Dawn Atkins - Friendly Persuasion

An accented voice whispered close to Kara’s ear.

She glanced at the man, then did a double take. “Ross? What are you doing—?”

“I do not know this Ross person. My name is Miguel. I am a stranger here in your city and I am, sadly, alone.”

“You’re what?” She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Ross had smoothed back his hair, bought a stylish suit and now was pretending not to know her. He looked so hot, so sexy, and he wasn’t teasing.

“How is it that a woman so beautiful is alone on such a night as this?”

“I was waiting,” she said, then paused for effect. “For you.”

She almost laughed at the B-movie line, but then Ross—Miguel—looked into her eyes and said, “I’m so happy.”

At that, she did the most amazing thing. She took him by the lapels, pulled him close and planted her lips on him. He made a sound low in his throat and kissed her back, a hot, steamy kiss.

She broke off the kiss and gasped, “Is there somewhere we could go?”

Dear Reader,

Falling in love too fast—that’s Kara’s trouble, along with thinking that sex equals love. What better way to overcome the problem than having sex with an incredible lover she couldn’t possibly fall in love with? Her best male friend, Ross Gabriel, fits the bill perfectly. He’s the opposite of the steady, responsible, appropriate man she knows she’ll eventually settle down with. With Ross, she’ll learn to enjoy sex without complicating it with all that love stuff, right?

Wrong. The heart doesn’t care about steady and responsible and appropriate. The heart just chooses. And Kara’s heart chooses Ross. It takes the rest of her a while to catch up….

This was my first Harlequin Blaze novel, and I had fun describing the sexy games Ross and Kara played. I loved seeing her explore and take charge of her erotic nature, with Ross’s eager help.

And Ross…whew, what a honey—a dream lover—imaginative and energetic and sensitive. This poor boy took a while to realize this was the best sex of his life not because of the fantasies but because he was in love. Duh. The man was so dedicated to having fun, he was afraid to notice he’d outgrown his old life until Kara pointed it out to him.

I hope you find Ross and Kara’s story as fun and sexy and tender as it seemed to me.

All my best,

Dawn Atkins

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For my husband, David…

my own perfect stranger and best friend

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

“JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE SLEEPING with a guy doesn’t mean you have to pick out china patterns,” Kara’s best friend said, pointing her nearly drained Fuzzy Navel in Kara’s direction. “Stop channeling your mother. Sex does not equal love.”

Kara Collier sighed at the lecture. “I can’t help it. I’m a serious person. I want a serious relationship.” She downed the last dollop of her frozen prickly-pear margarita and licked the rim of the glass—salty as tears.

“You always rush things,” Tina continued. “You did the same thing with Brian. And a year ago it was Paul. What happened this time with Scott?”

“I just asked him if he’d like a drawer—for convenience, you know, to keep a change of clothes when he stays over—and he accused me of trying to smother him.”

“Affection-miser,” Tina declared. “I was afraid of that.”

“Not another Cosmo quiz.”

“Experts write those surveys.”

“Did you really think Scott and I wouldn’t have worked out?” Kara asked, filled with gloom.

Tina nodded. “Sorry. I might have been wrong. Sometimes I am.”

“I didn’t see it. Once I sleep with a guy everything changes. My mind starts running with plans and dreams. Maybe I should just stay away from men.”

“Celibacy’s a possibility, I guess,” Tina said, her expression doubtful. She tipped her glass to collect a mouthful of ice. Kara braced for the crunching. What did they say about ice crunchers being sexually repressed? That couldn’t be the reason in Tina’s case. She was the most sexually liberated woman Kara knew.

“The only problem,” Kara said, “is that after a while without a man I get kind of—” she squirmed in her seat and leaned closer to finish “—itchy. You know?”

“You mean horny, Kara. Just say it. Horny.”

“That’s such a crude word.”

“Crude but accurate.” Tina shrugged, her spaghetti strap sagging over her pretty shoulder. Tina wore her dark hair curved close to her face. She had petite features and a bow of a mouth—Betty Boop with a smart-ass answer for everything.

“Can I get you ladies something?” Tom, their favorite bartender at the Upside, shot them his darling half smile—Mona Lisa if she’d been a man.

“Yes, you can, Tom,” Tina said. “You can get my friend here a new attitude about sex.”

Kara’s face heated. “Tina,” she warned, knowing it was pointless to try to get Tina to hold back.

“Not my specialty,” Tom said. “I can, however, get you another prickly-pear margarita and a Fuzzy Navel, double ice.” Tom always remembered what they were drinking, even though they made a point of trying different things during their weekly wind-down happy hour. They went Tuesdays or Fridays, depending on how hectic things were at work. Today was Tuesday.

“Not his specialty, my ass,” Tina muttered. “That man has sex god written all over him…from that gorgeous head of hair to those size-twelve feet. And you know what they say about the size of a man’s feet.”

“Everything isn’t about size, Tina. Or sex.”

“Prove it,” she said, then glanced at her watch. “Where’s Ross? I want to ask him about the Emerson campaign.”

“He was finishing the sketches for the beer company pitch.” Ross was a graphic artist who worked as an art director at Siegel and Sampson Marketing, the ad agency where Kara was an account manager and Tina a copywriter. He joined them for a drink most Upside nights and was due any minute. He was also Kara’s best male friend.

“You should take lessons from Ross and me and have sex for sex’s sake,” Tina continued, “instead of wearing your heart on your parts.”

“You have such a way with words,” Kara said. “And that’s not fair. I try to take it slow, but when the guy seems right, I can’t help but think ahead. I don’t want to invest emotional energy in something that’s going nowhere.”