Free With Strings Attached by Kelly Jamieson

such a good neighbor. What would I do without you?”
    He grinned. “Not a problem, Mrs. K. You know to call if you need anything.” The old girl lived on her own, like his mom except thirty years older, and she too insisted on staying in that big house alone. Ha, next thing he knew, Mrs. K. would have a boyfriend too.
    Back on the deck, his friends were now sitting even closer together, Corey’s chair pulled up to Dylan’s, and she was leaning into him and laughing at something he’d said.
    “Surfboards’ curves never sag,” Dylan said, and she laughed harder.
    “What?” Matt asked, picking up his beer from the small table where he’d set it.
    “I’m telling Corey why surfboards are better than women.”
    Matt grinned.
    “Surfboards don’t get pregnant,” Dylan continued. He took a pull on his beer. “And you can ride a surfboard any time of the month.”
    Corey groaned and fell back into the cushioned chair. “Omigod.”
    The guys clinked their bottles together, and Matt sat on the arm of Corey’s chair and nudged her. She was a good sport. Hanging out with the guys and telling dirty jokes never fazed her.
    “What were you doing over there?” she asked, smiling up at him. The sun gilded her hair around her face and shoulders into a golden halo and highlighted her golden eyelashes and the light freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks. Her green eyes glowed.
    “Helping Mrs. Kedding. Her tap was stuck.”
    “He helps his mom, he helps his sister, he even helps his neighbor,” Dylan said with a faintly mocking tone in his voice. He saluted Matt with his beer bottle. “Cheers, Matt.”
    Matt repressed a sigh. Yeah, yeah, he was a good guy. A nice guy. He was getting kind of sick of hearing that.
    “Were you helping your mom today, Matt?” Corey asked.
    “Yesterday,” he muttered. “And not exactly.”
    “Did you go see your sister too?”
    “Yeah. Jenna. Did some stuff for her. Played with the kids a bit.”
    “She probably had a list a mile long of things for you to do.”
    “No, she didn’t.”
    Corey thought Jenna took advantage of him. He tried to tell Corey how overwhelming it was with two kids and no husband around most of the time, but she, being so stubbornly independent, didn’t get it.
    “What about your younger sister?” Dylan asked. “She still in town?”
    “She’s back. She was off travelling for a while.” He grimaced. “Who knows what she was doing? Apparently she worked in coffee shops wherever she went.” He rose from the chair. “Hey, I’m gonna put the rub on the steaks. Come help me.”
    Corey rose too and followed him into his kitchen through the open French doors. “I want the biggest steak,” she said.
    Matt laughed. “As if.” He unwrapped the meat in its butcher paper. “Grab the oil and that brush there.”
    “Seriously. I’m hungry tonight.”
    “They’re all the same size. See?”
    “What happened at your mom’s place? You sounded mad.”
    “Oh, hell.” He let out a groan. “I caught her in bed with a man.”
    “What?” Corey dropped the brush and stared at him openmouthed. “You’re shitting me!”
    “I shit you not. She’s been dating this guy for a little while apparently. Jesus. I walked in on them.”
    “Into the bedroom?” Her shocked tone made him smile.
    “No. Not like that. But I did interrupt them.”
    “Wow. That’s…amazing.”
    “Yeah. You could say.”
    She studied him as he reached for the small brush she’d dropped. “You okay with it?”
    “Doesn’t really matter, does it?”
    “Aw.” She slid her arms around his waist and hugged him as he brushed oil over the steaks. “It’s okay.”
    He smiled, a hot softness in his chest. “Yeah. I know.” He kissed the top of her silky head.
    “I thought you were cooking in here,” Dylan drawled, hopping into the kitchen on his crutches. “But I didn’t think you were cooking that way.”
    Matt waited for Corey to jump away from him, but she didn’t, just