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"I meant your family in Chicago ."
    “ I don't have any there. I'm not married." Score one for the hormones, she thought, trying not to feel or look relieved. The good news was that when Nash left, she would have a great time re membering all the surging feelings she'd experienced while he was here. It would be a lot more interesting than sorting coupons or ironing.
    “ Okay." She sucked in a breath. "You can tell me no. It's completely crazy and not even why you're here. I don't usually even ask. Why would you want to?" She shook her head. "Forget it." She took a step back.
    He blinked at her. "Was there a question in there for me?"
    “ I don't think so." She waved toward the kitchen. "We're just hanging out in there. The boys tell me about their day at school and they have a snack. You seemed..." She tried a different line of thought. "You're welcome to join us if you'd like. Or you can simply run screaming from the room and I'll get the message." He looked surprised, and not exactly comfortable with the idea. Of course. He was a sexy, successful, single guy. Men like that didn't hang out with three kids and a single mom.
    Heat crawled up her cheeks and she had a bad feeling there was a blush to match. "Never mind," she said brightly. "It was a silly suggestion." She started toward the closed door that led to the kitchen, but before she'd gone more than two steps, he called her back.
    “I would like to join you," he said.
    She eyed him. "Why?" He smiled and her internal organs did a couple of synchronized swimming moves.
    “ Because you asked and it sounds like fun.”
    “ I'm not sure about fun, but I can promise loud.”
    “Close enough." Now that he'd accepted, she felt foolish about her invitation, but it was too late to retract it. She moved to the table and collected the tray, then tilted her head in the direction of the kitchen.
    “ Brace yourself," she said and pushed open the door with her shoulder.
    All three of her boys were talking at once. They barely noticed her, but the second Nash walked in behind her three pairs of blue eyes widened and three mouths snapped closed.
    “ This is Mr. Harmon," she said as she put the tray on the counter.
    “Nash," he said easily.
    “ Okay. Nash. These are my boys. You've already met Brett, who is rapidly becoming a macho tool guy. And these two—" She walked to the table and put her hands on their shoulders. "—are my twins. Jason and Adam. Say hi to Nash." The twins offered an enthusiastic greeting, but Brett didn't say much. His expression turned wary and Stephanie wondered if he was about to say something that would make her cringe.
    “ We're having chocolate chip cookies, grapes and string cheese," she said quickly in an effort to forestall Brett. "You're welcome to that or the shortbread."
    “ How about shortbread and grapes," he said. "No problem." As she bustled around the kitchen, he pulled out one of the two empty chairs. Brett sat across from the twins, which meant Nash would be across from her. It was only a snack, she told herself. She could handle it. At least she hoped she could.
    As she worked, she tried not to notice the silence. Her normally ten-thousand-words-a-minute kids were all staring at Nash. But before she could think of something to ease the escalating tension, Nash broke the ice himself.
    He leaned toward Jason and Adam. "I'm a twin," he said.
    The boys grinned. "No way," Jason said.
    “ Not identical, like you two. Kevin and I don't look very much alike. But we're still twins."
    “ Cool." Adam offered a shy smile.
    Nash turned to Brett. "I heard school is out this week. Are you excited about summer?" Stephanie saw her oldest wrestle with his innate excitement and his need to be standoffish. "Summer's good," Brett said at last.
    “ There's a community pool," Jason said. "We go swimming every week. And there's sleepover camp at the end of summer. And Adam and me are gonna play volleyball at the park."
    “ Sounds like fun," Nash