Only then did Katrina exhale.
“I was going to suggest we join in the game because it looked like so much fun,” Anya said. “But now I think I’ll pass.”
“Yeah, you’d have to be insane to want to take part in that bloodbath,” Mia said. “I’m comfortable making fun of them on the sidelines.”
To prove her point, Mia shouted, “Is that the best you all have? I’m getting bored over here.”
Flynn glared at his little sister. “You’re welcome to join in, princess.”
She laughed. “Not on your life. But try and make it a little more interesting, will ya?”
The game went on for another half hour and ended in what Easton called a tie, much to the grumbling and complaining of his sons. They were dirty and sweaty and Easton said his knee hurt, so he called it quits.
“Good game, boys. Now everyone shake hands,” he said.
They all did, surprising Katrina, because it had gotten rough out there. Though they’d gone easy on Leo, but not too easy. He was banged up, and still grinning from ear to ear as he followed the guys to the backyard, where everyone rinsed off under the outdoor shower, then changed into swim trunks and cooled their hot bodies by diving into the pool.
All the women changed as well. They might not have played football, but sitting in that hot sun had been grueling. Katrina had no idea how the guys had played for an hour in that intense heat. She supposed they were used to the extreme temperature, and they had taken frequent water breaks.
Now, though, they all played in the pool like kids. Grant swam his way over to her.
“Did you enjoy the game?” he asked, hanging on to her raft.
“It was brutal. Do you and your brothers always play like that?”
“Like that? No. That game was mild by comparison, and only because Mom and Dad were around. There wasn’t even any major bloodletting. You should have seen us when we were kids.”
“This is true,” Mia said. “When I was old enough to get involved in watching them play, someone was always needing stitches after a fight broke out. All those trips to the emergency room were tedious.”
Katrina laughed. “The drawback of having injury-prone older brothers, I suppose.”
“Indeed. Though the nurses all thought I was cute and I got lollipops.”
“Suck up,” Flynn said, tossing Mia off her raft. She retaliated by hopping on his shoulders. Then they decided a game of chicken was in order. Katrina ended up on Grant’s shoulders, Anya on Leo’s, and there was a free-for-all. By the end of it, Katrina had gotten dunked several times.
She couldn’t recall ever having more fun. That was the one thing she’d discovered quickly about the Cassidys. They knew how to have fun, no matter what they were doing.
Lydia announced it was time for everyone to get out. They had to wash down the back patio and clean up to get ready for tonight’s party. She and Grant headed back to their house to shower so they could be back to help with the party preparations.
Katrina followed Grant into the bathroom.
“You have a few cuts and scrapes on your back,” she said as he pulled off his shirt.
“Do I? I didn’t even feel those.”
She’d noticed the scars on his body when they got naked the first time. But now, after seeing him play close-up, she ran her fingertips over each one of them. There was one on his right shoulder blade, one on his left arm—a pretty long one.
“What’s this from?”
“I fell off a set of rocks when I was nine. Broke my arm and cut myself pretty good. Had to get fifteen stitches.”
He was smiling.
“Ouch.”
He shrugged. “It was a clean break and healed good. My friends thought I was a badass.”
She shook her head. “I wonder how many times your mother had to visit the emergency room with you and your brothers.”
“Too many times for me to remember. One of us was always leaping off something, falling off something, or running into something. One time during Halloween, some girl whacked Barrett on the back of the head on the way home from trick-or-treating for making some smartass comment to her. He ended up with four stitches just for that. Pretty embarrassing for him to get the shit beat out of him by a girl.”
Katrina’s lips lifted. “I can only imagine the hellions you all were.”
He cocked a brow. “Were?”
She laughed. “Come on. Let’s get in the shower.”
They took quick showers. Katrina insisted on cleaning up Grant’s scrapes, even though he told her they were minor in comparison to what he usually got playing football games every week.
“Yes, but you don’t play games in the dirt every week, do you?”
“You don’t need to baby me,” he said, watching her in the mirror as she cleaned his wounds. “I’m tougher than you think.”
“I know that. Humor me, anyway.”
He did. Then she dried her hair, put on makeup, and changed into a sundress and sandals.