This Just In... (Harlequin Superromance) by Jennifer McKenzie Page A

you. You need to be careful.”
    “Why?” Noah honestly wanted to know. Was it really such a big deal? It’s not as if they were cohabitating.
    Marissa’s eyebrow lifted. “People already think there’s something going on because of that talk the two of you had in the parking lot. Do you want the whole town talking about you?”
    Noah’s stomach rolled. He did not want the whole town talking about him.
    “This is ridiculous.” Kyle piped up with a snort. “What are they going to say? That he helped someone move? That they’re neighbors?”
    The roll slowed. His brother had a point. Living next to each other wasn’t scandalous. “We’re just neighbors. I hardly know her.”
    “I’ve been thinking a lot about the interview. I don’t think you should do it,” Marissa insisted.
    Just when he was thinking that he should.
    “Marissa.” Kyle draped an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t you think that’s a little harsh?”
    Marissa’s face was set in a hard line. She glanced at her husband. “Have you forgotten what it was like here after she wrote that article about you?”
    Kyle nodded. “I remember, babe.” He wrapped his arm more tightly around her. “But that doesn’t mean it’ll be the same for Noah.”
    Noah watched the tension seep out of his sister-in-law. “I know. I just worry.” She looked at him, brackets of that worry around her mouth.
    He was deeply touched. “It’ll be fine. She’s not going to write anything horrible about me.” Her openness today had convinced him of that. She was telling the truth about what people in Wheaton wanted. A blistering exposé on him was not it.
    “I know her better than you.” She turned her head and looked at her husband. “Better than both of you.”
    “You knew her better before, ” Kyle said. He ran a hand up and down Marissa’s arm. “Maybe she’s changed.”
    Marissa sighed. “Maybe. But I’m going on record now that I am not in love with this idea.”
    “I haven’t even said I’ll do it.” Noah told them. He would wait to see how Sabrina’s article on Pete turned out before making a final decision. “But even if I agree, it’s only one interview. I’ve handled reporters plenty of times. I know how to stay on message.”
    If Sabrina asked him a question he didn’t want to answer, all he had to do was respond with a piece of information he did want to share. Simple.
    And there wasn’t much that was off-limits. His life wasn’t exciting enough for that. Look how he was spending his Saturday night. Hanging out with his younger brother and family instead of drinking beer and eating pizza with his sexy new neighbor. He bashed the thought down.
    Marissa frowned. “She’s not some small-town reporter who’s going to ask what your favorite pie is. She’s a professional, and she’s good.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “You sound almost complimentary.”
    “Well, I don’t mean to.” But a ghost of a smile drifted across her face.
    Noah smiled, too. “It’ll be fine.” Sabrina was welcome to ask about his childhood and how that had shaped him. How being the only kid in school who didn’t have a biological parent had impressed upon him the need for community spirit, how a person could forge family bonds with anyone they loved, blood-relation or not and how giving back fulfilled him.
    He wouldn’t have to share that he still felt as if he was trying to achieve “local” status, how he often felt that he didn’t fit in, that if he stopped giving back, the residents might eventually lose interest in having him.
    Those were his own private demons and not for public consumption.

CHAPTER FIVE
    E VEN BEFORE SHE met Pete Peters in person, Sabrina knew she wouldn’t like him. In their phone conversations, he’d called her darling twice and joked about women in the construction business as if women couldn’t swing hammers and saw wood with any hope of competency.
    The interview did nothing to change her initial opinion. But as