Brenda Harlen - From Neighbors...to Newlyweds?

“Does that mean we can come back again?” Quinn asked.

“Anytime,” he said.

“And within two weeks, you’ll be calling someone to put up a fence between our properties,” Georgia warned.

He shook his head. “If I did that, they wouldn’t be able to come over to play in the tree house.”

“Mommy says we can’t go in the tree house,” Quinn admitted. “’Cuz it’s not ours.”

“But a tree house is made for little boys, and since I don’t have a little boy of my own—” Matt ignored the pang of loss and longing in his heart, deliberately keeping his tone light “—it’s going to need someone to visit it every once in a while, so it doesn’t get lonely.”

“We could visit,” Quinn immediately piped up, as Shane nodded his head with enthusiasm and Georgia rolled her eyes.

“That’s a great idea—so long as you check to make sure it’s okay with your mom first,” Matt told them.

“Can we, Mommy?”

“Pleeeease?”

He held his breath, almost as anxious for her response as the twins were. It shouldn’t matter. He didn’t even know this woman—but he knew that he wanted to know her, and he knew that it wouldn’t be a hardship to hang out with her kids, either.

“We’ll talk about it another time,” she said.

Quinn let out an exaggerated sigh. “That’s what she says when she means no.”

“It means ‘we’ll talk about it another time,’” Georgia reiterated firmly.

“I’m hungry,” Shane said again.

She tousled his hair. “Then we should go home to make those pizzas.”

“I’m not hungry,” Quinn said. “I wanna stay here.”

“If you’re not hungry, then Shane will get all the little pizzas.”

Georgia’s casual response earned a scowl from her son.

“And you can help us paint the deck,” Matt told Quinn.

The furrow in his brow deepened. “I guess I could eat some pizza.”

“I’d take the pizza over painting, too,” Luke told him.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t given that choice,” Jack said in a conspiratorial whisper.

“And since you weren’t,” Matt noted, “you can go get the painting supplies.”

Jack headed into the house while Luke picked up the basket full of puppies and moved it under the shade of a nearby tree so the curious canines couldn’t get in the way of their work.

Shane and Quinn stayed by Georgia’s side, but their eyes— filled with an almost desperate yearning—tracked the path of the puppies. And as he looked at the twins’ mother, Matt thought he understood just a little bit of what they were feeling.

In the more than three years that had passed since his divorce, Matt had wondered if he would ever feel anything more than a basic stirring of attraction for another woman. Ten minutes after meeting Georgia Reed, he could answer that question with a definitive yes.

“Thank you,” she said to him now.

“For what?”

“Being so patient and tolerant with the boys.”

“I like kids,” he said easily.

“Then you’ll like this neighborhood,” she told him.

He held her gaze as his lips curved. “I already do.”

Matt watched as Georgia walked away, with one of the boys’ hands clasped firmly in each of hers. Obviously she wasn’t willing to take any chances that they might disappear again—even on the short trek next door.

The first time he’d seen her, it hadn’t occurred to him that his gorgeous young neighbor might be a mother. Finding out that she had kids—and not just the adorable twin boys but a baby girl, too—had scrambled his mind further.

Now that he knew about those children, it seemed wrong to admire the sweet curve of her buttocks in snug-fitting denim. And it was definitely depraved to let his gaze linger on the sway of those feminine hips—or to think about the fullness of breasts hugged by the soft blue knit cardigan she wore.

She might have been a mother, but that reality did nothing to alter the fact that she was also an incredibly attractive woman. Something about the sexy single mother next door stirred feelings inside of him that hadn’t been stirred in a very long time. And while he was intrigued enough to want to explore those feelings, the kids were a definite complication.

Matt had dated a lot of women without letting them into his heart, but he had no defenses against the genuine friendliness and easy acceptance of children. Especially not when the loss of his son had left a gaping hole in his heart that ached to be filled.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Luke said, climbing back up onto the porch.

“You think so?”

His youngest brother nodded. “Yeah, she’s a pleasure to look at. But she’s got complication written all over her.”

“I was only thinking that it was nice to finally meet my neighbor.”

“You were thinking about asking her out,” Luke accused.

“Maybe I was,” he acknowledged.

Jack dropped an armload of painting tools at his feet. “Don’t do it.”

“Why not?” he asked, unwilling to be dissuaded.

“Slippery slope.”

“You mean like an invitation to dinner might lead to a second date?” Matt didn’t bother to disguise his sarcasm.

“And the next thing you know, you’re walking down the aisle,” Luke agreed.

“You went out with Becky McKenzie last week.” He felt compelled to point this out. “But I don’t see a ring on your finger.”

“That’s because when our little brother invites a woman to dinner, it’s just an invitation to dinner,” Jack explained.

“And maybe breakfast,” Luke interjected with a grin.

“But when you ask a woman out on a first date …” Jack paused, his brow furrowing. “Well, we don’t actually know what it means, because you haven’t been out on a real date with anyone since Lindsay walked out on you.”

“I’ve been out with plenty of women.”

Luke shook his head. “You’ve hooked up with plenty of women—but you haven’t actually been in a relationship with any of them.”

Now it was Matt’s turn to frown, because he realized that what his brother had said was true.

“And this one comes with quite a bit of baggage,” Jack noted.

“A three-piece set,” Luke elaborated.

“You’re reading way too much into this,” Matt told them.

“I’m glad you’re thinking about jumping back into the dating pool,” Jack said. “But I don’t get why you’d want to leap directly into the deep end when there are plenty of unencumbered beautiful women hanging out by the water.”

Matt didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t sure he could explain—even to himself—what it was about Georgia Reed that appealed to him. Or maybe he was afraid to admit that he’d fallen for the two little boys who had snuck over to look at the puppies even before he’d realized that his pretty blonde neighbor was their mother.

Since the breakup of his marriage, he’d been cautious about getting involved again. Having his heart trampled by his ex-wife was bad enough, he wasn’t going to risk having it trampled by anyone else’s children.

Not again.

Or so he’d thought—until Quinn and Shane raced into his backyard.

“I’m not looking for anything more than a chance to get to know my neighbor a little better,” Matt insisted.

“So get to know her,” Luke agreed. “But don’t get involved with her. A relationship with someone who lives next door might seem convenient at first, but it can be a nightmare if things don’t work out.”

“Almost as bad as falling into bed with a woman who was supposed to be a friend,” Jack said.

The statement was made with such conviction Matt was sure there must be a story behind it. But since he didn’t want to discuss his personal life—or current lack thereof—he certainly wasn’t going to grill his brothers about their respective situations.