Feel The Heat

Behind closed doors?

Relationship blogger and bestselling author Mimi Collins built her brand by talking openly about sex and love. But after a blog she posts negatively depicting a speed-dating site goes viral, she needs legal advice, and fast. Lucky for her, she has an irresistible advocate in Brent Daniels, her gorgeous new neighbor. The celebrated attorney and TV personality just took on her case. And he plays to win—in and out of court.

Putting the moves on his client is taboo, but how can Brent turn down his feelings for Atlanta’s hottest romance expert? He knows what a woman really wants: candlelight and roses, champagne and seduction. Until a legal victory leads to an intimate tête-à-tête...and a very public kiss. But with a tragic secret buried in his past, Brent can’t afford any negative publicity. And now that his reputation is on the line, so is his future with Mimi. And he doesn’t intend to lose his chance with the woman he loves without a fight.

When the door opened and he stood there, tall, chocolate and fine, she was at a loss for words. Who was this tanned Adonis with the brown eyes?

“Yes?” he asked, his voice melodic and his smile hypnotizing.

“U-um, I’m your neighbor,” Mimi stammered. “I didn’t know someone had moved in and I was…Well, I was being nosy.”

He smiled again as he gave her a cool once-over. Mimi wished that she had already dressed in her party clothes instead of the Atlanta basketball tank top and the pair of formfitting black leggings she still wore. “If you’re the welcoming committee, where are the cupcakes and muffins?” he quipped.

“I said I was nosy, not a cook. Besides, you don’t look as if you let carbs touch your lips,” she said, then zeroed in on his flat midsection, which she imagined held a set of washboard abs.

“Wouldn’t say that. I know how to work them off,” he replied.

“I bet you do,” she muttered.

“I’m sorry?”

“Mimi Collins. I’m Mimi Collins, and you are?”

“Brent Daniels,” he said, then extended his hand. Mimi took his hand and sizzling jolts of electric lust flowed through her body.

Dear Reader,

They say opposites attract, and in the case of Mimi and Brent, there is no truer statement. Mimi Collins is the kind of woman who speaks first and deals with consequences later. That’s easy to do when you’re a blogger looking for hits on your website.

As far as Brent Daniels is concerned, he needs a carefully crafted image to get out of his father’s shadow. So when these two collide, one has to wonder, how will their different ideas on life and love lead them to that magical moment?

It was such an adventure to write about oil and water actually mixing and working. I hope you enjoy the journey of Mimi and Brent as they steam things up between the pages.

Cheris

Feel the Heat

Cheris Hodges

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHERIS HODGES was bit by the writing bug early. The 1999 graduate of Johnson C. Smith University is a freelance journalist and always looks for love stories in the most unusual places. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she is trying and failing to develop a green thumb.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter 1

Mimi Collins pressed the post button on her blog and all she heard was her best friend, Michael Jane, affectionately known as MJ, screaming.

“You have officially lost your mind,” she said. “This is worse than my mother misspelling Michelle and naming me Michael! You do realize that Fast Love is going to come after you when they read this.”

Mimi shrugged as she read over her post about the horrific dating event she’d attended the week before. Fast Love billed itself as the last site singles ever needed to log on to in order to find love.

What a bunch of bull. The Fast Love Mix and Mingle, which was held at SkyLounge in Atlanta, turned out to be casting call for “let’s have a one-night stand.” The first two men who’d approached her held conversations with her breasts; the third man just came out and asked her when she planned to get naked for him, then he’d flashed her a wad of cash. She’d been offended and confused, so Mimi approached some of the other women who’d been invited to the event. Their stories had mirrored hers.

When Mimi had headed to the bar, she’d noticed a man sitting alone nursing a whiskey sour.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” she’d asked as she waved for the bartender.

He rolled his eyes at her and grumbled no. “This isn’t what I expected from the email Fast Love sent,” he’d replied, then took a long sip of his drink.

“What was in your email?”

“Hot girls looking for action.”

“Seriously?”

Nodding, he’d opened the mail app on his smartphone and showed her the Fast Love email. Mimi’s mouth dropped at the image of half-naked women underneath the headline: Hot Girls Willing to Do Whatever... Fast Love Dating Event.