Personal Assets (Texas Nights) Read Online Free PDF

pitcher’s mound brushing the diamond dust off her knees and caught sight of Cameron leaning against the chain-link fence surrounding the softball field. Dang it, her plan to shower and enhance the girls with a push-up bra was a goner. She glanced down but resisted adjusting them inside her serviceable athletic bra. Confidence would have to be her weapon of choice because she didn’t have a heck of a lot else going for her this afternoon.
    She strolled through center field and shaded her eyes with her hand as the sun evaded her baseball cap’s protection. “Did you catch much of the practice?”
    “Enough.” Cameron was staring at the field like a thirsty man gazing into an empty well.
    That’s right , he used to play baseball here—but only until around the time his dad left town.
    “Beck coaches too. Maybe you could play on his team sometime.”
    He grunted.
    Not happy. Maybe she could go for a third strike with this man. Damage his car. Stir up potentially painful memories. What next? Break his leg?
    Allie kept walking toward him until only the outfield fence separated them. “I coach a team of great kids.” She smiled and pointed to Ben, in his baggy skate shorts and beat-up Houston Astros cap. “Ben is Bitsy Miller’s son.”
    “Yeah, I saw him and his buddies this morning.” Cameron straightened from his slouch against the fence. His jeans were more faded than the ones he wore this morning, so white at the seams they might unravel any second. She swallowed. Why did his questionable wardrobe make her mouth water? “Listen, princess, I’m not here to chat about your little softball league—”
    “Allie, want a Popsicle?” Tiny Oberlin yelled from the metal stands near third base. Tiny’s nickname was spot-on. He was small for his age, but he was Allie’s pinch runner because he was the quickest boy on the team.
    And he had perfect timing. “Sure, I’ll take grape. Cameron?”
    “No, thanks.”
    Oh, she was tempting the man all right. Sweat, dirt and Popsicles, three requirements for a proper proposition.
    Think , darn it. Engage him. Entice him.
    “What brought you home?” Oh, seductive conversation, without a doubt.
    His eyebrows lifted. “I could ask you the same thing.”
    She arranged her face in her best counselor expression and waited.
    “I was tired of living in Austin. Didn’t have to anymore. So now I don’t.” He crossed his arms, and, oh Lord, when had she turned into a biceps woman? About the time his shirtsleeves rode up and showed off tanned skin and bulgy muscles. “After today, I’m not convinced it was such a hotshit idea.”
    “Won’t your friends there miss you?” Subtle much , Allie? Not really.
    “They’ll manage, but I hear you’ve got some new friends.” He bit off the last word.
    “Roxanne started Red Light a couple years ago. She and I were sorority sisters at Southeast State. Eden moved to Shelbyville recently and opened a café.”
    “That’s not what I meant.”
    Oh. Surely he didn’t think Personal Assets was some kind of escort service. “Listen, I think you’ve gotten the wrong impression—”
    “One grape Popsicle, delivered!” Tiny jogged toward them with the package held up like a prize. Allie always provided a huge cooler of cold treats for post-practice. The boys clustered around the ice chest doing what boys that age did best. Telling jokes, punching each other, slurping up ice cream and laughing like maniacs. She loved these kids, and coaching the team was a bright spot in her week, but it didn’t make up for the kind of male companionship she’d done without lately.
    Lately? Try longer than that.
    Her pinch runner skidded to a stop beside Cameron, and Allie said, “Tiny, this is Cameron Wright. He grew up in Shelbyville. You know his mom, Ms. Emmalee.”
    The boy had enough manners to swipe his sticky, dust-covered hand down his T-shirt before he offered it to Cameron. “Man, I’ve heard about you. People say you tore it up in