Samantha McCready is the Public Relations Rep for HEAT, the professional baseball team her family owns. She will do anything for her family and the team, so she agrees to take on the latest PR stunt personally; she is going to be the pretend girl friend of their hotshot catcher, Wade O'Riley, whose recent bad press has caught the attention of sponsors and owners. On a good day, Samantha and Wade barely get along, but in the name of baseball, she is willing to allow her hidden feelings for him to show to save face for the team. She already knows they can be powerful together; the proof of that was in their explosive encounter in an elevator after a devastating loss. She just hopes her sacrifice will be worth it.
Wade O'Riley, starting catcher for the HEAT, is easy-going, fun-loving and an all-around good guy. His good friend and teammate somehow pawned his crazy stalker on Wade and the pictures that have surfaced are causing a total PR nightmare. His employer's way of fixing his image is to saddle him with a steady girl friend for a month to prove he is off the market and still America's favorite player. Unfortunately, the uptight and shrewish Samantha McCready is hired for the job. Wade is not sure the ice queen can thaw enough to show the world they are an item. As the month progresses, outside drama impedes their overall plan, which will either bring them closer together or tear them apart forever.
The second book in the continuing story of the HEAT baseball team is sexy fun with heartfelt excitement. A very pleasurable read!
A great catch-from the USA Today bestselling
author of Double Play
Baseball player
Wade O'Riley's bad-boy image is about to be cleaned up by
publicist Samantha McNead. But the sexual tension between
them is about to drive Wade to his knees.
EXCERPT
Chapter 1
Confucious say: โBaseball wrong โ man with four balls
cannot walk.โ ~Author Unknown
Sheโd read somewhere that the way to a manโs heart was
through his stomach, but Samantha McNead knew better than
that โ in certain men the stomach was aiming just a bit too
high.
Wade OโRiley was one of them.
The best defensive catcher in major league baseball, he
had women lining up to meet him wherever he went.
And it wasnโt home-cooking that they wanted to give him
either.
Not that Wade seemed to mind. Nope, even with all the
constraints that went with the new big, fat, multi-million
dollar contract heโd just signed for Santa Barbaraโs
expansion team The Heat, the guy seemed oblivious to
pressure. Laid-back and easy-going, he took everything as
it came, with a grain of salt and a slow, knowing smile that
let everyone in on the joke.
Because life was one big funny to Wade.
Sam appreciated that, she just didnโt live it the way he
did. Didnโt know how. As the publicist for the Heat, as
one of the few females in a manโs world, her life tended to
be more work than fun lately. Hence her mission today.
The limo pulled up in front of Wadeโs big, beach
cottage-style house, perched on a bluff over the ocean.
From the backseat she could see the waves froth and pitch.
Much like her stomach.
In the work aspect of her life, she was extremely
comfortable. That was a given. Sheโd been raised by men;
her father, her uncle, her brother, cousins, all tough,
implacable, unforgiving alpha males. Failure had never been
an option, which translated to being very good at whatever
she tackled. Unfortunately for her more womanly parts, all
sheโd tackled lately was the job.
A job she loved with all her heart, but sometimes she
yearned for more. Maybe one of these days a guy would sweep
her off her feet and then into bed, but it wouldnโt be
today, and it wouldnโt be with the guy sheโd been tasked
with babysitting.
The Heat had played last night. It was the first week of
April, and itโd been an exhibition game, a prelude to their
season opener on Sunday. Theyโd played the Padres, and itโd
turned out to be surprisingly down and dirty. Wade had hit
a homer in the second inning, then been harshly walked in
the third when the pitcher had hit him in the thigh with a
throwaway pitch. The game had gone two extra innings, until
past midnight, when the Heat had finally won on Wadeโs
double, so Sam expected him to be exhausted and probably
sore as hell. Maybe sheโd even have to pull him out of bed.
The thought brought concern, and a secret tingle to those
womanly parts sheโd been neglecting.
Nice to know they still worked.
As she reached for the limo door handle, Wadeโs front
door opened, and six feet of rugged, leanly-muscled male
stepped out in Leviโs and an untucked blue and white striped
button down. A gust of wind molded his clothes against the
body that tended to make Samโs tongue stick to the roof of
her mouth.
Wade stopped to slide on his sunglasses, the picture of a
California surfer, all easy-going, laid-back charm.
Heโd been a rock star in another life, Sam was convinced,
and she purposely let out a breath and leaned back,
reminding herself he was just a guy. A flawed guy at that,
though certainly none of his flaws happened to be showing at
the moment.
He moved across the lawn in an unhurried, sexy stride,
all scruffy gorgeousness, and opened the limo door, letting
in the chilly April afternoon air. With one hand on the
roof, the other on the door, he bent down, peering in
through his Prada sunglasses, merely arching a brow when he
saw her.
Couldnโt blame him. They werenโt exactly on speaking
terms.
His sun-kissed light brown hair was either styled messy
today on purpose, or he hadnโt bothered with a comb. His
face sported at least a day old beard so she was going with
the no comb theory. He should have looked sloppy and
unkempt but nothing about him ever looked anything less than
Godโs gift. Sheโd seen him in uniform, in designer suits,
in work-out gear, in all sorts of things including
absolutely nothing, and he always looked perfect.
Especially in the nothing.
โHey,โ he said in that low, slightly raspy voice of his,
the one that never failed to immediately put her back up.
And/or turn her on.
โHey yourself.โ He hadnโt limped, and he sure as hell
didnโt look exhausted. The opposite, she thought a little
breathlessly as his deceptively lazy gaze raked her in from
head to toe. Deceptively, because behind that beach bum
front of his lay a sharp as hell wit.
Given their . . . tense relationship at the moment, she
didnโt smile.
And though he usually smiled at anything female, neither
did he.
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