TURN UP THE HEAT
by Lori Foster ; Christie Ridgway ; Victoria Dahl
Three sizzling tales explore a “sex-only lovers” theme as a first step on the risky road to love.
Three once-burned-in-love, twice-shy characters decide to explore passion rather than love by picking a sexual partner they decide won’t have access to their vulnerable emotional selves. In Foster's Love Won't Wait, waitress Merrily is too old to be a virgin, and most men consider her virginity a challenge to conquer. She decides to proposition her customer/crush, Brick. He’s confident, wildly attractive and a good bet for great sex, but he also seems kind. Brick makes it clear that he’s a no-relationship kind of guy, but as he gets to know Merrily, it’s harder to maintain his well-established no-strings policy. In Ridgway's Beach House Beginnings, it's been 10 years since Meg lost Peter, her first love, to the sea. She's avoided her idyllic, coastal family home ever since. Back for the first time, she is shocked to find herself attracted to a handsome visitor staying nearby. Too afraid to trust in happiness, she can’t deny she wouldn’t mind a little dalliance with Caleb, but emotions intrude when they connect on every level. Can his steady patience and gentle pressure convince Meg to believe in love and second chances? In Dahl's Strong Enough to Love, we meet Jackson Hole photographer Eve Hill, who thought she’d never recover when the man she secretly loved went back to his estranged wife. Two years later, she’s still hurting but has created a successful career on the heels of his abandonment. What she doesn’t need is Brian, the man himself, showing up on her doorstep, whispering words of love and asking for understanding. She lost him once, and they’d never even touched. Now, she’ll give herself—and him—one night together, and then it’s over. She can’t risk that kind of heartbreak, no matter how good he is in bed. Or how many times he promises forever.
Three romance novelists known for sizzling, emotional stories deliver an entertaining, diverting set of novellas hot enough to warm a cold winter night.