LITMIR.BIZ

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It wasn’t an experience he was looking to repeat. With anyone.

      “I’m saying, honey, that I don’t want you to make the same mistake twice. And from what I’ve heard, Janey had a rough enough time in her first marriage. Even if she won’t quite admit it.”

      Thad got to his feet. He squared off with his mother over her desk. “I have no intention of hurting her,” he said evenly. Or Christopher.

      Veronica removed the plastic wrap from the top of her bottle and tossed it in the waste can. “You had no intention of hurting Renee and Bobby, either. And look what happened.”

      THAD LEFT, furious with his mother.

      He knew she was trying to help, but she had completely misunderstood the situation. Yes, he was drawn to Janey’s son, Christopher. Who wouldn’t be? The kid was remarkably bright, energetic, ready to tackle life with so much gusto. Thad couldn’t walk away from the raw hope and need for understanding he had seen shining in the boy’s eyes. Chris had reached out to him and Thad was honor bound to help him. It was that simple.

      As for Janey, well, Thad was mysteriously drawn to her, too. He had known that the first second she crashed into him, in the alley behind her bakery.

      And that fascination had been confirmed every second since. It didn’t matter whether they were talking, sparring, or just looking at each other. When he was with her, he was more completely in the moment than he could ever recall being. And she felt it, too. He saw it in her eyes, and he sure as heck had felt it in her kiss.

      Which gave him every reason in the world to pursue her.

      And lucky him, he even had a rock-solid reason to search her out immediately. And spend even more time with her.

      Sunday afternoon, the Delectable Cakes bakery was closed.

      Janey’s minivan was parked in the driveway of her home. A magnificent white Bentley was idling at the curb. Hannah Reid, chief mechanic of Classic Car Auto Repair, and part-time chauffeur was seated behind the wheel. She was dressed in the usual man’s tuxedo, cap tucked jauntily over her wavy auburn hair. Wondering what was up, Thad parked on the street behind the limo and walked up to say hello. Hannah put down her window. “Hey, Thad.”

      “Hey, Hannah.”

      “Do me a favor?” Hannah persuaded with a smile.

      “Sure.”

      “Go around back and see if you can’t get Dylan Hart to get his sorry self back in the limo. He’s going to miss his flight to Chicago if we don’t get a move on.”

      “No problem.”

      Thad headed around the side of Janey’s small cottage-style home in the older section of Holly Springs. He had nearly rounded the corner of the one-and-a-half-story home when he heard the voices.

      “Listen to me, Janey. Joe has had a rough enough start with the Storm, given what happened between him and the owner’s daughter, without you luring Joe’s coach out of town and kissing him like there’s no tomorrow!”

      “First of all, Joe and Emma are happily married now. Joe’s conflict with Saul Donovan is a thing of the past. And second, I did not lure Thaddeus Lantz anywhere!” Janey protested heatedly as an interested Thad stopped where he was.

      “Then how do you explain Thad following you out to Lake Pine?” Dylan asked.

      That was just it, Thad thought. They couldn’t. Because to tell the truth, it was quite unlike him. Usually, he didn’t give the women around him—even those he was wildly physically attracted to—a second thought. These days, his thoughts were all on the team he was coaching, and his desire to make it to the Stanley Cup finals. Not sometime in the very far future. But this very year. With the very team he was going to be coaching through training camp, come the second week of September.

      Usually, this time of year, he was focused on the upcoming season, and figuring out how to make sure each and every player on the Storm roster reached his full potential. Instead, he was, more often than not, thinking about Janey Hart Campbell and her son.

      “For Joe’s sake,” Dylan continued firmly, in much the same vein as his brother Mac. “You have to stay away from Thaddeus Lantz! I mean it, Janey. No more kissing Joe’s coach!”

      Thad rounded the corner. He looked from Janey to Dylan, and back again, before asking lazily. “Bad time?”

      “Actually,” Janey said sweetly, her temper obviously getting the best of her at long last, “It’s the perfect time.” Her chin set determinedly, she marched past Dylan, wrapped her arms around Thad’s shoulders, went up on tiptoe and planted one on him.

      Her lips were every bit as soft and sweet and warm as he recalled. Pleasure zinged through him as he wrapped both his arms around her, as casually as if they did this every day. Following her lead, he kissed her right back, every bit as thoroughly as he had the evening before, until he felt her melting against him. And then, only then, did he let the heated caress come to a lazy halt and lift his head ever so slowly from hers.

      Janey looked up into his face, a mixture of shock and passion reflected in her soft amber eyes. Clearly, she had wanted him to play along with her, to pretend this was some grand passion to simultaneously egg her brother on and punish him for getting involved in her business. She hadn’t wanted Thad to get so carried away… But that, Thad thought, was just what happened when they kissed, even when it was all for show.

      “Okay,” Dylan grumbled from the left of them. He glared at Thad, then Janey. “You’ve more than made your point, sis. You can kiss whomever you want. And it appears Thad here can take care of himself.”

      “You’re right about that,” Thad said. Even if he didn’t quite like the way he had just been used to make a point, one Hart sibling to another.

      Janey wiped imaginary specks of dirt from what Thad guessed were her gardening clothes—a pair of old cutoff jeans with frayed edges, and a T-shirt that was a little too snug across the breasts for his comfort. Dylan, on the other hand, was clad in a sharp suit and tie befitting an up-and-coming TV sportscaster. “Your limo is waiting,” Thad told Dylan, recalling why he had come around the side of the house in the first place. “Hannah Reid said to get a move on or you’re going to miss your flight.”

      “We shouldn’t have dragged you into the situation with Chris,” Dylan stated with frank apology.

      “You didn’t. Chris did. And I don’t mind,” Thad said quietly, in the same man-to-man tone. He liked helping the boy. Liked feeling needed. “What I do mind—” Thad clapped his hand on Dylan’s shoulder, the same way he did when he was coaching one of his players in a tense situation “—is you interfering in my romantic life or lack thereof.” Thad looked him straight in the eye, making sure he had Dylan’s full attention before he continued. “Got it?”

      Dylan’s jaw tightened. The look in his eyes was mutinous.

      “It was unfortunate your brother Mac walked in on what he did last night, out at Lake Pine. It doesn’t make it any of his business. Or yours. Janey and I are adults. We will figure this out without any help from either of our families.” And that included his mother, Thad thought. Well-meaning or not, she was going to have to stay out of this.

      Embarrassment staining his handsome face, Dylan nodded his understanding reluctantly. Then he looked Thad straight in the eye. “Joe’s boss or not—you do anything to hurt her and you’ll have the whole Hart posse coming after you.”

      Thad dropped his hand from Dylan’s shoulder. Winning Janey’s heart would first require running the gauntlet of Hart men. Thad knew he was more than up to the task. “I’d expect nothing less,” he said. In fact, it was reassuring to him, knowing Janey’s family loved her that much.

      With a careless nod in both their directions, Dylan took off.

      Flushing more than Dylan had been, Janey propped the backs of her gloved hands on her waist. Shaking her head, as if unable

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