She was an idiot.

Seriously.

Of course, if there was anyone for her to be an idiot about, it was Maddox, but that just made it worse.

Hannah sat at the kitchen table, her chin propped up on her hand, as she watched Maddox teach Ava how to make pancakes that looked like Alfred. He had made her a stool with a railing and pulled it up next to the stove, so that there was no way for her to reach the stove, or fall into it. But she was right next to him, watching what he was doing, pointing to the chocolate chips when he asked her what he should use to make the eyes.

Hannah could not believe how kind he was. She had never met a man like him. Yes, the Harts had always taken care of her and Katie when they were young, but they had been homeless teenagers, not exactly the same as a man like Maddox. Watching Maddox take care of Ava made Hannah think of her time with the Harts. It had been the only time in her life, besides now, that she had felt the security of knowing that someone was there to protect her. If anyone from foster care or child services had come after her and Katie to separate them, and drag them back, the Harts would have found them, and helped them get away again. Even as kids, the Harts had been dangerous, loyal, and absolutely relentless in their protection of each other.

She sighed, watching Maddox's smile as he followed Ava's directions on where to put the strawberry for the nose. Yes, Maddox definitely reminded her of Brody, with his quick smile, and his kindness, combined with his strength. Of course, a significant difference between them was that she had always thought of Brody as her brother, and never had the least bit of attraction to him on a physical level…but the same could not be said of how she felt about Maddox.

Heat pooled in her lower body as she thought of last night with Maddox. Making love with him had been the most incredible experience of her life. He had freed her to completely open herself to what she was feeling, and what she wanted. He made it safe for her to reach out, to take what she wanted, and to turn herself over to him. She had loved every moment of it. And then the finale had been sleeping, with both her and Ava wrapped up in his incredibly strong arms. She had known then that the universe had given her that moment to help begin to heal the broken pieces of her heart, the pieces that had been broken for so long, that she hadn't even realized there were cracks.

And now, the sun was shining. The blizzard was over. Real life was creeping back, inch by inch, minute by minute. She glanced out the window at the brilliant white snow glistening across the property. Even the ramshackle barn looked charming and wonderful when it was covered in all the snow. The sky was a brilliant blue, without a cloud to be seen, and all the branches of the trees were bent under the snow, making it look like a Christmas card from some fantastical, small New England town, where neighbors were best friends, children ran around outside without fear, and you were never alone, even if you wanted to be.

In the distance, she could hear the low hum of a chainsaw, and she knew that Chase and probably his brothers were working on the tree that protected her, Maddox, and Ava from the real world. At any moment, all this would be only a memory. And that was why she was an idiot, because she didn't want it to be a memory.

Somehow, her heart had forgotten that this was temporary. It had forgotten that she didn't trust men. It had forgotten that she was all about girl power for her and Ava. Her heart wanted the moment with Maddox and Ava to be her life today, tomorrow, and the day after that, continuing on indefinitely, creating a cocoon of safety and tenderness in which she and Ava could heal and thrive.

That was exactly what she had wanted when she had chosen Rogue Valley to settle in. She had thought it would come from the neighbors, but it hadn't. She looked over the stove as Maddox lifted the spatula to move Alfred from the griddle to Ava's plate. All the feelings she had craved for so long, had come from one man, a man so haunted by his own demons that he could not even see what he brought into their lives.

"Go show your mom," Maddox said. "I'll make a few more for the grown-ups." He winked at Hannah as he ladled some more batter onto the pan.

Hannah's heart tightened at his private intimacy, and wrapped Ava up in her arms as the little girl bounded up onto the seat next to her, her face glowing as she held up Alfred the pancake to show her. "It's beautiful," Hannah said. "It looks just like him."

Ava nodded happily, and poured syrup over the pancake, her face glowing as she watched Maddox cook.

Hannah glanced over at him, and her heart tightened when she saw the yearning on his face as he watched them. Suddenly, her heart started to pound. There was no mistaking the expression on his face. He was feeling the same thing she was feeling. He didn't want to leave. If that was the case, maybe he didn't have to leave. Maybe she could make it safe for him to love himself, the way he had made her feel safe to simply be.

Her heart pounding, she stood up and began to walk over to him. It wasn't something she would ask in front of Ava, because she already knew how much Ava would want him to stay. But she had to let him know how she felt. She had to say something. He would never believe that he deserved to stay. It would never occur to him to insert himself in their lives, so it was up to her to show him that he was welcome, and that he was worthy.

His eyes darkened as he watched her approach, a sultry, heated expression that was so similar to how he had looked at her the night before when he had been making love to her, claiming her as his own.

"Hey gorgeous," he said, as she approached him. He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her up against him, planting a decadent, delicious kiss on her that sent ripples of excitement and desire through her body.

The moment he ended the kiss, she gripped the front of his shirt, her fingers clenching the soft fabric of his T-shirt. "Maddox."

He grinned and kissed the tip of her nose. "Hannah."

"Do you hear the chainsaw?"

His smile faded. "Yeah."

"How long do we have?"

"Not too much longer." There was an edge to his voice, a sense of regret that she recognized, because it was the same one that gripped her own heart.

She took a deep breath. This was her moment. He'd probably say no. He would probably tell her he had to leave, for the safety of her and Ava, but she had to tell him that she wanted him to stay, if for no other reason than to give him the gift of knowing that she believed in him, and she saw the beauty in his soul. Maybe he wouldn't be ready to accept that about himself now, but she could at least plant the seed, and she could at least open the door for him to decide to stay if there was any chance of that possibility. "I was thinking—"

His cell phone rang, making them both jump. He swore and glanced over at the counter, where his phone was sitting. Hannah followed his glance, and saw the name Chuck Williams on the screen. Maddox silenced the phone, and turned back to face her. "Sorry. Tell me what you were thinking."

His cell phone beeped, and they both looked over as a text message from Chuck Williams popped up on his phone. Maddox. When are you back in town? I'm overloaded with cases right now, and I need you back on the job.

Hannah looked up at him, her heart pounding with the reminder that Maddox had a life outside this little cabin. "Is he your boss?"

Maddox shrugged. "I take the cases I want. I wouldn't call him my boss." He shrugged, but his face had become hard again. "I'm not very tolerant of people who try to control me and dictate my actions. It doesn't bring out my best side."

Hannah's determination faded as Maddox's tone shifted from soft and nurturing, to one more defensive and protective of himself. "Do you like being a bounty hunter?" It wasn't what she had meant to ask, but for some reason the question popped out, maybe because she didn't want to see him as a man who worked with criminals, carried a gun, and was willing to shoot people if he had to.

She wanted him to be the man who had been so tender, kind, and nurturing for the last few days.

Maddox met her gaze, and something flickered in his eyes, something that told her that he understood why she was asking. "I believe that bad people shouldn't be allowed to hurt other people. Someone has to drag their asses back to the jail they're supposed to be in, and I'm good at it." He met her gaze. "I'm good at it, because that's my world. Darkness. Violence. Staring death in the face. It doesn't bother me. And I have no problem dishing it out. That's the real me, Hannah." He gestured toward Ava, who was happily munching her pancake. "I can't keep this up," he whispered, his voice low. "I can't keep being this person."

Frustration gripped Hannah. "I don't understand. Are you miserable? You seem happy here, with us. Is it all just a lie?"

He swore and ran his hand through his short hair. "No, dammit. That's not what I'm saying. Right now, we're living in this little cocoon, but life isn't like this. Life is going to get shady. It always does. And that's going to bring out the side of me that neither of us wants to see."

Hannah felt like stomping her foot. "How do you know what I want to see? With all that I've been through, don't you think that I know when someone is a good person, and when someone isn't? You bring peace to my soul, Maddox. For the first time ever. My soul couldn't possibly trust you if there was anything about you that would endanger me. Don't you understand? Just because you can bring in criminals, and because your dad was a jerk doesn't mean you're destined to destroy everybody." She stepped back and held her arms out to her side. "Look at me," she demanded. "Just look at me. Do you honestly think that you could hurt me? That you could destroy me? Is there any part of your soul that could bring harm to me? Or to Ava?"

Anguish flashed across Maddox's face, anguish so deep that she felt the ache in her own heart. "Yes," he said, his voice hard and flat, almost dead. "I would, if I stayed around you long enough. Someday, something is going to set me off, and that will be the end. I will not stay around long enough to do that to you."

The truth of his words. He believed everything he said, all the way to the depths of his heart. "I don't understand," she whispered. "Why can you not see what a good person you are?"

He raised one eyebrow. "And I don't understand," he said. "How can you be given the gift of a family like the Harts, and shut them out of your life? How can you be so consumed with loss and darkness that you can't let in the sunlight that the universe gave you so long ago?"

Her mouth dropped open in shock at his words. She stepped away from him, her heart clenching painfully. Loneliness assaulted her, a deep sense of fear, fear of reaching out, fear of going back to who she'd once been, and a fear of more loss. "They aren't my family," she whispered. "They're teenagers who saved me many years ago."

Maddox walked over to her and caught her chin, lowering his voice so quietly that Hannah could barely hear it. "That's bullshit, Hannah. Family isn't about blood. If it was, my dad wouldn't have been such a son of a bitch. Except for Ryder, each of my brothers has a different mother than I do. You could call them my half-brothers, except that would be a lie. Each one of those men is my brother in every part of my heart and soul, including Dane Wilson, the Rogue Valley sheriff. There isn't a drop of blood that Dane and I share, but he is my brother in every way possible. I'd be dead by now if it wasn't for them. I may be fucked up. I may be a bastard. I may be a demon waiting to be unleashed. But I also know that without my brothers, I'm nothing. You have that kind of support with the Harts, and you know it." He met her gaze. "So why are you walking away from them, if you know how important they are?"

His words made her heart cry. There was no way for her to deny his truth. The Harts were her family, and she had walked away from them so many years ago. "I don't know." It was the truth. Maddox was wrong. He wasn't the broken one in this room. It was her.

"I didn't mean to make you sad, hon." His face softened, and he took her hands, holding them to his heart. "The truth is, sweetie, that we all have baggage from our pasts. It defines who we are today, and it drives our actions every moment of our lives. Because of your past, you can't reach out to the Harts. Because of mine, I am forever burdened with the darkness inside me. Yeah, it sucks on some levels, but protecting those we love makes it worthwhile."

Tears filled her eyes. "Are we really protecting those we love? Or are we stabbing ourselves in the heart?"

He sighed and slid his finger over her cheek. "It might be both, but I'm okay with that. I'd stab myself in the heart a thousand times a day if that's what it took to keep you and Ava safe."

She stared up at him through tear-blurred vision. "What if keeping me and Ava safe meant you staying with us? Could you find a way to do that?"

Regret filled his face, and he sighed deeply. "Sweetheart, there's nothing more dangerous to you and Ava than me. So, no, I wouldn't stay with you."

"But—" She stopped when she heard the loud roar of an engine coming from the front of the house. Her heart seemed to freeze when she realized it was the sound of a snowplow. They had broken through. The protective shield around their enclave had been broken.

She looked at Maddox, and gripped his shirt. "It's too soon," she whispered. "I'm not ready."

Maddox wrapped his hands around hers, dwarfing her fists in his hands. "I will never be ready to walk out the door and leave you and Ava behind," he said softly. "It will always be too soon."

She searched his face, trying to understand. "Then why do you have to leave? Tell me whatever it is you haven't told me. There has to be more than what you've said."

He frowned, and then sighed. "There is."