Synithia Williams - Guarding His Heart

Scoring for Love

Sizzling-hot basketball star Kevin Koucky plans to end his career with a bang by posing au naturel in a magazine feature. When photographer Jasmine Hook agrees to take the assignment, she never expects the risqué photo shoot to end with a sensual slam dunk. But the handsome athlete comes with children and an ex-wife—emotional baggage Jasmine can’t handle. Little does she know that Kevin always plays to win...

SYNITHIA WILLIAMS has been an avid romance-novel lover since picking up her first at the age of thirteen. It was only natural that she would begin penning her own romances soon after—much to the chagrin of her high school math teachers. She’s a native of South Carolina and now writes romances as hot as their Southern settings. Outside of writing she works on water quality and sustainability issues for local government. She’s married to her own personal hero, and they have two sons who’ve convinced her that professional wrestling and superheroes are supreme entertainment. When she isn’t working, writing or being a wife and mother, she’s usually bingeing on TV series, playing around on social media or planning her next girls’ night out with friends. You can learn more about Synithia by visiting her website, www.synithiawilliams.com, where she blogs about writing, life and relationships.

Also By Synithia Williams

A New York Kind of Love

A Malibu Kind of Romance

Full Court Seduction

Overtime for Love

Guarding His Heart

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Guarding His Heart

Synithia Williams

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08487-1

GUARDING HIS HEART

© 2018 Synithia R. Williams

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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He’d dressed casually in white linen pants and a light blue button-up that fit his muscled body just enough to make her mouth water.

“Those are beautiful,” she said, eyeing the flowers but really thinking about the width of his shoulders and taut flatness of his abdomen.

He held the bouquet out to her. “I may not live here permanently, but I’m still a Southern gentleman. My grandmother would skin me if I didn’t bring flowers to my date.”

Jasmine chuckled and took the flowers from him, her heart skipping a little at the mention of this being a date. The sweet fragrance wrapped around her the way she wanted Kevin’s arms to embrace her. “Is your grandmother the only reason I got flowers?” she teased.

She turned and took the flowers over to the dresser. There wasn’t a vase in the room, but there was a vanity pitcher and bowl on the dresser. She grabbed the pitcher and put the flowers inside, setting it next to her bed.

“That, and when I saw them, I thought of you. Bright, colorful, happy.”

Dear Reader,

There are a lot of negative stereotypes about men with multiple kids. My goal with Guarding His Heart was to show a positive image of a blended family. Kevin may have come across as a playboy in the other books, but I hope you see there is more to Kevin. He’s devoted to his family and has a great capacity for love—something he has to realize as his feelings for Jasmine grow.

Jasmine is fun and spunky. Her personality immediately jives with Kevin’s, but she has her own concerns to get over before she can accept the love Kevin offers. She’s a complicated woman with a unique set of needs that Kevin isn’t afraid to step in and help with.

I hope you enjoy Guarding His Heart. I’m hard at work on the final Scoring for Love book. Get ready for Will Hampton to settle down.

Sincerely,

Synithia

To you for picking up this book and taking this ride with me.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Chenille, Sam and Cindy for sharing your experiences living with juvenile diabetes and being in a relationship with someone with the condition. I hope I gave an accurate reflection in this book with Jasmine and Kevin’s relationship. Thanks to the editorial staff at Harlequin Kimani Romance for helping me flesh out the characters of this story. Finally, writing a book is hard. I couldn’t have finished this book without the support of a great set of writer friends. Whether for virtual hugs, words of encouragement or listening to me rant, the Divas are always there. You ladies are much appreciated.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter 1

Kevin Koucky had no problem getting naked.

Getting naked in a cold studio, in front of a crowd of mostly strangers, as part of the photo shoot for Sports Fitness magazine was an entirely different situation. He glanced at his publicist across the studio. Rod gave Kevin two thumbs-up while his always enthusiastic grin covered his thin face.