AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He seems like quite a handful,” Anthony said, taking the diaper bag and snacks from me.
I raised a brow and chuckled. “You haven’t seen anything yet. He seems positively well behaved so far today.”
Anthony snort-laughed. “Should make for an interesting afternoon.”
Which would suit me nicely. The more interesting this afternoon became, the less time I’d have to worry about my date with Levi Babcock tonight.
With everything safely stowed for the time being, we headed back out to the main play area. Sara and Cassidy had found some blocks and another mother and baby, leaving Connor to the two of us. The holy terror himself was busy flinging his body through the balls toward some bigger kids, using his arms to make it seem like he was a gator trying to chomp them. I let out an internal sigh and tried to mentally prepare myself to go haul him off before he went overboard and hurt another child. I’d barely resigned myself to what I needed to do before Anthony kicked off his shoes and jumped into the fray himself.
Connor gator-chomped Anthony’s arm and giggled.
Anthony let out a fake howl of pain. “You got me!”
“The agilators got you.”
“I’m dying! Help. Help me, Cadence.” He held out his arms, which allowed Connor to jump on his midsection and bury him in the ball pit until I could only see his feet.
“CayCay can’t save you from the agilators.”
In no time, half the other kids in the place had joined Connor in climbing all over Anthony, but he only laughed and egged them on. It only took him minutes to become the prime attraction of the day, a human jungle gym for their amusement. He laughed and joked with them, giving in to any punishment Connor and his newfound friends saw fit to give him.
I found a nearby spot on a bench where I could be sure Connor didn’t cause any true harm. My cell phone buzzed in my pocket only a moment after I took my seat. I dug it out and swiped the screen to find a text message from Sara.
I like Anthony, too. Just in case you don’t trust yourself in determining whether you should like him. Don’t know him as well as 501, but there’s no need to feed him to the agilators.
I laughed out loud, which caught Anthony’s attention. He flashed a grin in my direction—a distraction that lasted barely long enough for Connor and the other kids to pile on top of him again—and I did my best to sit back and enjoy the day without worrying about any of the men who were at the forefront of my mind.
AT TEN TILL eight, Iparked behind Jonny’s pickup in the driveway, my knuckles practically white as I gripped my steering wheel. There was no fucking good reason for me to be this nervous. Yeah, Cadence was Jonny’s sister, but despite appearances, he was a reasonable guy. Besides, he’d married his coach’s daughter. And my brother had married the daughter of one of the other coaches. The guy who used to be the captain of the Storm before Jamie had married a teammate’s kid sister. It wasn’t like any of this was unheard of or out of the ordinary, and especially not around this team.
But no matter what kind of pep talk I tried to give myself, I was anxious as all hell. And I didn’t like it.
Dating wasn’t exactly a hardship for me. Women tended to throw themselves at me, especially now that Jamie was well and truly taken. It tended to go with the territory when you had the trademark Babcock dimples and propensity for blushing. I’d even gone in for a spray tan a couple of times to see if darker skin would cut down on the blushing, but it didn’t seem to matter. Blushing ran in the family. Plus, all the guys felt the need to rib me for it, which only made me blush worse.
Sitting in my car wasn’t going to do me any good, so I cut off the engine and headed for the porch. I hadn’t even gotten my finger on the doorbell when the door flung open, and a wet, naked Connor Johnson grinned up at me. “You’re a motherfucker. Mommy’s gonna feed you to the agilators.”
Buster followed after him, barking at me.
“How about you don’t jump on my balls first?”
“I wanna go back and jump in the balls again,” he said, grabbing my hand and taking off down the steps toward my car. “Let’s go.”
“Whoa, buddy.” I ushered him back inside so I could shut the door and keep the cold out. “I don’t know anything about that…”
Sara came down the stairs with Cassidy wrapped up in a hooded bunny towel. “Hey,” she said when she saw me. “I didn’t hear the bell.”
“I didn’t ring it. Connor let me in before I could.”
She scowled at her son. “What did we say about answering the door?”
“Only Mommy and Daddy and CayCay can.” That kid didn’t look the least bit contrite.
“Mm hmm. And what were you supposed to do before leaving the bathroom?”
“Dry off and put on my Batman underwears.” He looked up at me, like he was searching for an accomplice. Then he grinned. “501 said balls.”
“So did you, buddy,” Sara said, trying hard not to laugh.
“Can I go to the ball place with him?”
