Free Risky Game by Tracy Solheim Page B

Athletes have a greater percentage of lean skeletal muscle to body mass, so it makes sense that they’d use more blood glucose.”
    “So are you saying that my teammates may have the same thing?”
    “Not exactly. There’s a bit more science that goes into it, involving your glucose transporters. Normally, a rapid decrease of blood glucose is offset when your hormones stimulate your liver to shoot more glucose into your system, but in the case of some extreme athletes, that doesn’t happen.”
    Brody ran his fingers through his hair. “Well I need it to happen.”
    Shay reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Brody, reactive hypoglycemia is almost always controlled by regulating your diet. What and when you eat. That’s what you have me for. You’re going to be fine.”
    He glanced at her hand on his shoulder before looking at her face, a hint of uncertainty briefly flickering in his eyes. “Are you always this confident about everything you do?”
    Ha! If he only knew.
“My daddy likes to say I’m tough as a boot.”
    They stood there for a moment, the silence profound, until a slow grin spread over Brody’s face. “Your father sounds like a smart man.”
    Shay wondered what Brody’s reaction would be if he knew her daddy wore adult diapers.
    “So your sister is a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, huh?”
    Reluctantly pulling her hand off his shoulder, she went back to preparing his dinner. She’d wondered when he’d get to the subject of her iconic sister. Most of the time, it didn’t take a man five minutes before he asked about Teryn. Brody must have had infinite self-control because Shay knew he was not slow. Either that or he’d already experienced his share of Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.
    “Yep. For three years now.” Shay pulled the salmon out of its wrapper, slapped it on a cutting board, and doused each side with olive oil, before spreading a mixture of chopped parsley, fresh chives, and some zest of lemon over top.
    “Does she like it?” Brody’s gaze was intense, almost as if he sensed that she was uncomfortable discussing her sister and he wanted to get a reaction out of Shay by asking ridiculous questions.
    What girl wouldn’t want to be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader? Except for Shay, of course, but she’d been different from the start, something her Meemaw never failed to point out. For Teryn, the position was a dream come true. Her sister had craved being the center of attention all her life. She was gorgeous and she knew it. Now, she was an international sex symbol. The beautiful Everett daughter was doing exactly what she was bred to do. Shay didn’t feel like elaborating on her sister’s perfect life, so she just shrugged her shoulders in answer.
    “You don’t know?” Brody asked. “I thought twins were supposed to be close.”
    “Obviously we’re not identical twins so we don’t have that kind of bond. But we are sisters.” She shrugged again when an explanation wouldn’t come. “Even though we’re pretty different, I guess we’re close. We shared everything growing up.”
    Brody let out a little snort. “I have four older sisters. Growing up, the one thing they hated to do was share.”
    He’d hit the nail on the head with that statement. Teryn hated sharing. She’d wanted to exist in her own orbit, leaving Shay rusticating at its far corners. Far enough away so as not to remind their family that one of them was less than perfect.
    “Is she as industrious as you are?” Somehow he’d made the word
industrious
sound sexy and Shay wasn’t sure whether the heat she felt was from the open oven or Brody’s stare.
    Teryn was industrious, mostly when it came to having the best-looking man on her arm. She was happiest when a man was buying her things and treating her like the princess their Meemaw brought her up to be. The problem was, Teryn had a habit of hitching her wagon to the wrong stud. Her last boyfriend had promised to finance her training as a dental