âIf you need me, Iâm here,â Leo said softly
Taking a deep, unsteady breath, Corinne stepped back. As much as she wanted Leo, she had to keep her secret. Just a little longerâ¦. âIâm okay,â she lied. Backing away from the door, she murmured, âItâs getting late.â
Leo searched her face as though trying to gauge her mood. âYouâre right,â he said finally. âI should go.â Then his green-eyed gaze dropped and a corner of his mouth kicked up in a lopsided grin. âWhatâs that on your shirt?â
She looked down. Oh-ohâ¦. She looked at her nightshirt, suddenly noticing the words written on the frontâIâm Not Sleepy, Are You?
Leoâs grin settled into an intimate smile. And in that instant, Corinne remembered what it had been like when his lips had taken hers. Hot. Ferocious. And when his handsâroughened and strongâhad caressed her. She opened her mouth to speak, but her voice refused to work. It didnât help that Leo was staring at the words emblazened on the part of the shirt that covered her breasts. âItâsâIâmââ
âItâs okay,â he said, moving closer. âIâm not sleepy, eitherâ¦.â
Dear Reader,
Have you ever wanted to run away from it allâmaybe in a splashy, to-die-for car to bootâand become someone else for a few days? Someone whoâs wildly, provocatively different? In a place where you could act out a lifestyle youâve always dreamed about?
Well, Corinne McCourt, my heroine, gets that chanceâ¦although she really didnât mean to steal her ex-fiancéâs Ferrari, exchange her boring skirts and blouses for slinky dresses or end up taking the job of a bikini-clad babe in a Las Vegas boxing ring! But for all the external changes in her life, perhaps the most profound change is in the person she becomesâ¦.
And of course, it doesnât hurt that a detective who has the charm of Mel Gibson and the attitude of Billy Idol enters her life, curious to figure out just what kind of woman Corinneâs pretending to beâand liking what he findsâ¦.
So enjoy the rideâthe Joyride, that isâand indulge in a few fantasies of your own.
Colleen Collins
HARLEQUIN DUETS
10âMARRIED AFTER BREAKFAST
22âROUGH AND RUGGED
30âIN BED WITH THE PIRATE
39âSHEâS GOT MAIL!
To my editor, Brenda Chin, for keeping the faith.
CORINNE MCCOURT STOOD in front of the full-length mirror and checked out her naked twenty-eight-year-old body. At five-sixâgive or take a few inchesâshe wasnât exactly statuesque, but had strong legs thanks to her morning runs and a compact behind thanks to genetics. She looked at her rounded breasts and wished her live-in fiancé Tony Borgeson felt thankful for them again. Once upon a time heâd called them his âluscious vanilla double scoops.â She tilted her head. âThey still look scoopable,â she whispered, hating the question in her voice. What happened? Five years ago, when they first got involved, he couldnât scoop enough. Sheâd nicknamed him Bulldozer.
These days she was lucky if she got even a little dozer.
Playing with the gold heart pendant around her neck, Corinne surveyed the full-length mirror sheâd installed a month agoâone of her recent ploys to put some va-va-voom back into their relationship. Sheâd read in a womenâs magazine where couples and mirrors could be a lethal libido combo that ignited the fires of love.
Unfortunately, the only thing mirrors ignited in Tony was admiration for himself. Every morning, he preened in front of that mirror more than a pet parakeet sheâd had as a kid, checking out everything from his stylish tie to his killer smile. She once reminded him that he sold computers. Who cared about his smile? Never breaking eye contact with his reflection, heâd announced that a sale was a saleâwhether it was lawn mowers or laptopsâand first impressions were everything.
She looked down at her very unimpressive tummy. To think most women complained their stomachs werenât flat enough! Not Corinne. What sheâd give to have a round tummy. Round and full with child. Growing up as an only child, Corinne had dreamed of having a large family of her own. A family who stayed put, like Tonyâs large Italian family whoâd lived in this section of Denver for generations. Unlike Corinne, whoâdue to her motherâs various marriages and near-marriagesâhad moved six times by the time she was nineteen.
She slid her fingers over her midriff, remembering her girlfriend Cheryl, when sheâd been eight months pregnant, saying her baby was crowding her heart. âI want my heart crowded, too,â Corinne pleaded softly. Which meant she had to pin the wedding dateâsomething Tony swore he wanted to do but never got around toâand rev his engine just the way he revved his precious Ferrari, which heâd nicknamed âBaby.â
His choice of a nickname had always confused Corinneâdidnât he realize how much she wanted a baby? Their baby? But remembering her motherâs words (âIf you want a man to do something, honey, show âim. Donât tell âim.â), Corinne had kept her mouth shut. Sheâd never been as flamboyant as her mother, so showing wasnât easy for Corinne. But today, despite her flutterings of anxietyâmixed with excitementâCorinne was going to show, really show, the things she wanted. Passion. Intimate communion with her hubby-to-be. And, eventually, thereâd beâ¦