“You’d better be putting it on the highest setting,” Bre teased as Collin adjusted the dial on the outside of the cage. “I won’t be impressed if it’s slow-pitching you.”

“Slow pitching?” Collin repeated, giving her a surprised look. “Did you play some ball in school?”

Bre grinned and shrugged, innocently.

“You’re not very good at sticking to these rules of yours…”

She was surprised when he actually winced.

“I keep doing that…”

“It was your rule—if you want to call the rules off, I’m totally fine with it.”

“No. It’s important.”

She shook her head, not understanding.

“Why is it such a big deal? You didn’t mind when I was telling you about my dad…”

He shot her a frustrated look.

“Can we just drop it and go back to having fun? I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re pretty good at it.”

Oh, she’d definitely noticed. She couldn’t deny that they were good at having fun. Very good.

“Maybe I should come set the pitch speed for you just to make sure you’re not cheating.”

Bre walked over to the control unit for the automated pitching and pressed the button for the fastest setting. She didn’t know what a ninety mile per hour pitch looked like, but she was about to find out. Not that she had any intention of being an innocent bystander while he tried to show her up.

Collin stepped up to the plate and took a few practice swings to loosen up. He had his legs wide in an open stance and the muscles in his forearm twitched as he gripped the bat. The pitching machine whirred as it spooled up.

“Remember, you’ve got to hit all five pitches,” Bre said. “No cheating.”

“I just hope you live up to your end of the bargain: anything I want. I can get pretty creative…”

Bre bit her lip and for a moment considered actually letting him win. But there was no way that was going to happen. It’s not like he wasn’t going to enjoy whatever she made him do when she won, anyway.

“I’ll live up to my end, don’t you worry,” she said, giving him a suggestive leer. “I’ll even give you one free pitch to start. Just to make sure you don’t have anything to blame it on afterward.”

“A free pitch?”

“Just one.”

Bre didn’t have to wait long to get the result. A second later there was a deep thrum from the pitching machine as it launched a ball toward the plate. The thing was a blur. It moved so fast that Bre wouldn’t have even noticed it if she hadn’t been ready and watching.

Collin didn’t miss it though.

He stepped into the pitch and swung the bat around before Bre even realized the ball was flying through the air. There was a loud crack as the bat made contact. Collin sent the ball soaring up and over the pitching machine. If they had been on an actual baseball field, Bre had no doubt it would have been a home run, but the black netting at the back of the cage quickly slowed the ball until it rolled to the ground.

Collin winked at her as he setup for the next pitch.

“You sure you want to go through with this?” he teased.

“Don’t get cocky just yet, Wall Street. That was the free one, you’ve still got five to go.”

Bre had just enough time to move a bit farther down the perimeter of the cage before another ball was launched. She stood in a place that left no doubt that Collin could see everything she was doing.

Again, he didn’t hesitate.

Collin was uncoiling before the ball was even coming at him. Another loud crack sounded as he sent the ball flying to the exact same place as the last.

“That’s one,” he said.

Christ, he was sexy when he was standing in that batter’s box. The way his hips swiveled as he swung the bat, the confident way he stepped into it, and just how casual he made it look to hit a ball moving almost faster than her eyes could even see. A rush went through her, settling between her legs and she didn’t fight off the urge to touch herself while admiring him.

Crack.

“That’s two.”

Collin glanced at her and did an instant double-take. Bre steadied herself against the chain-link fence with one hand while the other rubbed her breast through her shirt. As soon as his eyes were on her she let her hand fall and disappear beneath the top of her white shorts. Another jolt of excitement surged through her body when her fingers instantly found her clit. She swirled a single, tiny circle as another ball was launched.

Crack.

The loud noise of the bat hitting the ball reverberated through her. It sent a flood of wetness rushing between her legs.

“That’s three. What are you doing over there?”

The only response she could give him was a whimper. His eyes on her spurred her on. God he was so hot. And obviously talented. Not just the things he could do with his body, but that mouth… She leaned all of her weight into the fence and rubbed herself even more vigorously.

The machine thumped and sent another ball rocketing toward Collin. His swing was a fraction of a second later than usual and his aim was off, but he still made contact. The ball went bouncing back to the pitching machine.

“That’s four!” He glanced at her, his eyes widening. “Damn you.”

God, his attention felt incredible. She always loved having a bit of an audience, but it felt especially nice when that audience was the hot and hunky Collin Hayes. Having the cage between them made it even hotter.

Collin tried to settle back into his stance, but he was obviously distracted. The funny thing was, she didn’t even care about the bet anymore. She was so close to finishing that nothing else in the world really mattered.

The pitching machine whirred to life for a final time. Her orgasm was so close. Her knuckles whitened in the chain-link fence as she squeezed. There was another thump and the ball rocketed towards Collin.

His focus was on her. He was going to miss and she was going to win the bet!

At the last possible moment, he seemed to notice the ball from the corner of his eye. He showed off just how powerful he was as his entire body uncoiled and twisted the bat around just in the nick of time.

The crack that came from the bat was piercing—far louder than the other swings—but the ball didn’t go flying into the air. Instead, it bounced off to the side before getting caught in the netting around the cage.

Collin wasn’t paying attention to the ball. He stared at her with obvious hunger in his eyes. She was the only thing he was thinking about. Not the bet. Not the bat or the ball. Just her. And, God, was it incredibly hot.

It wasn’t until Collin threw the bat into the corner of the cage that she realized the last swing had split the bat right up the middle along its entire length.

“I still hit it,” Collin said, making his way out of the cage. “I win.”

He may have won the bet, but Bre was pretty sure she was about to become the real winner.