AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I stepped onto the wide front lawn, everyone was already outside, tossing the football around. To say I was intimidated was an understatement. I wasn’t worried about breaking a nail. I was worried about breaking a limb.
“Colton, since you and Frances are our guests, we’ll let you choose your teammate,” said Robert.
Colton’s gaze fell directly on me, and without looking at anyone else, he said, “I’ll take Frances.” The deep timber in his voice made me shiver. I hated how he still had that effect on me.
Paul nodded. “Smart man.”
“Don’t worry, son,” said Robert. “We can take’em.”
As father and son high-fived each other, I asked, “What about you, Marie? Whose team are you on?”
“I’m the referee,” she said, pulling out a whistle from her back pocket. Paul wasn’t kidding when he said they took their family football game seriously.
Marie blew her whistle twice and shouted, “All right, people, line up!”
I whipped my head from side to side, looking at where I should stand. Colton came up behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Do you know how to play?” he asked.
“Not really,” I admitted. “I only ever watch the half-time show at The Superbowl.”
He shook his head. “Okay. You’re going to turn around and face Robert. I’ll take Paul. He’s going to throw the football to Robert. Your job is to intercept the pass or take the football away from him if he catches it.”
“I can’t do that to an old man,” I said.
“Well, you don’t have to take the guy down, Frances. Just try to take the ball away from him.”
“All right, I’ll try.”
Marie blew the whistle again. “Ready?”
Colton guided me into position with a steady hand on my lower back. I bit my lip, holding back a sigh at the familiar gesture.
Robert held the football between his ankles and snapped it to Paul behind him, just as Colton had said he would. I glued myself to Robert’s side and waved my hands in front of him. Meanwhile, Colton ran like a tiger toward Paul and rammed a shoulder into him, throwing Paul off balance. But Paul still managed to toss the football toward his father. I jumped up to catch it but missed. The ball landed in Robert’s hands and he took off faster than I’d seen any white-haired man run.
“Touch down!” he shouted when he reached the makeshift end zone.
“I’m sorry,” I said to Colton when we met back up at the scrimmage line.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, his hand squeezing my shoulder. “You were close. Okay, we’re up next.”
I nodded but had no idea what that meant.
“You’re going to toss the ball toward me, just like Robert did,” he explained.
“Okay.”
“I want you to run like hell toward our end zone. Once you pass that tree, turn around and wait for me to throw you the football. Got it?”
“Got it,” I said, rubbing my hands together.
I grabbed the football from Colton and placed it on the ground, just like Robert had done. Bending over and looking for Colton behind me, I spotted a smile playing on his lips.
“What?”
“You know. We should have played football in Miami. This is giving me all sorts of ideas.”
The heat in his eyes made me blush and warmed other areas of my body, too.
“Stop it,” I mouthed back at him. “They can hear you.”
