His Long-Lost Family

She made her way across the carpet, putting one sexy foot in front of the other in the way that women had perfected to make their hips sway and men drool. And as much as he wished it weren’t true, he was very close to drooling.

Damn, she looked spectacular. In the slim-fitting burgundy skirt, silky white V-neck blouse and peep-toe shoes that added close to three inches to her five-foot-seven-inch frame, she looked professional, confident—and dangerous.

He frowned at the thought, but he couldn’t deny it was true. For too many years, Kelly Cooper had threatened his peace of mind. It had been easy enough to ignore the girl next door when she was a kid. Then adolescence had turned her bony, sticklike figure into a woman’s body with subtle but undeniable curves. And he’d started to have very inappropriate fantasies about his little brother’s best friend. Thankfully, he’d gone away to school and had managed to put her out of his mind. Mostly.

“You told me to call you, but you haven’t returned any of my calls. I was beginning to think I would have to schedule an appointment to see you.”

“I’m not hard to find, but I am busy,” he said pointedly.

“I can appreciate that,” she said. “And I promise you, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.”

“How did you get past my secretary?” Colleen was usually a pit bull when it came to protecting her boss’s time and space.

Kelly just smiled. “Your secretary was my eleventhgrade lab partner.”

Having lived in Pinehurst his whole life, he understood that personal connections frequently trumped protocol. “Okay, that answers the how,” he admitted. “But not the why.”

She settled into one of the client chairs on the other side of his desk, and crossed one long, shapely leg over the other. “I just wanted to talk to you without my daughter or your brother interrupting, so I asked Colleen if she could squeeze me into your appointment schedule.”

“Now you’ve stirred my curiosity,” he admitted. And certain other areas as well.

“Your brother was, and still is, my best friend,” she reminded him. “And while you and I were never close friends, we used to be friendly. And then, for one incredible weekend, we were a lot more.”

Whatever he’d expected when she’d walked through his door, it wasn’t a walk down memory lane. Not that he was unwilling to take the journey, but he knew it was unwise. His past with Kelly was the past—no way would he risk starting anything up again with his brother living in the same town. Luke had always been protective of his friend and if he ever suspected that Jack had been naked with Kelly—well, Jack didn’t even want to think about what he might do. It was smarter, and safer, to keep the past in the past. “Why are you bringing this up now?”

“Because I’m hoping, now that I’m living in Pinehurst again, that we can get back to being friendly.”

“Have I been unfriendly?”

“Not exactly,” she admitted. “You’ve been…distant.”

“I’ve been busy,” he said again.

“Your brother and sister-in-law invited Ava and I over for burgers last night and while we were there, one of Georgia’s sons asked Matthew why ‘Uncle Jack’ hasn’t been around to visit in so long. Matt told him you had a big court case coming up, but the way he looked at me before he responded made me think he was making excuses.”

“He wasn’t.”

“I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable visiting your brother and his family just because I’m living next door.”

“I don’t.”

She shifted forward in her chair, enough so that he could see the slightest hint of cleavage in the V-neck of her blouse. “You’re not worried that the chemistry that exploded between us thirteen years ago might still be simmering?”

“No,” he lied.

“Well, that’s good then,” she said, but her easy smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“Thirteen years is a long time,” he said, in an attempt to convince himself as much as her.

She nodded. “It always boggled my mind that I could be such good friends with Lukas, that I could snuggle up with him to watch a movie, hold his hand as a gesture of comfort or support, and never feel anything remotely like the zing that I felt whenever I was in the same room with you.”

“Chemistry is a personal thing,” he noted.

She tilted her head to look up at him. “Have you ever felt that zing with anyone else?”

“Too many times to count,” he lied.

She seemed disappointed—and maybe even a little hurt—by his casual response. But Kelly being Kelly, she didn’t try to deny her feelings or hide behind a flippant response. She was, as always, brutally and painfully honest.

“I haven’t,” she told him. “From the first time you kissed me, on my sixteenth birthday, I’ve never felt that zing with anyone else.”

“Not even your husband?” he challenged.

She shook her head. “No, not with anyone else.”

Knowing how incredibly passionate she was, he was surprised that she would settle for comfort and companionship. On the other hand, it might explain why her marriage had failed.

“I think you’re romanticizing the memory,” he told her.

“Maybe,” she allowed. “But it wasn’t my first kiss. And you weren’t my first lover—but you’re the one I’ve never forgotten.”

Even if what she was saying was true, he wouldn’t let it matter. Because rekindling a romantic relationship with Kelly wasn’t an option. Getting involved with a woman who was also his brother’s best friend could only lead to a whole lot of grief, not to mention the fact that she had a kid to think about.

So instead of admitting that he’d never forgotten her either, he only said, “Is there a purpose to this reminiscence?”

“I wanted you to know that I had some concerns about coming back to Pinehurst now.”

“Because of what happened between us so many years ago?” he asked skeptically.

Her smile was sad. “Is that so unbelievable?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Did you never think of me after that weekend?”

“Sure,” he said easily. “But I didn’t think that one weekend changed anything.”

“It changed everything—at least for me,” she told him. “But when I called, you were already back together with Sara.”

“It’s not like you called a few days later,” he felt compelled to point out in his own defense. “It was more like a few months.”

Actually, two months, three weeks and five days, and during that time, not a single day had gone by in which he hadn’t picked up the phone to call her. But he’d never actually dialed her number, because he knew it would be a mistake. Because after only three days with her, he’d known that he could fall fast and hard for Kelly Cooper, and that was a complication neither of them needed at that point in their lives.

She nodded in acknowledgment. “I know.”

“And Sara and I had a history together,” he continued. “So when she said she’d made a mistake in ending our engagement, I agreed that we should try to work things out.”

“Because you loved her,” she said softly. “And I was just the girl who helped you forget—for a few days—that she’d broken your heart.”