“I wouldn’t have to marathon it if they didn’t end every episode on a cliffhanger!” Miranda objected. She turned to Jackson and added, “I’m watching Lost on DVD. And yes, I know I’m several years too late but I never had time to watch it when it was on.”

“She stayed up until five a.m.,” Seth grumbled. “I’m lying there trying to sleep and every five minutes she wakes me up to tell me how Sawyer is soooooo hot.”

Miranda smirked. “I can’t help it. I like bad boys.”

Jackson had to laugh. There was no arguing that Miranda had landed herself the biggest bad boy of them all. With his scruffy appearance, tattoos and smartass attitude, Seth was definitely rough around the edges, but the guy had grown up a lot since marrying Miranda and becoming a father to her kids.

“Anyhoo, I should check on dinner,” Miranda said, sliding off Seth’s lap. She glanced at the twins. “Do you guys want to help?”

“Ya!” both kids declared, and then they were gone, scrambling after their mother into the house.

“Soph called you ‘Daddy’,” Jackson remarked when he and his fellow SEAL were alone. “When did that start?”

“A few days ago,” Seth admitted. “Jase introduced me as his dad at his last Little League game, and the rugrats have been calling me that ever since.”

To Jackson’s surprise, Seth looked vaguely embarrassed.

“You totally like it,” he accused, grinning broadly.

His buddy shifted awkwardly, a faint blush on his cheeks. “Kinda.”

If someone had told Jackson two years ago that Seth Masterson, the wiseass he’d met during Hell Week, would marry a single mom with a good head on her shoulders and take on the task of raising her kids, he would have laughed in their faces. But life was funny like that.

“So, you really hit it off with that gardener, huh?” As usual, Seth changed the subject the moment the conversation got a wee too squirmy for his liking.

Jackson sighed, then took a quick sip of his beer. “I did. But she totally shot me down.”

“You think she’s playing hard to get or just not interested?”

“Naah, she was interested. I know when a girl’s into me.”

Seth snickered. “Maybe you’ll come home tonight and find her in your bed wearing nothing but a cowboy hat.”

“And a gun holster,” he said with a frustrated breath. “Don’t forget the holster.”

Now his friend was laughing in earnest. “Fuck, I would have paid to see that. I can’t believe you drew your gun on her.”

“I thought she was a frickin’ burglar.”

“Jesus. That’s pure gold, man.” Seth grinned. “Well, fingers crossed that this gardener you’ve got a hard-on for isn’t bat-shit crazy too. Though I still think you’re nuts for hiring her company to do our yard just so you can talk to her again.” There was a pause. “Does that make her a hooker, you think?”

“I’m not payin’ to sleep with her, ass**le. I just want another shot at asking her out.”

Seth arched a dark brow. “Potato, potahto.”

Jackson rolled his eyes and raised his beer to his lips again. Fine, so maybe hiring Mia was going a little too far, but he didn’t know how else to get her alone. She’d sped off without giving him her number—all he had was the name of the gardening company she worked for.

But come Monday, he was going to have something else.

A date.

Chapter Two

“Danny, time to wake up!” Mia pounded her fist on her brother’s door a few times before hurrying down the narrow corridor while raking a hairbrush through her knotted hair.

They were running late, as per usual. Seemed like their mornings always involved a lot of running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It didn’t help that Danny slept like a rock and was impossible to rouse once he was REM-deep, but fortunately, after two years on their own she’d finally mastered the difficult feat of waking him up. Meaning he had five more minutes of snooze time before she dumped a glass of cold water on his face.

She burst into the apartment’s tiny kitchen, dropped the hairbrush on the linoleum counter and hopped onto a plastic stepladder so she could reach the top cupboards. God, being short sucked. At sixteen, her little brother already towered over her.

Kind of like Jackson…

Sighing, Mia pushed all thoughts of her clients’ sexy neighbor from her head and focused on grabbing a box of Corn Flakes from the cupboard.

“Danny!” she yelled again.

There was no response. Apparently her brother was determined to sleep until the last possible second.

Normally she wouldn’t care, but her boss was sending her to a new client today, and Mia really couldn’t afford to be late. Gillian had called last night and told her the client had specifically requested Mia over the other three gardeners who worked for Color Your Yard, which meant she needed to make a good first impression. Especially now that she was in the running to take Gillian’s place once the boss opened up the Anaheim branch next spring. If she took over for Gillian in San Diego, she could finally quit her second job and live a stress-free life for a change.

“Danny!” she called out. “I’m standing in front of the sink about to pour some water into a glass!”

There was a beat, followed by a muffled groan that echoed through the apartment. “Coming!”