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quotes?”
    “We’ve been doing that since—” Maddie squinted up at Eli. “What would you guess—probably the third grade? Of course, in those days, every movie we saw, we saw together, so we were a little more evenly matched at that point.”
    “You’ve known each other since the third grade?”
    Maddie sat on the floor cross-legged and continued sorting. Eli turned to tape up a full box while he answered Rogan’s question. “More like birth. Our parents lived in these houses when we were born—two days apart, she’s older—and my parents stayed here until about a year ago and your parents moved when?” He looked over at Maddie. “—about five months ago?”
    Interesting that he didn’t mention anything about the last three years. Of course, Rogan had enough drama in his life without adding theirs. She nodded. “Something like that.”
    “Weird. I’ve never lived any place longer than six months,” Rogan commented.
    Maddie actually felt tears prick at the back of her eyes for him. Rogan must have realized how much he’d revealed because his hands went back into his pockets and up went his emotional force field. To break the discomfort of the moment, she handed him a tape gun. “How about taping up those boxes for me?” He turned to do it. “So, Rogan, do you like movies?”
    He shrugged off his beat up black leather jacket and draped it over a chair in the corner. “I guess.”
    Eli watched her interaction with Rogan, but not participating much. Something about Eli’s trepidation and discomfort tugged at her heartstrings in a way that she knew was dangerous.
    “Maybe we’ll have to throw something on the big-screen tonight.”
    She couldn’t afford any heart-string-pulling toward this man. The last time had nearly killed her. They could be friends, but the moment she started feeling all soft and mushy towards him, he’d emotionally destroy her—however unintentionally.
    “Whatever,” Rogan replied turning back to the box at his feet.
    Eli’s expression fell for a moment before he rolled his eyes then made a pained face in Maddie’s direction, which caused her to need to fight a giggle. It was too good to share the moment with him, even as she felt badly for the struggles he was having—and would undoubtedly continue to have—with his son. For that matter, it felt too good to be around him.
    Stop with the soft and mushy! Concentrate on the important stuff. “So where do you want to start?” she asked, handing him an empty box.
    Late that afternoon, covered in dust and grit, they called it a day.
    “How would you like dinner?” Eli offered. “I’m thinking maybe a salad, steaks on the grill and baked potatoes.”
    “I won’t turn it down.”
    “Rogan?” Eli turned to his son, who leaned against a stack of boxes in the corner with a mutinous look in his electric blue eyes.
    For a long moment, Maddie doubted that he would answer. With a loud growl, his stomach answered for him. “I’m starved.” A half-grin gave him a sheepish expression.
    “Good.” Eli turned toward Maddie. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead reached out and wiped at her cheek with the pad of his thumb. Maddie jumped back quickly.
    “Dirt.” Eli showed her his thumb. “Come over after you get cleaned up.”
    Maddie watched as he turned and left, her heart beating a mile a minute in her chest. There was no way to deny it. Though she’d never admit it to him, the man still had the power to make her heart speed up, even as her brain recognized the danger.

    For a change, the only thing that Rogan was chewing up was his steak. Eli watched Rogan shovel his dinner down like a starving man, his single-minded concentration on his food distracting him from his efforts to thwart Eli’s every attempt at connection. A glass of wine seemed to have mellowed Maddie fairly nicely and for the first time since she came back to town, she wasn’t throwing off “get the hell away from me” signals.
    He poured an