Kicks for a Sinner S3 Read Online Free PDF Page B

a good once over and back again, shook his head. “No, not at all, though your western demeanor might be attractive to men of that persuasion. You know in a Midnight Cowboy , Brokeback Mountain sort of way.”
    “Thanks, I needed to hear that. Evening, Gregory.” He returned to wait for the elevator. As the doors slid soundlessly open, someone called, “Hold it for me, Howdy.” He winced without turning, got inside, and held the button down to wait for the new arrival because that was the way Grandma had raised him. “Always be polite, Howie. Polite goes a far way in getting along with people.”
    He got along with everyone including Brian Lightfoot who had just invaded his space. Joe put in a word for both of them with the condo board. Now, Howdy had a place two floors beneath Joe’s city penthouse and two flights above Brian Lightfoot’s apartment. Inevitable they would run into each other frequently, sometimes share rides to and from practice, but they didn’t room together!
    “So, how went the day at Joe’s ranch?” Lightfoot inquired.
    The man did have a beautiful, flawless smile, a smooth olive complexion, liquid dark eyes, and artfully tousled black curls. Shorter and slimmer than McCoy, he exuded a fruity scent of cologne into the small space. Howdy hesitated to inhale too deeply lest the punter think he enjoyed the aroma and bought him a bottle. Brian had a reputation for being a generous and spontaneous giver of gifts often accepted rather reluctantly by the straight men on the team.
    “Fine,” Howdy answered shortly, keeping a good space between them.
    “Not so fine, then. I’ve gotten to know you well, Howard McCoy, after all those days we spent together on the road. Something has you ‘riled’ as you would say in your charmingly old-fashioned way. I am here to listen, all ears, really.”
    “You don’t know me that well!”
    “Give me a try.” Brian smirked suggestively.
    “See, that’s why she thinks I’m gay, that right there.”
    “Ah, a woman of course. I might have known. They can be such bitches. Tell your friend Bri all about it. Was it Joe’s wife? I can’t imagine Nell bringing up the subject, especially with all those children hanging around.”
    He wanted to spill to Brian, he really did. The youngest man on the Sinners’ team, a replacement for the venerable and legendary Ancient Andy Mortenson, he didn’t quite feel like one of the gang yet. The punter, starting a couple of years before him, had settled in as well as any kicker with the rest of the team. A lot of the guys actually thought of these special team players as only one step up from the soccer field just like Cassie. Not Joe. Joe treated everyone equally, though he could show temper if anyone of them failed to deliver during a game.
    “Joe and Nell introduced me to this girl, young lady, woman, tall, slim but with a—a…”
    “Big rack?”
    “Nice bosom and sorta reddish-blonde hair.”
    “Strawberry blonde.”
    “I guess. Well, she took a dislike to me before I could say howdy and stomped off to sit under a tree.”
    “What? She didn’t immediately fall for your rustic charm? A suggestion, try practicing ‘hello, nice to meet you’ instead of saying ‘howdy’ to everyone. That’s how you got your nickname which will stick to you forever unless you stop saying it.”
    The door opened on Brian’s floor. He held the button to keep the elevator from moving. “Stop by my place, and I will give you a few more pointers.”
    The heat of a blush climbed the column of Howdy’s long neck and suffused his face. “She thinks I’m gay because I room with you on the road, so this isn’t going to help. Cassie is really homophobic. Kept taking verbal swipes at me all through dinner.”
    “Tell Uncle Brian how you responded to that.”
    “I handled it like trash talk. You know when a guy on the other team says, ‘I’m coming to get you, Howdy, and break that pretty leg of yours.’ I say, ‘Try it. The