“I should get back and feed Caleb before we put him down for the night,” Jessica said. She looked at Scott.

“I guess that means I’m leaving too.” But he grinned good-naturedly as he rose from his chair. “Mom texted me a few minutes ago to say Emily was down.”

“Your cell phone is working?” Jase asked.

“Yeah. Sometimes. The service is kind of spotty up here.”

Tag sneaked a glance at Kyla. Did she know what he was thinking?

A few minutes later, he yawned. “Well, I think I’ll call it a night. Keep an eye on Matt.”

“He’s gone,” Logan said. “He left with those girls.”

Tag frowned. He’d better not find them in his tent when he got there. “Well, I guess he knows what he’s doing.”

Logan laughed. “Um, yeah. Pretty sure he does.”

Tag glanced at Kyla, lifting one eyebrow, tossing some bills on the table to cover the tab. “G’night.”

He strolled back toward the cottage down Main Street, then Bluebell Lane, through the growing darkness. The trees formed a lacy black canopy against the cobalt blue sky above him, where clouds were beginning to gather. The still-warm air brushed over his skin as he walked, a breeze springing up off the lake, and he breathed in deeply the fresh air scented with pine and grass and lake water. Would Kyla know to give it a few minutes and then follow him? Would she come?

Was he crazy to be doing this?

He wanted her with a deep visceral need that was almost shocking. It had started the moment he’d watched her keel over onto the grass on Friday night.

Well, no. It had started years ago. He’d just never really admitted it, to himself, to anyone. She’d somehow wriggled her way into his heart as a girl when she’d been so determined to keep up with them, despite her complete lack of athletic ability and coordination. She’d been so stubborn, so determined, so willing to do things that were clearly outside her comfort zone to fit in with them. Something had opened in his heart and let her in way back then.

It had turned sexual after that, when she’d grown up a little and he’d noticed that damn, she was hot. The one time they’d come so close to kissing, and he’d so wanted to, but he’d made himself back off. She was like a sister. Except not really. And her big brother was his best friend. Then Tag had left Winnipeg, had had lots of other girls, had focused on his career and had never looked back. Until she’d showed up here.

He crawled into the tent and turned on the battery-powered lamp he’d set on the small table. The tent was a decent size, and, unlike when he’d used it as a kid, his mom had recently purchased an inflatable bed, a double bed that, with the help of an extension cord plugged in at the cottage, had quickly filled with air and was pretty damn comfortable. A couple of sleeping bags zipped together―one was never big enough for him―and there was easily room for Kyla.

He stretched out on the bed, hands stacked behind his head, and stared up at the fabric of the tent. And waited.

Crickets chirped outside in the quiet night. The trees rustled in the breeze that had come up and cast shifting shadows on the tent. Somewhere an owl gave a low hoot.

Tag hadn’t thought much about work since he’d been at the lake, but that was the whole purpose of coming there―to get a break. It was the off season, and while he usually kept busy in the off season working out and training, doing some hockey camps for kids and organizing their golf tournament, this year had been a little different and was likely going to be different right up until training camp started in September. Maybe he should feel guilty about taking a break in the middle of the craziness, but hell, they’d survive without him for a week, and more importantly…Kyla.

If she showed up here at the tent, it was meant to be. If she didn’t…he could handle rejection. Maybe. It didn’t happen to him very often, but he was under no illusions that he was that desirable. He had women after him all the time, but it was only because of who he was, what he did, how much money he made. He’d learned that the hard way. Since high school he’d been aware of the girls who chased hockey players, the ones who hung out at the arena, who waited outside classrooms where they knew the hockey players had classes, who stalked them to the bars or coffee shops they hung out at. They liked being associated with jocks, athletes, guys who had a little fame, maybe thinking that fame would rub off on them by association. He’d been shallow enough―and horny enough―to take advantage of that. Later in life he’d encountered those same women, now looking for marriage to a rich athlete. It was easy to get caught up in that kind of adulation and for a while he had. Hence his disastrous relationship with Jovannah.

Maybe that was one reason Kyla had managed to get inside him like that. As nearly one of the family, she’d never had that simpering, star-struck attitude around him or any of his brothers, despite their success. She’d accepted his hockey talent with a distinct lack of being impressed, much like his parents, who never made a big deal of it. His parents had always told him and his brothers they’d been given a gift and they had to work hard to make the best of it, but it didn’t make them better than anyone else, and he’d always felt that from Kyla too. She teased and joked and accepted their hockey success with a matter-of-factness that…pleased him. He’d never really thought about that before, but now, with some disappointing relationships under his belt, a little cynicism, maybe a touch of bitterness, her unimpressed attitude toward him made him feel at ease. Horny as hell, but at ease.

A rustle in the grass outside had his head lifting. It had to be either Kyla…or Matt with his three chicks…or maybe a skunk or a raccoon. He’d take Matt over the skunk any day, but hopefully it was…

A shadow darkened the opening of the tent and he caught his breath, then rolled off the bed and unzipped the door. He reached out a hand, snagged a slender arm and yanked her inside.

Kyla.

“Hey!” She scowled at him in the pale golden light of the lamp.

“Quick,” he said. “Don’t let in the mosquitoes.”

She rubbed her arm. “Yeah, I know. I think I got ten bites on the way here.”

“They never bite me.”

“I remember that,” she said. “It used to piss me off. I’d pile on the DEET and still get attacked.”

“It’s because you’re so soft and sweet,” he said, moving closer. “My hide’s tough, so they leave me alone.”

“Uh-huh.” She looked back at him uncertainly. “So…”

He grinned and with his body nudged her backward to the bed. It wasn’t high, so her calves hit it and he caught her before she fell, lowering her to the mattress and then coming down beside her. “Tag…”

“Sssh. It’s okay.” He kissed her mouth softly. “No rush, Kyla. Let’s just…make out.”

He felt her smile against his lips. “You sound like we’re in high school.”

“Maybe we should’ve done this when we were in high school.”

“You didn’t want to. Remember?”

He paused. “Yeah.” He’d been trying to do the right thing back then. “But that was a long time ago.” He kissed one corner of her mouth. They stretched out on the bed, her on her back, him beside her, leaning over her but not even really touching her. Other than the hand he cupped her cheek with.

“I’m still not sure about this…”

Assertive, confident Kyla was so sweetly uncertain, and that tugged at something deep inside him yet again. He rose up and looked down at her face, rubbing her bottom lip with his thumb. “I know, sweetheart.”

Her eyes flickered at the endearment.

“We could just talk for a while,” he said. “I’m not sure about this either. But we’re not in high school. We’re adults now. We both know what we want…right?”

“Yes.” Her dark eyes gazed back at him, gleaming in the faint light.

“So what’s wrong with it?”