AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cassie held up her hands in a defeated pose. “I actually thought I was going to watch you and your dad play and…you know…watch.”She looked to her left into, well, left field, where Jamal was lying on his side in the thick, green grass with a smile on his face.
“Whatare you looking at?” She asked him with a glare his way. “You’rethe one who is supposed to beplaying.I’m supposed to bewatchingandlearning.”
“Well now, Bambi, I figure all those books you read you’d be a fast learner. And you said you wanted to learn,” he said with a wink. “This is you, learning. We like to learnhands onin our family.”
Cassie could feel her face turning red, his innuendo heard loud and clear. She hadnointention of doing anything withthatremark. But if she were being honest with herself, Jamal was one beautiful male specimen. Cassie had no clue who Jackson was on Grey’s Anatomy but she didn’t know how he could be any better than the man sitting in the grass ten feet away. Beautiful cappuccino colored skin and hazel eyes that Cassie knew from their practice last night were flecked with amber and gold. And even though he was really, really, really tall, his height didn’t trigger fear in her like other men who were so tall. Other men she tried hard to forget.
It was weird his height and stature didn’t inspire any fear in her. Even when he was being insufferably flirtatious, even though she had only known him for just a brief moment in time, she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. She blamed it on the fact he had a kid, one who obviously loved him with every fiber of her being, and he loved his daughter just as much. She could see it in the way they interacted.
Cassie knew nothing would come of a relationship with the playboy, but there wasn’t nothing saying she couldn’t use him as a future reference for her fantasies. Taking in his bare chest and ripped abs, both shaved smooth, was just too much. Not to mention the man had some seriously sexy calf muscles. Weird, but Cassie loved some toned calf muscles and Jamal’s weredefinitelytoned.
“You look your fill, Bambi?” Cassie heard him say. “I know you’re staring at me through those bug-eye sunglasses of yours.”
“I am rea-” Cassie pushed the sunglasses to the top of her head and started to yell his way an insult and denial of what she wasmost definitelydoing, but before she could finish the word really, a big, bright yellow softball came hurtling at her head and collided with her right eye. Cassie let out a squeak and fell to the ground.
With her working eye, Cassie saw Jamal jump to his feet,wow, he was super athletic,and run her way. JJ was right behind him.
“Oh my gee, Cassie! I’mso, so, so, so, so, so, so, sosorry! I thought you were saying you were ready! I had no clue you weren’t watching me! Itoldyou we should’ve made her use my mask!” JJ smacked her dad with her glove before dropping it in the dirt and sitting down by Cassie. She started rattling off her apology a mile a minute without even trying to catch her breath. “I’m such an idiot!”
Cassie took her hands off her eye and tried to wave away JJ’s concerns with one hand and wrap the girl in a hug with the other, but as soon as she removed her hands both JJandJamal let out a gasp.
“Oh, damn!” Jamal said, pulling Cassie’s chin up to look at it in the sunlight.
“What?! What? Is it bad?!” Cassie began to panic. She had sustained much harder hits in the past; in the grand scheme of things, this was like a love tap for her. But she knew the effect perfectly timed hits could have on her fair skin that bruised easily.
“Holy hell, daddy. I had no clue I could throw that hard.” JJ whispered, her eyes wide and her face void of all color.
“Don’t curse, JJ,” Cassie said at the exact time Jamal said, “Language young lady!”
Cassie raised her chin. “On a scale of one to ten, what do you think it rates?”
“Right now,” Jamal said, “Probably a six or seven. But if you’re asking about Saturday, well-”
Cassie’s eyes grew bigger with every word Jamal as what he was saying sunk in. “Oh my gee!” she said, echoing JJ’s words. “The wedding isin two days!”
“Yep,” Jamal said with a concerned half-smile her way, lifting her up and pulling her in for a hug. Cassie drew a breath that had nothing to do with the future black eye she was sure to sport tomorrow. For her best friend’s wedding. Where she was themaid of honor. A maid of honor with a shiner. But for the moment, she couldn’t find it in herself to focus or care too much about that fact, especially when her head was resting on Jamal’s bare chest. And boy, the man smelled too good for words. How the heck did he smell so good after being out in the heat for two hours? Cassie bent her head down to where her armpit was and, without raising her arm, gave herself a cautionary sniff. Thankfully, she didn’t stink. Add that to the win column for the day.
“You’ll have a pretty good shiner in the morning I’m guessing,” Jamal said softly, pulling away so he could look down at her. “Look at it this way, Bambi. At least it will be a good story to tell Callie’s and Kyle’s children one day.”
Cassie let out a laugh and immediately grabbed her eye. It hurt to even laugh. She couldn’t believe this had happened.
“Can’t we put meat on it or something to stop the swelling?” JJ asked, pulling herself off the ground and dusting off her shorts.
“I think an ice pack would work better, kid.” Jamal told his daughter. “What in the he-, uh, heck, made you think ofmeat?”
“Duh, daddy. It’s on The Sandlot. Same thing happened to Smalls.”
“Who’s Smalls?” Cassie asked.
JJ and Jamal looked at her with bewildered looks that were so similar that they caused Cassie’s heart to skip a beat.
“All youreally dois read books, huh, Cass? I thought my daddy was making it up. But only a true, total book nerd would not know who Smalls is. We gotta watch it,” JJ told Cassie, wrapping her scrawny arms around Cassie’s waist. “Please? It’ll make up for me whackin’ you with the ball. You’ll laugh, pinky swear.”
“You play ball like agirl,”Jamal said, eliciting a laugh from his daughter. He looked Cassie’s way. “Trust me, after tonight you’ll be in on the inside joke, too.”
“Tonight? What makes you think I’ll watch it with you guys tonight?” she asked.
“Easy,” Jamal said with his disarming, charming smile that made Cassie’s breath catch. “We have to help make the swelling on your eye go down so it isn’t purple for the wedding.”
