She pretended to shudder, which made Blackie chuckle. “No, ma’am, I can’t say I have. I like kids. Don’t get me wrong. Even at my age, I’m still in good enough shape to be a competent parent for a while. But what about when I’m in my sixties?” He shook his head. “Nope. I missed my window of opportunity. It wouldn’t be fair to a child to have an old man as a daddy.”

After helping Julie tidy the kitchen, Blackie invited her for a moonlight walk. She donned a jacket. Since she lived on the golf course and it was after-hours, Blackie led her onto one of the cart paths. At some point, she slipped her hand into his, and when they came upon a water feature, Blackie gathered the courage to kiss her. She had the softest, most inviting lips he’d ever tasted. She opened sweetly for him and pressed her body close to his. Within seconds he was aroused and knew she was as well. Young stud antics were far behind him, though, meaning sex on a golf course was out. He drew back and cupped her face between his hands.

“You’re too young and beautiful for me,” he said softly.

“And you’re too wonderful and mature for me,” she retorted just as softly. “We can think this to death, Blackie. Most people would tell us we’re nuts. But do we really care? This feels right to me.”

“It feels right to me, too, honey. But I’ll admit that frightens me. I got my heart walked on once, and it’s taken me damned near twenty years to recover.”

“Ditto,” she said with a laugh. “Well, not for the twenty years of recovery, but for the rest. I got my heart broken, too. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy for us to connect, because we understand each other.”

“So . . . ? Where are we going with this?” he asked.

“I have no idea,” she confessed. “I kind of lied to you the last time you asked me that. I said I wasn’t in the market for anything intimate, that I was looking for a male friend. The truth is, I was already attracted to you on many different levels, one of them physical, but I was too big a coward to tell you so.”

He ran his thumbs up to her temples and felt the rapid thrum of her pulse. That turned him on as nothing she said ever could, but he forced himself to release her and take a step back. “When you reach a point where this no longer frightens you, just let me know.”

“And then?”

Blackie wasn’t going to pull the wool over this young woman’s eyes. She was too honest for him to do her that disservice. “I’ll decide if my courage is as great as yours is, I guess.”

She burst into a fit of giggles and laughed so hard that Blackie grasped her arm to hold her upright. She leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulder. “Oh, Blackie, this is so dangerous. I could very easily fall madly in love with you.”