Small-Town Bachelor. Jill Kemerer

my own person. And I’ve worked hard to move up in Rockbend Construction. Chicago is big and fun, and I belong there. It’s home for me the way Lake Endwell is for you.”

      Claire crossed one leg over the other. “So you’re not into family? What about your dad and Jake?”

      “Jake’s great. Best kid in the world.”

      “And your dad?”

      He hesitated. How much should he reveal to her? “We’re fine. Not close, but we’re fine.”

      “Well, someday you’ll want a family of your own.” She stared out the windows at the lake.

      “Nah, I’m good.” He’d lost people who had meant the world to him. Mom would never come back. Her family refused to acknowledge he existed. Dad barely talked to him after her death. And then there was Collin.

      She gave him a sharp look. “Really?”

      “Really.”

      Her shoulder lifted. “I feel the same. I’ve got all I need.”

      “You? Not having a family of your own?” He guffawed. “I find that hard to believe.”

      Sadness draped her eyes, but she hid it quickly. “Believe it.”

      “Why?”

      “One, I’m not moving again, and the pickings around here are slim. And two, I have high expectations. I haven’t met a man willing to put me first. Anyway, I’m happy with my life the way it is.”

      Her first reason put the brakes on his speeding attraction. The second? Made him squirm. She deserved to be first in a man’s life.

      Too bad he wasn’t capable of being that man.