Romancing the Running Back Read Free Page B

relief, the tomato had only soaked through a little to the undershirt. He would probably be fine with that alone for the remainder of the day. “Let me take that. I can at least soak it or something while you’re here.”
    He shrugged and tossed it in the large kitchen trash can. “Eh. It’s fine. Now . . .” He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Let’s finish this up so you can get out there and join the party.”
    For the first time in a while, she smiled at a man and meant it. “Thanks. I’ll take whatever help I can get. Apparently, I’m hell with produce.”
    *   *   *
    Josiah watched as Anya flirted with Matt Peterson. Okay, maybe “flirt” was a bit of a stretch, but they had definitely hit it off. Matt was a good guy, though a little cocky, a little obvious with his need to show off his Super Bowl ring every five minutes.
    Jealous much, Josiah?
    Fine, he was a little jealous. The guy had a way that seemed to resonate with Anya, put her at ease. Everything he himself said just put her back up. He thought he’d been doing well, talking like a normal human, and then he’d criticized her lettuce. Very mature, very smooth.
    Not that he needed to be smooth. He didn’t want her, wasn’t attracted to her.
    She smiled at something Cassie said and took a platter of buns from her.
    Okay, so he was attracted to her, but just in that distant sort of way where you can admit things are pretty even if youdon’t want to own them. Like an oak tree, or a dolphin.
    Matt bumped her shoulder when she took too long getting a hot dog, and she laughed and bumped him back. When she held out a hand, he put his large one in her petite grip, and she admired the bling.
    No, no, he wasn’t jealous about that. Just the ring. Or the fact that it came from a Bowl win.
    Damn, the woman had him all confused.
    “Matt,” Trey said, sliding a plate of burgers in front of him. “You’re not exactly matching top to bottom. What’s the story?”
    Matt looked down at his plain white undershirt, tight around the arms where his biceps flexed. Then down at his pressed slacks and dress shoes. “Oh, just trying a new look.”
    Anya snorted, and he elbowed her gently.
    Josiah squeezed the mustard bottle a little too hard, unleashing a river of yellow over his hot dog. Great. He didn’t even like the stuff.
    “I heard a joke the other day,” Matt went on, forking a burger patty over to his plate. “Being intelligent means that you know a tomato is a fruit. Being wise is not putting a tomato in a fruit salad.”
    Anya snickered, bit her lip, looked everywhere but toward Matt, then burst out laughing. Cassie chuckled, as did a few other guys. Trey raised a brow at his fiancée’s friend. Josiah just shrugged.
    “I don’t get it,” he said.
    “You know, because a tomato is a fruit,” Matt said helpfully. “Technically. But you wouldn’t put it in a fruit salad ’cause that’s nasty.”
    “Yeah, I get that . . . but it wasn’t
that
funny.” Josiah glanced toward Anya, who was still trying to muffle her laughter in the crook of her arm. “Something I missed?”
    “Inside joke, man,” Matt murmured. “Never mind.”
    Irrationally, Josiah wanted to take the mustard and shoot it at Matt’s smirk.
    Being intelligent meant he refrained from doing so. Being wise meant he knew he could just stick Icy Hot in the guy’s practice pants later that week in retribution.
    Not that he would . . . because he was an adult, damn it.
    “So, Cassie,” Anya said, pulling a little more salad onto her plate. At Cassie’s request, Trey had grilled a few chicken breasts, sliced them up and created a small chicken Caesar salad. “Are you doing any freelance web work now?”
    “Not really. Once I went full-time with the Nerd Herd, it was too much to tackle. Between getting to know the family and moving out here and then this guy taking up all my free time . . .” She rested her temple briefly on Trey’s shoulder, and