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  She still wasn't golfing well, but at least she seemed to hit the ball more often and accurately.

  Across the fairway, Tami worked Luke at every opportunity.

  Watching Tami's performance made Ashley ill. She and Cricket would look at each other and roll their eyes as Tami batted hers at Luke and laughed at every amusing thing he said.

  It felt that their date was more like a twosome than a foursome.

  After six holes, Luke approached. "Hey Ashley, how about we switch off and you join me for a while?"

  "I don't know if that's such a good idea." Her pulse began to race.

  He walked over to her cart and removed her golf bag. "And why would that be?"

  "You've seen me golf. I'm terrible," she said, following after him "And I happen to know good golfers hate to play with bad golfers. I don't want to cramp your style."

  He lowered his sunglasses enough to gaze over the top at her. "Don't worry-I'd never let you do that" With a quick wink, he turned and walked away with her bag.

  Ashley stood, mouth open and cheeks scarlet.

  Tami pouted her way into the cart with Cricket. Ashley climbed into Luke's cart. He appeared unaffected as he grinned at her. "Ready or not, here we go."

  The cart flew forward and Ashley put her foot up on the side to keep herself in place. Apparently Luke liked it fast-at least when driving.

  Golfing together wasn't quite as horrible as she'd thought it would be. While her drives were short, she hit pretty straight, and Luke's constant banter kept her entertained. Each time he hit the ball, Ashley couldn't help but watch in awe. There was such power in his swing. His muscular arms gripped the club gently and his whole body wound up and then released in one smooth, awesome swing. His athletic physique was a beautiful combination of strength and grace. She wondered how it would feel to be held in his arms.

  "Are you this good at every game?" she asked.

  Leaning toward her, he gazed into her eyes. "Oh yeah, I can play any game you want. What'd you have in mind?"

  Torn between wanting to know what those games might be and smacking him for his provocative comment, Ashley settled for giving him a stern look and she walked around to get back in the cart. "Sports, Luke. I'm talking about sports. I asked if you're good at all sports"

  Pulling forward to drive toward Ashley's ball, Luke responded. "I love pretty much any sport with a ballbaseball, tennis, soccer, golf," he gestured to the breathtaking course around them.

  "And football," she added.

  "That one's my favorite," he said. "I also enjoy fishing and trap shooting. Basically anything that gets me outside is a winner."

  "So, are you bad at anything?" she wondered aloud.

  "Well, let's see" He thought. "I'm not the best at some, but I don't embarrass myself either."

  "Unlike me," she pointed out as he pulled the cart up to her ball and she hopped out.

  "I wasn't talking about you."

  "Right," she said, grabbing a club. "Who else is here embarrassing themselves on the golf course? You know, I just don't get it. How is it you're so good at everything you do? You play just about every sport, you're pretty smart for a dumb jock, and you're goodlooking. It's not fair."

  The moment the words were out of her mouth she regretted them. Why feed his ego when it was obvious that he was far more confident than anyone she'd ever known?

  Not missing the opportunity, he replied, "You think I'm good-looking?" The smirk returned.

  She'd love to wipe it off, maybe with her golf club. She tried to hide her flushed face as she prepared to hit her ball.

  "No, really" He refused to let the subject go, the irritating man. "You said I was good-looking. I thought I wasn't your type, that you were immune to all my charms" He leaned in close to her.

  "Oh, you are priceless, not to mention full of yourself!" Ashley swung the club and nailed the ball, sending it a respectable distance down the fairway for the first time.

  "Not bad," he said, admiring her best shot of the day. "You should golf with attitude more often. Anyway, you're the one who started it with the goodlooking comment. To be honest, I've been wanting to talk to you again. I'd like to get to the bottom of this thing about me not being your type."

  "Here we go again."

  "How do you know I'm not your type when you hardly know me? Shoot, we've barely spent any time together. How can you make such a quick judgment about someone you don't know?"

  "That's an excellent point," she agreed, hoping to change the subject as she climbed back into the golf cart to avoid the approaching cameraman. "You don't know me. So why have you kept me in this game when I've only been on one group date with you? You've spent a lot more time with some of the others."

  "True," he said as he pulled away, "but did it occur to you that maybe I know who I'm interested in and I'm just trying to give the others a final chance to show their best colors?"

  "Right," she replied, skeptical but also a bit wary. This was not the answer she'd hoped for. He made it sound as though he was interested in her. "You know," Ashley said, glancing back to make sure the camera cart wasn't within earshot, "if it were me in your place, I'd ditch the ones I have no chemistry with first."

  "Is that right?"

  "Then I'd get rid of all the money grubbers. You don't want to keep any gold diggers hanging around to get their hooks into you. Do you?"

  "Excellent point," Luke agreed, which encouraged Ashley to continue as he drove slower. The cameras couldn't catch their conversation while they were moving.

  "Good. Then you need to get rid of the annoying ones, the ones with irritating habits." She quickly glanced up at him as she jabbered on. "Bad laughs, body odor, and people who babble on and never shut up. 11

  "So, what's your point?"

  "My point," she said, turning toward him in exasperation, "is that you're doing it all wrong"

  "Am I?"

  "Yes. First of all, you've kept the biggest gold digger I've ever met."

  He eyed her doubtfully.

  "You've kept some of the most annoying people to walk the face of the earth. Don't you notice how Kate can't make a move without batting her baby blues?" Ashley mimicked her by tossing her head around and batting her eyes constantly. "Tami can't get near you without flashing her cleavage or bending over." She glared at him pointedly.

  Luke laughed.

  "And Jenny, yuck. All she does is hang on you and pet you like you're a lap dog. Doesn't it drive you crazy? I'd go nuts. Give me some breathing room. Who would want to be smothered like that? Especially someone like you. I'd think you would cherish your private space"

  Luke smiled as he pulled up next to her ball. He was amazed at her accurate descriptions of all the women and her awareness of his need for privacy, not to mention the fact that she could talk incessantly and not miss a beat.

  "But then again, you are known as a bit of a Romeo" She stepped out of the cart and grabbed a club. "You probably love all the groping and warm bodies pressed against you all the time."

  "Oh, sounds like you're jealous," he taunted, hoping he'd hit the mark.

  "Jealous? Oh please. I know when I'm out of my league, and believe me"-she lined up to hit-"I am so far out of my league I don't even know how to play the game." She swung and nailed the ball for the second time that day.

  Luke watched her ball loft through the air and land on the green. He turned to Ashley in amazement. "What makes you think you're out of your league?"

  "Well, for starters, I don't fit into the mold here" She gestured to Tami and Cricket in the distance. "Everyone here is known for their beauty, their smarts, their money, their sports ability, and their hot bodies. I don't fit into any of those boxes. I am the average girl. Plain Jane all the way" She tossed back her ponytail and pushed the flyaway hair out of her face.

  "Then what are you doing here?" He admired her feisty attitude and natural beauty. She was unflawed by the trappings the others seemed to want and need.

  "Yes, I am sti
ll here, and it's your fault," she accused as she neatly dodged the question about why she'd been chosen for the show. "How about we make a deal?"

  "A deal?"

  "Yes," she answered. "I'm out of here next round"

  "Hmm, I'll have to think about it. What's in it for me?"

  "What do you mean, what's in it for you?"

  "You get to go home, so what do I get?"

  "What do you want?" she asked suspiciously.

  He tilted his head to the side and raised his eyebrows. "What do you want to give me?" he whispered in a low, suggestive voice.

  She slapped at him with her golf glove. "You are such a pig!"

  "I know," he said in a devilish voice as he guided the cart along the fairway.

  She slapped at him again with her glove. Luke laughed and grabbed the soft glove. She started to poke him in the sides and pinch at his arm. Now Ashley laughed too.

  Suddenly Luke looked up and realized he was about to drive right into a sand trap. He swerved the cart tightly to the left, effectively throwing Ashley out of the cart and into the bunker. She tumbled through the sand, losing her visor, and ended up sitting and sputtering sand out of her mouth. Sand covered her everywhere.

  The camera cart behind them caught the swerve and toss perfectly, forever preserving it on film.

  Luke stood next to the golf cart and laughed at her sitting in the sand. Ashley glared, looking like she was about to chew him out, when she saw the cameraman closing in. She immediately closed her mouth and stood up as unceremoniously as possible and climbed back into the cart.

  "Let's go," she said, staring straight ahead.

  "Sorry about that. Are you okay?" He tried to swallow a laugh. "Look, you've got sand in your hair." He reached over to gently brush it away.

  "Let's go," Ashley demanded, her eyes pleading as she pushed his hand away.

  Luke glanced at her and then at the cameraman, realization dawning. He nodded. "You're embarrassed because they caught you flying through the air."

  "I'm not embarrassed," she whispered. "Please, let's go now. Please"

  He moved the cart away from the cameras. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to throw you out back there, and I sure didn't want to embarrass you"

  "I told you, I'm not embarrassed. I just don't like cameras watching my every move." She sat back, rigid.

  He cocked his head and looked at her in bewilderment. "Well, then, this is a pretty dumb place to be if you don't like cameras."

  "That's an understatement," she said softly.

  Luke was floored. Moments before she had been relaxed and carefree, laughing openly, bantering with him and flirting. Something had flipped a switch on her. She'd transformed into someone he'd never seen before. Something was going on and he intended to find out what.

  "So, what's your problem with the camera?" he said as he pulled up to the green.

  Ashley quickly hopped out of the cart, selected her putter and walked onto the green. The camera cart pulled up and focused on Ashley's uncomfortable posture. She stood with her back to the camera and looked out across the course.

  As Luke pondered Ashley's odd behavior, Tami and Cricket came flying up in their cart, Tami hooting and hollering as she drove.

  "Did you see my shot?"

  Luke turned to see Tami literally leap out of the cart and run over.

  "Look how close I am. It was only my third shot!" She ran over to Luke and jumped up and down in a blatant attempt to get him to hug her.

  Luke put a hand on her shoulder and stepped back. "Nice. Sorry I missed it." He glanced at Ashley and saw her begin to relax with the cameras focused on Tami. "Okay, Tami, let's make sure you read the green correctly and make this shot"

  Tami followed Luke to the other side to look at the grade of the green and decide the best way to hit the ball. The cameras followed them.

  The next hole was a par five. Tall grass lined one side of the fairway. Like a magnet, it pulled Ashley's ball right into the thick of it. Luke immediately hopped into the cart. "Let's go find the ball"

  Ashley still appeared a bit shy after the cameras had caught her falling out of the cart, but she no longer looked panicked.

  "There is no way we'll find the ball in those tall weeds"

  "Don't be so sure. I've got a pretty good eye for things that go missing." He smiled warmly at her. "I watched your ball and I have an idea where it might be." Luke reached over and patted her reassuringly on the leg.

  He pulled the cart up to the edge of the tall grass. "Okay, here's where it gets fun. Grab your wedge. It's the only thing that'll get it out of here." He was already out of the cart and walking slowly through the grass looking for the small white ball.

  Ashley followed behind with her club. "Isn't there some rule about how long you can look for a lost ball?"

  "So the girl does know golf." Luke grinned up at her. "Yes, as a matter of fact there is. It's five minutes."

  "I hate to spoil your fun, but I'm sure we've been searching for at least that long."

  "Nonsense" Luke was unaffected by the tall weeds that scratched against his legs. "Where's your sense of adventure, your positive attitude?"

  "I left both of those back in the limo," she said under her breath.

  Luke laughed as he quietly pulled a ball from his pocket and dropped it into the grass.

  "Aha! Found it!"

  "You've got to be kidding." She struggled over to him, fighting weeds along the way. "Unbelievable." She looked around at all the tall grass. "Nice job, Sherlock. So, how am I going to get it out of here?" It was at least twenty feet to the mowed portion of the course. She stared intently at the ball and nodded to herself. "I think the best bet is to pick it up and throw it."

  Luke laughed. "No, you can't. That," he said as he sternly pointed a finger at her, "would be cheating. And we don't cheat"

  "Maybe you don't cheat, but I definitely do, especially in situations like this." She stood stubbornly with her hands on her hips, staring at him with a look of challenge.

  "No you don't." Her attempt to look difficult and mean amused him. "It won't be that hard. I'll help you. First we'll push down all the weeds around the ball so you have plenty of room to swing."

  Together, they stomped over the weeds to create a small clearing around the ball, scratching their legs as they went.

  "Good," he said, assessing the area as though about to perform surgery. "Now approach the ball and get a feel for the pressure you'll need to hit it out"

  Ashley raised an eyebrow at him and followed his directions. "I am now approaching the ball." She walked cautiously up to the ball talking to it as she went. "Okay, I'm in. Ball, we need to get you out of here safely. What's the plan? Do you feel pressure? What pressure do I need to hit you out of here?" She peeked over her shoulder at Luke. "Oh, you want me to pick you up and throw you?" She bent down to pick up the ball, and Luke grabbed her gently by the arm. The touch of his warm grasp went straight through her whole body.

  "Oh no you don't. You're going to hit it fair and square." He let go of her arm and she felt suddenly chilled. He took the golfer stance. "You're going to bend at the knees a little more than usual and you're not going to take a big swing. You're going to swing with your wrists only." He demonstrated it for her. "Then the ball will pop into the air and up and over the grass."

  She gave him a blank stare.

  "You can do it. Just have a little confidence"

  Ashley lined up next to the ball and bounced at the knees a couple times. She stepped forward, staring intently at the ball, and bit her lower lip. Luke watched with a mix of appreciation and amusement. He saw that she was trying very hard to get the shot. She was so cute in her intensity.

  She took a deep breath and swung. The club connected, but at the wrong angle and speed. The ball popped up about four inches and settled back into the weeds.

  Ashley turned to Luke. "I told you so" She tossed her club down and stood with her arms crossed and hip out. Luke bit the inside of his ch
eek to keep from grinning.

  "It's not funny."

  "No, it's not" He struggled to keep a straight face. "But you are"

  Ashley grinned.

  "Okay, come here" He picked up the fallen club and motioned her to stand in front of him before the ball. She stood before the slightly relocated ball and glanced back at him. He handed her the club. "Now show me how you grip the club."

  She held the club in the standard golf grip.

  "No, for a wedge you want to hold it like this." He tried to move her hands on the club, but she flinched and then shook her hand out. He eyed her skeptically, then reached out and took her right hand in his. He turned it over and discovered blisters developing on her palm and fingers.

  "Ouch! No wonder you're having trouble." He gently caressed her sore hand, examining it as he went. "Why didn't you tell me you had blisters?" He tenderly held her raw hand in his large warm grasp. "You've been gripping the club way too hard." His finger lightly traced each blister. Goose bumps appeared up her arm. It was no surprise to him she hadn't complained. While she whined about her ability to hit the ball, she wouldn't complain that she was hurt. "You're supposed to hold the club as though it were a baby bird."

  "A baby bird?"

  "Yes," he said. "A baby bird. Here, I'll help you get this ball out of here"

  He turned her back toward the ball and stood with his arms wrapped around her like a warm cocoon. He leaned down to hold the club with her. Her silky hair brushed against his cheek as he repositioned himself around her.

  "Hold your hands like this." He moved her hands higher on the club and closer together. He placed his hands over hers, enjoying the softness of her skin. "Now, we're going to swing using only your wrists, not your arms." He slowly guided her through the feel of the swing until she did it right.

  "Okay, now remember to keep your grip relaxed. This time we're going to hit the ball together. Ready?" Holding her in his arms felt too good, much nicer than Tami, who used every opportunity to make a move on him. Ashley just fit.