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the court. “Pass it, pass it!” he shouted to one, who kept dribbling doggedly down the court until Aaron swiped the ball away. “Gotta pass sometimes, Jimmy. Try again.” He handed the boy the ball and positioned himself to block him again.
    The kids laughed. They ran. They stumbled and shoved and screeched, “I’m open, I’m open!”
    A girl took a shot and Aaron batted it away. “Gotta pass,” he reminded her. “Don’t hog the shots. If I’m in your way, pass to someone else. Try it again.”
    The gym was warm, although the open door let in a breeze. But the kids looked hot, and Aaron looked hotter. He had such long legs, muscular and taut, covered in a fine mesh of dark hair. She lifted hergaze to his chest, outlined by the clinging T-shirt, and then moved higher, to his glistening face and his unruly hair. “Come on, Stacy, pass the ball!” he shouted to a girl. She passed it and he gave her a huge grin. “There you go! That’s the way! This is a team sport, everyone!”
    He blew his whistle and scooped the ball into his hand. “Okay, guys—water break.” He led his charges to the bleachers, where several large insulated jugs of water stood. After handing out paper cups, he proceeded to fill the cups for the kids. “Sip it, guys, and then take seconds. Remember what I said this morning?”
    “Drink lots of fluids,” one of the boys called out.
    “That’s right. Always drink lots of fluids when you’re doing heavy physical activity. That may be the most important thing I can teach you.” He paused. Then, “How much fluid should you drink?”
    “Lots!” the kids chorused. Aaron smiled.
    Lily smiled, too.
    She felt like a trespasser, lurking unnoticed in the doorway, dressed in a floaty pale-blue jumper with a matching blue shirt under it and a pair of rope-soled sandals. She didn’t belong here, yet she couldn’t walk away. Not when Aaron was grinning so magically at his scruffy band of athletes. While they sipped their water, he lifted a smaller water bottle to his lips and took a swig. Then he lifted the hem of his shirt to wipe his face, offering Lily a view of his abdomen, a sculpture of lithe muscle shiny with sweat.
    God, what a body.
    The thought stunned her. She blinked and fell back a step, surprised that she could be turned on by afleeting glimpse of a man’s midsection, surprised that she could be turned on by anything at all. It had been so long since she’d felt any sort of sexual stirring. She’d been married to Tyler, and once she was married she’d never even looked at another man. But Tyler had come to bed drunk too many times, and when there was sex, it had been ugly.
    There was nothing ugly about Aaron Mazerik. Absolutely nothing.
    Lowering his shirt, he reached for his water bottle again, then spotted her hovering in the doorway. He smiled, this time not the broad grin reserved for his kids but a quiet, questioning smile. She smiled back, feeling suddenly shy and uneasy. Was he aware that she’d been ogling him? Could he tell what one quick look at his bare abdomen had done to her? Was she blushing?
    “Keep drinking,” he ordered the children, then jogged across the court to the door. She wanted to shrink from him. Heaven knew, if he got too close to her, she might not be able to control the urge to touch his skin, to lift up his shirt and run her fingertips over the hard, sleek surface—
    She must be insane even to think such a thing! This was Aaron Mazerik, an admittedly handsome man but one with whom she had nothing in common.
    He loomed in front of her, his hands on his hips, his breathing heavy from all his running and his eyes glittering like emeralds set in silver and gold. And she felt something. Something scary. Something dangerous. Something unforgivably tempting.
    Something she hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

CHAPTER FOUR

    A ARON TOLD HIMSELF he was standing in the open doorway of the gym, grinning like an idiot at Lily Holden, because her being