Free Ready for Love by Marie Force

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.

    “Don’t mind if I do.” Big Mac leaned against the truck. “I remember how it was last time. That summer she didn’t come back.”

    Luke could still recall the agony. No other word could do it justice—pure, unadulterated agony.

    “I don’t want to see that happen again.”

    “It won’t,” Luke said with more confidence than he felt. He’d do whatever he could to make sure it didn’t.

    “She’s been through an awful thing. People come out the other side of something like that changed.”

    “I can’t see how it wouldn’t change a person.”

    “See to it she doesn’t use you to put the pieces back together and then move on like she did last time.”

    “Now wait just a second—”

    Big Mac held up a huge hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to overstep.”

    “You didn’t. You can’t overstep with me. You know that.” Luke dropped the rag and rested his hands on his hips, fighting a range of emotion that included anger, fear and a bit of despair. “I hear what you’re saying, and I appreciate why you’re saying it.” Luke paused, took a moment to get himself together and then looked up at the man who meant the world to him. “Am I a chump for giving her another chance?”

    “Nah,” Big Mac scoffed. “You’re only a chump if you ignore the handwriting on the wall telling you history is about to repeat itself.”

    Luke responded with a brisk nod.

    Big Mac squeezed Luke’s shoulder. “Have a good time tonight.” He walked away but left the weight of his concerns behind.

    Turning back to the truck, Luke stared into the cab for a long time before he finished the job.

     

Chapter 8
     

    Big Mac’s concerns stayed with Luke the rest of the day and into the evening as he showered and shaved. Wiping the steam from the mirror, he took a good long look at his reflection. He’d never had any trouble attracting female attention, but no matter how many women he met, there’d never been another Sydney Donovan. For years he’d actually made a concerted effort to connect with other women, but it just hadn’t happened. After a while, he’d stopped bothering and accepted he was fated to love just one woman in his lifetime.

    “Maybe I am a chump,” he said. “How many guys would give a woman a second chance after what she