Colleen Collins - Joyride

“If you need me, I’m here,” 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 longer…. “I’m okay,” she lied. Backing away from the door, she murmured, “It’s getting late.”

Leo searched her face as though trying to gauge her mood. “You’re right,” he said finally. “I should go.” Then his green-eyed gaze dropped and a corner of his mouth kicked up in a lopsided grin. “What’s that on your shirt?”

She looked down. Oh-oh…. She looked at her nightshirt, suddenly noticing the words written on the front—I’m Not Sleepy, Are You?

Leo’s 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 hands—roughened and strong—had caressed her. She opened her mouth to speak, but her voice refused to work. It didn’t help that Leo was staring at the words emblazened on the part of the shirt that covered her breasts. “It’s—I’m—”

“It’s okay,” he said, moving closer. “I’m not sleepy, either….”

Dear Reader,

Have you ever wanted to run away from it all—maybe in a splashy, to-die-for car to boot—and become someone else for a few days? Someone who’s wildly, provocatively different? In a place where you could act out a lifestyle you’ve always dreamed about?

Well, Corinne McCourt, my heroine, gets that chance…although she really didn’t mean to steal her ex-fiancé’s 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 becomes….

And of course, it doesn’t 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 Corinne’s pretending to be—and liking what he finds….

So enjoy the ride—the Joyride, that is—and indulge in a few fantasies of your own.

Colleen Collins

HARLEQUIN DUETS

10—MARRIED AFTER BREAKFAST

22—ROUGH AND RUGGED

30—IN BED WITH THE PIRATE

39—SHE’S GOT MAIL!

Joyride

Colleen Collins

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To my editor, Brenda Chin, for keeping the faith.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

CORINNE MCCOURT STOOD in front of the full-length mirror and checked out her naked twenty-eight-year-old body. At five-six—give or take a few inches—she wasn’t 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 he’d called them his “luscious vanilla double scoops.” She tilted her head. “They still look scoopable,” she whispered, hating the question in her voice. What happened? Five years ago, when they first got involved, he couldn’t scoop enough. She’d 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 she’d installed a month ago—one of her recent ploys to put some va-va-voom back into their relationship. She’d read in a women’s 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 she’d 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, he’d announced that a sale was a sale—whether it was lawn mowers or laptops—and first impressions were everything.

She looked down at her very unimpressive tummy. To think most women complained their stomachs weren’t flat enough! Not Corinne. What she’d 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 Tony’s large Italian family who’d lived in this section of Denver for generations. Unlike Corinne, who—due to her mother’s various marriages and near-marriages—had moved six times by the time she was nineteen.

She slid her fingers over her midriff, remembering her girlfriend Cheryl, when she’d been eight months pregnant, saying her baby was crowding her heart. “I want my heart crowded, too,” Corinne pleaded softly. Which meant she had to pin the wedding date—something Tony swore he wanted to do but never got around to—and rev his engine just the way he revved his precious Ferrari, which he’d nicknamed “Baby.”

His choice of a nickname had always confused Corinne—didn’t he realize how much she wanted a baby? Their baby? But remembering her mother’s words (“If you want a man to do something, honey, show ’im. Don’t tell ’im.”), Corinne had kept her mouth shut. She’d never been as flamboyant as her mother, so showing wasn’t easy for Corinne. But today, despite her flutterings of anxiety—mixed with excitement—Corinne was going to show, really show, the things she wanted. Passion. Intimate communion with her hubby-to-be. And, eventually, there’d be…

“…A new baby,” Corinne murmured. Yessiree, with her new va-va-voom plan, she’d be married and pregnant before Tony ran out of killer smiles.

To get things va-vooming, her best pal Kyle had suggested she borrow his book How to Make Your Man Howl. Playing by the book, following all the rules, were right up Corinne’s alley…but the sizzingly sexy ideas in How to Make Your Man Howl nearly curled Corinne’s already wavy hair. Okay, previously she’d attempted some sizzle by hanging the bedroom mirror, but that act had challenged every cell in her inhibited body. She’d been so anxious nailing the mirror to the wall, the darn thing hung at an angle. And her desired result had backfired. Tony, preoccupied with the angle instead of the ardor, instructed her to next time hire a carpenter.

After the mirror idea cracked, Kyle reminded her that How to Make Your Man Howl had worked wonders in his relationship with Geoff. And if a gay man didn’t understand what made men tick, who did?

So Corinne had flipped through some of its chapters: “Handcuffs Aren’t Just for Criminals,” “Getting Wild in the Outdoors,” “Be a Gift—Let Him Unwrap You.” Corinne wasn’t sure about the handcuffs. They didn’t look very sexy in cop flicks. And outdoors? Her neighbor, old Mr. Valdez, might have a coronary. But being unwrapped? Heck, everybody in the world undressed every day…according to the book, all she had to do was think sexy in the process.