Joanne Rock - Date with a Diva

“Damn, but you’re hot.”

Lainie reached out for him impatiently. “How would you know when you’re not even close enough to touch?”

He fell on her with a speed that would have done his sport proud. God knows it pleased her no end. He stretched out next to her on the lounger, molding his body to hers as they lay on their sides, facing each another. His hand tugged down the zipper on her skirt. “How about this? Is this close enough?”

“Not nearly, and you know it.” She wriggled her hips to ease the zipper down all the faster. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.”

Steering the skirt over her hips and down her thighs, he stared into her eyes as if he could see every secret hidden inside her. “Don’t worry about me finishing. I’m just going to make sure that it’s you who finishes first.”

Dear Reader,

When I first conceived the idea for the SINGLE IN SOUTH BEACH series, I paired off Brianne, Summer and Giselle—three of the owners of Club Paradise—pretty quickly. But then I looked at the last co-owner, burned-by-love divorcée Lainie Reynolds, and wondered who I could put in her path that would inspire her to take a second chance. The resort CEO and diva of South Beach would steamroll over the average man in no time.

Luckily, Giselle Cesare had a wealth of arrogant, in-your-face brothers running around Miami, and I chose Nico, the wild hockey player, to turn Lainie’s head. I hope you’ll agree these two make a fun couple, although get ready for some serious sparks to fly! This is one heroine who isn’t wading back into romance easily.

I hope you’ll join me for next month’s SINGLE IN SOUTH BEACH story. Her Final Fling will be a July Harlequin Temptation novel, and we’ll see what’s in store for Nico’s older brother Vito. Visit me at www.JoanneRock.com to learn more about my future releases!

Happy reading,

Joanne Rock

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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For the wonderfully supportive folks at Harlequin who make following my writing dream such a continuous pleasure. In particular, I can’t send enough thanks to the art department for the fabulous covers, the marketing and public relations departments for sending my stories across the globe, the production department for refining my word choices on those occasions when my tongue gets tangled and the editorial department for providing such a fantastic venue for series romance.

And for Dean, who is especially helpful when it comes to offering insights on the mind of the male athlete.

Thank you for the ten-year hockey education, and oh yeah—Go Penguins!

Prologue

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

Epilogue

CREATING TROUBLE in Club Paradise:

1 Initiate personnel problems among the staff.

2 Lay the groundwork for an explosive situation.

3 Publicize the whole mess on network television, or better yet—a full-length feature film.

4 Force The Diva—ice princess Lainie Reynolds—to remember my name.

The disgruntled Club Paradise guest crossed off the first item on the list while listening to the argument brewing in the hallway just outside one of the exotic hotel’s kitchens. The lush South Beach singles’ resort would rapidly lose credibility without a chef, and from the sounds of things, the new cook wouldn’t last the rest of the day.

Pencil hovering above the second task on the list, the intruder peered across the kitchen to the half-prepared food strewn across a counter beside the stainless-steel sink. No sense being premature about scratching the explosion item off the list. With any luck, all hell would break loose soon anyhow.

For now, everything was right on schedule.

Just the way uptight perfectionist Lainie Reynolds liked it.

ALONE AT LAST.

When she’d finally put a good thirty blocks between her and Club Paradise, CEO Lainie Reynolds found a bench near the ocean and let out the breath she’d been holding ever since she stormed out of the hotel. Always conscious of her image, she hadn’t wanted to be near anyone she worked with when she allowed the stress from her hellacious day to flood through her.

Setting down the flask of Kentucky bourbon on the wooden bench beside her, she let her frustrations hiss between her teeth in the form of an extended sigh.

Damn Robert Flynn.

She’d been divorced from him for almost a year now, so she hadn’t expected her ex-husband’s preliminary hearing to prey so heavily on her heart. Hell, she’d helped put the bastard behind bars after he’d cheated on her with a gorgeous younger woman, then proceeded to cheat their friends and business associates out of millions of dollars. He’d embezzled money from the resort she’d held a small share in and later reorganized, so essentially he’d stolen from her, too. He’d also cleaned out their checking account and used some of her personal money to buy up local real estate and sell it for his own profit before he skipped town.

Her divorce had been bitter to say the least.

Indulging in another nip from the elegant flask she’d never had cause to use until now, Lainie breathed in the moist, salty air and willed herself to relax. She needed the soothing peace of a quiet stretch of ocean to process everything that had happened today.

The news of Robert’s hearing had hit her hard, but she hadn’t been able to think through it with a film crew arriving at the resort to start production of a new movie this week. Having Club Paradise featured in the sexiest new action-adventure drama to be released next year could really put them on the international map.

But her life was such a screwed-up mess she wouldn’t be able to make the most of the opportunity unless she pulled herself together. On top of that, it would be torturous to be around all those steamy scenes in progress while her own love life sucked.

Only when her heart rate slowed did she allow herself to drag today’s paper out of her purse.

Fallen Flynn Held Without Bail.

There was a mug shot of Robert Flynn, her cheating ex, beside the headline. Underneath that picture there was a photo of her and Robert at a charity gala last spring, a huge Miami society event that had been sponsored by her law firm. It had been the beginning of the end for them since she’d caught him canoodling with some paralegal from her company during the silent auction portion of the evening. One of many in a long line of women, she discovered later.

Her eyes had been irrevocably opened that night after years of denial. But when the newspaper photo had been taken, that awful moment of realization hadn’t happened yet. Lainie was clutching Robert’s hand with the mindless conviction of someone who needed to be right about her choices no matter what the cost. She’d never been a clingy woman, but she’d always been certain that whatever she chose must be right by sheer virtue of the fact that she’d made the decision.