“Not on your life,” he growled in her ear.
“Are you masochistic?” she asked
Cameron paused and thought about it. “Probably. Now, pay attention, because there’ll be a quiz.” He raised her arm and demonstrated. “Let it go right about here,” he said as he showed her. “And you want the ball to have a spin.”
Audrey snorted. “Yeah, sure. I’ll make that happen.”
Cameron stepped away from her and crossed the yard.
“You expect me to throw this thing that far?” she asked him.
Beside her, Piper patted her leg. “Don’t worry, it just takes practice. Want me to show you?”
“Yeah, have at it, kid.”
Cameron narrowed his eyes at Audrey when she handed the ball to his niece. “Chicken,” he called out to her.
Audrey simply shrugged and stepped aside for Piper. The little girl raised her arm and sent the ball flying. But she threw it toward the ground and the ball hit and rolled lopsidedly toward a tree.
Audrey patted Piper on the back. “Wow, that was great,” she gushed at the girl, then gave Cameron a sly grin. “Your uncle’s a great teacher.”
Cameron picked up the ball and pointed it toward her. “You’re not getting out of this.”
“You have to cradle it like a baby,” Piper instructed. “Like this.” She held her hands out to show Audrey.
Audrey glanced back and forth between Piper and Cameron. “Um…”
But he didn’t give her time to reconsider or pass off to Piper. He arched a gentle throw, making sure it went right to her and wouldn’t smack her in the face. Audrey held her hands up, but it was to block the ball instead of catch it, and the ball hit her open hands and fell to the ground.
“You call this fun?” she questioned, then scooped the ball up. “Why does it have to be such a weird shape? Don’t you have any baseballs?”
Cameron sent her a dark look. “Baseball is for sissies. Now throw the thing already.”
Audrey muttered something, which sounded suspiciously like “stubborn ass.” Cameron kept his mouth shut and figured she’d probably toss the ball at his head if he pushed her much further. She arched her arm back and sent the thing sailing. It actually wasn’t a bad throw, just slightly off with the aim.
Cameron channeled his college playing days and stretched his arms to the side and had to practically dive for the thing.
“Whoa, that was a cool catch!” Piper gushed.
“You did that on purpose,” he accused Audrey.
But Audrey just shrugged and curled her mouth up in a half smile. Yeah, she’d thrown it shitty on purpose. Cameron was starting to suspect she was better at football than she wanted him to think.
Without warning, he let the ball fly, putting a full spin on it. Audrey’s reaction to catch it was so automatic that she didn’t even hesitate to cradle the thing and tuck it under her arm.
Cameron strolled toward her and yanked the ball from her grip. “You’re just a big, fat faker, aren’t you?”
She touched the tip of her index finger to the bruise on his eye. “You just seemed so eager to teach me that I didn’t want to crush your ego any more than it already was.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Thoughtful of you.”
Pinkie Pie came running over and batted at the laces on Cameron’s shoes. He nudged the cat away. “Back away if you know what’s good for you, cat.”
“Come here, Pinkie.” Piper picked the animal up and cradled her close. “I think she wants to rock on the swing.” The two of them climbed the steps to the swing and plopped down. The cat squirmed to try to get away, but Piper had a tight grip on her.
“Can we be done with this lesson now?” Audrey asked.
Cameron grinned. “Why, because you don’t need lessons?”
Audrey yanked the ball back from him. “No.” She tossed the ball in the air and caught it again. “My dad taught us how to play. And then…when everything fell apart, we stopped.”
“And now it’s too painful for you to play?” he guessed.
She shook her head. “No. I just never really liked football to begin with.”
“Hmm.” He snatched the football back from her and bounced it back and forth between his hands. “I guess you’re forgiven, then.”
She smiled. “Kind of you.”
He moved to sit on the porch steps and motioned her to join him. “It’s a shame, because I could have had someone to toss the ball around with.” Why did he admit that? Like she cared.
“Well, who do you usually play with?”
Cameron shrugged and palmed the ball. “No one, really. Sometimes Brandon, but he works a lot. And now that he’s married and his son is off at college, he’s all about Stella. Selfish bastard,” he muttered.
Audrey grinned. “You’re not jealous, are you?”
He tossed her a confused look. “Of Brandon?”
“Yeah,” she answered with a shrug “Well, maybe not of him exactly. But what he has. A family. Someone to share his time with, or toss the ball around with.”
Actually, yeah. Sometimes he was a bit envious. “I never really thought about it like that,” he lied.
“It’s okay to admit it. I won’t tell anyone.” She paused a moment. “So why are you still single?”
He snorted. “It’s not like I can just run out and pick up a wife from the hardware store.”
“Maybe you just haven’t tried hard enough.”
The cool breeze that kicked up wrapped her lemony scent around him, and he wanted to bury his face in her hair. “Or maybe I hadn’t met anyone worth the effort.” Hadn’t he told her that already?
Her brow furrowed as she studied him. Busted. “Why did you say it like that?”
“Like what?” Yeah, totally believable.
“Hadn’t. It’s past tense, like you’re no longer looking.”
Cameron gazed over the lawn, listening to Piper croon to her cat, telling her what a pretty girl she was. He knew he had three choices. He could deny, which was his first instinct because he’d been doing it for so long. It would be easy to throw her off.
No,
