“I was focused on all the wrong things. Maybe he never set the world on fire, but he sure did set me on fire. Still does.”

“That’s so exciting.”

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s the comfort. Am I attracted to him—again—because it’s comfortable? Because I know he won’t crush me? Or is it more than that?”

“You thought about him for seventeen years. That has to count for something.”

“True.”

“Don’t overanalyze it. Just enjoy it. After all you’ve been through, you deserve some joy. If being with Luke brings you joy, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Being with Luke had always brought her joy.

“You’ve got plenty of time to figure it out.”

“I have to be back by September fifth,” Sydney said, her blood going cold at the thought. “Sentencing for the guy who hit us.”

“Oh God, Syd. Do you have to be there?”

“Someone has to represent Seth and the kids. I try not to think about it, but it’s like my life is on hold in many ways until that’s over.”

“You’ve got a few weeks until you have to face that. In the meantime, you’ve got a sexy guy who sets you on fire.”

Sydney nodded in agreement and took the conversation in a lighter direction, but she still worried over whether she was entering into a relationship with Luke for the right reasons or because being with him was so damned easy.

When things had calmed down at the marina later that afternoon, Luke backed his truck up to the marina’s main building and pulled out the hose. He washed the grime and salt off the outside and was vacuuming the inside when Big Mac ambled up to him.

“Are you sick or something?”

“Very funny.”

“The only other possible explanation for this unprecedented event is a hot date.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

Big Mac stood up to his full six-foot-four-inch height and dropped the sunglasses down his nose so he could take a good long look at Luke over the top of them. “Try pulling that evasive act on someone who hasn’t known you since you were knee-high to a grasshopper.”

Luke wilted a bit under the older man’s scrutiny, the same way he had at eight when he’d hung around the marina hungry for even a second of Big Mac’s time and attention. And Big Mac, being Big Mac, had taken the fatherless boy under his wing and kept him there ever since. “And your point is?”

“Rumor has it you’re seeing that Donovan girl again.”

“So what about it?”

“I just hope you’re being careful. That’s all.”

Luke ran a damp cloth over the dusty dashboard. “I am.”

“You sure about that?”

“Why don’t you say what’s on your mind,” Luke said, fighting off exasperation.