Family for Keeps & Sadie's Hero Read Online Free PDF Page A

to say when I visit him.”
    “I know. I stopped by his room before visiting the other children. I think he spoke three words to me the whole time I was there. I felt like I was carrying on a conversation with myself.”
    “Yeah, that’s the way he is with everyone. I wish I could reach him. But things haven’t been easy for him.”
    “Well, I haven’t given up. I’ll make a point to stop by again. I’m a pretty determined guy when something is important to me.”
    Tess could imagine his determination. He wouldn’t have become such a good football player without it. But she was a determined lady, and he wasn’t going to get her to do something she didn’t want to do again. Even as she thought that, there was a part of her that realized she’d wanted to go out with him or she wouldn’t have allowed the children to talk her into this date. That realization startled her.
    When Mac pulled his car into the driveway of a house, Tess sent him a wary glance. “Do you want to show me your etchings?”
    His laughter filled the small confines of the car, warming the already heated air. Tess was caught by his silver molten gaze and held in its spell. This is a mistake, she thought frantically. It’s way too dangerous for me to go out with him. He’s too overwhelming.
    “What if I said yes?”
    “Then I’m not moving from this car.” She felt herself being drawn into his web of male charm, held together by an incredible smile and the most beautiful eyes.
    He grinned, his arm sliding along the back of the seat. “That’ll be all right by me.”
    The air became unbearably hot. Tess felt prickles of heat slip down the length of her. She stared at that incredible smile of his that no human being had a right to and wanted to melt. She didn’t know if she would be able to move from the car if her life depended on it.
    Even though his arm didn’t touch her, she was acutely conscious of it only inches from her. Her skin tingled as though electrical currents flowed between them. She found herself leaning closer to his arm along the back of the seat as if she needed to establish tactile contact with him. Oh, my, what’s happening to me?
    Suddenly she bolted upright, staring straight ahead, determined not to look at him. “I think you’d better take me home.”
    His laugh was low and full of warmth. “I never figured you for a gal who went back on a promise.”
    She threw him a surprised look. “I’m not. I went out with you. It was just an incredibly short date.”
    His chuckle danced along her nerve endings. “I suppose technically you’ve fulfilled your obligation to the children, but you’re missing the intent of the date.”
    She quirked a brow. “Oh, and what is that?” she asked, confused by the way his laughter seeped into her bruised heart and demanded she forget everything but him.
    His hand touched her shoulder, urging her back against the seat. “Stay and relax. All I want is for us to get to know each other.”
    The way he said “for us” made her breath catch and belied the meaning of his words. She wasn’t good at this dating stuff, having done little of it in her life. She should never have let the kids at the hospital bully her into going out with Mac, even if there was a small part of her that had wanted to go.
    “Friendship is about all I can handle in my life,” he murmured, his voice low and throaty.
    “Now I’m really comforted.” Vividly aware of his hand near her shoulder, Tess sat stiffly against the seat cushion. Her senses registered everything about him, his clean male scent, the silver gleam in his eyes, the dimples at the sides of his mouth when he smiled.
    “If it would make you feel any better—” Mac stopped talking as a car pulled up behind them in the driveway and a man, woman and child got out of it.
    The man approached Mac’s car and bent down at the open window on the driver’s side. “This has got to be a first. I don’t believe it, Mac. You’ve never been