“New in town and scoring hot tamales already?” She quirked an eyebrow at him, amused that he’d recommended her rival in baseball bars, the unimaginatively named Home Plate. “Sure. I don’t mind checking out the competition and doing a little mystery shopping.”
He offered her his arm, an incredibly gentlemanly gesture, considering they met on their walks of shame.
Jeanine wet her lips and broke into a grin. Maybe, just maybe this night was salvageable.
Kirk Kennedy was feeling like a couple of million bucks—the numbers on his contract and a new town meant plenty of new faces, figures, and fun.
He loved women, loved their smiles, their stimulating scent, their luscious bodies, and the way they felt beneath, on top, in front and around him, but only for a single night. No expectations and no repeat performances.
Tonight’s pickup hadn’t left him satisfied. What had appeared sexy and hot at the bar turned into a woman who wanted the lights off. So he’d gotten the job done, groping in the dark, but couldn’t wait to hightail out of her room. She was some sort of sports reporter, not that he really cared to find out more.
When she went to the bathroom to clean up, he’d hastily pulled on his clothes, buttoning his shirt in the dark room and snuck out.
The gods must have been smiling on him, because pow! A hot, mussed up blonde still glowing and breathing rapidly from her own encounter strolled by on her walk of shame—or the way she wore it, he’d have to say walk of pride.
She was fairly tall, slender with well-rounded boobs, and legs a mile long—legs that would feel at home wrapped around him or kneeling over him as she rode him hard like a bucking bronco. The lean, well cut clothes and the BMW key fob dangling from her fingers showed her to be a woman of substance—one who played on her own terms without the need for gold digging.
Yep, the gods were smiling.
After chatting her up, he’d asked Jeanine to have a post-sex snack with him. He offered her his arm, and she slipped her elegant hand around the crook of his elbow.
Somehow, Kirk didn’t feel as tawdry leaving the hotel with this woman on his arm. Despite the circumstances, she held her head high and looked classy. She wasn’t dressed fast and loose, but classy: wearing a sedate pair of jeans, a soft work shirt over her white tank and hand-tooled white cowgirl boots. He nodded at the doorman and stepped into the cool Arizona night.
“Mind if we walk?” he asked. “I only have my bike here and no extra helmet for you.”
“I’ve a car,” she said. “I never leave myself without a way out.”
“So, you drove him here?”
“Did you ride her here on your bike?”
Kirk took a closer look at Jeanine. She wasn’t early twenties and stupid, but she was definitely not a cougar. If he were to guess, he’d say she was in her mid to late twenties, and yes, it was smart for a woman to take care of her own travel.
“I met her downstairs at the bar. That’s her hotel room, not mine,” he explained.
“Same here. I mean. That’s his room. I never bring them back to my place.”
“Smart.” He draped his leather jacket over her shoulders. “If we’re walking, you have to stay warm.”
“How about you? Don’t you have to keep your muscles in tip top shape? You boys are playing every day, with only one day off the whole month.”
He put his arm over her shoulder, trapping the jacket on her. “Back where I’m from, it’s still snowing. Besides, the hellfire hot tamales will warm me right back up again.”
And if he were lucky, he’d get a taste of that tamale between her legs.
She giggled, shaking her head. “Or have you on the run—to the john. Seriously, you ought to try our nuclear wings—on the house.”
“Still trying to get me to your corner?” He pulled her into a brisk walk down the sidewalk.
“They don’t call it The Hot Corner for nothing.” She nudged him with her elbow.
Yep, he’d bet all her corners were hot and spicy, but he had a rule. He avoided running into anyone he bedded. Which worked great in New York City, but not so great if the hottest woman in Phoenix owned a bar where all his teammates hung out at.
Things could get complicated fast, and Kirk Kennedy did not do complications.
[END OF EXCERPT. To read more, please buy PLAYING CATCH]
READING LIST (AMAZON)
Bad Boys for Hire Series
Bad Boys for Hire - Ryker Terri Martin gets caught in the middle of a motorcycle club vendetta when she tries to hire a biker for her birthday date.
Bad Boys for Hire – Ken After Jolie Becker is left at the altar, her friends secretly hire a handsome beach bum to cheer her up.
Bad Boys for Hire – Nick This Christmas, paraplegic Carol Cassidy is caught between the naughty and the nice: a hired Santa and a disabled firefighter.
Sports Romances
Played by Love, A soccer star dons nerd glasses to score a anime fangirl who won't date jocks.
Roaring Hot! A playboy motorcycle racer hires an aspiring actress when he is challenged by his grandmother to bring a real girlfriend to her birthday party.
Intercepted by Love, A quarterback hiding from his Super Bowl losing interception meets a small town librarian with an active fantasy life.
Men of Spring Baseball Series
Playing the Rookie, A rookie pitcher and a sports intern on the rebound connect to get over their exes.
Playing Without Rules, A ballplayer's girlfriend hides his daughter from him because she fears he's like his abusive father.
Playing Catch, Catcher Kirk Kennedy has never met a puzzle he can't solve. Until he meets bartender Jeanine Jewell. What he finds knocks his balls out of the park and could very well end his days behind the plate.
Playing for the Save, Veteran relief pitcher Ryan Hudson is attracted to a single mother with an autistic son while hiding a secret of his own.
Sweet Romances
Christmas Stray A couple grieving for their son is snowed in with a stray puppy and a little boy. Is there room in their hearts for a Christmas miracle? [Gold Award Winner, 2016 Readers’ Favorite]
Black Tied: Love Charmed Romance When ordinary you and the Son of the Kitchen God stand up to a playboy apocalypse.
A Veteran’s Christmas Series
A Father for Christmas Sweet romance between a homeless veteran and a single mother whose daughter asks Santa for an unusual gift. [Gold Award Winner, 2015 Readers’ Favorite]
A Pet for Christmas A veteran suffering from PTSD fights to return from Afghanistan and give his family their Christmas wishes.
A Wedding for Christmas A Christmas wedding seemed perfect for Kelly and Tyler, until a female soldier from Tyler’s past and a donor from Kelly’s past make requests that cannot be ignored.
Have A Hart Romance Series
Christmas Lovebirds Can two little lovebirds and Christmas cheer open Melisa’s heart to giving Rob another chance?
Valentine Hound Dog A fashion designer and her basset hound puppy convince a burned ex-firefighter that beauty is never skin deep and neither is love.
Spring Fling Kitty A stray cat shows a fire chief and his fiancée’s sister that doing the wrong thing is sometimes right when it comes to love.
Blue Chow Christmas Brian and Cait have been married for twelve years, but their secrets could blow them apart. Can two lost chow dogs and a special boy open their feelings up for true love and commitment?
Valentine Wedding Hound Jenna Hart loses sight of the true meaning of her wedding when she signs up for a reality show full of tricks and dares.
Christmas Creek Series
Deck the Hearts: A Christmas Creek Romance, #1 Can Holly’s jolly Christmas spirit help Grinchy Gordon Gills save the town of Christmas Creek?
Her Christmas Chance: A Christmas Creek Romance, #2 A woman with cerebral palsy and her tomcat disagree about the attractive ex-con next door. Will a dose of Christmas magic reach through his dark secrets?
Sapphire Falls World (My Country Heart Series)
Going Haywire, Vampires, zombies, and wolves, oh my! Honey's vacation with her ex-husband goes haywire when he tries too hard to get her back.
Going Toe to Mistletoe, An unemployed dance instructor finds herself on a scavenger hunt with a hometown hero who's always stepping on her toes.
Going Hearts over Heels, A city girl trades places with a country boy on Valentine’s Day.
Going Gets Hot, A shy bookworm and a geeky scientist get makeovers and a new start in Sapphire Falls.
Jingle Belles Christmas Series
Christmas Flirt, Bad girl Lacy Reed gets more than she bargained for when her naked selfies turn up on her boss’s phone.
Santa’s Pet A brilliant girl genius plays elf to a substitute Santa and turns both their lives upside down when he is charged with a sex crime and she loses her company to hackers.
Sánchez Sisters Series
Taming Romeo, Medical student Evie Sánchez is recovering from heartbreak when she runs into the boy she left behind.
Claiming Carlos, Restaurant manager Choco Sanchez finds herself caught between two hot men, an epic food fight, and a war to save the restaurant.
Jewells in Love Series
Whole Latte Love, What’s a business-minded woman to do when she finds herself rooming with a hot, delectable barista with a heart for the homeless?
The Remingtons World
Leap, Laugh, Love, A pro surfer on holiday after being attacked by a shark gets tangled up with an Army Ranger on leave with a mission.
Blush of Love A hot New Year's Eve date with bad boy Gunner Gibson leaves Safire wondering if it's love at first blush or something more sinister.
Laguna Beach World
Lucky in Laguna, Scriptwriter Lucky Lenigan regrets writing dog walker Tally Tallahan into a reality show as another man’s love interest.
Chance for Love Series
Broken Build, Build engineer Jen Jones falls in love with the man whose life she ruined.
Hidden Under Her Heart, A young nurse, Maryanne Torres, struggles with a difficult decision over an unwanted pregnancy.
Knowing Vera, Playgirl Vera Custodio belatedly discovers that her father might have killed her boyfriend's mother many years ago. [2015 Angie Ovation Award Winner]
Historical Romance
Michal’s Window, The young Princess Michal loves her father's enemy, the upstart David who becomes king.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachelle Ayala is a USA Today bestselling author of dramatic romantic suspense and humorous contemporary romances. Her heroines are feisty and her heroes big-hearted. She writes sweet and funny stories, and believes in the power of love and hope.
She is the winner of multiple awards, including the 2015 Angie Ovation Award for best Multicultural Romance with Knowing Vera and the 2015 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award for best Christian Romance with A Father for Christmas. Christmas Stray won the 2016 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award for Christian Romance, and A Pet for Christmas received an Honorable Mention for 2016.
For updates and a surprise free book, sign up for Rachelle’s newsletter at:
http://smarturl.it/RachAyala
Check out her Reader’s Guide at:
http://rachelleayala.me/reading-guide/
To chat and read new works in progress, join her Reader’s Club at:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/ClubRachelleAyala/
For more information:
www.rachelleayala.net
Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Men of Spring Baseball Series
Description
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Epilogue
Playing Without Rules - Excerpt
Playing Catch - Excerpt
Reading List (Amazon)
About the Author
Playing for the Save (Men of Spring Baseball Book 3) Page 34