Maddie stepped into the shower and gasped when the water hit her cuts. Her tears were only partly caused by pain. Just once, one time, she’d like to feel like a normal woman who stood a chance at happiness with a man like Mac.

Just once. . .

Mac wanted to shoot himself for asking that question and upsetting her, but his desire to know everything about her had trumped his better judgment. He sighed when he thought about the deep, red grooves the bra straps had left in her slender shoulders. He wanted to give her the money. She needed it. He had it. If only it was that simple.

That he’d give this woman he’d known only one day thousands of dollars without hesitation and expect nothing in return should’ve scared the hell out of him. Rather, it pleased him to know he might be able to do something like that to make her happy. If she’d let him, that is. A huge “if.”

Thomas whimpered, and Mac went to check on him. He found the baby sleeping with his bum in the air, his face pressed to the mattress and his mouth open and moving. Mac fixed the blanket that had gotten tangled under his legs and covered him again. For a long time, he stood there and watched the baby sleep before he reached out a finger.

Thomas tightened his little hand around Mac’s finger. The implied trust touched Mac’s heart, and his throat tightened with emotion. “I wish I could convince your mom I can be trusted,” he whispered.

“Did he wake up?” Maddie said from behind Mac, startling him.

The scent of her shampoo and floral soap filled his senses and sent another surge of lust rippling through him. “Just doing some talking.”

“He dreams like I do.”

Remembering her earlier dream, Mac extricated his finger from Thomas’s grip and turned to her. She wore a robe and had her hair turned up in a towel. He studied her pretty face, wishing he could take her into his arms and kiss her again the way he’d yearned to since the last time.

“You’re staring,” she said after a long, breathless moment.

“You’re pretty. Very, very pretty.”

“I wish you’d stop saying that stuff.”

“Why?”

“It makes me uncomfortable.”

“Because you don’t believe it?”

“Because I’m afraid to believe it.”

He framed her face with his hands, running his thumbs gently over her face.

Her lips formed the surprised O he was coming to love.

“I would never hurt you.”

“I’m sure you’d like to believe that.”

“Hasn’t anyone ever been kind to you, Maddie?”

She thought about that. “My grandmother, but she died when I was seven.”

He moved closer, his lips hovering just above hers. “You make me want to do everything for you. Do you know why?”

She shook her head but didn’t look away.

“Because you’d never ask me to.”

“And others do?”

“Always.”

“Even the ones you’ve loved?”