Susan Andersen - Hot & Bothered

“This start of Andersen’s new series has fun and interesting characters, solid action and a hot and sexy romance…. The introduction of the heroines of the future stories whets the appetite for more.”

—Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Cutting Loose

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

—Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Coming Undone

“Deft characters, smart dialogue, laugh-out-loud moments and sizzling sexual tension (you might want to read Chapter 15 twice) make this hard to put down…. 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

“Sassy, snappy and sizzling hot!”

—New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich on Baby, I’m Yours

“Lively and fun!”

—New York Times bestselling author Susan Elizabeth Phillips on Be My Baby

“Sizzling, snappy, sexy fun.”

—New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Crusie on Baby, Don’t Go

Dear Reader,

I’m often asked which of my books I like best. It’s a question I can only shrug at and reply that’s like trying to choose your favorite kid. Each book owns a chunk of me, and I love them all equally.

That’s the Scout’s-honor truth…as far as the big picture goes.

In the narrower scope of things, I usually love the book I’ve just finished the best—primarily because it is finished, because it all came together despite my darkest midbook doubts when I was certain it never would, and because in the end my characters finally settled down long enough to let me write their story my way.

Still, I have a sneaking fondness for this book in particular. I’ll even cop to feeling the teensiest sliver of favoritism. John Miglionni had been building in my mind for the past two books, and I truly knew this guy by the time I sat down to write him. He’s a former Marine with a troubled past and a bad attitude when it comes to relationships. Give them a week, he maintains, and they start to stink.

Oh, boy. That’s just begging for a comeuppance, don’t cha think? So I gave him his worst nightmare in the form of Victoria Hamilton, the one woman to walk away from him before he was ready to see her go. Being thrown together with her again is blowing his ironclad notions about the interchangeability of women all to you-know-where and gone.

I just adore John and Victoria and their assorted family, friends and foes. And when all is finally said and done, I’m tickled pink with the way their story turned out. If you are, too, and you want to know how things turned out with Jared and P.J. once they grew up, check out their story in Coming Undone, in stores now.

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This is dedicated to that wild and zany,

Whitey’s-territory wedding party

To the bride and groom, David and Heather

To John and Sam, Uncle Chuck, Mom

and those dancin’ fools, Austin and David

And especially to Colleen and Dave,

for sharing it all with me

It was crazy fun, and I love you all

—Susie

I’d like to acknowledge Marcine Egender, Co-Executive Director of StandUp For Kids in Denver, Colorado. Thank you so much for answering all my questions, and for your insight into life on the streets for today’s at-risk youth. I hope my interpretation of the facts you shared is in the ballpark. If not, the inaccuracies are mine alone.

PROLOGUE

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

EPILOGUE

FORD EVANS HAMILTON OPENED his eyes and blinked the blurry room into focus. Pain splintered through his skull and throbbed along his nerve endings, and he lifted a cautious hand to probe the back of his head. It felt like an overripe cantaloupe.

What the hell had happened? Hearing muted voices, the clink of heavy crystal, he drew his eyebrows together. Was there a party going on?

Images flickered and floated on the peripheries of his mind and his brow grew smooth. Ah, yes. That’s right. There was a party—the one he’d thrown to watch McMurphy squirm. Well, McMurphy and one or two others, but the point was he had guests and he’d come into the library for a box of cigars to go with the after-dinner brandy. And…Jared had been there, right? Ford scowled as bits of their argument came drifting back and he suddenly recalled the shove his son had given him as the boy had stormed for the door. Jared was nothing but a blotch on the Hamilton name. Both his children were big disappointments.

The faint swish of fabric brushing against the Aubusson rug snagged his attention. He turned his head, wincing as fresh agony stabbed like a series of ice-pick thrusts from cranium to tailbone. He was going to make Jared rue the day he was born. Peering sourly at the slowly merging double image of the person kneeling by his side, he demanded, “What the hell are you doing here?” Then he pushed the question aside with an impatient wave of his fingers. “Never mind that.” He extended his arm imperiously, furious that he hurt all over. “Give me a hand.”

“Oh, I intend to,” the person murmured. “I plan on giving you a helping hand straight to hell.”

Then faster than Ford’s confused mind could process the facts, the razor-sharp silver-handled letter opener that usually rested on his mahogany desk flashed downward. And his heart exploded.

“COME ON, DARLIN’,” John Miglionni murmured to the curvy little redhead. “Just let yourself go. You know you wanna—it’ll feel so good.”

He sucked in a satisfied breath when she did as he urged. “Yes!” he whispered…and zoomed in the lens of his camcorder on the woman across the field as she finally swung herself up onto the back of a quarter horse at least fifteen hands tall. His client, Colorado Insurance, would be ecstatic, as this would go a long way toward putting a serious crimp in the woman’s multimillion-dollar disability claim against the company. The injury she had insisted under oath rendered her unable to ride her beloved horse was clearly fraudulent.