The Offside Rule (Dallas Blaze #1)

Prologue

Catherine Celia

“I’m bored,” Mila pouted.

If Mom had been home with her, Mila wouldn’t have expected her to do the entertaining, but because it was me, cute little Mila wanted all my attention.

“I’m bored too,” Isla Russell pouted.

She was Mila’s best friend. Her dad, Hunter, was the captain of the Dallas Blaze.

He was almost a decade older than me, single, and the man I’d had a humiliating crush on when I was a teenager because he was older, gorgeous, intense, and completely off-limits.

Not that anyone needed to know that. Ever.

Isla and Mila had been best friends forever, and since Hunter and my dad were close, Isla was always around.

When I was doing my undergrad, I used to babysit Isla and Mila all the time.

Somewhere along the way, Isla decided I was basically her big sister and started calling me CC like everyone else in my family.

“CC,” Mila said from the couch, “Jaden is breathing too loud.”

Jaden looked up from his popcorn. “It’s called being alive.”

“Can you be alive quieter?” my little sister asked with her ten-year-old sass.

“No,” Jaden deadpanned.

I walked into the family room with three cups of water and set them on the coffee table. “Let’s watch a movie.”

“I get to pick,” Jaden said.

“I’m not watching a boy movie,” Mila said.

Isla nodded in agreement.

“Fine. Let’s play a board game,” I suggested.

“Monopoly,” Jaden and Mila cheered at the same time.

“Yes,” I said, trying to match their enthusiasm.

Isla went along with it. “These two are so funny,” she whispered to me.

“Tell me about it,” I said, rolling my eyes playfully.

While Mila and Jaden started fighting over where they would sit at the table, Isla looked up at me.

“I want to have siblings too. I have no one to fight with. My apartment is boring.”

“That isn’t a bad thing,” I said to her. “You get all your daddy’s attention.”

“It’s too much,” she complained. “Besides, I was thinking, and I need Daddy to find me a mommy.”

I choked on my own saliva. “That isn’t so easy.”

“It can be. Do you want to be my mommy?” she asked just as I took a sip of water.

It went down the wrong way, and I really started to cough.

“CC is choking,” Jaden announced. “I need to give her the Heimlich.”

“No,” I choked out. “I…”

My brother got behind me. “Don’t worry, CC. I’ve taken all my swimming lessons, so I know what to do.”

He squeezed my midriff so hard I thought he might break a rib.

“I’m fine,” I finally managed.

Jaden exhaled heavily.

Isla looked at me, wide-eyed. She had the same gorgeous hazel eyes as her dad. “Was it something I said?”

“No, honey. I’m honored you want that, but there’s a sequence that happens in life,” I began.

“Sequence?” Isla asked, looking genuinely confused.

“Sorry. I mean your daddy will date a nice lady and hopefully find you a mommy,” I said.

“But he doesn’t go on dates,” Isla said, like it was a complaint.

“Hmm, well…” I was stumped. “I love you like my little sister.”

Her eyes brightened. “Thanks, CC. I love you too.”

She wrapped her arms around me, and I hugged her back. She melted my heart.

I didn’t exactly know why her mother was never in the picture.

I knew Hunter had a fling with a French woman who got pregnant and didn’t want to be a mom, but I didn’t know more than that.

What I did know was that I’d known Isla since she was three, and she really was like a sibling to me.

We all sat at the kitchen table, and I set up the game. Jaden rolled the dice first.

“CC is too young to be your mommy,” Mila said to Isla. “But I can share her.”

“Thanks,” Isla said, grinning.

“Or she can date Hunter,” Jaden added. “But I don’t think Dad would like that idea.”

“Okay, everyone, that’s enough. I haven’t seen Hunter in years, and I don’t plan on dating anyone ever,” I said to the three of them.

That ended the talk of me being Isla’s mommy. We focused on the game. Everyone got into it, and before I knew it, it was midnight and my parents were home. Mila and Isla ran off to Mila’s room and pretended to sleep. Jaden said hi to my parents, then yawned and went to bed.

“How was your night?” Mom asked.

“Uneventful. We played Monopoly,” I said.

“Good call,” Dad said, kissing my forehead.

“You need to get back out there,” Mom said.

“I’m good,” I said, then yawned. “I’m going to sleep.”

“Thanks for watching the kids,” Dad called out.

“Anytime,” I said.

It was safer for my heart to stay here in my parents’ condo.

“Don’t encourage her,” I heard Mom whisper.

“Love you guys. Good night,” I said.

“Love you,” they both called back at the same time.

The problem was that those two set the bar too high. Life wasn’t easy for them. They just knew how to make lemonade from the lemons they’d been dealt. Me, on the other hand…I preferred to play it safe. I was never dating again.