Instead of parking in the garage, she got out and moved across the lawn toward him. Beside his big cowboy boots rested a box about the size of a loaf of bread. It was wrapped with a huge pink bow and was covered in shiny pink paper.

“I’m sorry about the other night,” he said as he stood.

She crossed her arms over the front of her jacket. “What exactly are you sorry for?” If he thought he could come here with lingerie, and she’d forgive him, he’d better think again.

“For being an ass about the broken condom. I know you said not to show up on your porch, but I think you should reconsider.”

“Why?” Unless it was La Perla. She could forgive a lot for yummy undies. It had been a while since she’d worn fabulous underwear, but the box was too big for tiny scraps of lingerie.

A cool breeze brushed the ends of his short hair. “I have something you need.”

Once a boyfriend had given her a naughty nurse outfit, and another had given her cuffs and a leather whip. “What?”

“Invite me in, and I’ll show you.”

“It better not be crotchless.” She moved up the steps until they were on eye level. The flutter in her stomach spread up her chest. “And don’t think for a second that you can come here with an apology and a gift, and I’ll forgive you.”

He seemed to consider that before he shrugged. “Fair enough.”

“And don’t think you can pull your slick”-she poked a finger at his chest-“sneaky moves, and I’ll get naked either.”

Humor creased the corners of his eyes. “No, ma’am.”

“Your old broken moves may work on weaker women, but I’m not that easy.”

“I never thought you were.” He pushed her hair behind her ear, and his cool fingers brushed her cheek. Even after he removed his hand, she still felt his touch. “That’s why I’ve got new slick moves just for you.”

She almost smiled, but she wasn’t ready to forgive him. Not only had he behaved badly, it had taken him three days to apologize. She gave him a hard look and continued up the steps. She opened the front door, and once inside, he closed it behind them. She hung their jackets in the hall closet, and he handed her the gift he’d brought. It was heavy and her gaze slid down his black Ralph Lauren polo to the box in her hands. She set it on the entry table and pulled off the bow. It obviously wasn’t underwear, not that the box was the right shape, anyway.

She ripped it open and pulled out a leather tool belt, complete with screwdrivers, hammer, and a tape measure hanging off it.

“A tool belt,” she said through a smile. No man had ever given her something she’d actually needed.

“Sorry, it’s crotchless.”

“So it is.” She put it around her hips and buckled it over the top of her jeans. “Should we try it out?”

“I’m willing.”

She had a feeling he wasn’t talking about trying out the tools, but she was too excited to care. The hammer slapped the outside of her thigh as she moved into the baby’s room. It was just a tool belt. A strap of leather with metal hanging off it, and she tried not to read more into the gift. Like the thought and effort that went into driving to the hardware store and picking out her tools just for her. Of wrapping it up and waiting on her porch for her to return home. It was probably one of his slick and sneaky ways of getting her naked, but she had to give him serious points for it.

He stopped in the middle of the room and looked at the boxes shoved up against the walls. “What do you want to tackle first?”

“The crib.”

He grabbed a flat-head screwdriver from her belt and popped the big staples from the carton as if they were nothing. It would have taken her forever to work them out. The big hands that had fired footballs downfield for most of his life worked with such ease that she was reminded that sometimes a man was handy outside of the bedroom.

“You don’t have to help me do this.” Watching him started a hot little spark at the top of her stomach. Her body seemed to remember the skill of those hands on her, and the little spark spread through her veins. “I’m sure you have other things to do.”

He lifted his gaze to hers. “I have a lot of other things I should be doing, but I’m here.” He stared into her eyes for several heartbeats before he returned his attention to the big box. “I’ve tried to stay away. After you threw me out of the house, I thought it was probably for the best. You’re a distraction, and I don’t need a distraction right now.” He handed the screwdriver back to her and ripped the box open with his big hands. “I’ve got tapes I need to review, and plays I need to go over in my head before today’s practice, yet here I am. Putting baby furniture together for you because I can’t get you out of my head. I plug in a tape, and all I do is think about you.” He peeled back the cardboard and reached for the instruction sheet that had fallen to the floor. “But the thing is, Adele, I’m not really sure whether you want me to be here or not.” His polo shirt pulled out of the waistband of his Levi’s and slid up the tan muscles of his back. He straightened and looked at her over the top of the instructions. “I don’t know what you want.”

She looked at him, standing there, filling up more than his fair share of space, with his long legs and wide shoulders, offering to put the baby’s crib together so he could be with her, and she didn’t know either. After the dry spell she’d been living in for the past three years, having a man around again was nice. But having this particular man around wasn’t a good idea for many reasons.

“Do you want me to leave?”

“No.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“I want you to stay. It’s just that…I don’t want to want you to stay.” She took a breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t know if it’s ever a good idea to get together with someone from the past. There’s just too much…” She lifted one hand and let it drop to her side. “Usually what broke the relationship up is still there, unresolved.”

“She’s not here.”

“No, but I’m not sure it’s ever a good idea to pick up something that was broken to pieces.”

He tilted his head to one side and looked across at her. “Yesterday, when I was watching my football players run drills, I remembered giving you that fairy book in your dorm room fourteen years ago. One second I was yelling at the tight end, and in the next, I remembered the look on your face when I gave you the book. I remembered how much you loved it.”

“I did.”

“Then I remembered the night I told you Devon was pregnant.”

She remembered that, too.

“I remember the look in your eyes.”

Adele glanced down at the toes of her velvet flats. “This is what I mean by not picking up broken pieces.”

Silence stretched between them for several long moments before he said, “I went to your dorm room a few days later, but you were gone. No one knew where you’d run off to.”

She looked up. “You asked?”

“Yes.”

She shook her head. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this.”

“I think we should.” He tossed the instructions on top of the crib pieces. “I always regretted how much I hurt you.”

“That was a long time ago. I’m over it.”

“Are you?”

“Yes.” It was true. But that didn’t mean she was stupid enough to make the same mistake twice in one lifetime. She was older and wiser. She didn’t want to develop feelings for Zach. For one thing, he lived here in Texas. Her life was over a thousand miles away, waiting for her return.

“I hope so because I had to do what I felt was right. At the risk of getting told to go fuck myself and the door slammed in my face again, you have to know that if given the exact situation, I’d have to do it all the same. I had to step up and take responsibility for something I’d done. It wasn’t easy, but I didn’t have a choice.”

“I know you didn’t. I always knew you had to do the right thing. It was one of the things I loved about you, but that didn’t mean it hurt any less.” She looked into his brown eyes, and said, “Or that I’ll ever let you hurt me like that again.”

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He reached for her hand and pulled her against his chest. “I like you, and I think you like me. We’re adults. Let’s just have fun together while you’re here.”

His fingers brushed her back and sent hot tingles up her spine. Through his clothes and hers, his chest warmed her breasts, and she didn’t want to give up the tingles. Not yet. She wouldn’t be here long enough to develop deep feelings for him. Not this time.

“Okay, but just don’t ask me out on a date,” she said, fearing that if they ever actually dated, the curse would make sure things went straight to hell.

“What? Of course I’ll ask you out.”

She shook her head. “No, don’t. It will ruin everything.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and raised her mouth for his kiss. She liked him. After a three-year dry spell, he made her feel wanted. Like a desired woman, but that wasn’t love. It wasn’t the heart-pinching, stomach-aching love she’d had for him so many years ago. It wasn’t even the easy kind of love she’d felt as an adult for some of the other men in her life.

This time it was simply heart-pounding, stomach-tightening lust. She was old enough not to mistake the two. To know the difference and not confuse it with deeper emotions. Not even when he made love to her on the floor and gave her an orgasm that left her weak and gasping. Not even when he came over the next two days for repeat performances.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, he and Tiffany left town to visit his family in Austin, but he turned up on Adele’s porch bright and early the following Monday morning. They ran five miles together, and he told her about his mother’s cornbread stuffing and ambrosia.

“You like ambrosia?” Adele managed to ask as they ran. Usually Adele didn’t like to talk while she huffed and puffed along, but Zach didn’t seem to have the same problem. In fact, a few times he turned and jogged backward.