Read Mr. February for Free Online

cinnamon roll. She could get one at Rosemary’s Breakfast Nook.
    After showering and dressing, she scribbled a note for JR and Chelsea. This morning they deserved to sleep. For once, they’d pitched in, staying up late to install shelving for the six students who’d signed up for the four-week pottery class. Jillian reserved the two walls of existing shelves for her own work.
    If the class went as well as she hoped, she would offer a more advanced version to the same group. She would also encourage them to post comments about the class on her website and to tell their friends about the class. In these ways, Jillian hoped to spread the word.
    She let Pooh out and penned her in the fenced area. Only a week until the official first day of spring, and this morning the whole world seemed poised and ready. The air, crisp but not cold, the rising sun filling the sky with color, and the trill of songbirds in the newly leafed trees. Jillian couldn’t help but be happy.
    Humming the tune to “Sunshine Day,” even though she couldn’t carry a tune for anything, she climbed into her car and drove off. Normally, the trip from the cottage to Rosemary’s took a good twenty minutes, but at this hour on a Sunday morning, she had the road to herself and made great time.
    A few blocks from Rosemary’s, she made an inexplicable detour, turning right instead of continuing straight. Seconds later, she passed the fire station. Rafe worked Mondays and Tuesdays, so, of course, he wasn’t there today. All the same, she let out a soft sigh.
    The man sure knew his way around a good-night. It had been more than a week since he’d kissed her, but even thinking about it made her lips tingle and her whole body warm.
    Absently, she touched her mouth and knew she wouldn’t forget those amazing kisses anytime soon.
    “Rafe Donato is trouble, plain and simple,” she told herself out loud.
    Although he wasn’t nearly as rigid as she’d first assumed. Not at all like her father. Still, he had a reputation even among his coworkers.
    She didn’t want to get involved with him, not when she hoped to meet her Mr. Right, settle down, and start a family. The sooner she stopped thinking about him, the better.
    Resolved, she pulled into the mini-mall that housed Rosemary’s Breakfast Nook.
    By the dozen or so parked cars grouped around the restaurant, she wasn’t the only one out before eight a.m. But then, Rosemary’s served the best breakfast in town and was packed daily, from the second the doors opened at six a.m. until it closed at one.
    The second Jillian entered the bustling restaurant, two things happened simultaneously. The delicious smells made her weak with hunger. She also spotted Rafe.
    And just when she’d pushed him firmly from her mind. Why couldn’t he have stayed home?
    He and another male almost as handsome shared in a booth with an attractive woman about Jillian’s age, and a small boy seated next to Rafe. The boy chattered away at Rafe, and the man’s dimples winked charmingly.
    Maybe that was why Jillian suddenly felt weak.
    The angel sitting on one shoulder warned her to turn around and make a hasty exit, but the devil on the other shoulder prodded her to stay.
    She was torn and hesitating when Rafe looked straight at her. For one long moment, their gazes locked. Jillian couldn’t glance away.
    She hadn’t planned to approach the booth, and yet, suddenly, there she was. “Um, hi,” she said, awkwardly fingering the strap of her purse. “I’m here to pick up some Samantha’s cinnamon rolls.”
    Rafe nodded at the short, black-haired female. “Meet Samantha Everett, the woman behind those treats.”
    “Wow,” Jillian gushed. “I love all your stuff.”
    Samantha beamed. “That makes me happy.” She elbowed the man beside her. “This big guy is Adam Healey. He and Rafe work together. The boy next to Rafe is my son, William.”
    “I recognize you from the firefighters calendar,” Jillian told Adam. “You’re Mr.