Matt drove home Thursday night, wrote a long email to Owen Kincaid so he wouldn’t forget the key points from the course, then racked out hard. On Friday he woke up early and swung past Mac’s for coffee on his way to meet Sean and Tom for the as-promised punishing workout.

But when he walked into the diner and saw Jake and Dani sitting in a booth with their baby boy, he regretted making the stop.

What was there to say? So, funny story…I met a woman this week, and it turns out, you’ve already banged her and left her heart bruised, so she thinks she’s off-limits to me.

It wasn’t funny.

He also didn’t think she was actually off-limits.

On the other hand, he didn’t have the best track record to bring to the table as a loyal and understanding boyfriend. Or any kind of boyfriend, for that matter.

But he couldn’t shake the feeling of Natasha in his arms, and he wanted that again.

Just as that thought clanged through his head, his brother looked up. “Matt!”

Fucking hell. “Hey,” he said, his steps slowing as he approached their booth. “I’m just grabbing coffee and heading out.”

“How was the course?” Dani asked. She was a first responder, too, and if she weren’t on maternity leave right now, she’d probably have leapt at the opportunity to take the course.

She was good like that.

Matt liked Dani a lot. As a friend, as a colleague, and as a sister-in-law.

He liked his brother, too.

But for the first time in a long time, he looked at them now and saw their goodness, their wholesome happiness, in a new light.

Everyone in town had been aware of their relationship exploding, seemingly out of nowhere, into something serious. And then, just weeks after they started dating, there was another woman. A friend, Jake said, who’d been in a car accident and needed a place to stay for a few days because it turned out she was pregnant.

Not by Jake.

But there had been some question there. And for a few days, Matt’s straight-laced older brother had been the subject of rumour and intrigue, torn between two women. The one he’d slept with and the one he’d loved for years, from afar.

In the end, that had faded fast, because Jake wasn’t torn at all. When it came to love, there was only Dani for him, and everyone knew it.

Nobody had given two thoughts for where that left Natasha. She was gone and forgotten, not a part of their happy ever after.

And whoa, was it weird that Matt was suddenly thinking about happy ever anything.

Emily Kingsley, three years old, and her love of all things pink. That’s what had gotten under his skin. Natasha Kingsley and her bright, fierce gaze. That, too. There was something sweet about the two of them, something he’d never taken the time to see or value before.

Something he wanted, suddenly, with a clarity that kind of scared him.

Dani’s question echoed in his head. How was the course? Matt laughed, a little too harshly. “It was something,” he finally said. “Weird week.”

As he said it, a weight settled on his chest. It wasn’t the right answer. It didn’t feel good.

I met someone amazing, he wanted to say. Instead, he gestured to the counter and muttered about his coffee.

His brother and sister-in-law turned back to their baby, who was giggling through bites of toast. They were good people, Matt reminded himself. They didn’t know.

But he knew.

And something inside him started to burn.

By the time he got to the provincial park north of town, where the SAR team trained, he was ready to let off some serious steam.

It didn’t take long for Tom and Sean to notice. They warmed up quickly, then his brother gave them a quick interval cardio set to jack their heart rates up. Alternating push-ups and jump squats. Back and forth, back and forth, pushing hard and never quite catching their breath.

Four minutes had never felt quite so long, and when Sean’s timer beeped, Matt staggered over to his water bottle. “Excellent,” he rasped. “What’s next?”

“Rope climb,” his brother said calmly. “But take a minute of rest first.”

Matt prowled like a caged animal until Sean let him go, and then he sprinted for the climbing tower. Up he went, hand over hand, his shoulders burning in protest, his legs swinging heavily beneath him.

From the ground, Tom swore at him. Something about being unnecessarily competitive. Matt laughed. He wasn’t competing. He was excising demons he didn’t even know he had.

The last few pulls were agony, and when he got high enough to throw himself onto the platform, he was gasping for breath again.

It took another half-minute before Tom joined him, his friend stretching out on the top of the wooden platform.

“What’s gotten into you?” Tom finally asked.

Matt shrugged as he looked up at the sky. “Eh. Dunno.”

“Your brother is supposed to be kicking my ass, not you.”

“I guess I needed this more than I thought I did.”

“Maybe we should go out tonight. Burn off a different kind of energy.”

“Yeah, maybe.” For a wild, reckless second, he thought about suggesting they make the drive to Port Elgin. He knew a fun bar with a young crowd and a gorgeous bartender who wanted nothing to do with him, except when she was in his arms.

But he wasn’t ready to share Natasha yet. First he had to convince her they might be good together.

“We could just go to the pub.”

Matt nodded. Yeah. The Green Hedgehog in Lion’s Head was their usual place, although he hadn’t been there in ages since it was where women knew to look for him if they wanted a good time. He wasn’t that guy anymore. He’d traded good times for nightmares and sweaty runs at dawn. Guilt now ate at his insides the way lust once had.

“It’s been a while.” Tom said it levelly.

Matt still jerked his eyes up to meet his friend’s curious gaze. “Yeah.”

So Tom had noticed.

He scrubbed a hand over his face. Fucking hell, if his friend knew he wasn’t himself, he needed to rein in his emo bullshit. He was fine. “Let’s go out tonight. It has been too long.”

The weird burn in his gut sparked back to life.

Friday night at Bailey’s was a steady hum of groups at the tables and regulars at the bar. Natasha heard her phone vibrate from its perch next to the cash register, but she ignored it. When the next call rang out loud, that meant it was a repeat call from the same number—and at ten at night, it might be Meredith.

She held up her finger to tell the next customer she’d just be a minute, but the call wasn’t from her sister. She rolled her eyes as she looked at the screen. “Malcolm,” she called out. “Can you cover the bar for a minute?”

Her boss stuck his head out from the kitchen. “Sure.”

She took a deep breath and answered the call as she hustled down the back hallway. “David, I’m at work. What do you need?”

“I called to say goodnight to Emily.” First time ever without a direct invitation. Maybe fifth time total in three years.

She rolled her eyes. “It’s ten o’clock, and I work Friday nights.”

“Is ten too late?”

“She’s three. Yes.”

“Sorry.” But he said it flippantly, like he wasn’t at all, and she had to swallow her outrage.

“Do you want to call her tomorrow during the day?”

“Tomorrow’s jammed.” He hesitated. “I need to have more contact with her, though.”

No shit, Sherlock. “Well, that’s hard when your days are, as you say, jammed, and I work six nights a week. I’ve emailed you my schedule in the past, but I can forward that again. I’m home with her all day, every day, until five, and Monday nights, but she goes to bed at eight. That’s…” God, the mental math made her head hurt. She slammed through the door to the alley and blessed quiet. “Like eighty plus hours a week where you could have contact with your daughter, but you’ve chosen not to.”

“Come for a visit.” David’s voice was louder in her ear now that she was out of the bar. Louder, and more persuasive. Ugh.

She pressed her eyes shut and bit her lips to keep from howling in outrage. I just finished telling you I work six nights a week, jackass. “That’s not easy to do right now. You are always welcome to make the drive up here.”

“Fine. If you’re going to be difficult, I’ll be the one to do the travel.”

“I don’t want this to be confrontational,” she said with a sigh. “Why don’t you email me? It’s easier to work things out in writing.”

“I wanted—” There was a murmur in the background, a woman’s voice, then silence. Ah. Of course this sudden need to have contact with Emily wasn’t driven by David himself, even if he was the one parroting the words right now. “She’s my daughter, Tasha.”

“Yep. Fully aware of that fact. Are you being prompted by someone to make this call? Does whoever that girl is know that ten o’clock is far too late to call a three-year-old?”

“Nobody prompted me to make this call.”

“Sure thing, Romeo.” Oh, damn it, now she was on a roll. Hang up the phone, Natasha. Too late. “Look, I don’t mind talking productively about co-parenting, but it would be better if we document everything in writing. Also, you can’t interrupt my work shifts like this. So I’m going to hang up and email you my understanding of this phone call, okay? And you can tell your friend there that you did your best and now she can blow you with the full confidence that you aren’t actually a deadbeat dad.”

As soon as she angrily ended the call, she regretted losing her temper.

Mostly.

Like, she seventy-percent regretted it, and thirty-percent was giving herself a high-five.

She fired off a quick text. Sorry. (Really). Email might be best for this, but I will always do my best to accommodate your relationship with our daughter.

God, being the bigger person was a challenge.

She scrolled through the photos on her phone and picked a recent picture of their no-longer-a-baby baby and sent that, too. He may be a jackass, but he was the jackass who’d given her the most beautiful child in the world. She’d find a way to be civil to him, and hope for even more.

“Sorry,” she muttered as she took her spot behind the bar.

Malcolm poured her a shot of tequila. “I’ve never known you to be a drama queen, Natasha. Everything okay?”

Well, at least she’d done a good job of rehabilitating her reputation. She tossed back the shot and winced. “Yep.”

“You want to talk?”

“Nope.” She grinned. “Thanks.”

“Good. Get back to work.”

For a few years, Matt had lived in Lion’s Head mainly so he could walk to The Green Hedgehog, the best pub anywhere on the peninsula. Then he’d moved back to Pine Harbour, which didn’t have a bar, good or otherwise, and now he had to be more responsible about his nights out.

Or find a bed to sleep in, although that hadn’t happened since he’d moved.

The pub was crawling with tourists tonight. At the pool table next to theirs was a group of women up on the peninsula for a bachelorette weekend. In between friendly trash-talking, Tom had found out the women were staying at a cottage just outside town.

Matt knew how to play this game. Easy smiles, enough questions to find out which of them were single, and which of those were looking for a good time.

He was Mr. Good Time.

“Your turn,” Tom said, snapping his fingers in front of Matt’s face.

“Yeah.” He shook his head and refocused on the table. Fucker hadn’t left him with any clear shot, but there was a combo that he might be able to make from the far side, closest to the bachelorette party. He prowled that way, flashing a grin at the two women closest to him. “You ladies don’t mind if I use this side of the table to kick Tom’s ass, do you?”

“If you win, maybe I should play you next,” one of them said, flipping her hair.

Bingo. Wide open invitation to get to know her better.

“Sounds good,” he heard himself say, but it didn’t. He squeezed his cue. “Winner of this game definitely gets to play you next. Deal?”

Even before he took the shot, he knew he’d flub it. Let Tom have the chance to brush hips with this woman.

“Damn,” he said as the cue ball glanced off Tom’s ball. “Bad luck.”

From beside him, the flirty woman didn’t miss a beat. “Maybe I’ll have to play with your friend, then.”

“I guess so.” He straightened up and winked, unable to help himself from still stealing a little of her attention. “My loss, for sure.”

“The game could still turn.” She gave him a sweet smile that went all the way to her eyes, but he felt nothing.

“We’ll have to wait and see what Tom—”

The crack of the cue ball against the ball right beside Matt’s hand broke their conversation up. They turned in time to watch that ball sink into the pocket, and the cue ball bounce back across the table to nudge in the one Matt had scratched on.

And that was the game.

Matt laughed. “Bested by the best.” He handed the woman his cue. “Good luck.”

She spun on her heel and gave Tom the full force of her sweet smile. His buddy gave him a curious look, and Matt just shrugged. Not tonight, man.

As they racked up the balls, he took a seat at one of the tall bar tables along the side of the room and pulled his phone out of his back pocket. He tapped on Natasha’s contact information, but he didn’t know what to say to her. She’d made her concerns known.

He needed an excuse to talk to her again.

No, not an excuse. Fuck, he couldn’t think of her like that, as a conquest or a game. He needed to be sure…

And that was the problem.

He wasn’t sure of anything.

A dark, anxious thought clawed at the back of his mind, and he shook it away.

He needed a reason to see Natasha. A real one, within the parameters of the fact they couldn’t date.

He couldn’t pursue her.

Maybe there was a way he could make a case to her that they could be friends. Deep down inside, he knew it was all he was really capable of anyway. All he could offer and all she’d be willing to accept.

So what if he found her mouth captivating? He knew all about boundaries and could respect the hell out of them.

As a friend.

Who maybe wanted to learn more about cooking.

He did have a genuine interest in it. Nothing wrong with a man developing a new skill set.

He was on night shifts for Saturday and Sunday, then he had a day off before shifting to days. He tapped into his calendar to double check.

Yeah, Monday was wide open.

Now he just needed to figure out where the next cooking class was. He did a Google search for the conference centre in Port Elgin and clicked on the phone number.

“Hi, I have a weird question I hope you can help me with,” he said to the clerk who answered the call. “There’s a poster on your community bulletin board that I’d like some information from…”