dad was probably at home tonight, polishing his Super Bowl rings while Caleb was standing in the middle of a pool wearing a custom Tom Ford suit.
It wouldn’t be the first or last time listening to his dad’s advice had gotten him into trouble.
Between the tequila and his teammates goading him, Cash decided it would be fun to find a football and relive one of his career-best catches. The moment he saw the ball’s terrible wobble as it went airborne was when he should have backed off the attempt, but his ego told him otherwise. Already committed to the sprint when she stepped into his path, it had been too late for him to do anything other than try his best to soften the blow.
One look at those dark, angry eyes told him it was going to take one heck of an apology to smooth things over. She’d stormed off before he could pull it together enough to speak.
He pushed himself up and out of the pool.
“How are you going to sweet-talk your way out of this one?”
The amused chuckle came from his best friend and teammate, Caleb. The two of them had come to this party with the intention to kick back. One of them had succeeded; the other was him.
“I keep Jacoby on call for these situations.”
“You have an on-call jeweler?”
“You don’t?” He grinned easily.
Caleb shook his head in amusement. “Tread lightly with this one. The girl you just sacked and nearly drowned is Quentin’s baby sister.”
Great.
Quentin Russell might have been recently traded to their team, but he had veteran playing experience and a field reputation Cash couldn’t wait to witness in person. More importantly, he was the host of the evening’s party. Cash would guess he wouldn’t be too happy if his sister got to him before Cash had a chance to explain it was a simple accident caused by Asher’s drunken aim.
He had to find her.
For the most part, he just followed the trail of water. Once inside the house, he asked the first friendly face he met where she’d dripped off to.
He ended up in a quiet hallway. While the party raged outside, he caught his first real look at her through the partially open door of the laundry room. The lights were low, but enough. Braids covered most of her face as she bent over and unstrapped the shoes from around her ankles before carelessly throwing them across the room with a guttural grunt.
She stood, making quick work of capturing her braids into a bun.
Before he could blink, the black dress she wore had been peeled off, laying in a soggy heap around her feet. He couldn’t seem to pry his eyes off her body, even though he knew looking was wrong.
All of her caught his attention. She was softness and curves. Her thick thighs and curvy hips were accentuated by the black bodysuit clinging to her like a second skin.
And her breasts…
A muttered curse slipped out beneath the harsh breath he finally released.
Her eyes were on his in an instant, narrowing just as quickly as they had widened in alarm.
“Now you’re spying on me?”
“I wasn’t spying. I was trying to apologize.” He held up his hands in an attempt to look innocent.
“Telepathically?”
Cash shook his head. His brain was stuck on stupid as she drew closer. “I didn’t mean to stare. I just didn’t expect all of this—all of you…” He waved his hand over her body.
Her squinting brown eyes turned furious.
“That sounded wrong…” His attempted explanation fell on closed-off ears as she advanced on him, jamming a finger into his left pectoral.
“You made me look like a complete loser in front of the Caleb Kennedy. Then, instead of apologizing, you come after me to tell me I’m fat?”
“Whoa, I didn’t—”
She shoved a hand in his face. “Stop talking!”
He was still in shock when the door slammed in his face.
TWO
Kenadi
KENADI WINCED AS she pulled the big t-shirt over her head, last night’s embarrassing fail replaying in her mind for the umpteenth time. She’d barely slept, fearing that the moment she closed her eyes, someone would upload a video of her in a pool looking like a mess next to Cash “screw up Kenadi’s life plan” Latham.
She should sue him.
Her foul mood hung around as she ate her bowl of oatmeal with a side of ibuprofen. She was attempting to get ready for the gym when she finally saw the missed message on her phone.