Susan Andersen - Just For Kicks

“A smart, arousing, spirited escapade that is graced with a gentle mystery, a vulnerable, resilient heroine, and a worthy, wounded hero and served up with empathy and a humorous flair.”

—Library Journal on Burning Up

“A sexy, feel-good contemporary romance…a winner.”

—Publishers Weekly on Bending the Rules

“This start of Andersen’s new series has fun and interesting characters, solid action and a hot and sexy romance.”

—RT Book Reviews on Cutting Loose

“Snappy and sexy… Upbeat and fun, with a touch of danger and passion, this is a great summer read.”

—RT Book Reviews on Coming Undone

“Lovers of romance, passion and laughs should go all in for this one.”

—Publishers Weekly on Just for Kicks

“Andersen again injects magic into a story that would be clichéd in another’s hands, delivering warm, vulnerable characters in a touching yet suspenseful read.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Skintight

“A classic plot line receives a fresh, fun treatment… Well-developed secondary characters add depth to this zesty novel, placing it a level beyond most of its competition.”

—Publishers Weekly on Hot & Bothered

Dear Reader,

Family, whether it’s one my characters were born into or one that they’ve created for themselves, is an ever-present theme that runs throughout my books. Carly Jacobsen has assembled her own. She’s never had her mother’s approval, but she has the love of her best friend and BFF’s husband, as well as that of a young-at-heart older couple. Together the five of them have forged a clan. Between her crew’s unconditional approval, her beloved pets and her dancing, she’s built a life that fulfills her, and needs nothing else to complete it. Or so she believes.

Wolfgang Jones is not a people person. He’s a man with a plan for his future who doesn’t see the point in cluttering up his life with personal entanglements. Then he’s sucked into Carly’s messy life, his troubled teenage nephew is dropped on his doorstep, and his agenda gets shot to hell. Wolf fights the good fight, but like any good hero he eventually realizes what’s really important in life.

I hope Carly, Wolf and their tribe will make you laugh out loud and maybe shed a tear or two.

Plus, be sure to check out my new book, Playing Dirty, coming soon. In Ava’s long-awaited story, golden boy Cade Gallari may have broken her heart back in high school by publicly revealing he’d slept with the “fat girl,” but she’s a decade older and wiser now. Ava isn’t the gullible dreamer she once was—and she plans to prove it when Cade, hotter than ever, breezes back into town with an offer she can’t refuse.

Susan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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This is dedicated, with love,

to two special women in my life

To

Caroline Cross

For apples and cherries and friendship and

long phone conversations.

And for all the excellent suggestions

that helped improve my writing.

And to

Mimi Armitstead.

That memorable weekend you spent drilling

intelligent answers to dumb questions into my head

was merely one shining highlight out of so many.

You guys are the best.

~Susie

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

EPILOGUE

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT to do about him,” Carly Jacobsen complained to her friend Michelle as they paused to accommodate a group of Japanese tourists wanting their pictures taken with real live Las Vegas showgirls. “He’s stubborn, opinionated and just won’t listen.”

“A typical male, in other words.”

She muffled a snort. “Yeah.” Her feet were killing her, but she smiled prettily for the camera and tried not to feel like an Amazon as she towered above the tourists. Thank God she and Michelle were wearing the silky brunette twenties-era flapper-style wigs from the final act instead of the towering headpieces from an earlier number. That made them only a foot taller than everyone.

“Look at it this way,” Michelle murmured over the shutterbugs’ heads. “At least you can be grateful he’s got four legs instead of two like the guy I live with.”

“There is that,” she agreed. “Rufus has been one tough pup to train, but at least I have some eventual hope he is trainable.”

“Which is more than you can say for most men.”

“Right.” Carly had never had any interest in living with a man. And yet… “On the other hand, you get regular sex. I only have the dimmest memory of what that was like.”

They struck a couple more poses before easing away from the tourists, who bowed, smiled and murmured their thanks. Carly flashed them a genuine smile in return. She really liked the Japanese. They were polite, and that was very much appreciated, because she didn’t see lovely manners every day in her business. Especially among the male half of the population.

“You wanna stop for a drink?” Michelle asked as they crossed the casino a moment later.

“No, I’d better get home. I’ve got hungry pets to feed.”

Leaving Michelle at the little lounge they often frequented, she headed toward the dressing room to change into her street clothes before going home. She’d been dancing in la Stravaganza, the big production show at the Italian-themed Avventurato Resort Hotel and Casino, for so long now that she rarely heard the sounds of the casino around her any longer. But she was particularly tired tonight after spending the early morning hours wrestling with the dilemma of Rufus. He was the newest of her babies, as she called her rescued pets, and fretting over how she was going to get him past his recalcitrant behavior had made it all but impossible to fall asleep. He simply refused to be trained. And thanks to her new neighbor, she was very much afraid that the clock was ticking on the mutt’s fate.

So now every clang and clatter of the electronic slots, every rattle of the balls in the roulette wheels and triumphant yell or commiserating groan of the gamblers crowding the casino floor kept time with the headache beginning to throb behind her left eye. Which perhaps explained why, when a petite white-haired lady clutching a bucketful of silver dollars slammed into her with an oversize handbag, Carly, who was generally sure-footed as a mountain goat, staggered backward.