Wearing a pair of dark jeans that hugged the curve of her ass, the look was softened by a peasant blouse that crept enticingly toward her shoulders. It was sexy. She was sexy as she chose an array of fruit from the buffet.

  “Is that how you stay so skinny?” Vanessa asked, her lip curling with evident envy as Emery sat down beside her. “Running and eating like a bird. If you want more curves, you really should eat more than that.”

  Anger hit me like a punch. “That was a very inappropriate thing to say,” I snapped, and everyone’s heads swiveled my way. “What if Emery commented on your figure, telling you to eat more so you’d get even rounder?”

  Vanessa’s jaw worked up and down, mortification spreading across her features. I softened the blow.

  “We live in a society whose job it is to make women, and men to a lesser degree, feel bad about the way they look, smell, walk, talk. Everything. Every magazine or commercial or billboard screams ‘buy me so you might be close to being good enough.’ Wouldn’t it be better to lift each other up instead of tearing each other down?”

  I glanced at Emery, then the other women. All except the makeup artist were looking at me with admiration. I stabbed a fork into some eggs.

  “You’re so right,” Amy said. “Little girls in my classroom come in wearing lip gloss, their nails painted, talking about the brand of their jeans. They’re three years old, for goodness’ sake.”

  I smiled at her. I’d enjoyed my date with the preschool teacher. I’d enjoyed buying her the expensive shoes and taking her to the best restaurant in town. What I liked most was that she would have been just as happy with a picnic in the park and an ice-cream cone.

  Like Emery, she was real. And I felt bad for her.

  On our date, she’d confessed to the real reason for auditioning for the show. In addition to the thrill of doing something she’d never done before, her mother was sick and needed expensive treatments her insurance only paid eighty percent for. In Amy’s case, the twenty percent left over had already turned into tens of thousands of dollars. The cost was quickly becoming crippling, and she feared the hospital would stop treating her mother if she wasn’t able to pay for the treatments soon. On her preschool salary, Amy was paying what she could to help her, but it was like tossing sand into an ocean, trying to fill it up.

  “Little girls in makeup are soooo cute,” Vanessa squealed, and I wanted to stab her with a fork. The other women just stared at her, really? painted on their faces. As usual, she completely missed the point of the conversation. If dumb blonde was in the dictionary, her picture had to be beside it. Sweet but dumb. I couldn’t take it. She had to be the next to go. After her, I wasn’t certain of the elimination order.

  Emery was staying. So was Amy. I also liked Becca and Daphne’s maturity, although I didn’t know enough about either of them to understand their histories or why they were here.

  That left Gabrielle. Watching me closely, she lifted a piece of bacon to her lips, sinking her teeth into it, snapping it in two. I could easily imagine her doing the same to my dick. The thought made me wince. The woman was definitely a man-eater.

  When Phil Harris waltzed in, I nearly shouted in relief. He did his standard welcome shit for the cameras then told the girls that the next competition wouldn’t be until the afternoon and they should be ready to get into the vans at three o’clock.

  I was vaguely curious as to what was in store for us but didn’t really care one way or another. I wanted this over. I wanted to make love to Emery on a tropical beach. I wanted to get to know her better.

  After breakfast, the hours passed slowly. I walked through the house and found all the women in the den. The big, warm room seemed to be their favorite place. Emery was curled into a chair, frantically scribbling in a journal.

  I approached her silently, but she must have felt me come close because she looked up, then slammed the book shut, looking guilty.

  I narrowed my eyes. “And what exactly are you doing?”

  She blushed and lifted a shoulder. “Just writing down some thoughts.”

  I held out my hand. “Can I see?”

  She hugged the book to her chest, her eyes growing wide. “No! I mean, it’s private.”

  “Oh, like a diary?”

  The blush deepened. “A bit. I find it soothing to process my thoughts on paper. Seeing them in black and white takes them out of my head, allowing me to observe them for what they are.”

  “And have you arrived at any conclusion?”

  One corner of her mouth lifted into an adorable grin. “Not yet, but I’m working on it.”

  Aware of the cameras hovering around, I leaned down, planting my hands on the arm of her chair. “Will you share them with me… later?”

  Our eyes met, and my balls tightened, and something melted in my chest as she said, “I’d like that very much.”

  I stood. “I look forward to it.”

  Not wanting to, I turned away and approached Daphne, who was reading a book. I made pleasant chitchat with her before moving on to each of the women. But I was aware of Emery in the corner. Each time she shifted in her seat, I knew it. Felt it.

  Then Phil Harris stepped into the room to announce it was time to go to the competition. It was a relief to get away.

  When I slid into the seat next to Dillon, he was grinning. I pointed at him. “Apparently, you can’t say a word.”

  He laughed. “Nope. Not a word.”

  The girls piled into the vans and we followed them, and as we arrived in town, I began to suspect where we were going. When we pulled up to the stadium, it felt like I’d arrived at another kind of home.

  “Wonder what they have in store for us here,” I muttered.

  The girls piled out and were led in the players’ entrance. Dillon and I followed more slowly. Exiting the tunnel and stepping onto the field, I noticed Calvin, Ace, Todd, and Kane along with Marty and Luke as well as a couple other of my guys. They all wore similar expressions — shit-eating grins — as I approached. There was much backslapping as we reunited.

  “How was the honeymoon?” I asked Kane, and from the look on his face, it was excellent.

  “Highly recommend it,” he said and looked over my shoulder. “You gonna get hitched anytime soon?”

  I scoffed, but the sound didn’t carry as much weight as it would have a week ago. Not that I was even thinking about getting married or anything that crazy, but the idea didn’t seem so foreign to me now.

  I was saved from having to answer when Phil Harris took his place beside me. The cameras began to roll, and he flashed his brilliant smile.

  “Welcome ladies, to the home of the Beasts. Everything you see surrounding you was personally planned and built by the man beside me.” I glanced around the gleaming stadium, pride nearly bursting through my chest. Near the dugout, I spotted Nana Steele. The afternoon sun reflected off the bedazzled sweatshirt and cap she wore.

  She was a mess.

  “Today, you’ll be paired up with one of the players and will begin to learn everything you can about that position.”

  Looking panicked, Vanessa glanced down at her spiky shoes.

  “Don’t worry,” Phil went on. “We have custom-made uniforms for you in the locker room, so you don’t have to worry about getting your lovely clothes dirty.”

  “Cut!”

  The cameras clicked off, and Mitch O’Dell and Nana Steele came to stand in our circle. “Okay. When the camera rolls again, Rhett will choose a position for each of you. When he calls out your name and position, the corresponding player will join you. Then we’ll call cut, and you’ll go into the locker room to change. Got it?”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Action!”

  As Phil basically repeated those instructions for the sake of the viewer, I was planning in my head. “Rhett, please choose your team and their positions.”

  The first one was easy. “Emery… you’ll be my pitcher.”

  Her smile was more blinding than the sun. Calvin jogged over to her, and they shook hands, then he strode to the mound behind her, reminding me just how little she was as he towered over her.

  “Gabrielle will be on first base.”

  “Bullshit on that!”

  All eyes went to Nana Steele.

  “Don’t you move, Kane Bartholomew.” Kane, who had already started to head her way looked comically frozen in place. “That woman,” Nana pointed a gnarled finger at the exotic brunette, “is not to go anywhere near my grandson. Is that understood?”

  “Cut!” O’Dell shouted and turned to me.

  I lifted a shoulder and looked at the sexy horse trainer who was glaring daggers at Nana Steele. Nana was glaring even harder. She was pretty scary when she was angry. “Fine by me.”

  O’Dell blew out a breath and stepped out of the scene. “Action!”

  “Becca will be my first baser.”

  I glanced at Nana, and she nodded her permission at the match. Kane finished his jog over, shook hands with Becca, and moved to stand behind her.

  “Daphne on second.” Marty joined her.

  “Amy on shortstop.” Ace bent at the waist and kissed her hand, before jogging behind the blushing teacher. Leave it to Ace to be different.

  “Vanessa on third.” Luke jogged over. He was normally a backup pitcher, but he’d apparently been called in to fill the spot since my normal third baseman couldn’t make it.

  That left Gabrielle.

  “Gabrielle will be catcher.” Todd Morris jogged over to her, and she turned her sexy eyes on him. I looked around, searching for Katrina, wondering if she’d object to the pair.

  The scene was called cut and the women shown to the locker room. And a long ass hour later, they were back.

  I laughed.

  The stylist had done well. The women all sported a replica of the Beasts’ uniforms, with long sleeve thermals beneath to protect them from the cold.

  Emery’s ass looked amazing in the tight pants. Hell, all of them did. This was going to be fun.

  Phil gave instructions, letting everyone know that they’d have an hour to learn their position before the game began. “You might be wondering how the winner is chosen.” They all nodded. “Well, baseball is a team sport, so you’ll all be winners tonight. You’ll discover your prize when the game is finished.”

  I headed to the dugout to watch as everyone jogged to their positions. It was hilarious to see the sexy Gabrielle covered in a mask and pads. I’d chosen well on that one.

  At first, Kane was teaching Becca about foot placement. At second, Daphne and Marty seemed to be laughing about something. Did I see sparks flying above their heads? Interesting.

  At shortstop, Ace had Amy already rolling in the dirt. He yanked her up and dusted her ass good naturedly. She threw her glove at him, and they both laughed.

  At third, Luke appeared to be the only one not having fun. He looked annoyed as he tried to get the dingbat to catch the ball. He was less than a foot from her, but when he lightly tossed the ball, she screamed, yanking her glove away. She was going to get hurt if she didn’t even try to protect herself. It was settled, Vanessa had to go.

  The pitching mound had been moved up several yards, and Calvin was showing Emery the different ways to hold the ball. Her ass looked even more amazing as she lifted a leg to wind up, then threw the ball into a net. She had an arm on her. It was fun to watch her concentrate on getting things right.

  The hour passed quickly, then it was time for the game to begin. The men stepped off the field and grabbed bats. I laughed. The bats were made from foam, and when they swung them, they wobbled on the air.

  But this was all fun, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Except for Vanessa, who looked like she was about to pee herself.

  For added safety, I was glad to see that the baseballs were replaced by oversize tennis balls, and Emery wound up. Ace was up first. Strike! I wasn’t sure who was more stunned, Ace, Emery, or me. But he took it all with a laugh and choked up on his foam bat.

  Crack. Well, it was more like a squelch, but the tennis ball came off the foam, heading toward third. Vanessa squeaked and didn’t move, but Amy came to the rescue, scooping it up. She was smart and didn’t even try to throw it to first as Ace was only a couple feet away.

  With Kane at bat, the play ended something similar, and Ace was on third with Kane on first when Luke stepped up to bat.

  Strike!

  Emery jumped up and down, then wound up again. She was getting better. Strike! Hell, I might have to recruit her.

  The other girls were rooting her on, except for Vanessa, who looked bored and was now kicking at the dirt.

  Ball. Ball. Foul. Ball.

  Luke looked a bit nervous as Emery wound up again. She let loose. Luke swung and missed. But instead of slinging the bat like I knew he wanted to, he ran over to Emery and gave her a fist bump.

  By the time the Beasts had three outs, my guys had eleven runs. I think Marty struck out last just to get it over with. Then the teams were trading places.

  Also using the closer pitching mound, Calvin went with an underhand pitch that brought the ball into the girls’ reach. Vanessa was first, and it went about as bad as I expected. Three pitches, three strikes, her whirling around in a circle with all of them.

  Amy connected, and the guys let her get to first, basically bobbling the ball a few times to make sure she made it. Daphne got on too, as did Becca. I thought Calvin must have been distracted by Gabrielle’s swaying behind because he walked her. And yeah, he should have been embarrassed.

  When Emery picked up the bat, my interest perked. Pulling her cap down on her forehead, she wiggled her cute butt and held the bat up high. On the first pitch, she swung hard and connected. The girls had wooden bats, so the ball sailed through the air, high over Marty’s head. Since there were no outfielders, he had to chase it down.

  Amy was jumping up and down as Daphne touched the plate and Becca rounded third. Behind her was Gabrielle, who was quicker than she looked.

  “Run. Run!” Amy screamed as Emery went around second, then third.

  The ball had rolled nearly to the fence, but Marty got to it quick and was turning to throw it to Todd.

  “Slide!” Amy screamed as he let loose, the tennis ball a blur of yellow in the air. Emery hit the ground, dust flying up all around her as the ball landed in Todd’s glove. In slow motion, Todd went to tag her, but she twisted and made it to the plate, and he missed her, on purpose or not I wasn’t sure.

  “Safe!”

  I was glad we were in an open ballpark or else the screams would have deafened me. Because I couldn’t stop myself, I ran out, joining in the celebration. I swung Emery around in a circle, high-fiving the others. I was tempted to go ahead and get rid of Vanessa, who was standing away from the joyous crowd. But I’d play by the show’s rules this time.

  At the end of the inning, the Beasts had won, but the Beastettes, as they’d begun to call themselves, gave them a good game. They ended up scoring eight to the Beasts’ eleven, although I knew for a fact a few of the runs were sympathy gimmes.

  There were the normal post-competition interviews, and I commented on how well I thought the women did and how impressed I was with their spirits and motivation. Then they changed, and we were whisked away to an unknown destination that ended up being Gotham Bar and Grill. It was perfect for the group, and the dinner flowed as easily as the day had.

  When we’d finished eating, we piled into the vans for the other surprise destination. It surprised the shit out of me when we pulled up in front of Tiffany & Co. What the hell was this?

  Inside the landmark store, Phil Harris filled us in. “Ladies, because you all have done so well to this point, we don’t want any of you to leave without a special keepsake of your experience on The Biggest Catch. Rhett will be choosing from a selection of bracelets, picking the one he feels fits your personality best.”

  Shit.

  Two employees came out with long trays, setting them carefully on the counter. Vanessa suddenly looked much perkier as the bracelets were displayed. The other women were smiling wildly.

  As the cameras were reset, I took the time to examine each of them, all the women in mind. By the time action was called, I knew which would go to whom.

  “Vanessa.” Her squeal pierced my brain as she came front and center. “Because of your love of all things glamorous, I choose the bow bracelet for you.” The squeals got even squealier as I slid the beautiful piece of jewelry on her arm.

  “Becca.” She was thrilled with the bracelet featuring a key. As a real estate agent, it fit her perfectly.

  “Gabrielle.” She leaned forward to kiss my cheek as I slid the rope bracelet over her hand. There was nothing resembling a horse, so sparkling, twisty rope was the most appropriate.

  Daphne adored the Atlas bangle. It was the closest thing that seemed to fit her ongoing studies as she pursued her higher degree.

  “Amy.” For her, I’d chose a graffiti “faith” cuff. She stared down at it as her finger traced over the letters. Tears gleamed in her eyes as she gave me a tight hug.

  “Emery.”

  Hers was the hardest to choose. I wanted to show her how much I cared about her, appreciated her, without spotlighting our growing relationship.

  “I’m not sure what the future holds, but I hope you’ll accept this infinity bracelet knowing that I’ll always remember how special you are.” Then I said more, without meaning to. “This is a symbol of my never-ending gratitude. Will you accept it?”

  “Yes.” She grinned, helping to lighten the mood that had grown heavy around the set. “But only because you let me be the pitcher.”

  We laughed, then hugged. Then it was time to go back to the house and face the elimination.

  It was easy this time to hand balls to everyone but Vanessa. She cried but thanked me for the opportunity.

  And later, when Emery came to my room, I stripped her down to nothing but the bracelet.

  She cried out the moment my tongue touched her sensitive flesh, and I moved with deliberate care, teasing her, drawing out her pleasure until she was panting, writhing, crying for me to stop with one breath, begging for more with the next.