Don’t Miss the Moment (Strong Family Romances #5)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Gavin Strong rushed out of his office at Angel Falls Retreat. It was February, and in the mountains of Colorado, that meant the ski season. His resort was busy as ever. More importantly to Austin, it was hockey season, and they had a game tonight.

Austin was waiting in the lobby for him.

Usually any waiting on Austin’s part, especially when they had a hockey game, would’ve been very impatient.

Today Gavin could see that the outgoing boy had become distracted by—what else?

—a pretty lady. A very pretty lady, if the long, golden curls and tall, fit body he could see from this angle were reliable indicators.

As Gavin headed their direction, he could see that Austin was talking animatedly to the woman.

“… and I’m the best at puck control,” Austin was bragging.

“Plus I can board somebody like you can’t believe.

I may look skinny, but I’m tough.” He flexed an arm.

Then he saw Gavin, and joy lit his deep brown eyes.

Gavin’s heart did a familiar flutter. The kid truly was the best and happiest part of his life.

He loved his son more than anything or anyone.

If only he could tell Austin that he was his father and not his brother.

Yet he and Mama had decided when Gavin was eighteen, and obviously incapable of any rational decisions, that Mama and Papa would raise Austin as theirs.

Gavin had readily agreed, overwhelmed with gratitude that Mama had performed a miracle and found Austin, then somehow rescued his son from the unstable woman Gavin had fallen for as an eighteen-year-old.

He’d only wanted Austin to have a stable and amazing family, and he wanted to be part of his son’s life.

Gavin grinned at Austin. Gavin was naturally pretty serious, but Austin drew smiles out of him that nobody else could get.

He’d have to hide that smile and play it cool as he interrupted Austin’s conversation.

Too often, Austin’s girlfriends wanted to audition for the part of Gavin’s girlfriend.

He’d learned his lessons young and had spent the past ten years making amends for his mistake.

“Gav!” Austin said. “Come meet my new girlfriend.”

The woman turned his direction, and the casual hello Gavin was going to greet her with became a strangled, “H-h-hel-ah … H-hey.”

To say the woman was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen was an understatement so strong he couldn’t make it.

She was exquisite. Her skin was smooth, her cheekbones and jawline were defined, her lips formed a wide, perfect pout, and her nose was straight, but he’d seen beautiful women before.

It was her eyes that yanked him in and made him stutter like a fool.

Her dark blue gaze penetrated through him as if she could see into his soul, see all the secrets he didn’t share with anyone.

Somehow, even knowing his every secret, she didn’t want to run from him; she wanted to accept and heal him.

Gavin backed up a step, shook his head to clear it, and broke from her gaze. No woman would have power over him. Never again. He didn’t care how incredible her eyes were, or how many insane thoughts he’d had in the moment their eyes connected.

“Nice to meet you, Gavin,” she said with just a hint of humor in her voice, coming toward him with her hand outstretched. “I’m Kari Love.”

“Love? Your name is Love?” The craziness of that shocked him out of his besotted stupor.

She grinned like they were sharing some joke. “Yeah. Try going through middle school with that handle.”

Gavin felt himself give a sappy smile in return. “I can’t imagine with your face you had much trouble in middle school.”

“She’s a hottie, right, bro?” Austin piped up, beaming up at Kari.

Gavin was in complete agreement, but he couldn’t express his admiration Austin-style and not look like a wannabe punk teenager.

She laughed, but her hand was still reaching out, waiting for him to shake it.

Gavin steeled himself, as he knew he couldn’t leave her waiting much longer.

He pushed forward as if he were jumping into the ice-cold lake behind his house and grasped her hand with his.

As they touched, a jolt of warmth raced through him.

Her hand was just the right size: not too small, not too big.

It was soft, but her grip was firm. He should never have compared this to jumping in a cold lake.

This touch was fire, happiness, desire like he’d never known.

He should pull away. He wasn’t strong enough.

No! Since Janielle he’d proven himself stronger, in better control, than any person he knew.

He turned down woman after woman so he could focus on his son, his family, and his resort.

How could he not simply pull his hand, or his eyes, free now?

Her eyes darted to their clasped hands, then back to his face a couple of times. “I … um …” She was the one stuttering now.

Gavin wished he felt stable enough to tease her about it. He’d never had the desire to tease and flirt like he did at this moment, but his own tongue wasn’t capable of coherent pronunciation.

“Hey,” Austin protested. “Kari is my new girlfriend. Hands off, bro.”

Gavin laughed uneasily and finally managed to pull his hand free.

This woman was having an effect on him that he couldn’t control, and he didn’t like that, at all.

He’d lost control once in his life. The amazing ten-year-old glaring up at him was the result of that.

He wouldn’t give up Austin for anything, but he wasn’t about to fall to a pair of beautiful blue eyes. Not happening.

He backed away, studiously avoiding Kari’s eyes. “It was nice to meet you,” he muttered. “Austin, we’re going to be late for your game.”

“Oh, yeah!” Austin pumped a fist in the air. “We gotta go. I’ll see you later tonight, Kari. Dessert at nine in the restaurant?”

Austin was something else. Gavin shook his head, and his gaze darted to Kari. She was watching him with an appraising glance and her arms folded across her chest. Oxygen fled his body. She was … too much. He needed to run, and run now. “You’ve got school tomorrow,” he reminded Austin.

“Aw, c’mon, bro. You’re throwing off my game with the pretty lady.” Austin turned back to Kari, whose eyes were now lit with a bit of amusement and frustration.

Gavin had seen that look before. She thought Austin was hilarious but didn’t know what to make of his oldest brother. Usually, Gavin had no problem making short work of the women who hit on his son to get to him, but this one had power he hadn’t seen in almost eleven years.

“Hey!” Austin lit up with excitement. “Come to the game with us. Gav will take us for ice cream after or something. It’ll give you more junk to write about and more time watching me.” He pumped his eyebrows.

“Sounds fun,” Kari said simply.

Gavin’s heart was thumping faster and faster.

Had Austin just invited this perfect beauty to ride with them to Vail, watch his game, and go for ice cream afterwards?

Austin loved to tease about his girlfriends, and he flirted with women everywhere they went, but they had an unwritten code—it was the two of them.

Gavin had repeatedly instructed Austin that they didn’t invite women to do things that interrupted their “bro time.” The ploy had worked, until now.

“Is that cool, Gav?” Austin turned to him.

Gavin didn’t know how to answer. He didn’t want to be rude to a guest, but if one touch of her hand or powerful glance from those eyes had him this shaken, daydreaming crazy stuff like she could see into his soul, he couldn’t spend more time around this woman.

She was giving him a challenging look with those incredible eyes, down to the tilt of her nicely formed eyebrows.

Why did everything about this woman have to be nicely formed?

Why did he want to not only bring her along, but take it to the next level?

Why not a romantic dinner? Why not skiing together tomorrow?

Why not a moonlit ice skate up on the lake?

Gavin shook his head to clear it and broke eye contact with her.

She was a siren. That was it. She was one of those women who only wanted to confuse and lure men in, swallow them whole, and then spit them back out as a mere shell of themselves.

Wait. Was that a siren or a python? Same net effect, right?

“Gav?” Austin tugged on his hand, breaking his concentration on the siren/python. “Please.” Austin’s big brown eyes held a different power than Kari’s, but the kid could get anything he wanted with a pleading look in those eyes.

“Fine,” Gavin barked out, harsher than he intended to.

“We need to fly, though, bud.” He had to look back at Kari; if only he could shield himself from that gaze.

Would sunglasses help? Doubtful. “If you’d like to come, we’d l-l—” He broke off, disgusted with himself.

No using the L word. “Be happy for you to join us.” There.

Civil. Cool. Not acting like an idiot who couldn’t even talk to a beautiful woman.

“Thank you. I would love to.” She drawled out that L word so appealingly that Gavin had to look away from her full lips.

He focused on her blue eyes. He closed his own to shield himself. He had nowhere to go.

“Can you wait while I grab my coat from my room?” she asked.

“We can’t be late for warm-ups.” Austin seemed to finally feel some urgency.

Gavin opened his eyes again so he didn’t look as idiotic as he felt. “You can wear my coat and gloves. They’re in my car, along with Austin’s gear.”

“You won’t need them?” Her tongue darted out, moistening those incredible lips.

Heat rushed through Gavin’s body, and the lodge’s lobby was suddenly a sauna. He definitely wouldn’t need a coat with her around. “No.” He shook his head quickly. “I’ll be so into coaching I won’t notice the cold.”