In the batting cage yesterday he focused on hitting the fastball with two strikes. He decides to swing as if there are two strikes already. He lines t...e first pitch down the line. The first baseman dives, coming up empty. Karim hustles into second as Jeff easily scores. Someone tells Sean that it is the first run given up this year by this star pitcher. Fred continues his new practice of praying, but strikes out. In the dugout he angrily tells Jeff it didnt work. Jeff says, God already proved. Valerie, if she had them in her lioness form, would have raised her eyebrows. Now here was a pretty man. The other, Cole, was handsome in a brutish kind of way, with a strong jawline, straight nose, a messy beard and the kind of bulk a woman would want over her. Or over her omega lover. But this man was gorgeous. He had warm, brown skin and short-cropped hair, a clean-shaven jaw, and an athletic, lean build. His cheekbones and wide, amber eyes made him almost too pretty. Almost. Valerie hadn’t. If you want me to call this off and spend the summer alone with you, away from the rest of them, I'll do that. I promise."She smiled weakly."Oh, I do believe you, darling. I'm sorry I'm so wobbly; I'm still a bit nervous about visiting your parents in case I do something silly, and I'm a little jealous of Sheila, because she's got the brains, the looks, the sporty body, and the confidence that I haven't." Oh you goose! My folks think that you are the best thing since sliced bread! I fell in. His mother did everything for the idle bastard and I'm expected to do the same as well as work," was her constant complaint. "Who does the sodding washing and ironing? I DO. Who hurtles around in lunch breaks to do the marketing? I DO. Who cleans the flat and the bathroom and the flaming toilet? I DO. I've had just about as much as I can take. And sex. He's bloody sex mad. Morning and night. Anywhere in the house; on the stairs and the kitchen table, even at the kitchen sink with me bending.