“And you know that after what? Five minutes?”

“Actually, it only took thirty seconds.”

Before Linda could reply to that, Big Mac stepped onto the porch. “Hey, buddy. How was the mainland?”

Mac smiled, relieved to see his father. “It was a great day. I got everything I need to hit it hard on Monday.”

“Sounds good. I appreciate that.”

“Happy to help.” Mac walked up the sidewalk to hand his father the keys to the truck.

“Yours are in the bike.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

Big Mac slid his arm around his wife. “You have a good night, son.”

“You, too.”

Linda said nothing as Mac started the bike and drove off with a wave and a smile.

Still babying her injured hand, Maddie got Thomas fed, bathed and into his pajamas before she put him in his crib with some toys while she took a quick shower. Not that she was hoping anything would happen or anything, but she shaved her legs. Just in case. Oh, who was she kidding? She wanted something to happen!

When Mac pretended to be her husband and Thomas’s father, he’d won over the last reluctant corner of her heart. She was sunk. How could she resist a guy who was not only capable of that kind of quick thinking but who also had a protective streak a mile wide? That didn’t mean she wasn’t still worried about a lot of things. But tonight she wasn’t going to think about any of them. Tonight she was going to enjoy the first real date she’d had in years with a wonderful, sexy man who seemed to be wild about her.

Glancing down at the evil-looking scab and bruises on her leg, Maddie grimaced. Just what she needed on a night she was hoping for a little romance. She dried her hair until it fell thick and shiny to her shoulders. After smoothing fragrant lotion onto her entire body, she applied the barest bit of makeup and put on some of the new underwear she’d bought earlier. It was nice for once to wear a feminine bra, even if it didn’t offer the same level of support. Tonight she didn’t care. She cut the tags off a new white eyelet top cut lower than she normally wore and slid into a black miniskirt that came to mid-thigh. In the back of her closet, she found a pair of black high-heeled sandals.

She felt ready. She felt sexy. She felt nervous as hell. Placing a towel over her shoulder to protect her shirt, she lifted Thomas out of his crib and took him into the living room for a snuggle. If anything could calm her nerves, he could.

“We saw your father today, buddy.”

His face scrunched into his adorably serious expression. Sometimes Maddie thought he could understand her every word. She couldn’t wait to have a real conversation with him.