“It’s just a small bruise.”

Jordan had been waiting for well over an hour for Carter Fox to make an appearance. She couldn’t believe people actually did this after every game, especially out of the comfort of the environmentally controlled stadium. Even this late in the day it was humid and hot, so the families with younger kids had long since given up.

The guy standing next to her was nice enough, but she had an idea it wasn’t the ball he was eyeing. She lowered the hand holding it until she saw his eyes follow it right down to her crotch.

She really wished Carter would hurry it up.

“Still,” he said, his eyes flicking back and forth between her eyes and—presumably—the ball, “it takes a certain kind of man to punch a woman, even for Carter Fox’s 30th home run ball.”

Jordan just smiled and nodded in agreement. Texas men were so macho. At times it was endearing: holding doors open, always adding ma’am to the end of a sentence. Other times it was a bit patronizing.

“Hey, beautiful.”

She turned at the cocky voice and saw Carter Fox heading straight for her. She nearly gasped at the size of him as he made the final approach. It wasn’t even that he was overly large, he just had a presence.

Her heart skipped a beat as those green eyes of his blazed down at her with a wicked twinkle. Standing this close to him, she noticed that he had a tiny little indentation at the end of his long, straight nose. It would have been almost adorable…if it hadn’t been in between those devilish eyes and even more sinful grin. She could smell the fresh scent of whatever he had used to shower with, but also the musky undertone of pure, animalistic heat. It was intoxicating. He was intoxicating.

She realized Carter and everyone else around her were waiting for a response. The look he gave her was expectant, as though he was used to a certain type of response to his attentions. After the remaining butterflies in her stomach fluttered away, Jordan came back to herself. She wasn’t about to be another one of Carter Fox’s notorious conquests. She was just here to get this ball signed and maybe get him to come inside and meet with Ben.

Just as she was about to ask, that wicked grin flashed again.

“I’ll give you $10,000 for that right now,” he said, his eyes wandering down her body.

She blinked in surprise and the crowd around her whistled, oohing and ahhing at the number.

It took her a moment to remember the ball in her hand.

$10,000? For a ball? Certainly, that amount was probably nothing to Carter Fox, but it was still just a ball. It would probably be worthless when he hit another home run at his next game. Then she remembered that this wasn’t even her ball to bargain with.

“I can’t really—”

“$50,000 then.”

Now she was in literal shock. So was the crowd around her, finally awed into silence. That was more than an entire year of her law school tuition!

Ohhh Ben, you’re lucky I like you so much.

Jordan had just enough pep left in her despite the craziness of the day to plaster on her most flattering smile, batting her eyelashes prettily as she went right into her spiel. Might as well stroke his male ego a bit, strictly for Ben’s sake of course.

“It’s not really my ball to sell. I caught it for my cousin. But if you could sign it, that would be great!”

He grinned and she felt herself get feverish just as she had during the game. It was a bit surreal, having Carter Fox’s attention all on her.

“Actually,” she continued, “I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind coming with me once you’re done here with your fans. My cousin absolutely adores you. Perhaps you could hang out with us a bit?”

He stared at her with a somewhat confused smile, as though trying to understand what she had just said.

“Wait a second,” he said, and then he leaned in closer with a lowered voice. “Is this like a…ménage thing you’re trying to set up?”

Jordan’s smile was frozen on her face, while her brain tried to catch up with what her ears were hearing. It was just long enough for Carter to assume a threesome was exactly what she was offering up.

“Well, hell, I’m game,” he continued. “Especially, if she’s as gorgeous as you are.”

Jordan’s brain finally got the memo. She?…Gorgeous?…Ben?

Carter had no idea her cousin was a 12-year-old boy. Why would he? He apparently only had sex on the brain. She heard the, mostly male, crowd around her start to chuckle. Her face burned with embarrassment.

“That’s…ew! What in the hell is the matter with you?” She gave him a withering look of revulsion, which was only mildly tempered by the fact that it made that stupid grin on his face disappear.

“A ménage a trois? You really are a disgusting jerk. You have no idea how to treat your fans, and zero respect for women. All I wanted was your damn signature on your damn ball, and for my cousin to meet his idol.” She noted with satisfaction the flash of confusion in his eyes at the word “his.”

“But obviously, the amazing Carter Fox is too much of a womanizing perv to bother meeting his true fans, unless, of course, they come packaged with the right amount of T & A for his personal enjoyment. Maybe it’s time Houston woke up and realized that for once.

“As for the ball, I’d toss it into the gutter, where your mind obviously is, before selling it to you, even if you offered fifty million dollars. Unfortunately, it’s not mine to throw out. Keep your damn money.”

Now his face was a mixture of stunned amusement, which only pissed her off even more. He wasn’t even taking this seriously.

She had a strong urge to slap him, but that would probably only make him grin again. Instead, she just walked away.

* * *

Jordan felt completely tainted as she walked back inside where she had left Ben in the comfort of the air conditioned front area.

The man had literally suggested a ménage a trois—in front of everyone! Who did that? He definitely lived up to the playboy image she’d seen in the media, she just hadn’t expected to be confronted with it so…blatantly. She shuddered with disgust, realizing this was the man that Ben looked up to.

Seeing Carter in person, she could see why people had a tendency to idol-worship him, even beyond his notorious home run streak. He was even more imposing up close and personal than he had been on the huge screen in the stadium. He had towered over her 5’7” height like a mountain, muscles blatantly flexing. She didn’t need to touch them to know that they were hard as granite. Hard enough to hit 30 home runs so far this season.

She shook it off as she saw Ben sitting where she had left him. Not knowing how long it would take for Carter to actually make an appearance, she hadn’t wanted Ben spending all that time leaning on his crutches in the heat. Now she was glad she’d left him there.

As she approached him, Jordan realized that she had completely neglected to get the ball signed. In fact, she had even threatened to throw the damned thing into a sewer. She frowned, trying to think up an excuse.

She certainly wasn’t going to mention the ménage.

“Hey Ben,” she said tossing the ball up in the air. “Sorry, but I couldn’t get him to sign it. He kind of just rushed off before I had a chance to talk to him.”

Looking at the disappointment in his face, she felt bad. It made her that much more pissed off at Carter Fox. If he hadn’t been such a manwhore, then she wouldn’t have been too flustered to remember to get the signature despite what he’d said.

“Excuse me miss?”

She turned around at the sound of the voice behind her. It belonged to a lanky, short man with a press badge around his neck, wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a slightly smug smile look on his face. For some reason, when he saw Ben, the smile grew to one that could compete with that of a kid in a candy store.

“Lucas Grabow, journalist, for Lone Star State Baseball,” he pointed to the press badge on his chest. “I was just wondering if I could do a profile on the lucky person who caught Carter Fox’s 30th home run ball.”

That was the last thing Jordan wanted, especially after the riot act she’d just read the man who’d hit that ball. In retrospect, it probably hadn’t been the smartest move. Especially not for someone who wanted to get a permanent position at Morris & Gibson next year. She was working at the law firm as an associate this summer before her third and final year.

She took a closer look at the badge. It certainly seemed legit.

“Cool!” Ben exclaimed. “An actual interview!”

“Actually, we should probably get going.”

Lucas just continued, taking his cue from Ben instead of Jordan. “You two wouldn’t happen to be related, would you? I can certainly see the resemblance.”

“Yeah, she’s my cousin,” Ben piped, before Jordan could stop him. “She caught the ball for me since I couldn’t.” He awkwardly lifted his leg up to show Lucas the obvious.

Lucas gave an appreciative chuckle.

“Well, this would make a perfect story. A girl, er, woman,” he gave a meaningful grin toward Jordan, which didn’t give off the female empowerment vibe he was probably going for, “manages to catch Carter Fox’s 30th home run ball, while fighting off an army of attackers, all for her younger cousin who is…”

He wrinkled his brow at Ben. “Say, what is the deal with the crutches?”

“Excuse me?” she exclaimed.

“I was hit by a drunk driver while I was riding my bike.” Ben didn’t seem too perturbed by the question, despite the blunt manner in which it had been asked. It had been well over a month since the accident, which had left the entire family traumatized at the time. By now he was used to people asking about the full-leg cast, even enjoying the attention a bit.

“You know, it’s been a long day and we’re just trying to get home now,” Jordan said, already feeling the weight of the day wearing on her.

“It would make a nice little memento of this day for you,” Lucas offered.

Which was the last thing Jordan wanted.

And the very thing Ben wanted.

“Come on Jordan! This would be almost as cool as Carter signing the ball!” Ben said, a pleading look in his eyes as he turned to his cousin.

Oh, Ben!

He was still young enough to be thrilled with the idea of being famous. Unfortunately, now the journalist had her name.

Ben just plowed right on, oblivious to the ambivalence his older cousin was feeling about this whole thing. “Could you get our picture too? I’m going to print it out and frame it next to the ball in my room.”

“Absolutely, buddy!” Lucas seemed even more thrilled with that idea than Ben was.

“Awesome!”

“Absolutely not,” Jordan said. The last thing she needed was a picture cementing everything she was now regretting about this day.

“Oh come on, Jordan,” Ben begged, using those damn puppy-dog eyes on her that had been working all day. “I could show all my friends and they’d think it’s the coolest.”

For heaven’s sake, the boy could make Tiny Tim seem like Ebenezer Scrooge. The crutches certainly helped. It reminded her of the shitty year he’d had so far. She had disappointed Ben once already today, she might as well give him this.

“Okay, fine,” she sighed. After all, it was just a harmless little puff piece about catching the home run ball.

“Perfect! Now, why don’t you stand up so you’re next to your pretty cousin, Mr…?”

“Ben. Ben Douglas. And this is Jordan Douglas,” Ben said, happy to be as accommodating as possible.

“Got it,” Lucas said, writing their names down. “And how old are you, buddy?”

“Twelve,” Ben said proudly. “And Jordan is twenty-four.”

Which was something she didn’t feel was particularly relevant. Before she could give Ben a good what for, Lucas was on to the photography.

“So let’s make sure to get that cast in the photo so we can show everyone what a trouper you are.”

Jordan had the vague idea that the man was being particularly exploitative of Ben’s condition, but Ben was just eating it up. Lucas positioned him just so, making sure the crutches and cast were glaringly obvious, and then snapped a few photos.

“Great!” Lucas exclaimed. “Perfect. I’ll be posting today. Make sure to be on the lookout for it! LoneStarStateBaseball.com.”

Jordan frowned. She had missed the “dot com” at the end of the name the first time around. All the same, she breathed a sigh of relief when he finally jogged away from them.

“That was cool!” Ben said, beaming. “We got our own interview. I can’t wait to see it!”

Jordan was glad that Ben was enjoying it all. She had a sneaking suspicion she had just made a huge mistake.