“Yep.”He nodded.“And bears have long claws so they can dig.”He was peering out the windows, as if a bear would walk along at any minute.“One time, Grampa showed me a scratch mark on a tree and it was bigger than Grampa’s head.”
“I bet Braden could chase off a bear.He’s real big.”
Maggie smiled at that.Braden was a big guy.But that didn’t mean he could chase off a bear.She hoped he’d never be in the situation where that was ever a possibility.
Braden had sent exact coordinates to the trailhead wherethey were meeting.When Maggie pulled off onto a side road, she was pleased to see it was a parking lot of sorts—and that there were a couple of other vehicles parked there.One thing she did know, bears didn’t like people any more than people liked bears.
She was unbuckling her seat belt when she saw little Delilah Parker hopping up and down and waving at their car.
“There’s Delilah.”Maggie waved back.
Maggie grinned as she grabbed the backpack from the passenger seat, then climbed out of her old SUV and felt her knees lock up the moment she saw Braden Parker walking her way.
Goodness gracious.She drew in an unsteady breath.He was… He was one of the most manly men she’d ever laid eyes on.His flannel shirt encased broad shoulders while his faded jeans hugged long, muscular legs.And his face… She swallowed hard.The blue-and-black-plaid flannel shirt he was wearing made his eyes as blue as the sky overhead.
Get a grip, Maggie.He wasn’t the only handsome man she’d ever laid eyes on so why was she reacting this way?But he was the only man she’d dated since Cody was born.Definitely the only man who’d set off such sparks inside her.
Not that this was a date.It isn’t.She shook her head.
Like it or not, her stomach was knotted with anticipation and, yes, jittery, too.This would not do.She leaned against the hood of her SUV, waiting for the ground beneath her feet to steady.
“Maggie.”When Braden smiled, there was just the right number of wrinkles at the corner of his eyes to say he wasn’t stingy with his smiles.
Until now, she hadn’t considered smiling to be sexy.But Braden smiling was a whole lot of sexy.No, wait.Sexy?Words like sexy weren’t appropriate for this morning’s playdate.This is so,sobad.“Morning.”Her voice was high and brittle.
Braden’s blue eyes swept over her face before he turned to her son.“Cody.How’s your morning going so far?”
“Okay.But Mom took forever getting ready this morning.”Cody shrugged.“Guess she wanted to look nice.”
Maggie was horrified by Cody’s words—so horrified she closed her eyes and wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole.Then she wouldn’t have to be embarrassed for the rest of the day.
“She wooks pretty.”Delilah took Maggie’s hand in hers.“Doesn’t she, Daddy?”
Maggie couldn’t breathe.She felt her cheeks go hot.This was a whole new level of embarrassment she’d have been fine to miss out on.Could this morning get any more mortifying?
“She does.”Braden’s voice was low and deliciously hoarse.
That did it.Maggie’s toes curled in her boots and her lungs drained of air.Today’s playdate was going to be a lot more challenging than she’d expected.He was making her feel all the feels.All the tingles.She couldn’t think straight.
Stop it.She shook her head.This wasn’t some rom-com and she was no pheromone-driven teenager.Everything that happened was her choice.A choice she’d already made—and would stick to.No matter how dreamy or tempting or manly Braden Parker was, she wouldn’t waver.She pushed off the hood of the car and straightened her shoulders.I can do this.I will do this.
* * *
Braden Parker had never been the sort of man to lose his head over a woman.It wasn’t intentional, he’d just never met a woman that knocked him back on his heels and scrambledup his insides.Maybe it was from growing up in a family that tended not to show or talk about their emotions.Ever.Being stoic was sort of ingrained into him.So whateverthiswas compressing the air from his lungs and making his chest heavy caught him entirely off guard.
“We goin’ hikin’ now?”Delilah was holding on to Maggie’s hand and swinging their arms back and forth.
“Yep.”The sooner they got moving, the sooner he could shake this weirdness off.
“Yay!”Delilah was hopping up and down again.“Cody!Cody!You ready?”
His little girl had been talking about Cody all morning.As soon as she’d rolled out of bed, she’d been asking if it was time to go see Cody.And Cody’s mom.It shouldn’t surprise him to see how easily his little girl took to Maggie.She was so quick to love and accept others—he wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or something he should worry about.But the way Maggie was smiling down at his daughter told him, this time, he needn’t worry.
Watching the two of them triggered a whole new series of unfamiliar sensations that he wasn’t altogether happy about.A hollowness in the pit of his stomach.Almost an ache.For what, he didn’t know.And he couldn’t account for the continued pressure in his chest, either.Even after he rolled his shoulders, the odd tension remained.
“Yeah.Grampa said there were bears.”Cody eyed the tree line and rubbed his hands together.“We gotta be real careful.”
Well, hell.His little girl was still missing flip-flops, sand and warm ocean breezes.The last thing his daughter needed was a run-in with a grizzly on their first hike in the woods.
