Thad continued regarding her seriously. “I imagine that can be arranged.” He edged closer. “I’ve been thinking about what you said, though. About your brother Joe’s stardom giving Chris unrealistic expectations of his own.”
“And?” Janey drained her mug and set it aside, too.
“All kids his age have stars in their eyes. But there’s a way to bring him back to earth.”
“I’m listening,” Janey murmured.
“He wanted to work off his tuition anyway, right?”
Janey nodded.
“So let him work at the practice facility, picking up towels and stuff in the locker room, for an hour or two every day. Let him see how grueling and demanding the sport is for professional hockey players.”
“I agree that would definitely help, in that regard.” Janey bit her lip uncertainly as a gust of rain-drenched wind blew across them, making her shiver.
“But?” Thad prodded, as he reached up to brush a strand of hair from her face and tuck it behind her ear.
Tingling all over from just that light casual touch, Janey shoved her hands in her pockets and tried not to think how it would feel to be held against that broad chest as she turned her face up to his. “How is being around all those jocks going to help him stay serious about his schoolwork?”
Thad gave her the slow and tender once-over. “I’ll talk to him, tell him how much I learned playing on a college team. And I’ll have the other players who went the university route talk to him, too.”
“Thanks.”
“So does this mean we’re not enemies anymore?” he teased, his electric blue eyes twinkling.
Janey’s mouth dropped into a round O of surprise as she fortified herself against the sexy mischief suddenly in his eyes. Sensing that this commanding coach could be dangerous to her heart if given half a chance, she unlocked their gazes, vowing she would not let this shift into a flirtation. “I never said—”
“Didn’t have to,” Thad murmured, coming so close she couldn’t help but inhale his clean, pine-scented fragrance.
“I know your type,” he informed her softly as he wrapped both his arms about her waist, and guided her close.
“And that is?”
He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it, sending another tingle of awareness arrowing through her. Still holding her eyes with provoking gallantry, he said, “You think you want Mr. Sensitive.”
Janey’s heart raced as her arms flattened against his chest, holding him at bay. “I hardly find anything wrong with that.”
“When what you really want is a Real Man.”
Janey did her best to smother a laugh. The one thing she never had been able to resist was a sense of humor. “And what category are you in, pray tell?” she teased right back.
“Kiss me,” Thad urged huskily, his head already lowering as he looked deep into her eyes. “And see.”
Chapter Three
Thad hadn’t planned this. He knew it would have been better had he not gotten involved with Janey Hart Campbell at all in a personal way, but there was just something about her that kept him coming back for more, that had him wanting to take her in his arms and kiss her passionately from the very first. And now that her soft lips were beneath his, and he could feel the sweet surrender of her body melting into his, there was no stopping with just one kiss, no pretending something incredible wasn’t happening between them. Planned or not. Passion like this came along once in a lifetime—if you were lucky. And though instinct told him that Janey hadn’t been well-loved in the past, Thad knew that was something he could easily change. All she had to do was give him a chance. And he would show her how wonderful an unscripted liaison like this could be.
Janey had figured Thad’s mouth would be warm, his kiss as sure and utterly sexy as the rest of him. What she hadn’t counted on was the way it would make her feel—reckless and wonderful. Or how she would react to the silken warmth of his lips, the sheer male insistence of his kiss, the invasion of his tongue. She’d expected to resist his advances a lot more. After all, it had been years since anyone had wanted her like this, since she had even considered allowing something as simple as a kiss. And yet the moment he took her into his arms, and gave her a long thorough kiss meant to shatter her resolve, yearning swept through her in sweet, wild waves. Her middle fluttered weightlessly, and her knees trembled weakly as heat worked its way through each and every inch of her. She had been married, she’d had a baby, but she had never been kissed or held this way, like she was the most precious woman in all the world.
It was a sensation Janey feared would be all too easy to get used to, a feeling that could just as easily be taken away. And right now, Janey’d already suffered all of life’s disappointments she could handle. Shaking, wary of giving her heart away much too easily, she drew away. Looked up into his face. Her only comfort, the fact he looked as stunned and overwhelmed by what had just happened between them as she was.
The terrace door opened.
As Janey got a good look at the person interrupting them, it was all she could do not to groan out loud. Of all the lousy timing…
“What?” Thad asked, still looking mesmerized by her, instead of the interloper about to join them.
“See for yourself,” Janey muttered as Thad reluctantly turned away from her and came face-to-face with Janey’s eldest brother. Darn it all. She should have known her family wouldn’t be able to let her be for long.
“Well, my first question is answered,” Mac said, looking like he wanted to punch Thad out but good. Mac turned back to Janey, looking as much a law-and-order man as ever, even without his sheriff’s uniform. “You are here. And you’re safe from the elements.” Mac swept a hand through his close-cropped dark hair and scowled at Thad. “I’m not so sure about the rest—”
“Mac, please.” Janey held out both palms, in a staying gesture. “This is not the time to go all protective on me.” She was so tired of her brothers doing that!
Mac stepped beneath the overhang. He positioned himself between Janey and Thad and scowled from one to the other. “It looks like the perfect time to me.”
Janey pushed past Mac. She took Thad’s hand in hers and rested her face against his shoulder. “I know what I’m doing,” she insisted stubbornly. Even if Thad—who had gallantly followed her lead and encircled her waist with his arm—didn’t. Yet.
Mac arched a skeptical brow. “Do you?” he ground out, his look reminding Janey of all the times she had behaved recklessly in the past to prove a point with her smothering, overprotective family, and then regretted it later.
“I think your sister has a point,” Thad interceded, tightening his grip on Janey as possessively as if they had something passionate and enduring going on between them to defend, instead of just a simple, highly experimental, flirtatious kiss. “She is a grown woman. A savvy businessperson, as well as a mother.”
“Oh, my Lord.”
