AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not playing any music yet.” Kyra shook her head. “So embarrassing,” she mumbled, then put the earbuds back in.
When I turned back to Ray and the brunette, they weren’t there anymore. I shifted back and forth, looking all over the bleachers. Finally I spotted them sitting on the far left side in the front row. The brunette still had her arms intertwined with Ray’s and was sitting extremely close. I wondered if perhaps she was his girlfriend, or worse—maybe his wife. “Ugh.”
“Every woman here feels the same,” one of the other moms said. “Captain Ray is Palm Hills’s most eligible bachelor.”
“I believe it,” I said. “Oh, did you say bachelor?” I couldn’t help but grin.
She nodded. “You’re new here. I’ve never seen you before,” the woman said. “I’m Cathy. What’s your name?” She stuck her hand out in greeting.
I accepted it and said, “Cassie. We just moved here about a month ago. Which one of the players are you here to see?”
“Aside from Captain Ray, you mean?” Cathy asked with a giggle.
I nodded.
Cathy pointed to a scrawny kid with red hair who Max just passed the ball to. “That redhead right there is my son, Tommy.”
“Oh, looks like my son is on the same team. Max just passed the ball to Tommy.”
“So, that’s Max.” Cathy grinned. “Our sons are good friends. Tommy talks about Max all the time.” We continued to chat during the warm-up and periodically during the game. The boys lost by three points, but they appeared to be in good spirits. Kyra and I followed Cathy to the front of the gym while we waited for the coach to finish talking to the team.
“I think that will work, Ray. I will bring it up to the board members, and we can vote on it during the next meeting. Thanks for taking time out to talk to me today.”
“No problem, Lynette.” That deep, sexy voice hit my ears, and a sensation immediately zinged straight to my hoo-ha. It didn’t help matters when I felt a firm but gentle hand touch my forearm. I jumped, and my heart hammered in my chest. “Cassie, nice to see you here.”
“I, um… Hi,” I choked out.
“Lynette, this is Cassie. She just moved here. Cassie, this is Mayor Lynette Jenkins.”
“Oh, wow. The mayor.” I felt small. Good grief, get a grip. You’re a strong, smart, single mother of two. “Nice to meet you.”
The mayor held out her hand to greet me. When I accepted it, she immediately pulled me in for a hug. “Oh, I’m a hugger. Hope you don’t mind. Welcome to Palm Hills. I’m sure I will see a lot of you. My grandson is playing here at the rec center. Let me know if you would like to do any volunteer work. We always have plenty of openings for help around the community.”
I nodded. I refused to verbally commit to anything at that moment. After all, I could barely take care of myself and my kids.
“I had better get going. Thanks again, Ray. Cassie, I will see you.”
Why does that worry me?
“Oh, don’t worry. Mayor Jenkins never forces anyone to do anything they don’t want to do. She is a very resourceful woman, though,” Cathy explained. She turned her attention to Ray. “So, how’d your grandson do, Ray?”
“They won,” Ray said proudly. His hand was still on my forearm. My nipples really needed to loosen up a bit. They hurt from being so ridiculously turned on. Once again, thank goodness I had a padded bra on that covered up my hormonal reaction to this man.
Then something registered in my brain. Grandson. Ray had a grandson who was the same age as my son. Right. No age difference. I sighed.
&nb
sp; Ray tilted his head a bit, then finally released my arm. “Max played pretty well out there.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Who taught him to play?”
I grinned. “Me. I love to play.”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really?”
“Yep.”
