“Quick, Jeremy, go get him a shirt.” My sister’s voice brings my head up.
“I don’t need a shirt.” I start to roll my shoulder and that’s when I notice it. At least six different women are openly gaping at me like they’ve never seen a shirtless man before. Based on the number of kids in the vicinity, they clearly have.
“What kind of soccer ring is this?” I mutter under my breath.
“The innocent kind apparently,” Collins says.
“I can’t play soccer without my shin guards!” a small child yells, successfully dragging the attention away from me.
It’s the boy. Crew. And his mom. Her auburn hair looks redder in the sunlight as it falls over her slender shoulders. Shoulders that are barely covered by the narrow straps of her sundress.
What is she doing here? I was rude when she showed up at the fire station. Okay, more than rude. I hadn’t meant to react so harshly, but I was more than a little embarrassed by our second meeting. What kind of firefighter gets knocked out by the person they thought they were saving? The bad kind, and the kind looking to get annoyed endlessly by his colleagues. My plan to come off indifferent to the whole situation just turned me into a second-rate jerk.
Lyndi brushes her hair behind her back, revealing her long neck.
I swallow, but my throat is dry and I cough, choking on hot air.
Collins bumps my shoulder. “You alright there, sunshine?”
I clear my throat and drag my gaze away from Lyndi, but my traitorous eyes are threatening to run right back to enemy territory. “Just fine. Thank you.”
“You’re not fooling me. But don’t even think about it. You’re not dating moms of the kids on my soccer team.”
I clench my jaw. “I wasn’t thinking that.”
The referee calls the players out and Collins does her duty as coach. When she returns, she picks the conversation right back up. “You want to.”
“No. I don’t.” I’ve made that very clear to both her and my mother. I don’t want to date or be set up. With anyone. My mother just doesn’t listen.
“Oh right, I forgot.” Collins taps her forehead in a very exaggerated way. “You’ve sworn off women. Who wants to date, fall in love, and have beautiful babies anyway?”
I grunt. “Not me.”
She pinches my arm.
“Ow!” I look over at her.
“Ward, would you just stop it for once!” Her voice is loud enough that several people look over. Including Lyndi.
I scratch the back of my neck, angling away from the onlookers. “Um, what?”
“Stop being a brick wall. You have emotion somewhere inside you. If you hide forever, you’re going to regret it.”
I’m not sure what she wants me to say. “Hmmm.”
She rolls her eyes. “Ugh, you’re so annoying.”
“Sorry?”
“Stop apologizing!” she screeches.
Someone’s in a mood today.“Sorry.”
“Gah!” Collins punches my shoulder, and a sob erupts out of nowhere.
I jump away before I catch the emotions she wants me to have. I’d rather not get them this way. “Collins, are you okay?
“I’m fine. Obviously,” she says, her voice full of sarcasm.
