Free The Shadow of Mudflap (A Foxtrot Team Novel #1) by Christi Snow, M.F. Smith

Mudflap was torn. He knew what his new job entailed, but he really wanted to see Shanae, too.
    TC nodded, but Derek was tired of being kept in the dark. “Wait, what the hell are y’all talking about? What new job, Mudflap? What happened to your job at the fire department?”
    “They gave me a leave of absence to help our new local football coach on the sidelines. For the rest of the season, I’m the new Texas Tech Team Trainer.” He grinned at the shock reverberating off Derek’s face.
    “Don’t worry. It’s just for the rest of this football season. My older brother needs some propping up on the sidelines.” He might as well use this situation to give TC some hell.
    “Fuck you. You just have certain skills my current staff is missing. We’ll have that fixed by next year.” TC grinned and Mudflap was happy to see him relax a bit more than he’d been all evening. It was going to be a long season at this rate.
    He turned back toward Derek. “So, golf Friday?”
    “Yeah, I’ll just move back our tee time to afternoon if your girl’s in.”
    “I’ll give her a call. I’m not sure what her schedule is like at her job and that’s assuming she says yes.” Please let her say yes . Even with everything going on, he desperately wanted to see her again…and soon.
     
    Shanae
    Tuesday morning dawned way too early for Shanae. The LiFT team was in the process of moving all their gear into the stadium and training center and examining the ins and outs of the facility before the arrival of the football team for practice.
    Shanae rounded the corner of the upper level of the stadium where she literally ran into Mudflap. His strong arms reached out to grab and steady her after she bounced off his very muscular chest.
    “Whoa, there.” His hazel eyes reflected the same surprise she felt as he realized who he held in his arms.  His brows lifted in question. “Shanae, what are you doing here?”
    Her skin tingled across her arms where Mudflap held her in his gentle grip. “Lift EMS is the new contract medical emergency provider for the stadium, so I’m working.” She took in his black shorts and red t-shirt with the Texas Tech logo. “What about you? This is a different look for you.”
    He chewed on his lip and gave her a chagrined smile. “I don’t know if you heard who the new head coach is, but he’s my brother, TC. He asked me to take a leave of absence from the fire department to come help him shore up his staff for the rest of the season as a team trainer.”
    “Really?” Why didn’t LiFT know about this? “Is that normal for the coach to be able to bring in his own staff like that? Especially family?”
    He shook his head. “Probably not, but with him coming in mid-season, they’re giving him lots of leeway. He doesn’t have time to concentrate on other things besides the team right now and he needs people he can trust on his staff. As for me, this is just a temporary thing. I want to help him and the team out as much as possible.”
    Hmm, something still didn’t seem right about this. She looked around at where they stood. “So what are you doing up here?”
    “Just getting the lay of the land, so to speak. It’s a leftover from my days in the Army. I like to know as much as I can about my surroundings.” He gave her a flirty smile. “So I guess we’ll be seeing more of each other now.”
    They would. It was a weird coincidence. In Shanae’s line of work, that didn’t usually mean good things, but she couldn’t let him know that. She needed to call her boss, Daniel, and find out what he knew about this.
    “We will. Oh, and I’m sorry I didn’t get to return your call last night. It was late when I got in. Did you need something?”
    “I actually called to invite you out on another date. My roommate scored golf lessons with a pro at the local country club. Would you like to round out our foursome on Friday afternoon?”
    “Golf? Really?” She considered her directive to get closer