I hope so.
I nod towards the field. “Your son’s playing?”
“Yes. Bradley loves his soccer. I love the peace and quiet I get when my two children are separated.” I love her honesty.
“This is my first time here. I’m with my friend’s nephew, Tony.”
She chuckles. “Oh, I could tell it was your first time, honey. And that you weren’t here with your own child.”
“How?”
She sighs. “You still have that youthful glow that announces to the world that you haven’t been sucked into the parenting vortex yet. And you’re hardly dressed for mummy duty.” Her gaze travels to my heels that are sinking into the grass as we speak.
“You’re not dressed for it either. And you don’t look much older than me.” She doesn’t. Even up close, there’s hardly a wrinkle on her face. And her slim body could easily pass as someone way younger than me. This woman is your classic blonde bombshell with her tousled bob, heavily made-up eyes and lips, and a sexy aura that clings to her even in the frazzled state I found her in.
Her brows rise. Looking down, she puts a foot forward to show me the flats she is wearing. I hadn’t noticed them before. I’d been so transfixed by her beauty and personality that I hadn’t taken in the rest of her.
I bet this woman has men falling all over her.
She holds her hand out to me. “Alessandra Spencer. We can be friends because you say all the right things. For the record, I’m thirty-five, and I only tell people I like that.”
I shake her hand, but before I can introduce myself, a whistle sounds loudly from the field and the commotion happening there attracts our attention.
The coach has obviously made a call that upset one of the parents because he’s involved in a heated discussion with a father. Both men appear enraged.
As their voices filter my way, my senses go into overdrive.
I know that voice.
“Oh, God….”
“What?” Alessandra asks.
“He’s the coach?” To say I’m stunned that I’m standing here staring at Ashton Scott is an understatement. I would never have picked him for a soccer coach.
“Yes. He’s not a crowd favourite, though,” she replies as she watches another couple of parents circle Ashton, all giving him their opinion on whatever he did.
“It’s no wonder—he’s an arrogant ass.”
She turns to face me. “You know him?”
I meet her gaze. “Well, I wouldn’t say I know him, but I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him, if you could call it that, and let’s just say I was less than impressed.”
Alessandra stares at me for a couple of moments and then her face breaks out into a huge grin. “I can just tell that you and I are going to be great friends. Anyone who is that honest about my brother is someone I need in my life.”
Her brother?
Well, shit.
I swallow down the small amount of remorse I feel for insulting her brother. Holding out my hand, I say, “It’s great to meet you, Alessandra, sister to the most arrogant man I’ve met. My name is—”
A deep voice cuts into our conversation. “Lorelei Winters.”
I spin around to find Ashton Scott standing less than three feet away, his eyes boring into mine.
Oh, God.
Those eyes.