Caught (Men of the Show Book 3) Read Free Page A

remember what his name is and you’ve met him at least a couple of times.”   She gave Shannon a good big-sister stern stare, which made her shrink in shame. Karen didn’t let her say anything in her defense, however, as she pressed on. “But there’s been a change. You’re walking with Matt.”
    Shannon’s heart tripped in her chest. If it was the Matt she was thinking of, things were about to get interesting. “And Matt is?” she asked hesitantly, almost afraid to hear it was Jerry’s thirteen-year-old cousin or something, rather than a gigantic step up from Jerry’s younger brother.
    “You know Matt.”   Karen frowned. “At least I thought you did. You’ve met him before, haven’t you?   The catcher?   Hot, Chris Evans lookalike?”
    Shannon stopped herself before she threw up a thank-you to the heavens. “Um, yeah. I met him once a long time ago. He does sort of look like Chris Evans. Bigger though,” she said casually as if they weren’t talking about the same man who’d played a starring role in all of her fantasies since meeting him.
    “Oh, yeah. The guys are always teasing him, especially when people who don’t know Rockets’ baseball ask him if he’s Captain America. I think they’re just jealous,” Karen said with a chuckle. “Anyway, when he finally let Jerry know he’d be his Best Man along with Chase, we switched things around. So, we put you and Matt together, because obviously we’re going to keep Maddie and Chase together,” Karen said of her best friend and her new husband, Jerry’s teammate and former roommate. “It should be good since Matt’s tall. You won’t have to worry about having heels on and towering over the guy, like I know you always do.”
    Shannon tried to play cool even though internally she was doing handstands and back flips. “Okay, sounds good.”
    “He’s a nice guy, too,” Karen went on, apparently still believing she needed to justify things. “I don’t know him that well, but from what I do know, he seems real sweet. He and Jerry are pretty close, so that should give some indication as to what his personality is like. You’ll meet him at the rehearsal dinner Friday night.”   She clapped her hands. “We have so much to talk about and we even have tomorrow night, since Jerry will be gone for his bachelor party.”
    “Sounds good.”   Shannon took another drink of her wine, tuning out her sister as she visualized Matt and his crystal blue eyes. She shivered, recalling how they had trapped her, as if seeing right through her, causing her skin to tingle and flush. Perhaps the festivities were not going to be as bad as she originally feared. She’d pretty much planned to have to endure one well-meaning family member after another asking when she was next. When she would settle down and have some kids, particularly since everyone had believed only she would ever get married, considering Karen’s aversion to the possibility for the longest time. But Shannon’s life was work, no more, no less. She didn’t have room in her life for anything else. She didn’t question her decisions, but she did get tired of defending them constantly. No one understood, except for her father. She envisioned the look of pride on his face as she filled him in on everything related to her work, and a glow of pleasure washed over her foreseeing his approval. She enjoyed that they shared a common interest and that he was proud of her.
    She was going to have to find some way to ignore the comments and not let them get to her. Her life was the way she wanted; she had no reason to be ashamed.  
    And if she could manage to hang around a hot guy for the night, then perhaps some good could come out of the Wedding of the Century for her after all.

Chapter 3

    Heavy bass throbbed throughout the dark room while strobe lights flickered and pulsed, casting scantily clad women in and out of darkness as they gyrated on a pole and ground against the raised floor. An upscale