“Jack.” He watched Joe smile over his shoulder. “Dylan’s agreed to fill in for us. Asked real sweet-like that we go easy on him though, as he’s not used to physical exercise.”

Jack Trainer moved into his line of vision and looked from his brother to Dylan. There was reserve there, something he’d not seen with Luke or Joe. He hadn’t decided if he liked Dylan or not, and while this wouldn’t normally bother him, he found it did with a Trainer.

“I think I have a riding helmet in the pickup, city boy, if you’re worried.”

Dylan raised a hand. “All good. I think I can handle it, thanks.”

“Hi.”

He turned as her voice reached him, and there stood the torment of his dreams. Piper Trainer, dressed in tight black exercise leggings and a zip-up hoodie. At her side was the large, shaggy Buzz, who woofed a greeting and came to Dylan for a scratch.

At the lodge Piper had told him she didn’t go for one-night stands, and while he respected that now, it sure as hell hadn’t gone down easy at the time when he’d had the taste of her on his lips and her scent in his nostrils. Two weeks later, his body was not showing signs of forgetting what she’d felt like pressed against him.

“Hey, baby girl.” Joe moved in and hugged her. Piper raised her face for a kiss. “Thanks for filling in.”

“Like I had a choice.”

“Always a choice, sweetheart, but we like it when you’re here, it lends our team some class. Having said that, we have the city boy here now. He’s adding that and the softer side.”

Dylan rolled his eyes, and Piper laughed. He’d been worried about the way she’d be with him after that night. Worried she’d avoid him, but whenever they’d crossed paths she’d smiled, or lifted a hand, as if he’d not had his hand up her shirt cupping that soft, full flesh of her breast.

“Okay, the Pissants are here, so let’s get busy,” Jack said.

“Pissants?”

“Pilker Peasants. Jack thinks he’s being funny by nicknaming them,” Piper said.

“I am funny.” Jack lunged at his cousin, who simply stood her ground, dropped her shoulder into her cousin’s stomach, and winded him.

You had to love a woman who could stand up for herself… not in the literal sense, of course. It was just a figure of speech, Dylan reminded himself.

They threw the ball around, and did a few layups. Piper knew her way around the court, and he couldn’t help but admire her moves.

“Not sure I like the way you’re looking at my cousin, Howard.”

Jack Trainer appeared at his side.

“Which way is that, Trainer?”

“I believe the correct term is lasciviousness.”

“From what I hear that’s a regular word in your vocabulary.”