Sinners Football 01- Goals for a Sinner Read Free

sounds of the flush died away, the room filled with Sinners bearing gifts. She recognized Joe Dean Billodeaux, a Cajun quarterback who hadn’t played much but had a way with the ladies that kept him in the gossip columns regularly. He was the smallest of the three—if a man over six feet tall and weighing one-ninety could be considered small. He had well-developed shoulders, slim hips, a killer smile, and one red rose which he added to the enormous bouquet on the windowsill.
    “ Comment ca va, cher ?” he asked.
    “ Tres bien, merci. Et vous ?” The opening dialog of her high school French class came back in an instant. She hoped he wouldn’t continue in that language because otherwise, she drew a blank.
    “Why, I’m just great, and you don’t look so bad yourself for someone who’s been tackled by the Rev.
    You know, Billodeaux means ‘love letter’ in my language.” He leaned amorously over Stevie’s bed.
    The enormous black man hulking behind Joe Dean elbowed him aside. “Get out wit’ your Cajun crap. Let a man apologize for putting this pretty lady in the hospital.”
    The Rev knew what women wanted. He offered a two-layer box of Godiva chocolates and placed it on her nightstand. The man was both wide and tall. A small, solid gut sat atop thighs the size of telephone poles and when a smile spread across his deep brown face, his head and neck seemed even larger.
    Several inches taller than the Rev at a good six-five, the unmistakable Connor Riley hung back in the doorway. He gripped a small bouquet of daisies in front of the large chest that could push through a defensive line in order to gain the open space where his long legs would take him far beyond the meanest blockers. He’d brushed his golden hair back behind his ears. The long ends curled up on his wide shoulders. Connor was the only one of the group not smiling. He took a step into the room. “Do you remember me, Stephanie?” he asked, almost shy.
    “Certainly. Connor Riley, wide receiver for the New Orleans Sinners, last seen through my view finder yesterday with thirty seconds to play in the game. Your team did win?” she asked, trying to put him at ease.
    Of the three, he seemed the most stricken about her condition, but then, he was the one who had landed directly on her and put that helmet-sized bruise on her chest. Thank heaven, her legs had splayed open, or both of them might have been broken.
    “Sure did. Ancient Andy came through for us again,” Billodeaux answered for the tongue-tied Riley.
    “Do you remember Kevin Riley?” Connor hinted.
    “Of course, the first of my lying, cheating boyfriends. See, no brain damage from the fall,” Stevie answered glibly. Then, she put a hand to her mouth and took it away again. “Oh, no! You’re Kevin’s little brother. All this time following the Sinners and I never tied the names together. I guess I put everything to do with him out of my mind. We played football together once when you were just a high school kid.”
    Connor sidled up to the bed, seized the only chair and presented his bouquet. “You said you liked daisies because they were simple and cheerful.”
    “You remembered that? We only met the one time when he brought me home to meet your parents, but they were out of town. Your brother dumped me the next weekend because we’d dated three months and I hadn’t put out for him. But you remembered I liked daisies?” Stevie took the flowers and gave Connor a friendly smile.
    “You were the most beautiful, most fun, most talented girl Kevin ever brought home, and he went back to Merrilee even though she cheated on him. I sacked you into a pile of leaves that afternoon.”
    “I shoved pecan leaves down your shirt. We were supposed to be playing touch football.” It was all coming back to her now—a lovely home on Lake Pontchartrain with a big wooded lot and an open area to play football, the rewards Kevin’s father earned with his engineering company building bridges and