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life’s grand. Attitude is everything and right now yours sucks.”
    Yank couldn’t see well but he figured Roper was scowling at him about now. “I’m sure you’re having a rough time after the series, but obviously something more has you bent out of shape. The happy-go-lucky guy I know wouldn’t be sulking like a pansy.”
    Roper rose and Yank felt the other man’s height close beside him.
    “You want to know what’s bothering me? Where should I start? I could live with last year’s disaster if I thought I was definitely coming back, but we both know the shoulder’s not healing the way it should.
    That means my career may be shorter than we’d anticipated. Not a financial problem given my huge contract, right?”
    “Unless you pissed it away…” Yank said, not at all serious.
    “You know me better than that. But my family’s working hard at doing it for me.”
    Yank blinked. “Ever hear just say no? ”
    “You try telling them that.”
    Yank wasn’t worried about Roper’s future. The younger man had come to him for investment advice and Yank knew he’d diversified wisely. But if his career was shortened due to injury and his family was going through his money like water, Yank could understand the man’s distress. “Slow ’em down, then,” Yank suggested.
    “Yeah, I’m trying,” Roper muttered. “Do me a favor? Tell Micki I need time to myself. If she doesn’t quit worrying and sending you around to check on me, I’m going to let the Hot Zone go. Who knows?
    If I can’t play this season, I may not need a PR firm at all.”
    Yank frowned. “Micki’s not worried about you as a client, you ass.
    She’s worried about you as a friend.”
    “I know that,” Roper said, sounding more subdued and apologetic.
    “I appreciate her concern, but there’s nothing she can do unless she’s got a magic cure for the shoulder.”
    Even Yank knew when to give a man space, and John Roper needed it more than Yank had realized. “I’ll make you a deal,” he said to the man he both liked and admired.
    “What’s that?”
    “Come to the party and I promise nobody will be talking business.
    You could use some time to relax. No media invited. What do you say?”
    Roper remained silent for too long.

    Obviously the man was tense and strung tight if he couldn’t bring himself to say he’d come to a party. “When was the last time you got laid?” Yank asked, voicing the first question that came to mind.
    “None of your damn business.”
    Yank chuckled at the quick answer. “Then it’s been too damn long.”
    Yank had seen the symptoms in other good men, as well. Men who spent too much time alone and needed a woman in their lives. Not that he’d know…No sir, but he knew Roper needed a distraction from focusing on his World Series screwup or the start of spring training in February.
    Too bad Yank had already hooked up his three nieces with solid men. But just because his girls were taken didn’t mean Yank couldn’t work his magic with Roper and another woman.
    But who could he find to put up with a man who liked things orderly and neat, designer and upscale? He went through the women in his office, then smacked himself for being so dense. He should have thought of the female solution to Roper’s problems sooner.
    Amy Stone, the niece of his partner, Spencer Atkins. She was feisty, pretty and single, and only an idiot could have missed the sparks between Amy and Roper at Sophie’s wedding. Roper’s date had been a bimbo but not an idiot, Yank thought, recalling the drink she’d spilled down Roper’s shirt and their immediate exit right afterward. And since Amy had just moved to the city and taken a position at the Hot Zone, she didn’t know many people in town. Yes, sir, Amy was his answer.
    He didn’t intend to tell Roper, though. Yank loved surprises. “Come to the party,” Yank insisted.
    “You’ll leave me alone if I do?”
    Yank nodded. “Scout’s honor,” he said, raising his