Free It's in His Touch by Shelly Alexander

“Doesn’t bother me to lose once in a while.”
    “Don’t you have someone to sue around here?” Blake glanced at the stands.
    Ouch. That was a low blow, even if it was true. “Why don’t you go cure something important, like your own bad case of diarrhea-of-the-mouth?”
    “I would, but you’d probably sue me.”
    The ref threw the ball to Coop.
    “You are so going down, Dr. Holloway.”
    Her words drew a naughty smile from Blake. “Is that an offer?”
    She bit her lip at the images her poor choice of words evoked. Heat rose up her neck, exposed because of her upswept hair. Blake laughed at her. At her, dammit.
    Coop waited for the whistle and then sent a nice serve flying right at Perry. Perry’s hit came down a little too far from the net, making it impossible for Blake to spike it over. The ball caught on the top edge of the net and bounced back at Blake.
    The ref declared a point for RRC, and Ella started another round of chanting in the bleachers while she yelled a demand for more of the same. Coop and Angelique obliged, scoring five more points before losing the serve to the other team.
    The game went back and forth, the spectators chanting louder and Ella getting more obnoxious with every point.
    Angelique had to laugh. “Coop, maybe you should tell your wife to calm down. She might work herself into premature labor.”
    Coop’s expression turned a little fearful, and he raised both brows. “Yeah. You want to be the one to tell her that?”
    Angelique looked at Ella for a second, her face as red as her hair from yelling while she rubbed her rounded belly. There weren’t many things on earth as beautiful as a woman close to labor, ready to bring forth a new life. Not many things scarier either. Angelique gave her head an exaggerated shake. “Nope. I’m good.”
    Coop nodded. “That’s what I thought.” He clapped and returned his attention to the opponents on the other side of the net. “Let’s play.”
    They did, and finally, with RRC one point shy of winning, Coop called a time-out.
    Angelique wiped the sweat from her forehead with a sleeve and tossed her ponytail over one shoulder. Her breathing heavy, she put both hands on her hips and waited for Coop’s instructions.
    “We’re almost there. All we have to do is win back the serve, and the game is ours,” Coop said, the anticipation of victory flowing through his voice. “We just have to keep Blake from spiking it.”
    She glanced up at Dr. Tall, Dark, and Hot-some, who had the ball lodged under one arm and his other hand on his hip. Nice trim hips that angled up and out into wide shoulders. He smiled in her direction, confidence oozing from his stance. Overconfidence. From a man who had to have the help of a dog to get into her panties.
    She nodded to Coop. “We have to keep hitting it to Perry, but they need to be hits that he can’t return.”
    Coop smiled. “Exactly.”
    They broke huddle, and Angelique took her place against the net.
    Blake stood behind the serving line and spun the ball on his fingers. He hesitated for a second, then jogged forward to meet her at the net. The crowd went silent, and Blake leaned in.
    “By the way, I have something of yours,” he half whispered and patted his pants pocket. “That dog of yours wandered over to my house early this morning.” His smile turned wicked.
    No. Way . How could Sarge have gotten ahold of another pair of panties?
    Before Angelique could respond, Blake jogged back to the serving line. When the whistle blew, he popped a serve right over the net and straight at her. Her mind still reeling over the object in his pocket, she sent the ball flying out of bounds. A point for Dr. Tall, Dark, and Hot-some. She glared across the net in disbelief. He smiled back. The next few serves went about the same, until it was game point for Blake’s team.
    Ella let out a few bloodcurdling screams about making the other team eat the ball, and Coop huddled up with Angelique.
    “You okay?”