From Neighbors...to Newlyweds?

After Pippa was changed and fed and the boys had helped make little pizzas for their lunch—using up all of the cheese and pepperoni and emptying the last jug of milk—Georgia knew a trip to the grocery store was in order. Since it was a nice day and Quinn and Shane seemed to have energy to burn, she decided they would walk rather than take the minivan.

The twins refused to ride in the double stroller anymore, insisting that they were too big to be pushed around like babies. Unfortunately, Georgia knew their determination and energy would last only so long as it took to reach their destination and not bring them home again, so she strapped Pippa into her carrier and dragged the wagon along beside her.

As she started down the driveway, she caught another glimpse of her hunky neighbor and his equally hunky brothers, and her pulse tripped again. The automatic physiological response surprised her. Since Phillip had died, all she’d felt was grief and exhaustion, so the tingles that skated through her veins whenever she set eyes on Matt Garrett weren’t just unexpected but unwelcome.

She did not want to be attracted to any man, much less one she might cross paths with any time she stepped outside. But while her brain was firm in its conviction, her body wasn’t nearly as certain.

Matt caught her eye and lifted a hand in greeting. She waved back, then quickly averted her gaze and continued on her way. It was bad enough that she’d caught herself staring—she didn’t need her neighbor to be aware of it, too.

Of course, he was probably accustomed to women gawking in his direction. A man like that would be.

Not that she had a lot of experience with men like the Garrett brothers, but she knew their type. In high school, they would have been the most popular boys: the star athletes who had dated only the prettiest girls, the boys that other boys wanted to be and that all of the girls wanted to be with.

But not Georgia. She’d been too smart to fall into the trap of thinking that those boys would even look twice in her direction. And they never had. Not until Aiden Grainger sat down beside her in senior English and asked if she’d help out with the yearbook. Even then, she’d been certain he was only interested in her ability to correctly place a comma, and no one was more surprised than she when he walked her home after school one day and kissed her.

And with the first touch of his lips, she’d fallen for him, wholly and completely. They’d dated through the rest of senior year and talked about backpacking around Europe after graduation. Aiden wanted to see the world and Georgia wanted to do whatever he wanted to do so long as she got to be with him.

This willingness to sacrifice her own hopes and dreams in favor of his terrified her. It reminded her of all the times her life had been upended because her mother decided that she had to follow her heart to another city or another state—usually in pursuit of another man.

When Georgia was thirteen and starting her third new school in three years, she’d promised herself that she would never do the same thing. And now, barely five years later, she was preparing to throw away a scholarship to Wellesley College in order to follow some guy around Europe? No, she couldn’t do it.

Aiden claimed that he was disappointed in her decision, but it turned out he wasn’t disappointed enough to change his plans. He’d said he wanted to travel with her, but in the end, he wanted Europe more than he wanted her. And maybe Georgia wanted Wellesley more than she wanted him, because she went off to college and didn’t look back.

But it had taken her a long time to get over Aiden, and a lot longer than that before she’d been willing to open up her heart again. And when she finally did, she’d lucked out with Phillip Reed.

Maybe theirs hadn’t been a grand passion, but for almost ten years, he’d made her feel loved and comfortable and secure. It was all she’d ever wanted or needed.

So how was it that, after less than ten minutes, Matt Garrett had made her wonder if there might be something more? How was it that he’d stirred a passion inside of her that she’d never even known existed? And what was she supposed to do with these feelings?

Unable to answer any of these unnerving questions, she pushed them aside and led the kids into the grocery store.

When Matt decided to move, his real estate agent had repeated the same mantra: location, location, location. And Tina Stilwell had promised that this neighborhood scored top marks in that regard. There were parks, recreation facilities, a grocery store and schools in the immediate vicinity, with more shopping, restaurants and the hospital—where he worked as an orthopedic surgeon—just a short drive away. She hadn’t mentioned the beautiful blonde next door, and Matt wasn’t sure how that information might have factored into his equation.

He hadn’t necessarily been looking for a house—and he certainly wasn’t looking for a new relationship. But he believed that real estate was a good investment and this house, in particular, had everything he wanted, not just with respect to location but amenities.

Jack had, logically, questioned why a single man needed four bedrooms and three bathrooms, forcing Matt to acknowledge that it was more space than he needed. He didn’t admit—even to himself—that he had any residual hope of utilizing those extra bedrooms someday. Because he had a new life now—a new home and a new beginning, and he wasn’t going to waste another minute on regrets or recriminations about the past. From this point on, he was going to look to the future.

But first, he had to cut the grass.

As he pushed the lawn mower across his yard, he kept casting surreptitious glances toward his neighbor’s house, eager for any sign of Georgia Reed. He hadn’t seen much of her in the past few days, and he knew she wasn’t home now because the minivan was missing from her driveway, but that didn’t stop him from checking every few minutes.

Thinking about what his brothers had said, he had to admit, albeit reluctantly, that it might not be a good idea to make a move on the woman next door. At least, not until he’d finished unpacking. If he moved too fast, she might think he was desperate. And he wasn’t—but he was lonely.

Since his divorce, he’d had a few brief affairs but nothing more meaningful than that. He missed being in a relationship. He missed the camaraderie, the companionship and the intimacy. Not just sex—but intimacy. After a few unsatisfactory one-night stands, he’d recognized that there was a distinct difference.

He missed falling asleep beside someone he genuinely wanted to wake up with the next morning. He missed long conversations across the dinner table, quiet nights on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and a movie, and rainy Sunday mornings snuggled up in bed. He missed being with someone, being part of a couple, having a partner by his side to celebrate not just all of the national holidays but all of the ordinary days in between.

But even more than he missed being a husband, he missed being a father. For almost three years, his little boy had been the center of his life. But Liam had been gone for more than three years now, and it was past time that Matt accepted that and moved on.

With a sigh, he considered that maybe he should let Luke talk him into taking one of those puppies. At least then he wouldn’t come home to an empty house at the end of a long day.

Glancing toward Georgia’s house again, he was willing to bet that his neighbor didn’t know what it meant to be lonely. With three kids making constant demands on her time, she probably didn’t have five minutes to herself in a day.

No doubt the twins alone could keep her hopping, and she had the needs of an infant to contend with as well. Although he had yet to meet the baby girl, he found himself wondering what she looked like, if she had the same dark hair and dark eyes as her brothers (which he assumed they’d inherited from their father) or blond hair and blue eyes like her mother.

It had to be difficult for Georgia, being widowed at such a young age. Not that he actually knew how old she was, but if she’d passed her thirtieth birthday, he didn’t think she’d done so very long ago. Which meant that she’d likely married when she was young and idealistic and head over heels in love—and that she was probably still grieving the loss of her husband. But even if she wasn’t, Matt didn’t imagine that she had any interest in—or energy for—a romance with her new neighbor.

A relationship with someone who lives next door might seem convenient … but it can be a nightmare if things don’t work out.

Luke was probably right. So Matt was going to take his brother’s advice and step back. Which didn’t mean he and Georgia couldn’t be friends. Surely his brothers wouldn’t have any objection to Matt being friends with the woman next door.

And it seemed obvious that the first step toward becoming friends was to be a good neighbor. He finished the last strip of his grass and pushed the mower over to Georgia’s lawn.

Having never owned anything with a yard before, he wasn’t sure how he would feel about the required maintenance and upkeep, but so far, he was enjoying the physical work. And mowing the lawn, being unable to hear anything but the rumble of the motor, was almost relaxing. Or it would have been if the hum and the vibration of the machine in his hands hadn’t started him thinking about different hums and vibrations that he hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

Yeah, it had definitely been too long since he’d been with a woman. Which brought him back to thinking about Georgia again. The neighbor who was, he reminded himself, strictly off-limits with respect to any kind of romance.

But while his mind might be willing to heed the warnings of his brothers, his hormones weren’t entirely convinced. Especially when Georgia’s van pulled into the driveway and his pulse actually skipped a beat.

As Georgia turned onto Larkspur Drive, she mentally reviewed her plans for the rest of the day. First and foremost was the long-neglected manuscript still on the dining room table. And when she finally got that manuscript finished, she would set Pippa up in her playpen on the deck while Georgia cut the grass. She still had mixed feelings about letting the boys play in the neighbor’s yard, but she thought she might indulge them today, trusting they would keep safely out of the way in the tree house.

She hadn’t seen much of Matt Garrett over the past few days, which made her realize how little she knew about him aside from his name. She didn’t know where he worked or what he did, whether he was married or engaged or otherwise involved. Not that she was interested, just … curious.

And when she turned into her driveway and saw him pushing a lawn mower over the last uncut strip of grass in front of her house, her curiosity was piqued even further.

She parked her minivan, then opened the back door to let the twins scamper out before she unlatched Pippa’s car seat. By the time she’d taken the baby into the house, he’d finished the lawn and was making his way toward her.

“Need a hand?” He gestured to the grocery bags in the back.

Georgia turned to respond, but the words dried up inside her mouth. His hair was tousled, his bronzed skin bore a light sheen of perspiration, and the gray T-shirt that molded to his broad shoulders and strong arms was damp with sweat. She’d always appreciated men who were more GQ than Outdoors-man, but she couldn’t deny that there was something very appealing about this man.

She swallowed. “No, I’ve—”

Ignoring her protest, he reached into the vehicle for the remaining two bags.

She blew out a breath. “Okay. Thanks.”

He grinned at her, and her knees actually went weak.

Something very appealing, indeed.

The first time she’d seen him up close, she’d been struck by his stunning good looks—and unnerved by her body’s instinctive response to his blatant masculinity. But she’d managed to convince herself that she’d overestimated his appeal, that he couldn’t possibly be as handsome or as sexy as she’d thought. Face-to-face with him now, she was forced to admit that, if anything, she’d underestimated his impact.

Those deep blue eyes were both warm and seductive, and his exquisitely shaped mouth seemed to promise all sorts of wicked pleasure. Not that she was interested in seduction or pleasure; she didn’t even have the energy for an innocent flirtation. But the pulsing of the blood in her veins proved that her body was only exhausted, not dead.

Matt followed her into the house and set the grocery bags on the counter.

“Can we come over to see the puppies?” Quinn asked.