But he didn’t intend to share the truth about that weakness with anyone. “I don’t have any intention of getting in Maddie’s way or of getting to know her better.”

Sylvia nodded. “Sure.”

He hated that. “What?”

“I heard what you said.”

He didn’t love her tone. “But you don’t believe me.”

“Not even a little.”

Chapter 6

The next day Maddie hovered on the small front porch of the cabin for close to ten minutes. She lifted her hand to knock but stopped. Tried and halted. Repeated the cycle three times until her indecision annoyed even her.

She debated dropping the box and running away. Thought about turning around and going back home without leaving the box because this whole thing had been a reckless and silly idea. Like, epically bad. She’d made it clear last night that whatever talking, meeting, seeing each other was going to happen while Connor was on Whitaker had ended. They were done.

That was the right answer. No more contact. She would treat him the same way she treated everyone else on Whitaker, as if he were invisible. She was not a make-new-friends type. She didn’t see a need to change that lifelong characteristic now.

Just as she turned to make her great escape, the front door opened. A curse slipped out before she could choke it back.

No one could have luck this bad.

She shifted again, this time to face him. The him who seemed to haunt every minute of her life since he landed on this stupid island. The stark white bandage stood out against his skin. That part still made her cringe, but that was sort of why she’d showed up today.

Hovering in the doorway, Connor looked every inch of the McHottiePants label she’d tagged him with in her head. The faded jeans and gray long-sleeve T-shirt fit with the relaxed island surroundings. The ruffled hair and socks suggested he’d been doing something low-key before she arrived . . . and now she wondered what.

In truth, he made standing look sexy, which just ticked her off.

Confidence pounded off him . . . and that lopsided smile had her a little breathless. She blamed her lack of recent exercise for the last part. She refused to admit his cute face played any role in her raspy breathing thing.

He held her gaze for a few seconds, then looked down. Before he could say anything, she shoved the box into his midsection.

He grabbed on to it with a small grunt. “Uh.”

“It’s for you.” She was pretty sure he knew that, but just in case.

He lifted the lid and his face lit up with a smile a second later. “Cake.”

“It’s a pie.”

“Is this an I’m sorry I hit you with a log cake?” He sounded downright amused by the idea.