"A hero to give you that warm fuzzy feeling."

Single Mom, Mala Koleski has her hands full raising her two young children ever since her husband walked out on them and disappeared from their lives. She is just managing to keep their heads above water. She is surprised to run into Eddie King at her friend Galen's restaurant. She hasn't seen Eddie since High School when she had a secret crush on him. She discovers he still oozes sex appeal, something that a thirty-seven year old mother of two has no business noticing. But she does get a little thrill when she suspects that he is noticing someting about her too.

Eddie doesn't know why he has taken the temporary chef's job at Galen's restaurant, when he can get a job just about anywhere in the country. Something has drawn him back to the town that was only one of a long line of impermanent homes for him when he was growing up. Seeing Mala again brings back memories of her sweet smile in High School. He enjoyed that smile even though he knew better than to approach her. Nice girls like her were off limits to boys like him.

When Galen suggests that Mala rent the upstairs apartment in her house to Eddie they both resist, but it really is a practical idea so they give in and come to an agreement. Eddie will rent the rooms but he will not become too friendly with her kids. Eddie is a drifter and would never stay, so Mala doesn't want her children (not to mention herself) to become attached to him. Eddie agrees, the last thing he wants are any attachments to anyone. But one thing leads to another and Eddie begins to be drawn into their lives whether he wants to or not. When they give in to this sexual attraction they feel, Mala tries to remind herself that it will end soon and that she shouldn't fall in love with Eddie, unfortunately her heart doesn't listen to her head.

Eddie is the kind of hero a woman could love both on the pages of a book and in reality. He is a considerate, gentle man who has closed himself off from human contact. His feelings towards Mala will endear him to readers. She is twenty pounds overweight and not only does he not mind it, but it actually appeals to him! Even though he thinks she babies her son too much, he still thinks she is a good mom, and he really likes that. What a sweet guy! I still get the warm fuzzies every time I think of him. Mala and the kids are great too; add an interesting plot involving long lost fathers, a few chuckles and you have an all around good read by Ms. Templeton!

Reviewed by Janice Bennett
Posted January 15, 2003

Read an Excerpt

Take one high school crush by name of Mala Koleski, add twenty years, two kids and the softest curves north of the Mason-Dixon line, and you've got the perfect recipe for the kind of temptation that itinerant chef, don't-need-no- stinking-family Eddie King does NOT need. But when those three sets of eyes get to working on him. . .well, it looks like this rebel might have just found his cause.

Summary

Mala Koleski's brother might have married a real-life princess, but her own luck in the Prince charming department was zilch. Then an old high school crush by name of Eddie King returns to her hometown of Spruce Lake, Michigan, oozing even more bad-boy Southern charm than he had twenty years before. . .and even more determination not to set down roots. As their long-put-off attraction finally comes to a boil, however, Mala wonders if having a fling is enough to salvage her sagging self- confidence. . .or whether she dare put her size 18 butt on the line for the obviously hurting man.

And when Eddie finds himself living in Mala's upstairs apartment, can he turn his back on on a pair of kids whose father abandoned them as Eddie's did him, not to mention their got-more-love-than-she-knows-what-to-do-with mother. . .or will he finally face his own fears in order to do WHAT A MAN'S GOTTA DO?