Maddie tried to remember how much cash she’d had in her wallet. Twenty, maybe thirty dollars, but she needed every one of them. “The door isn’t locked,” she told him.

Somehow he managed to carry her, open the door and get her inside without causing her any additional pain. She watched him take a quick survey of the small space and felt her defenses rise. No doubt he was used to much better, but she refused to be ashamed of the home she’d put together for herself and her son.

His eyes landed and settled on the baby toys stacked in the corner. “You’re a mom?”

“My son Thomas is nine months old.”

He lowered her to the tattered sofa she’d bought at a yard sale. “Where is he?”

“My sister watches him during the day. Oh God. The kids.”

“Excuse me?”

“I take over for my sister at the daycare at three so she can teach her dance classes. She watches Thomas for me, and that’s how I pay her back.”

“I’ll do it.”

“What?”

“I’ll watch the kids for you. How hard can it be?”

“Have you ever even changed a diaper?”

“I’m sure I have. Some time.”

“Right. Look, I know you’re probably some sort of Boy Scout—”

“Actually, I’m an Eagle Scout,” he said with a proud smile.

“Of course you are, but you’ve really got to go now. Your family is expecting you—”

“They didn’t know I was coming today.”

Maddie wanted to shriek in frustration. Why couldn’t he get the message and leave me alone? And then it hit her in a wave of sickening despair. “It’s not going to happen,” she spat at him.

“What are you talking about now?”

“Get out of my cabinets! What’re you doing?”

“Looking for some painkillers and a glass.” He produced a bottle of medicine and a glass of water and brought both to her.

“Thank you,” she muttered after she swallowed the pills. “Now, please, just go, will you?”

But of course he sat on the coffee table, and Maddie prayed the flimsy table would hold his two-hundred-pounds-of-pure-muscle frame. “So what’s not going to happen?”

“I know what you’re after.” She wanted to smack the amused expression off his face.

“And what’s that?”

“You think if you’re nice to me that you’ll get something in return.”

Amusement faded to bafflement. “Like what?”

“Don’t be obtuse. I know you got a good look out there on the street, so you’re hanging around hoping to get your hands—among other things—on Maddie Chester’s famous breasts.”

He stared at her for a long, breathless moment. “That is so not true.”

“And how are you different from every other man alive?”