Page 64 of Playing to Win
Callie held back a smile. As the daughter of a single dad, she wasn’t used to people hugging her all the time. Still, it felt nice to have a woman’s arms around her. “It’s okay. I don’t have a big personal bubble.”
“See, Dad! She’s perfect for our family!” Callie felt another set of arms grabbing her from behind and embracing her in another hug. “I’m so happy to meet you! I’m Katie, by the way. Kylee didn’t scare you off already, did she? She’s a pediatric surgeon, so she’s used to no personal bubbles because she deals with kids all day. I, on the other hand, am a counselor, so personal bubbles are my thing. I’m one of the only ones in the family not in the medical field, so I’m kind of an outcast.”
“Then why are you hugging her, knucklehead?” another blonde beauty asked. “And I’m a teacher, so I’m not in the medical field, either, dummy! I’m Kacia, by the way. You know, in case you were wondering. And, for the record, I’m Kyle’s favorite sister.”
“Kacia! Don’t call your sister names! It’s not nice!” Kyle’s mom smacked his sister upside the head.
Callie smiled and self-consciously tucked her hair behind her ears before remembering her friends had already pulled it back with a headband. Everyone in Kyle’s family was absolutely friggin’ beautiful. As in could pose on the cover of a magazine for world’s most beautiful people without even having to be airbrushed beautiful. And they were so at ease with each other. And loud. Boy, were they loud. She and her dad could go hours without having a conversation, just sitting in front of the TV while she read and he watched the Rangers on his big screen. Kyle’s family was the total opposite. She had never felt so out of place in her life.
“I think we’re scaring her,” the sister yet to introduce herself said. Callie went through the list Kyle had talked about and thought her name might be Kensi, the nurse. “She’s gone all bug-eyed and slack-jawed.”
Suddenly, Callie felt a hand come up from behind and wrap around her waist. “Yes, you most definitely are scaring her.” Callie breathed a sigh of relief as the clean smell of Kyle’s cologne hit her nostrils and his breath tickled her ear. “She’s used to it just being her and her dad and that’s it. Then you go and hit her with the Kelly onslaught. If you scare her off I’ll never forgive you.”
“Oh, my,” Kyle’s mom said, a hand over her mouth. “I just thought he was smitten. “This has gotten to full-on twitterpation mode.” His family let out a collective gasp.
“Wow, little brother. You really do have it bad,” Kensi whispered.
Callie could feel Kyle take a deep breath. “I’m sorry you had to meet my family without me,” he whispered in her ear, sending tingles down her spine. “They’re amazing, but they’re a lot to handle on your own.”
Callie turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck. “It’s okay. Just a little shell-shocked, is all.” She gave him a grin, fingering the star-shaped glasses perched on his nose. “I’m digging these glasses, Dimples.”
“I put my foot down on the t-shirt. There’s no way I’m wearing something with my face or name on it unless it’s my jersey and I’m playing my favorite game.”
“What’s that? Skeeball?”
“Very funny.” Kyle extracted himself from Callie’s arms, looked her up and down, and whistled appreciatively. “Curly, I am liking this outfit. I didn’t know you had anything like this in your closet. I only thought it was made up of sweats, leggings, and oversized shirts and sweatshirts.”
Callie stuck her tongue out at him. “Very funny. Cassie and Aria dressed me.”
“Remind me to thank them later,” he said, searing her with a look. Callie could feel her face turning red and her body tingling in all the right places. She was really glad they were with other people right now or her self-control might fly out the window.
“You better quit looking at her like that, Mr. Kelly, or you’ll have her hiving all the way up her neck. And her outfit tonight doesn’t hide that like her usual ones do,” Aria came up to them, a heaping plate of food in her hands.
“I see you’ve made yourself at home, Aria,” Callie said to her friend.
“What’s a party if you don’t eat?”
“I’m liking the outfit you picked out for my girl here, Aria,” Kyle said. “Nice to see you again.”
“Nice to see you, too, Dimples. Great party. I’m especially loving the shirts.”
Kyle rolled his eyes and huffed a breath to the sky. “It was all my family’s idea. Except for my dad. He tried to help curb their enthusiasm but we’ve always been outnumbered by the women in our family. They woke me up this morning with all of their party accessories and have been a force to be reckoned with ever since. I tried to get them to put it all away, but my sister Kylee finally threatened to cut off my hands if I tried to hide anything else, so I quit trying.”
“I’ll have to meet these sisters of yours. We may become great friends. Any woman who threatens to cut off a man’s hands is a friend of mine. I’ve threatened to cut off men’s appendages, but they weren’t of the hand variety, if you catch my drift,” Aria took her plate and walked away, supposedly to find Kylee and discuss their love of threatening men’s appendages.
“I know she is your friend, and I’m warming up to her, but I’ll be honest. Aria still terrifies me, Curly,” Kyle says, kissing Callie so well she could feel her toes curling in her high heels.
“She scares most men, I think. You should be glad you didn’t run into her in the parking garage. She might have shanked you.” Callie laughed at the look on Kyle’s face. “Kyle, not really! But she is a lot to handle.”
“Who’s a lot to handle?” Cassie walked up to Kyle and Callie, holding a plate filled to the brim with guacamole, mini-sliders, what looked like Chick-fil-A nuggets, fudge, and two carrots.
“Why does everyone else have food except for me?” Callie wailed. “And two carrots? Really, Cas?”
“Hey, I have to put up some premise of looking healthy.”
“Well, you might want to scrape everything else off your plate and just keep the carrots. Otherwise, it’s an epic fail.”
Cassie ignored Callie’s barb. “Well, hello, Kyle. Love the party. Really enjoying the party favors. And the t-shirts are fabulous,” she said, sending a wink his way.
