Debbi Rawlins - Extra Innings: Extra Innings In His Wildest Dreams

Ten years ago, the passion was ignited
And its only gotten hotter with time!

Join the editors in celebrating
a decade of wonderful authors,
irresistible storiesand great sex!

Look for all six
Special 10 th Anniversary Collectors Editions
from The Original Sexy Six authors .

Check out:

THE BRADDOCK BOYS: TRAVIS
and THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
by Kimberly Raye

HOTSHOT and GOING FOR IT
by Jo Leigh

UNDENIABLE PLEASURES and YOU SEXY THING!
by Tori Carrington

COWBOYS LIKE US and NOTORIOUS
by Vicki Lewis Thompson

TOO HOT TO TOUCH and EXPOSED by Julie Leto

EXTRA INNINGS and IN HIS WILDEST DREAMS
by Debbi Rawlins

Harlequin Blaze
Celebrating 10 years of red-hot reads!

EXTRA INNINGS

This book is for all the authors, editors,
marketing and salespeople
whove helped make Blaze a success.

Prologue

A Girlfriends Guide To Baseball
Which Hotties Will Hit the Big-Time???? By #1 FanGirl

All right, ladies, its our second-favorite time of year. You know what Im talking about. AA players are about to get THE CALL. You know, the expanded rosters, aka the 40-manand jeez, while I love baseball more than my cell phone, the rules and regs for Major League organizations are the stuff of nightmares, while the men who play in those orgs are the stuff of our dreams.

Soa September call-up is a player who is chosen to step up to the expanded roster, which means hes gonna be in the BIGSon a trial basis. Which also means these lucky few are going to be strutting their stuff, sweating and steaming up the sports blogs, and we, the faithful Women Who Love Baseball (Players), get to drool as we watch and predict who will A) be called and B) rise to fame and fortune and a career that will go down in the record books.

Who do you see making the grade? There are so many to choose from, and I want to hear your picks in the comments! We only have till September 1, so make your selections soon!

Here are my top three picks.

Dylan Andrews, 27, currently a shortstop for the Carolina Crusaders, is ripe for the picking and hoping to be called up by the Milwaukee Mavericks. Back from playing in Japans Central League, hes been burning up the field with his quick moves and awesome arm. It doesnt hurt that hes a mystery wrapped in an enigma (and a tight-fitting jersey)! Why didnt Dylan sign with the Majors here in the States after college? Why Japan? Was it for moneyor love? This opportunity is important for Dylan. Hes a little older than some and needs to show hes got what it takes to play against the Big Boys. But I have faith that hell be as hot on the field as he is in my fantasies, so GO DYLAN!

You know I have to pick Rob Perry, right? Yes, hes 33, but come on, hes not only a fantastic pitcher, but the man has STAMINA. So what if hes not the bad boy he once washes now a seasoned player (and I mean that in as many ways as you can imagine). One dip in his 12-year career is nothing! We all miss Rob on the mound (Did I really say that?) as the awesome relief pitcher and terrific closer the team needs. Okay, Rob probably wouldnt want to hear thathe was hard to beat in his career as a starter. But his arm still looks good and nothing wrong with being called to relieve or bringing in that strong close to win the game. Come on, ladies, are you with me? Dont we all want to see Rob cross the finish line with the Texas Talons?

Finally, theres the gorgeous hunk of a hitter Eric Lessing! The hot first baseman for the Beckerville Bulls has completely recovered from that nasty knee surgery, and is hitting his stride with swagger! Not only does he own first base, but with that kind of hitting, he could be looking at smashing the record books! My bet is that office pools everywhere have sprung up and are waiting to see how far Lessing can take this run. And my inside scoopers tell me that hes primed and pumped to get that Call from the Jackson Jaguars, and no one but no one takes the game more seriously.

Now, if I had to go with ONE PICK

But I dont! Lets hear itwho are the next-gen Superstars????

Playing the Field

DYLAN ANDREWS skimmed the blog. Inhaling deeply, he turned off his laptop. He didnt know why he bothered reading that crap. The last thing the Milwaukee Mavericks cared about was how hot he was. The only way he was going to get called up to the Major League franchise was by being the best shortstop playing today.

Listening to outside opinionswhether they were from baseball groupies or seasoned sports journalistsaccomplished nothing except to make him more anxious.

He got up from the wobbly hotel desk to get more coffee, decided against it, and instead hit the floor and did another thirty push-ups. If theyd been playing at home he wouldve gone to the gym for a workout after his run, but the Carolina Crusaders, his Minor League team, had three more games here in Tulsa before they made the trek to Milwaukee.

Man, he did not want to spend another season playing Double-A ball. If he had to, hed suck it up and bide his time, but he belonged in the Majors. Trouble was, so did four other shortstops in the Southeast League. And none of them had defected to Japan to play their first three years as pros. Of course at the end of the day it didnt matter if the fans considered him a sellout, or whether his manager liked him. The only thing that did was how much he was worth to the franchise. It was always about money.