Jake drew in a cleansing breath. "Look, I'm sorry I yelled. Let's start over-sane and sensible this time. Are you saying Emma hasn't told her mom yet?"

"No. She's afraid her mother's gonna have a meltdown. Mrs. Bradford only delivered the abstinence part of Teens and Sex 101 to Em."

In that case, Alex could consider his name crossed off the woman's Christmas list. Jake knew this for a certainty because he'd had personal experience telling a girl's mother he'd impregnated her daughter.

He'd never told Alex how preventing teen pregnancies had become such a crusade for him. He'd attained dual-certification to teach family and consumer science classes in addition to psychology, hoping to spare his son and other kids this misfortune.

After hanging up his cleats, he'd received dozens of job offers for assistant coach positions in the pros and as a sportscaster for numerous cable networks. He'd socked enough away during his football career to be more than just comfortable, so he'd chosen to teach, hoping to save his marriage and the futures of impressionable teens.

Jake nodded a greeting to their waitress, Brandy Harris, as she rushed up wearing a mini skirt and a blouse that left nothing to a man's imagination, drenched in enough perfume to obliterate the mouthwatering aromas wafting from the nearby tables. She was one of Jake's students-not that a stranger would ever guess. She had the body of a porn-queen and dressed more like a streetwalker than a high school cheerleader. Not surprising after being raised by a single a mom who worked as an exotic dancer to support her family.

Brandy had been shaking her pom-poms at his son for the last four years. So in reality, things could be worse. Alex could've knocked up the class tramp instead of shy, sweet Emma.

The fatherless Pamela Anderson wannabe flashed her dazzling smile at Jake's son and purred, "Hi, Alex," before turning to Jake, her pen poised to jot down their order. "Hey, Coach, what can I get for you?"

"Sorry, Brandy, we need a few minutes. We're expecting two more."

"Sure. Take your time." She sashayed away from the table and tossed Alex an enticing smile over her shoulder, leaving a cloud of her scent hovering around them. Alex ignored her, but as soon as she turned her blonde head, he joined every other heterosexual male under forty watching her wiggle her shapely ass back to the kitchen.

Jake snorted inwardly. There wasn't enough money in the world to tempt him to go back to being eighteen and having his hormones raging twenty-four/seven. One of the few benefits of growing older was his forty-two-year-old mind no longer lived in his shorts.

His kid just couldn't see that the Almighty had dealt him a royal flush. Besides being brilliant and having the entire female population of the high school panting over him, Alex's grades and athletic ability had given him his choice of any university.

Jake had teetered on a tightrope for years, both as a father and coach, trying to give his son just enough praise to encourage him without destroying Alex's greatest strength-his humility. Unfortunately, now the kid believed he was the most highly recruited senior in the country simply because he was Rocket Manion's progeny.

Not only did his son have more natural talent than Jake ever thought of having on the football field, evidently, Alex was just as gifted as his old man at finding ways to screw up his life.

Coming next by L.L. Kellogg.

The Naughty Never Die.

Winner of the Ignite the Flame and the Touch of Magic contests and a Daphne du Maurier finalist (under an alternate title).

If only the good die young, then New Jersey's virtuous First Lady should be a cinch to kill.

Unless....deep down she's really quite naughty.

The Beauty-a chronic people pleaser who's had enough of her goody-two-shoes life Since her mother's untimely death, crusader Josephine Callahan has served as New Jersey's First Lady. Acting as her father's official hostess in the governor's mansion is tantamount to living in a fishbowl, which makes S-E-X extremely difficult.

On the brink of a nervous breakdown, frustrated Josie loses her usual good sense along with her cool and lets her assemblyman boyfriend sweet-talk her into an impromptu romantic getaway-something she would never consider if she had a clue someone is trying to kill her.

The Beast-an incurable bad boy who refuses to admit beneath his scars lurks a hero.

A deliberately twisted message, via the governor's spiteful assistant, misleads ex Special Forces officer, DJ Ryder, as to the true objective of his freelance assignment. He's told to, not only track down the governor's classy daughter and hold her in protective custody, but to also teach her a lesson by letting her believe she's been kidnapped.

When Josie discovers the scarred, but still sexy, badass has played her for a fool, she retaliates by feigning a raging case of Stockholm syndrome, teasing the brute until all he can think of is the hold her part of his orders. How can Ryder concentrate on keeping Josie safe when he's busy avoiding the danger she poses to his heart?.

Coming soon from Laurie Kellogg.

The Great Bedroom War.

She's trying to forget the pleasure in her ex's arms.

He's doing his damnedest to remind her.

Fledgling entrepreneur Samantha River is in charge of her own life for the first time and determined to keep it that way. She's attempting to banish her call-all-the-shots ex-husband from her dreams, but it's kind of tough forgetting the Zorro look-alike who's willing to do anything for her, except give her the only two things she wants-another baby and his love. When their 14-year-old daughter Dani-who's maintaining a shaky remission from leukemia-rebels, Sam foolishly seeks advice from her Don Juan ex, who, incidentally, could charm the knickers off a nun.

When Nicols River returns to Redemption, PA, to help control his defiant daughter, he discovers he not only has serious competition for Sam's affection, but Dani has a crush on a boy who is the last kid Nick wants her interested in. The boy is a horn-dog rebel who reminds Nick way to much of his teen-aged self. Sam never understood that, even to a second-generation Latino man, familial responsibility is still nmero uno. She also has no concept of how terrified this reformed bad-boy and businessman is of losing her to another high-risk pregnancy. The death of their premature son devastated Nick and incited The Great Bedroom War that ultimately destroyed his marriage. Now, he'll stop at nothing to get his family back-even if it means blackmailing his way back into his ex-wife's home to become a greater presence in his sick child's life-and, with any luck, Samantha's bed and heart.

Connect with Laurie at:.

Website: http://www.LaurieKellogg.com.

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