âIf I tried to kiss you right now, you wouldnât stop me.â
The thought of Coop leaning over the console and pressing his lips to hers made her heart flutter and her stomach bottom out. But she squared her shoulders and said, âIf you tried to kiss me, Iâd deck you.â
He threw his head back and laughed.
âYou donât think I would do it?â
âNo, you probably would, just to prove how tough you are. Then you would give in and let me kiss you anyway.â
âThe depth of your arrogance is truly remarkable.â
âItâs one of my most charming qualities,â he said, but his grin said that he was definitely teasing her this time.
Maybe the confidence was a smoke screen, or this was his way of testing the waters. Maybe he really liked her, but being so used to women throwing themselves at him, the possibility of being rejected scared him.
Weirdly enough, the idea that under the tough-guy exterior there could be a vulnerable man made him that much more appealing.
Dear Reader,
I have a confession to make. I donât like sports.
Yes, you read that right. I donât like them. Baseball, football, hockey, soccer ⦠they all bore me to tears. I donât even watch the Olympics. Which is why it makes no sense that I love romance novels with sports-playing heroes, and why I decided, after twenty-eight books, to finally write one myself. And frankly, if Cooper Landon could climb off the page and actually play hockey, Iâd probably learn to love the game. Because letâs face it, what could be sexier or more heartwarming than a big, toughâand letâs not forget cluelessâguy falling for a pair of adorable infant twin girls?
Thatâs probably why Sierra Evans, whoâs not so crazy about sports herself, or men like Coop, canât resist him. Especially when the twins are her own daughtersâa fact that she left out when she took the position as their nanny. But the closer she and Coop become, she knows that eventually the truth will have to come out. Still there are some secrets, devastating ones, that must stay hidden away forever or it could mean never seeing her daughters again.
Until next time,
Michelle
Bestselling author MICHELLE CELMER lives in southeastern Michigan with her husband, their three children, two dogs and two cats. When sheâs not writing or busy being a mom, you can find her in the garden or curled up with a romance novel. And if you twist her arm really hard, you can usually persuade her into a day of power shopping.
Michelle loves to hear from readers. Visit her website, www.michellecelmer.com, or write to her at PO Box 300, Clawson, MI 48017, USA.
To my granddaughter,
Aubrey Helen Ann
This was not good.
As a former defensive center, MVP and team captain for the New York Scorpions, Cooper Landon was one of the cityâs most beloved sports heroes. His hockey career had never been anything but an asset.
Until today.
He looked out the conference room window in the Manhattan office of his attorney, where he had been parked for the past ninety minutes, hands wedged in the pockets of his jeans, watching the late afternoon traffic crawl along Park Avenue. The early June sun reflected with a blinding intensity off the windows of the building across the street and the sidewalks were clogged with people going about their daily routine. Businessmen catching cabs, mothers pushing strollers. Three weeks ago heâd been one of them, walking through life oblivious to how quickly his world could be turned completely upside down.
One senseless accident had robbed him of the only family he had. Now his brother, Ash, and sister-in-law, Susan, were dead, and his twin infant nieces were orphans.
He clenched his fists, fighting back the anger and injustice of it, when what he wanted to do was slam them through the tinted glass.
He still had his nieces, he reminded himself. Though they had been adopted, Ash and Susan couldnât have loved them more if they were their own flesh and blood. Now they were Coopâs responsibility, and he was determined to do right by them, give them the sort of life his brother wanted them to have. He owed Ash.
âSo, what did you think of that last one?â Ben Hearst, his attorney, asked him. He sat at the conference table sorting through the applications and taking notes on the nanny candidates they had seen that afternoon.
Coop turned to him, unable to mask his frustration. âI wouldnât trust her to watch a hamster.â
Like the three other women they had interviewed that day, the latest applicant had been more interested in his hockey career than talking about the twins. Heâd met her type a million times before. In her short skirt and low-cut blouse, she was looking to land herself a famous husband. Though in the past he would have enjoyed the attention and, yeah, he probably would have taken advantage of it, now he found it annoying. He wasnât seen as the guardian of two precious girls who lost their parents, but as a piece of meat. Heâd lost his brother two weeks ago and not a single nanny candidate had thought to offer their condolences.