Holiday Heat

When baseball pitcher and permanent bachelor Alex Rasmussen needs a plus one for a holiday gala, his best friend’s flaky sister-in-law Lucy Monroe is the worst choice ever.

Despite her past reputation, Lucy is trying to change her life by not chasing the wrong man, not flaking out, and not flitting from job to job.

But as the one night turns into more, will Alex convince her that the heat between them is not just for the holidays?

Lucy Monroe had always been known as a flake.
She admitted it, often embraced it, and generally liked it. She flitted from career to career, never really settling, though waitressing, bartending, being a barista, and her stint as a yoga instructor couldn’t completely be classified as career choices. It didn’t help that she also changed boyfriends as fast as some women changed their hair color, though Lucy liked to change that pretty often too.
Though, in the past year, she’d been desperately trying to outrun her reputation as fast as her long legs would let her. But it seemed like her past had hooked its claws into her and would never let her escape.
“What are you doing here?”
She knew she sounded like a bitch and honestly didn’t care. She was dressed in ratty old yoga pants, a stretched-out t-shirt that she’d pulled off her chair that morning and gave the old sniff test, and a pair of tennis shoes that had seen better days. She’d piled her dirty blonde hair into a messy bun and half the wild curls had already fallen around her face thanks to her wrestling with the stubborn and rambunctious hound mix Cleo that she had been trying to photograph all morning.
Alex Rasmussen, on the other hand, the current bane of her existence, was dressed in perfectly pressed jeans, a button down shirt that had creases in the sleeves, and bright white tennis shoes that would blind anyone. I mean, who ironed their clothes to come to an animal rescue? Hopefully someone who was just popping in and then heading out as soon as possible.
He leaned against the intake counter and raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow at her. Seriously the man was even well-groomed and she was damned sure it was all professional and he paid a fortune for it. She couldn’t remember the last time she had her brows waxed or anything else, not professionally at least. She made do with home-grown techniques because a girl had to be prepared, not that she’d seen any action in the past year.
“Dylan asked me to stop by. He said that he and Savannah had to go out of town unexpectedly and asked me to check in on the place and help prepare for the holiday adoption event.”
She blew a long curl out of her face and straightened up, not wanting her ass waving in his face more than she needed. As soon as Cleo sensed she had a little bit of freedom, she bolted for Alex, rolling on her back and wiggled shamelessly for him, displaying her lady parts for him like the attention-slut she was. Even female dogs loved Alex. Too bad Lucy wanted to do the same and he only saw her as something that she still needed to clean up in the kennels out back.
“I’ve got this, Alex. Colleen and I have this all under control.” She inserted a confident note into her voice, hoping he’d take the hint and shove off. “I’m sure you have work outs, commercials to shoot, women to date or whatever you pitchers do in the off season.”
He glanced up at her from his kneeling position on the floor where he was loving up on Cleo and smirked at her. “Jealous, Lucy? You missing out on some love yourself?”
She snorted, ignoring the way her traitorous body begged her to push Cleo aside and get those long fingers rubbing on her. “Not likely. I have plenty of men if I want them.”
He chuckled then stood, wiping his hands on his jeans. “Dylan also told me that Colleen was on bed rest.”
She bit her lower lip and looked away. Busted. She thought she could prove to her sister that she had changed. If she could handle the rescue on her own, along with preparing for the holiday adoption event, maybe her sister would finally stop seeing her as the big screw up and take her seriously. But no, Colleen had to open her big mouth. Though she couldn’t blame her. The adoption event was a big deal for the rescue. So much for family loyalty.
“As Dylan’s backup representative with the Georgia Knights, I’m on deck to help with the event and ensure it goes off without a hitch.” He frowned, looking about as pleased as she was feeling. “I’m not thrilled about this either but this event has both our names on it, the rescue and the Knights.”
“And you don’t want to see me screw it up,” she replied bitterly.
His gaze softened, almost as if he sympathized with her but she knew that couldn’t be true. He barely tolerated her on most days. They spent time together because her sister, Savannah, had married his teammate and catcher, Dylan, so they were often thrown together at barbecues and events. He had made his disdain for her well-known and she avoided him once she knew how he felt. Only she couldn’t help but appreciate what a damned fine looking man he was or that he was basically a decent guy to everyone but her.