Jeff "The Terminator" Holder is the closer for the Texas Mustangs' baseball team, and revered throughout the Major League for throwing inside heat. His twin brother, Jason, the Mustang's catcher, leads the League in hits. They share a love of the game, as well as their identical DNA – but that's not all they share.
Pediatric Nurse Megan Long doesn’t know baseball, but she does know a sexy guy when she sees one – or two. When she seeks out an autograph for one of her patients, she falls under the spell of two of the sexiest players in baseball. Unable to resist their charms, Megan finds herself in bed with both men, but falling in love with only one.
Locked in an epic battle against the steroid pumping Martin McCree, Jeff's obsession with striking out McCree strains his relationship with his brother, and leads to an injury that threatens his career and dents his ego. Megan does her best to get through to him, but if Jeff can't see past his failings to find the love she's offering, he's going to strike out in the biggest game of his life.
What People are Saying about INSIDE HEAT –
4 Stars from RT Book Reviews
"You don't need to be a baseball fan to enjoy this searing tale of a menage that blossoms into true love. Emotionally charged both on the field and off, the story will keep you engaged from the beginning to the final chapter."
4 Stars from Night Owl Reviews
4 Hearts from The Romance Studio
Excerpt –
Megan leaned over the railing. She stretched her arm out toward the tall guy with the crooked smile and waved the program at him. Please. Please. Please. Pick me. Come on. She repeated the mantra in her head, all the while feeling perfectly ridiculous standing in a crowd of pre-adolescents begging for an autograph. To top it off, she wasn’t even sure she was waving her program at the right guy. She’d studied Christopher’s baseball card, knew the face she needed to find, but unless she missed her guess, the guy had a twin brother, and they both played on the same team. Just her luck.
There wasn’t anything she could do about it now. She continued to wave the program at the one closest to her, and prayed he was the pitcher – Christopher’s idol. In retrospect, it had been foolish to promise the kid she’d get the autograph for him, but she’d made the promise, and she was going to honor it – somehow.
An endless supply of excited youngsters replaced the ones who had gotten an autograph and left. Megan held her ground amidst jostling bodies and annoyed looks from the other autograph seekers. So what if she was an adult? It wasn’t like she wanted the autograph for herself – even if the guy was hot. Seriously hot. She’d thought he was good looking when Christopher handed her the baseball card he kept with him twenty-four/seven. But the card didn’t come close to capturing the real Jeff Holder, or was it his brother?
“Hey Jeff!” the kid beside her yelled. The man on the field turned toward her. So this one was the one she sought. Good thing because the other one had his own admirers at the rail. No way would she be able to fight her way through the crowd to get to him in time. Now that she knew she’d had the right guy all along, she renewed her bid for his autograph, waving the program with new enthusiasm. The kid next to her elbowed her in the stomach, accidentally she was sure, and despite being half her size, shoved her hard. Megan made a grab for the seat behind her to keep from falling.
She straightened and turned back to the railing, coming eye to eye with Jeff Holder. Holy cow! The man was gorgeous. Sinfully gorgeous. Cream her panties gorgeous. It had been a long time since she’d had that kind of reaction. Hell, if she were being truthful with herself, she’d never felt that jolt of awareness before. It was as if her body recognized his, and responded.
“Are you all right?” he asked with genuine concern in his deep, testosterone-laden voice.
God, he had beautiful blue eyes, surrounded by dark lashes that contrasted with his blond hair. His eyes focused on hers with pinpoint accuracy while taking in the broader picture all at once. It was more than a little unnerving – and arousing. Megan shoved the thought out of her head as quickly as it had come. She didn’t have time in her life for a relationship – not that one was possible with someone like Jeff Holder. A girl could fantasize though.
“Uhm…yes. I think so.” She grabbed the rail with her free hand to steady herself.
“Good.” He smiled and held out his hand. Megan stared at his even white teeth and his full lips she instinctively knew would feel wonderful on hers. “Did you want an autograph?”
“Uhh…what?”
“Autograph. Do you want one?” He tugged on the program in her hand, and she snapped out of her lustful stupor.
“Oh! Yes, please.” She studied his face as he bent his head to scribble his name on her program. Get a grip. Megan chastised herself. She wasn’t here to ogle the man. She was here to get an autograph for Christopher.
He thrust the program toward her. His gaze raked over her again, as if sizing up an all you can eat smorgasbord. She swallowed hard and pressed the program over her fluttering heart with both hands. “Th…thanks,” she stammered. And then he winked at her. Winked. She blinked in surprise as he turned his attention to the new crop of autograph seekers.
She hadn’t planned to hang around for the game, but that wink must have scrambled her brains because here she was holding onto the railing with a white knuckled grip as she made her way to her seat. Who knew you needed mountain climbing gear at a baseball stadium? One wrong move, a slip of the foot, and she’d tumble all the way down to the field. Yeesh! She dropped into her seat and closed her eyes to stay a wave of dizziness. Megan counted ten deep breaths and concentrated on bringing her heart rate down to an acceptable level before opening her eyes. Below her, waaaay below her, the playing field sparkled like an emerald, accented with red-orange and white. It was a spectacular view, as was usually the case from a mountaintop, even if the players were nothing more than ants on a beautiful picnic blanket.
She took in the spectacle. Families filled the seats around her. Kids with hot dogs and mustard stains on their clothes, parents passing napkins and juggling soft drinks brought a smile to her face. This was what baseball was about – fresh air and fun. She waved a hot dog vendor over and decided to forget the mountain of laundry waiting at home, and the fact that her cabinets were empty. If she hurried after the game, she could still get the grocery shopping done and do enough laundry to get her through the next few days. It seemed the one day a week she managed to get off work amounted to nothing but more work – without pay. It wouldn’t hurt to spend an afternoon at the ball game.
Megan reasoned herself into staying, and to consuming at least one of every treat offered by the stadium hawkers. How long had it been since she’d eaten a hot dog, or cotton candy? Years, it seemed. She refused to feel guilty about the extra calories or the dent in her wallet. Between the ticket, parking and gluttony, she probably could have taken a weekend cruise. None of that mattered. The sky was too blue, the grass impossibly green, and…she had Jeff Holder’s autograph in her bag.
Thoughts of Christopher slowly wasting away in his hospital bed brought a tear to her eye. Here she was, surrounded by happy, healthy children enjoying one of life’s simple pleasures with their families, and reminded Megan of the good she and others did for critically ill children. She loved being a nurse, and her usually upbeat manner made her a favorite among the kids in the special wards. It wasn’t easy keeping a smile on her face, even harder to keep the tears from showing when she looked into the hopeful eyes of a sick child, or the worried eyes of a parent, and knew there wasn’t a thing modern medicine could do to help them. Her work was gut wrenching at times but then there were the success stories. Those were the ones that kept her going, kept her doing whatever she could to give a child a fighting chance against the injustice of sickness.
She pulled the program out and wiped away the sudden rush of tears before they could ruin the autograph. If Jeff Holder’s signature could bring a smile to Christopher’s little face, Megan would give up every one of her precious days off to make it happen.
Megan tried to focus on the signature through blurry eyes. She fished a tissue from her purse and dabbed at the corners of her eyes until she could see clearly again. She blinked. Then she blinked again.
“No!” she shouted. Everyone around turned and glared at her. Megan apologized for her outburst, and tried to explain it away by saying she’d spilled something on her program. She received a few sympathetic comments before everyone returned their attention to the game.
Her heart sank as she read what Jeff Holder had written. She couldn’t give this to Christopher! Fresh tears threatened to spill over as she curled the program into a glossy weapon.
Of all the…
How could he?
What was he thinking?
What am I going to do now?
Disappointment roiled around in her stomach along with hurt and anger until she thought she might be sick. Or it could have been all the stuff she’d eaten. Either way, she’d wasted an entire day in pursuit of an autograph. And what did she have to show for it? A pick-up line. That’s what. Did he really think she was going to show up at the restaurant he’d indicated, at the time he’d indicated? Who did he think he was anyway? God’s gift to women?
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