Page 25 of A Different Kind of Hooker

Those warm eyes of hers looked up at me. “What are you doing?”

“The guys wanted to come on your show,” I informed her, loving her surprise.

“Why?” she asked incredulously. “Because they want to impress my three followers?”

“Because they thought it’d be fun,” I corrected. “I mean, what could go wrong?”

“Uh…they’re reputations as big, tough, sexy, badass rugby players could go up in dust,” she huffed.

“You hear that, Heron?” Oscar beamed. “She thinks we’re sexy.”

“She does not think you’re sexy,” I drawled out. “She thinks yourreputationsare sexy.”

“I’m pretty sure that she said we were sexy,” Sean chimed in.

Shaking her head, Eliza asked, “What are we baking?”

“I figured we could do the sugar cookies again, but make sure that we’re using sugar this time,” I answered. “The real competition will come during the decorating portion of the show.”

“What’s the theme?” she asked, still skeptical as she eyed the guys.

“The theme is the Rapiers, of course,” Christian announced. “Since our season is ending soon, we figured we could celebrate our winning record.”

Eliza’s eyes were back on me. “I look awful.”

Before I could assure her that she didn’t, Oscar said, “Woman, our entire fan base already knows what you look like. Jumbotron, remember?”

She let out a heavy sigh, not sounding eager at all. “Well, fine. Let’s get this over with.”

I kissed her on the top of her head. “It’ll be fine, baby.”

As Eliza and I started to set up the camera, the guys started putting all the ingredients out. Since this had been their idea, they had insisted on buying all the necessities. When they had first approached me about wanting to do an episode for her, I hadn’t been able to stop laughing for a full minute. However, once I’d realized that they’d been serious, the idea had grown on me.

Once everything was set up, it was obvious that things were going to feel a bit claustrophobic with how big we were and how small Eliza’s apartment was. Not for nothing, but we were all rather large. However, it was too late to worry about that now. The important thing was that the camera’s panoramic view was wide enough to get us all in the picture.

I looked down at Eliza. “You ready, baby?”

She nodded. “As ready as I’m ever going to be.”

“Relax,” I told her “This will be fun.”

“I’m relaxed,” she lied. “I mean, what’s not relaxing about a bunch of rugby players taking over my kitchen in a bid to win a sugar cookie bake off?”

I laughed as she turned on the camera, then went to go stand with her team. Everyone stood proudly as Eliza addressed the camera and her viewers. The part that I loved best? She hadn’t gone to change or brush her hair. She was still wearing her housecleaning clothes, and she hadn’t bothered with her hair or makeup.

“Hello, this is What’s Next. I’m Eliza Dodger, and I’ve got a great surprise for everyone today,” she started out. “Some of the players from the Rapier rugby team have joined me for a sugar cookie bake-off. This time, they’ve made sure that we’ve got sugar with us, no salt.” The guys chuckled softly. “So, the theme is rugby, and because we seem to have quite a few viewers with us today, maybe we’ll let the viewers decide the winner.”

“And don’t worry about hurting Eliza’s feelings,” I said into the camera. “She’s a tough one, and she’ll take the defeat with grace.”

Sean snorted. “No way. You fools are going down.”

“And I’m taking our prize-winning cookies home with me,” Oscar announced.

“Hey, how do you get to take the cookies home with you?” Christian asked, scowling.

“Because I called dibs,” he answered easily.

“I’m sure there will be enough for everyone,” Eliza said, no doubt doing the math in her head.

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