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in his eyes. “This is your fault,” he said stiffly. “Wait till the Front Office hears about this one.”
    Her heart sank as he walked away, shaking his head. Nikki wondered if he wasn’t right.
    —
    She waited until the first inning was over, and then she accosted Jake. “What’s going on?” Her foot tapped in rhythm to the pen on her clipboard.
    “What are you talking about?” Jake asked, his brows arched innocently even as his head blazed blue. He took in her fitted slate-gray suit, immaculate white shirt, and heels. Frank appreciation gleamed in his eyes even as he frowned. “Don’t you ever get hot in those clothes?”
    His gaze met hers and she knew exactly what he was thinking. He would be more than happy to help her out of them, and more than happy to make her even hotter. Fortunately, he was smart enough not to voice those thoughts.
    “Don’t act like you don’t know what I mean.” Nikki ignored the little shiver that his glance generated and her eyes fastened on his head. “The wigs,” she demanded.
    Jake shrugged. “You said no long hair. You didn’t say anything about color.”
    Nikki’s lips parted even farther when she realized that the team had taken her edict as an opportunity to poke fun at her rules. Her eyes met the shortstop’s and she saw the merriment there, along with something else, something that made her feel flustered and disconcerted. Why did he continue to affect her this way? And how could he still look sexy sporting a bright blue clown wig? Squaring her shoulders, she indicated the reporter.
    “Great. I wanted to start off this season with some stories about the team’s new image. This will be all over the papers.” She shot him a suspicious look. “Did you put them up to this?”
    “Last thing this team needs is for me to put them up to anything.” He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Don’t take it too seriously. Sure the rags will have a field day, but so what? After all, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
    There was something so appealing about his little-boy smile that Nikki shook her head like a parent with a bunch of unruly children.
    “What am I going to do with you?” Her glance fell upon his royal-blue locks, and for a moment, in spite of herself, she had to bite back laughter. They really did look funny, this team of grown men with their clown wigs playing a serious game of baseball. If they’d wanted to get a message across to her, they succeeded.
    In flaming blue spades.
    “Where are you going?” He removed his hand to adjust his wig, his smart-ass grin deepening.
    “To do damage control,” she admitted, and then turned back to him. Belatedly she remembered that he had tried to warn her about contacting the media. A wry smile curved her lips as her gaze met his, and something warmed within her as she realized he’d tried to help her. “At least you didn’t say ‘I told you so.’ ”
    “Not my style.” Jake shrugged, but then his eyes narrowed. “By the way, you might want to make sure the press stays away from the new guy, Shaun Anderson. He’s from Southern California and is a little…out there.” His gaze switched to the dugout, where Chris was approaching the rookie.
    This time Nikki didn’t question his advice but walked swiftly to the bench, where the new player was talking animatedly to the reporter. She arrived just in time to hear Shaun explaining how he approached the game.
    “I just sort of go with the flow,” he was saying in a mystical voice. His light brown eyes seemed to be looking into another world. “I’ve got to get into the Zen; I just let the force guide me. That’s how I actually see the ball, using my third eye. It’s like I am floating, man, but in another galaxy.”
    Nikki groaned, aware that the other Sonics were smirking as the rookie spoke in a singsong voice. “I’ll take over from here,” she said to the reporter.
    Chris shrugged. “I got what I needed.” He gave her an