The Bridal Path: Danielle by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online

or cautiously. He practically held his breath until he set it down on the picnic table in the yard. When Pirate came nosing around to check it out, Kevin pushed him back to a respectful distance and added a warning.
    “You touch it and you’re dead meat,” he told the dog, who was practically quivering with excitement over all that chocolate.
    Slade walked around the side of the house just as Dani placed the hamburgers on the grill. Her heart leapt into her throat at the sight of him. Was there any man on earth who could do for a pair of jeans what he did? It was downright sinful, and all the more fascinating because he seemed totally unaware of the effect.
    “Nice timing,” she said. “There’s not even so much as a napkin left inside for you to carry.”
    He nudged her away from the grill with a bump of his hip. “Then let me take over here. Grilling is just about the only cooking I do with any evidence of talent.”
    “Yeah, if you like your burgers charcoal on the outside and raw meat inside,” Timmy taunted.
    Slade scowled at him. “Traitor.”
    “Dad, you taught us always to be honest,” his older son said piously.
    “Did you have to pick this precise moment to learn that lesson?” Slade grumbled.
    Amused by the apparently familiar father-son bickering, Dani retrieved the spatula from his hand. “Maybe I’d better take over here. There are soft drinks in the cooler and iced tea in the pitcher on the table. If you’d rather have a beer, there’s some in the refrigerator.”
    “Iced tea is fine. Beer would probably put me to sleep in front of the computer this afternoon.”
    Dani waited until he’d returned with his tea before she tossed out the idea she’d had just before his arrival. “Actually, I was wondering exactly how rigid your work schedule is. You are your own boss, right?”
    Something flickered in his eyes, perhaps a reaction to her choice of words, she decided. Rigid. She’d chosen the word deliberately. Few people she knew liked to think of themselves as being inflexible, as being caught in a rut. Reminding him that he was supposed to be in charge of his own life was a nice touch, she thought.
    “Why?” he inquired a little testily, more or less confirming her guess.
    “I was thinking maybe we ought to take the boys to the park after lunch for a touch football game. It would use up a little of that energy.” Then she added the coup de grace. “They might even take naps again this afternoon.”
    She chuckled at his reaction. She doubted he would have looked any more shocked if she’d suggested a rendezvous in a cheap motel.
    “You’re kidding, right?”
    “Absolutely not.”
    Shock shifted to apparent fascination. “And you’re going to play?”
    “Of course. I’ll have you know I’m a very good receiver.”
    His gaze promptly fell on her hands. Dani was very glad she’d thought to polish her neatly clipped nails the night before. Usually she spent so much of her time up to her elbows in flour that she didn’t bother. Besides, what was the point of polishing nails that were trimmed nearly down to the quick for practical reasons? That dash of bright pink, however, did add a sexy touch to her workmanlike hands.
    She waited until Slade’s eyes met hers again before adding, “I have very strong hands.”
    His throat worked at that. “Oh, really?”
    Obviously she’d sent his imagination soaring. It was a very gratifying reaction.
    “It’s all that kneading,” she told him, adding to the color climbing up the back of his neck.
    He shook his head as if to rid himself of the image, but his voice was still a little breathless when he asked, “I wonder if the coaches in the NFL ever thought to suggest their receivers ought to practice by making bread?”
    “I doubt it, or some of them would be better than they are.”
    His growing curiosity was unmistakable. “Do you watch a lot of football?”
    “In Trent Wilde’s household, there wasn’t a sport we didn’t