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to take this from him.
    She clutched the sides of his shirt, not quite willing to wrap her own arms around him, but she hung on. She buried her face into his shoulder, inhaling the warmth and scent of him. It’d been too long since she’d smelled that masculine scent. Too long since she’d felt strong arms around her, the tickle of his arm hair on her skin, the taut hardness of his abs against hers, the breadth of his shoulders harboring her from all the pain.
    God, he felt good. So good.
Too
good.
    Beth inhaled. One last time. That was all she needed. Just a moment more. A moment to compose herself. To settle her world back into its rightful order. Bryan didn’t belong in that order and she couldn’t forget it. He was being kind. Compassionate. Anything else she turned it into would just be foolish. But she’d always be grateful to him for this moment.
    Another deep breath and she pulled back. “Thank you.”
    She cleared her throat and sniffed, thankful she hadn’t gone all blubbery on him. It was one thing to allow a guy to comfort you, another to turn into a dishrag while he was doing so. Especially since the guy—for all she’d seen of him on screen and heard about him around town—was essentially a stranger.
    But this stranger slid a hand beneath her hair and cupped her cheek, tilting her face to look into his. “It’s okay, Beth. I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but I do understand what Maggie is. She needs her mom to be there for her and you’re doing a great job. She’s always going to miss him, but as long as she knows you love her and are here for her, she’ll be okay. But don’t forget to allow yourself to grieve, too. To feel the pain. You don’t have to be a rock all the time.”
    He was right, she knew that, but the reality was that she could only be so strong and if she let her guard down, it might not come back up.
    She licked her lips and swallowed, trying to rein in her careening emotions. “Thank you. For this. For . . . that. Tossing her. I didn’t know she missed it so much.”
    “And you’re not supposed to. You do other things for her. Don’t forget that.”
    She worked a smile onto her face. Probably not her best, but then she wasn’t exactly
at
her best right now. Probably had blotchy red cheeks and eyes brimming with tears and, hell, her nose was probably running. “I won’t. Thank you.”
    He looked at her a little longer, his green eyes searching hers, his fingers tightening just a bit on her scalp, then he took a quick breath and let her go. “You’ll be okay.”
    She would. The question was, when?
     • • • 
    B RYAN didn’t know how he managed to get out of there without embarrassing himself. He’d been
this
close to offering her comfort of another sort but sanity had reared its head and saved them both the awkwardness of that. Jesus. What was
wrong
with him? Okay, so she wasn’t married, but still. A mother. Of five. Suburbia. And harboring a boatload of emotions for her dead husband that, even if she
was
ready to move on, would have him triple-thinking it even if he
was
interested in starting something with her. Which he wasn’t. Not really. Sure, his body was all set to go, but Beth Hamilton wasn’t made for a casual fling. Her kids certainly weren’t and Bryan had been in their position. Knew what they were going through. The man who came into Beth Hamilton’s life had better be not only prepared to take on five kids, but ready, willing, and able to do so.
He
was able, but the ready and willing parts? Not quite.
    So he walked out of her kitchen, met all the kids’ friends, finished his job for the day, and left the domesticity behind. He ruffled Mark’s hair on his way out, gave the high sign to Tommy, returned Jason’s nod, and gave Kelsey the Manley smile that would make her the envy of all her friends, his good deed for the day.
    Beth stood at the front door with Maggie on her hip, waving as he pulled out of the driveway. Okay,