towhee ran nearly a quarter mile along the curving shoreline before she finally turned her head, only to see him keeping pace with a determined look on his face. She smirked in approval.

And then she faced forward and pumped her legs as hard as she could. Towhee couldn’t remember the last time she’d run like this. She was probably going to wake up very sore tomorrow, regardless of whether the stranger caught her. She didn’t care. The rasp of cold air in her throat, the thunder of her heart against her ribs, sure beat all the wallowing.

It was euphoric, actually, and Towhee got so caught up in all the sensations that she momentarily forgot all about the heat in her core and the man drawn to her like a moth to flame.