Free Kicks for a Sinner S3 by Lynn Shurr Page A

luggage increased by three bags, Joe cheerfully paid the extra fee for them all.
    She simply did not like being pushed and told what not to do as if she were a child herself. Joe said that just made her human like everyone else, but as a psychologist she ought to do better. Why did he have to be so damned understanding? She knew before she took the test she’d gotten pregnant again and burst into tears when the results confirmed the fact. Joe beamed and cuddled her to his great chest where she did feel safe and very well loved.
    Home again the children soothed her, crammed up against her, boys on one side, girls on the other, while Nadine and Cassie got on her nerves. Her mother-in-law gave her a tour of their freezer stacked to the top with bland, nourishing foods Cajun style: gumbo dumbed down to tourist spiciness, venison stew with no garlic, smothered pork cutlets made with the mildest of onions, all contributed by Joe’s sisters and Nadine, as if Corazon couldn’t cook for them. Nell figured the supply would last the entire pregnancy.
    “Now Joe, he can add his own hot sauce to all this,” Nadine said. “You the one we takin’ care of, cher heart.” How could Nell retaliate against the well-meaning?
    As for Cassie, her blue eyes filled with tears, saying, “I guess you don’t need me to stay here anymore—but I’d be willing to come every weekend to help out regardless.” That, Nell could answer with a small smile. “Thanks, Cassie, we’ll be fine. Go out and enjoy yourself. You are too young to be tied down yet.”
    “I guess I’ll just go say good-bye to Copperhead, then,” the girl said, referring to the barrel horse Joe kept for her to ride.
    Joe had gone to check on the animals while Nell got the gourmet tour of the freezer contents. “No!” Nell said urgently, but Cassie went out the door as if she were deaf in one ear.
    Nadine patted her daughter-in-law’s shoulder. “Don’t you worry about her. Howdy is out there putting down some straw. Won’t nothing happen.” Sometimes Nadine for all her pushiness could be very understanding.
    “Sure. Who wants presents?” Nell said to her flock of children, but her eyes followed Cassie’s progress from the open kitchen door toward Joe in the barn.
    * * * *
     
    Cassie entered the dimness of the barn and glanced around for the ever-present Howdy. That guy seemed to be everywhere when she helped out with the children on the weekends. He took the kids trail riding, inviting her along. And how could she refuse when Tommy begged her to come? The kicker coaxed her into a barrel-racing demonstration, doling out lots of compliments on her fine seat and sharp edges as she ran the cloverleaf course on Copperhead. As if she would ever fall for that line again after her experience with Bijou.
    Then, she’d found him in Joe’s weight room one morning since her son insisted they find the man and ask when the next kicking lesson would be. He wore nothing but a pair of red gym shorts as he executed leg presses and extensions on one of the machines. Sweat flattened the light covering of reddish-brown hair covering his pecs and arrowing toward his groin. She imagined when newly showered and dry it would feel fluffy to the fingertips and smell of the body wash she’d come to associate with him—a grassy scent like a new-mown meadow.
    His legs were objects of beauty, the shapely calves, the strong thighs, bunching for two counts and pushing back their full length for two more. He’d have stamina, lots of stamina in those quads. Unlike most football players, he had no bulk, but owned arms with long, smooth muscles and a chest and belly of flat planes most men would envy if they didn’t play for the Sinners.
    She stayed back while Tommy charged ahead and got right in the man’s face. “Whatcha doing?”
    “Strengthening my legs. I do this routine every other day and practice kicking in between.”
    “Should I be doing that?”
    “Not on machines, not at your