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be the girl of Jake’s dreams. And yet, the thought of him sitting on this glider with another woman brought about a fierce emotion. Anger? As if he were cheating on her. As

if he were hers and no way was she going to let another woman get her claws in him.

“Maybe he’s already found the right girl.”

Lucy stared at Shelly’s knowing smile, and shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Maybe you’re not as smart as I thought you were, then,” Shelly said with a pat on

Lucy’s shoulder.

A couple of the other kids stopped at the glider to talk to Lucy and play with Bayley,

effectively cutting off further conversation with Shelly. Good thing, too, since she didn’t

have an appropriate comeback for Shelly’s last statement.

Jake found Lucy sitting on the glider with Shelly, holding Maria’s baby in her lap and surrounded by kids like a shepherd with her flock. Seeing her like that struck him

immobile, his heart skipping a beat.

Her face was flushed, her head thrown back, exposing that neck that begged for his

teeth, and she was laughing at something one of the children said to her.

One thing he’d discovered over the years was that kids could spot a phony or someone who didn’t naturally love children. Kids avoided adults who didn’t like them.

They’d been hanging on Lucy all day long, and not once had she frowned at them, told

them she was too busy, or otherwise given them the brush off. Each time one of the kids

pulled the hem of her shorts she’d stopped whatever she was doing, bent down to their

eye level, and gave them her full attention.

His heart felt mushy, and that had never happened to him before.

He never got mushy. That was for women, or men who were too weak to hide their

emotions. What the hell was happening here?

All he knew was that he hadn’t had a moment alone with Lucy all afternoon, and he

didn’t like it one bit. Granted, he was the host and besides handling the barbecue, he also

had to play bartender and handle some PR with his peers. But dammit, the one thing he

wanted was in his line of sight but out of his reach.

And the way things were going, it didn’t look like he’d be able to grab a minute alone with her for some time to come.

Not that he was sure what he wanted to do if he had that minute with her, but he’d

damn sure think of something.

“Your girl is spectacular.”

Jake turned and smiled at Maria Sampson. He’d known her husband, Steve, since they’d apprenticed together on his first job site. Steve had been four years older but as

green as Jake.

“Thanks.”

“She’s great with Bayley.”

He followed Maria’s gaze to see Bayley pulling herself to a standing position by grabbing on to Lucy’s blue top, which appeared to be sliding further down her chest,

nearly revealing her perfect breasts. Lucy just laughed, gently extricated Bayley’s hand

from inside the top, and held on to the baby’s little fingers so she could stand.

“Yeah. She’s great.”

“Good choice, Jake,” Maria said. He watched as she went over and rescued Lucy from Bayley’s chubby clutches. Lucy looked as if she was reluctant to let the baby go.

There it was again, that tugging on his heart. Oh, man, he needed a drink. And maybe a stiff dose of some angry testosterone before he ended up dropping to his knees

in front of Lucy and begging her to marry him and bear his children.

Wouldn’t she get a laugh out of that one?

Thankfully, he spent the next hour busily feeding everyone and cleaning up the mess.

By the time dusk rolled around, most of the group was ready to head home.

Jake was more than ready for them to be gone.

Thank God Lucy had planned this party. One by one everyone had congratulated him

and told him it had been the best contractors’ barbecue yet. But he wasn’t about to take

the credit. Left up to him, they’d have had hot dogs, beans and beer, and would have

spent the entire day sitting around and staring at each other.

Lucy had saved his butt.

“She sure saved your behind today,” Bob said, coming up to stand next to him.

They

both watched Lucy play a round of some kind of Nerf ball game with the kids. She looked to be having as much fun as the children. Her eyes would go wide over some

antic, then she’d giggle uncontrollably, finally ending up with two or three little ones

tumbling on top of her.

Jake bit back a groan at watching her writhe all over the ground, her slender legs exposed in her little shorts. What he wouldn’t give to join her and really give her a reason

to roll around.

He popped open the can and took a couple quick gulps, thankful for the cooling liquid on his parched throat. Figured today would be the hottest day of the summer so far.

Fortunately, Lucy had anticipated it and suggested the tents to keep the sun away.

Face it. She’d thought of everything.

“Shelly really likes her. Hell, all the women like her. Nobody had an unkind word to

say about her.” Bob looked at Jake and shrugged, almost as if he was sorry to be the

bearer of that news.

Didn’t surprise Jake in the least. He’d been busy today, but not too busy that he didn’t notice the way she fit in with his crowd. Not that he’d worried she wouldn’t. Well,

maybe a little. Funny how she could be so at ease with his kind of people, when he

expected her to be bored or appalled at the behavior of the kids.

“I’m glad Shelly liked her.” Her opinion meant a lot to Jake. Shelly had called him on some of the women he’d brought around over the years, and damn if she hadn’t been

right about every one of the women she’d told him were a complete waste of his time.

“I gotta warn you,” Bob said, “she’s already thinking of you two as a permanent couple.”

Jake rolled his