• Make Your Move
  May, 2010
  Jodie Patterson's posh bakery is all about satisfying cravings. Her signature aphrodisiac cookies have been flying off the shelves...and giving Jodie some delicious ideas of her own.
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• I Wish He Might...
  March, 2010
  Nina Larson has a personal genie...seductive, sexy Alec! Her every wish is his command...and does she ever have some X-rated wishes!
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• Caught in the Act
  October, 2009
  The outfit was ridiculously revealing. Still, food writer Gina Thomas needed a disguise for the costume party so she could sneak into Mason Scott's office and steal a few photos to save her sister.
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• Hard to Resist
  July, 2009
  Like every woman with a past, she's trying to quit testosterone—but Jarod seems to know exactly how to break her willpower.
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• What I Did On My Summer Vacation
  July, 2008
  Edie Stevens is shocked when überhottie property owner Joel Roberts appears at her vacation cottage because of a mix-up with the dates.
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• Talking in Your Sleep...
  December, 2007
  Tightly wound Joy Clarke can't explain what's brought on these sizzling "somniloquies" about a complete stranger, no less. There is no rest from her wicked, wicked thoughts.
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• Pick Me Up
  August, 2007
  Only a very wicked woman would stop for a hitchhiking cowboy. But Lauren Baker is no good girl, not anymore. Playing it safe never got her anywhere, except alone and broke.
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• Untouched
  January, 2007
  Superheroine Risa Remington once had the power to read thoughts and emotions with a stroke of her fingertips. Until a lab accident changed everything.
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• Hide&Seek
  August, 2006
  Jennie Snow, aka former mafia princess Maria Castone, lives a secret life. In exchange for her testimony, the Witness Protection Program gave her a new identity--and a new job.
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• Flirtation
  February, 2006
  EJ Beaumont is one big flirt. Not exactly the best trait for a cop but it's an asset on his current undercover investigation for the HotWires team.
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• Friction
  January, 2006
  Sarah Jessup is supposed to be taking some R & R. A former hacker, she's now legit as a member of the crack HotWires team, investigating computer crime on Uncle Sam's dime.
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• Fascination
  December, 2005
  Sage Matthews's fascination with hacking into computers and creating bugs got her into deep trouble. Just ask special agent Ian Chandler.
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• About Last Night ...
  March, 2005
  Miranda Carter needs to jump-start her love life. Or make that jump sexy Colin Jacobs. Her best buddy is the perfect man, but the studious prof needs some...encouragement.
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• Virtually Perfect
  July, 2004
  Raine Covington has found the perfect lover -- online. When Jack's sexy words fly across the computer screen, he can seduce her in a heartbeat.
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Book three of the HotWires series

Reader Reviews

Excerpt from Flirtation

From Chapter Three of Flirtation...

EJ stretched out on the beat-up leather sofa that dominated the den in his family home in Ghent, an upscale neighborhood close to downtown Norfolk. Though he loved the house, he didn't spend much time here. In fact, he knew that deep down he was avoiding being there more than he had to. It had just gotten too quiet. Unless he had company — especially of the female variety — he would rather be out and about, doing something interesting, rather than haunting around the huge house on his own.

His mother had moved into a smaller house that their family owned near the shore shortly after his father had passed on, and his sister Grace lived downtown to be close to the office. It was a big house for one man, but he couldn't part with it. He'd grown up here, a bustling place with beautiful gardens, filled with children, guests, and pets. Maybe it would be again one day. His sister might get married, have children. She would probably want to live in the house, should that happen, and he would gladly find his own place.

Maybe he'd get a dog — walking dogs was supposed to be another good way to meet women. But that would probably require getting some little froo-froo pooch, and he wasn't up for that. Nah, if he got a canine friend, it would be a man's dog — a Great Dane or maybe a Lab or a Weimaramer. A solid hunting dog.

He hadn't been hunting since he was a boy, when his Dad and he would drive to the Virginia woods and spend more time talking that hunting, but he'd snagged a few ducks and some deer in his younger years. A dog would come in handy for hunting. But he was also gone far too much with his job to have the responsibility of a pet.

It was dark now, and the crickets were singing out in the yard. Still musing, he filled his wineglass, settling back and waiting for his appointment to begin; he had a few minutes yet. But surprisingly, just as he was about to switch to another window, the SexyTarot logo appeared on his screen, and Charley's sign-on signaled him that she was there. Early.

CHARLEY: Hi, EJB — are you ready? I know I'm a little early. My last appointment ended sooner than I thought.

EJB: No problems, I hope.

CHARLEY: None at all. How are you tonight?

EJB: Happy to be talking with you again. I've looked forward to this all day.

CHARLEY: Me, too.

EJ blinked — her direct response interested him. Was this the beginning of something new? His senses went on immediate alert.

EJB: Really?

CHARLEY: Yes. I was thinking about you. . .I mean, your cards, a lot today.

EJB: Why? Did something worry you?

CHARLEY: No, I was just moved by your last reading. There were some powerful moments, and I think we should explore what's holding you back in life. In love.

EJB: Why do you think anything is holding me back?

CHARLEY: Look here at The Eight of Swords. What do you feel?

EJ looked as she provided an image of the card on the screen for them both to look at. A figure stood blindfolded, bound, encircled by swords.

EJB: I want to help her. She's trapped, unhappy.

Charlotte sighed, staring at the screen. He was a rescuer. She loved men with strong protective instincts, and the rescuers. Not that she personally needed rescuing, of course but they were the knights, the real romantics. The heroes.

CHARLEY: Perhaps it would be worth talking about what inhibits you — what you are holding back, and why.

EJB: Maybe it means I'd like to be tied up and blindfolded.

CHARLEY: (laughing) That's always a possibility. Do you enjoy bondage?

EJB: I might, with the right person. I'm usually willing to try anything, once.

CHARLEY: I can see that — like we talked about last time, you're a very sensual man. You crave it — but you also want more. Something deeper, more meaningful. Does that sound right?

She was way off, but he wasn't about to let her know that. He was happy with his love life just the way it was, but he supposed she had a script of things she said to people that elicited certain responses. He was willing to play along.

EJB: I don't know. I enjoy women. I don't want to be tied down, but sometimes. . . .

CHARLEY: Sometimes what?

EJB: I don't know. I date a lot, and I love a woman in my bed, but sometimes there is something missing. Sharing. Warmth, I guess.

He watched the words he'd typed pop up on the screen, almost without him thinking about it, and he stopped typing, sitting back, blinking. It was happening again. With almost no effort, she managed to get him to tell her private thoughts, things he barely admitted to himself.

CHARLEY: So you are a romantic at heart. I felt that. You have an active sex life; your body is being engaged, but not your heart.

EJB: Do you enjoy romance, Charley?

CHARLEY: I think all women do.

EJB: I want to know about you.

CHARLEY: Let's draw another card for you first. See what's coming your way in terms of romance, of something deeper than one-night stands.

EJ waited a beat as she expertly deflected the attention from herself; maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought.

He saw another image pop up on the screen. The card didn't have any images on it, but displayed a group of sticks — what he knew now was the tarot suit of Wands — flying through the air, the Roman Numeral VIII printed clearly at the top.

CHARLEY: Eight of Wands — fire, movement, and change. This seems like a favorable indication of new opportunities coming your way, but there's some question about how well things will go, or if you are ready for what's about to happen.

EJB: You get all that from looking at one card with sticks flying through the air?

CHARLEY: (laughing) Well, I've talked with you a few times, now, so I'm detecting patterns. And it's not all about the image itself. It's the suit, the number, the element the suit represents. In this case, fire. Swords, in your previous card, represent air — your intellectual side, your thoughts, the mind. So the issues are between mind and heart, rationality and desire.

Looking at it elementally, fire is fed by air — so your thoughts, what's going in inside your mind, is feeding these passions you feel, maybe in some form of dreams or wishes, but they're also holding you back, as the Eight of Swords indicated. You're being careful. Guarded. The question is why? What are you worried about?

The fact that both cards are eights is also important — numbers have lots of various interpretations, but in Chinese mythology this number is very auspicious, suggesting a time of growth and change, new beginnings. So I think you have a lot to look forward to, though it doesn't hurt to be careful. When we want something bad enough, we can be blind to the consequences.

EJ sat back, watching her analysis roll out on the screen, fascinated in spite of himself, and then quickly got a grip. This was the danger, that she could figure out what he needed to hear — that was the hook. And she was very good — however she arrived at her conclusions, or maybe it was in the delivery, she made him want to believe.

EJ decided the moment was right to push things a little farther.

EJB: It feels good to talk with someone who understands. Who can see the things I need, what's inside.

CHARLEY: We all need that.

EJB: True, but I feel like we have a . . . connection. You have somehow managed to see things about me that even my closest friends don't know.

Charlotte sat back, looking warily at the words EJB typed in, unsure how to respond. It seemed like he was reading her mind, mirroring her thoughts. She'd been purposely trying to keep things less sexual tonight, focusing on his deeper needs, emotional situation, but even so, she still had this incredible feeling of electricity just talking to him. And apparently he felt it, too.

She knew it was breaking her own set of professional rules, but she followed her heart.

CHARLEY: I know. I've felt it, too. But it's not right for me to get personally involved with a client . . . .

EJB: How could this not be personal? Everything we've shared has been personal. Intimate.

CHARLEY: I've just never had this happened before. It's very powerful.

Yeah, right. EJ rolled his eyes, ignoring his own increased heartbeat, telling himself it was just excitement at setting the trap while he tapped at the keys, playing out the conversation.

EJB: Me, either. But I feel like the change that the cards say is coming into my life is. . .you. Maybe the risk I'm supposed to take involves you.

CHARLEY: You really think so?

Charlotte's heart beat furiously, and her palms were actually sweating. On some level she'd known this was going to happen — there had just been something about their previous conversation that suggested it — but still, she couldn't believe it was really happening. It was so . . . romantic. She and this man she'd never met had a genuine, spiritual connection, and it was the most romantic thing she'd ever experienced. He wasn't like other men who were condescending about her spirituality or her tarot reading, or who approach sex like a sport. EJB was sensitive, expressive, and open.

EJB: What do the cards say?

She picked up her deck, and shuffled carefully, holding the deck close by her heart, feeling the cool breeze from the window against her overly-warm skin as she cut the deck and took the card from the top, flipping it over slowly, hoping. . . . The Lovers.