Losing an Edge (Portland Storm Book 13) by Catherine Gayle Read Free Book Online Page B

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?”
    “Maybe some other day.” Sara gave him a stern look. “Go. Dry. Put on Batman.”
    The naked boy streaked up the stairs with the dog hot on his heels. When he got to the top, he flung himself at Cadence, who was making her way down, apparently using her clothes as a towel to dry himself off.
    “Connor Allan Johnson,” Sara warned, shaking her head in my direction.
    “The ball place?” I asked.
    Cadence flashed apologetic eyes in my direction as she headed down the stairs. “We took them to an indoor park today. He spent hours pretending he was an alligator eating Anthony in the ball pit. Are we doing anything outside? I’ll need to go change into something dry if we are.” She had on a gold sweater dress that hugged her curves and ended an inch or two above the knee, and some sort of strappy heels that made her legs look long and sleek.
    “Not tonight,” I assured her. “Indoor only. So as long as you think you’ll dry off soon… I don’t mind waiting if you want to change, though.” Although, that would leave me subject to whatever tortures Jonny might have in mind if he came in from wherever he was hiding.
    Not only that, but I hoped she’d stay in this dress. The material didn’t leave much to the imagination, but that didn’t stop my imagination from running overtime.
    “Nah. I’m fine. Let’s leave before Connor does something else to sabotage me.” She took her coat and purse out of the closet and allowed me to help her into it.
    “We’ll leave the light on,” Sara called as we headed out the door.
    Cadence nodded and waved.
    Once we were in the car and on our way to the Moda Center, she turned to me. “Cam hasn’t been giving you a hard time, has he? I didn’t mean for it to go down like that yesterday. In front of him and all.”
    I shrugged. He wasn’t being any