Falling For Zoe (The Camerons of Tide's Way #1) by Skye Taylor Read Free Book Online

three kids and a mother-in-law with some kind of memory issues.”
    “And you’re blushing because?”
    Zoe gave in. She never had been able to hide things from Bree. “He’s got the nicest eyes.” Eyes that had caught her interest the first time she’d looked into them and captured her heart the second time. At least that’s how it had felt. Zoe kept telling herself it couldn’t be love. Not really. Love at first sight only happened in novels.
    Bree’s brows rose into elegant arches. “Eyes? Hmmmm! Do I detect a romance already?”
    Zoe sighed with regret. “Not likely. He’s definitely good to look at. And he invited me to dinner my first night in the house. But I don’t think he’s interested. And if he isn’t interested now, he’s hardly likely to get that way once he finds out I’m pregnant. I mean, he’s got three kids already. If he’s looking for love, I should think he’d be looking for someone without all the baggage. Someone who isn’t going to be big as a whale in a few months.”
    “Pregnancy is only temporary.” Bree dropped her hands into her lap and leaned closer. “So tell me everything.”

Chapter 8
    “AVA TELLS ME you were all over your new neighbor like fleas on a hound dawg,” Philip Cameron said as he dropped into a lawn chair next to Jake who was tinkering with the lawnmower.
    Jake jerked his head up to glare at his oldest brother. “Ava said what ?”
    “Well, maybe that’s not exactly how she put it.” Philip took a swig of the beer he’d brought out with him and smirked at his kid brother. “But she seemed to think you were pretty interested. I figure it’s just being neighborly for y’all to invite her over for dinner, but walking her home afterward . . . ? That requires some checking into. What’s she like? Is she hot?”
    “She’s okay, but I’m not interested,” Jake flat out lied. He hadn’t been able to get Zoe out of his mind, but what he’d been feeling was totally out of line, and he was determined not to act on it. Especially if Ava was watching him that closely.
    Philip raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips. “Really?”
    “Really.” Jake picked up the file and began drawing it purposefully along the blade of the mower.
    “You know, you’re not a monk, and you are a free man again. What’s wrong with a little fooling around?”
    Jake put the file down and sat back onto his heels. He stared at his brother, wondering how much to say, or not say. He should have just ignored Philip’s teasing in the first place and hoped he’d get tired of waiting for an answer. But his brother’s face had turned serious and patient. “She’s not that kind of woman.”
    Philip gazed at Jake for a long moment. “Not what kind of woman?”
    “Not—” Jake shrugged. “Not easy. Not—She’s a sweet, girl-next-door kind of woman. The kind a man marries first and screws after. Not someone who’d be interested in a meaningless affair. And I’m not ready for anything serious.”
    “Now you’re sounding like me. Except I know you. You’re Dad all over again.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “A one-woman man. Dad married the love of his life, and he’s been faithful ever since.”
    “Yeah, well I married the woman I thought was the love of my life, and look where that got me!” Jake couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice.
    He was over Marsha. So over her. But rejection had hurt just the same and eroded his self-confidence. There was no denying, at least to himself, that the feelings Zoe had stirred up, he hadn’t felt for any woman in years. Maybe he just hadn’t let himself think that way about other women.
    Philip hesitated. Probably wondering if he should say I told you so, or leave it hanging out there unsaid. He opted for tact. “So you made a mistake. Maybe this woman is different.”
    “As different as night and day!” Jake stated without hesitation. “Which is why I’m not going to mess around with her.”
    Philip