Chapter One
Caleb Jewel walked through the lush neighborhood park, cradling a ball in his lacrosse stick. He’d been a guest at an eighth-grade team’s lacrosse practice on one of the turf fields west of here, and now he was taking the long way back to his car. It was a perfect October evening in Cherry Hills, Colorado, crisp yet still warm enough to enjoy being outside.
Caleb thought the green mountains of Colorado were almost as pretty as the Teton Mountains he’d grown up in, exploring and making trouble with his four brothers. He’d been stoked that the Denver Outlaws picked him up after college as a middie. As a double bonus, his sister Eve lived only twenty minutes west of Denver in Golden. He was looking at homes in this exclusive Cherry Hills neighborhood south of Denver. He wasn’t sure why a charming and unattached guy such as himself would want to settle down to a house, but his accountant said it was a good investment and he apparently needed the write-off.
There was also the annoying fact that he felt lonely, maybe talking to neighbors over his white-picket fence would help. It made no sense for him to be lonely, as he had hundreds of friends and was more likable than anybody he knew. Yet he’d been tight with his twin throughout his twenty-six years of life—they’d been partners in crime, some might say. Then everything had changed. Seth found the love of his life, got engaged, and was annoyingly happy, unruffled by any prank Caleb played on him.
Seth was moving on, and Caleb was being left behind. He was happy for his brother, but he could admit that losing Seth to his perfect match, the love of his life, was rough. The best-looking twin … left sadly alone. His grin was restored as he started imagining the pranks he would pull at Seth and Breeze’s wedding. Disappearing ink on the bride’s dress? A tux with the rear cut out so Caleb could moon the entire audience? Fireworks during the ceremony? Hmm.
His attention was yanked from tricks and drawn across the park to a fit lady with smooth, brown skin and long, dark hair. She stood awkwardly in a grass lacrosse field, with a baseball mitt in one hand and a lacrosse ball in the other. Across from her was an adorable kid with a mop of dark curls, maybe six or seven years old. The kid was clutching a lacrosse stick, his tongue out slightly as he concentrated on the woman.
Caleb found himself drawing closer to watch them and then stopping in the middle of the sidewalk about thirty feet away. His brothers would say he had no shame, openly studying this beautiful woman and her charge. Was she the babysitter, or an aunt or older sister? He should’ve kept walking, but there was something about the pair that drew him in—something besides the woman’s gorgeous face.
“Okay, Krew, you ready?” she asked.
“Any day now,” the little man said.
“Don’t you sass your mama,” she said as she chucked the ball at him.
Caleb’s eyebrows went up as he internalized several new facts. She looked too young to be a mom, she wasn’t going easy on the kid, her Southern accent was alluring, and she was a horrible throw.
The little man, Krew, instinctively jumped, lifting his stick high above his head and snatching the ball out of the air. Caleb was both surprised and impressed. The kid was holding the stick like a newbie, but he had the makings of an athlete.
“Yes!” Krew celebrated. “Your awful throws are making me clutch, Mama.” He lobbed the ball back at her.
“Clutch?” Her brow wrinkled as she caught the soft pass easily with the mitt.
“Good, really good,” he explained.
She laughed, and Caleb found himself laughing with her. He liked these two.
At the sound of his laughter, the woman whipped around and narrowed her eyes at him. She looked him over, and though she didn’t show it, he knew she had to like what she saw. It was a given. Every woman thought he was attractive.
Dropping her glove to the ground, she put a hand on her hip and said with the most beautiful Southern sass he’d ever heard, “Take a picture; it’ll last ya longer.”
Caleb laughed harder. “I’d love a picture, but your husband might not appreciate me taking it.”Please let there not be a husband.Maybe that wasn’t a great thing to pray for. It would definitely be better for this beautiful woman and her son if they had a fabulous husband and father in the picture, but that would make the instant attraction Caleb had felt to this woman inappropriate. He was often doing things that were crazy or outside the norm, but he respected his own mother, prided himself on his integrity, and loved the good Lord. He wasn’t about to mess with a married woman. He had hordes of single women to choose from. Still, there was something about this woman that drew him like a bear to honey. Her full lips would taste like sweet honey—he was sure of it.
Her delicate brow squiggled, and she tossed her long, dark hair. “I don’t have a husband, so snap away.”
Caleb smiled. “I think I will.” He switched his lacrosse stick to his left hand and pulled his phone out with his left, clicking on the camera icon.
“You wouldn’t dare,” she taunted him. “Snapping pictures of strange women in a park? You know that ain’t right.”
He loved her manner of speech and her feisty personality. “Don’t call yourself strange. I think you’re fabulous.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, then winced when he lifted his phone and took a picture. “Are you kidding me right now? Delete that. I probably looked horrible.”
He examined the picture he’d taken. “Nope, you pretty much look gorgeous.” It was the truth: she was super cute, even with her tongue out. He looked back at her. “Just like you look right now.”
She tilted her head down and cracked an embarrassed smile. Since her skin was that perfect creamy mocha color, it was hard to tell if she was blushing.
“Mama.” Her little man had crossed the field to her and now tugged on her hand. “Mama!”
“What is it sweet honey child?” she asked, kneeling down and putting her forehead against his to show him he had all of her attention.
Caleb’s smile widened, and his heart melted. It was a cheesy feeling, but the interaction between mother and son was music to his ears, and he wouldn’t soon forget this appealing image of them together.
“Mama.” Krew glanced over at him with wide, worshipful eyes. “That’s Caleb Jewel.”