Joanne Rock - Revealed

He’d been dying to taste those lips ever since she’d strutted through the restaurant.

Just when he’d been sizing up the situation, taking in her every curve and nuance so he could wring out every possible bit of pleasure from it for both of them, Jackie plastered herself against him for the most mind-blowing kiss he’d ever experienced.

She was like a sensory explosion, swamping every inch of him with tantalizing sensations. Her lips swayed over his in slow undulations, leaving him no choice but to seek entrance to her mouth for a more thorough taste.

Sweet and complex. Jackie tasted like a dessert wine and left him hungering for more.

But all the while he tried to drink in her taste, she was tormenting his chest with the soft nudge of her breasts. He could envision those breasts, those upturned nipples, perfectly.

And the image was killing him.

“Jackie?” He pulled away in slow degrees. They were in the middle of the sidewalk, for crying out loud. He kissed her one last time before backing up a step. He wanted to go upstairs with her and unveil her body at his leisure, not maul her in full view of her neighbors.

She smiled before she opened her eyes. “Hmm?”

“Do you mind if I come inside?”

Dear Reader,

A bachelor party seems an unlikely place to find romance, until the best man runs off with the reluctant stripper….

Ever had a mortifying moment that makes you wish you could rewind for just a few minutes? Jackie Brady, heroine of Revealed, runs into a doozy! I hope you enjoy her bachelor party mishap and the classy way she maneuvers herself out of the situation.

Because this gutsy, unconventional woman appealed to me on so many levels, I had to make it up to her somehow. Please let me know if you think I was sufficiently kind in sending sexy Greg De Costa her way! Greg is as committed to the fast track as Jackie is determined to forge her own path, however, so don’t expect their road to romance to be smooth.

While you are reading, I’ll be busy putting the finishing touches on my upcoming May 2003 Blaze title, Wild and Wicked, the sequel to Wild and Willing, Blaze #54. Visit me at www.JoanneRock.com to learn more about my future releases or to let me know what you think of this book. I’d love to hear from you!

Happy reading!

Joanne Rock

Books by Joanne Rock

HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION

863—LEARNING CURVES

897—TALL, DARK AND DARING

HARLEQUIN BLAZE

26—SILK, LACE & VIDEOTAPE

48—IN HOT PURSUIT

54—WILD AND WILLING

Revealed

Joanne Rock

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To my brother Neil, who reads Kant and Nietzsche, and now me! Thank you for caring about my work.

And to Dean, for providing endlessly entertaining insights into the male perspective.

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

JACKIE BRADY STARTED TO panic when her tail fell off for the third time. Thank God for duct tape or her fuzzy pants could have well been down around her ankles before she danced her way into the restaurant.

She finished her costume adjustments and smoothed her glued-on whiskers just as the elevator doors slid open. Careful not to tread on her ailing tail, she stepped into the penthouse-level eatery of a downtown Boston brownstone. Now all she needed to do was locate the birthday boy, sing her telegram song, and then she could reclaim her Friday night as her own.

So what if her stint as a singing telegram wasn’t exactly rocket science? It paid more than her daytime work as a copywriter. Both jobs were only a means to an end anyway. She was prepared to abide a few sacrifices to achieve her dream of composing children’s music.

Besides, there was a certain nobility in any job that involved making people happy. A nobility that could scarcely be diminished by the kitty ears perched on her head.

The squeak of her tennis shoes on the polished wooden floor resounded throughout the dining area. Patrons paused between bites of mozzarella sticks and greasy chicken wings to note the cat woman strolling in their midst.

Not that Jackie cared.

But then, she’d been causing too much commotion all of her life. There was the time she decided to sing the elements of the periodic table for her science fair project. Sure she’d ruffled the feathers of all the kids who’d made robots, but she’d taken second place at the state competition. Then, just last week she’d gone out on a limb at a singing audition by transforming a rendition of a melodic herbal store jingle into a semituneful Tarzan-inspired jungle cry.

Jackie was no stranger to turning heads. Or taking risks. Sometimes they paid off, like the science fair victory. Sometimes they landed her back on the pavement singing telegrams, as last week’s unsuccessful audition proved.

Still, she wondered how she’d gotten suckered into this last-minute singing assignment when all she’d wanted to do tonight was recharge her creative batteries and develop some new song concepts. She’d had an idea rattling around in her brain—some rough lyrics for a new diet soda commercial she would polish and put on her demo tape. But the Zing-O-Gram office temp had sounded so desperate when she’d called, Jackie had no choice but to cover tonight’s late-breaking gig.

Just her luck, she had to be the only Zing-O-Gram employee on call without a date lined up for a Friday night. Nothing new there. Sure she had plenty of offers. Heck, the cat getup on its own could usually elicit a few dinner invitations in the course of an evening.

But never from the right sort of guys. Jackie wanted a man who knew how to have a good time—someone who cared more about following his heart and his dreams than the Almighty Buck. Boston was full of gorgeous men, but they all seemed to be on a relentless career fast-track that Jackie refused to enter.

Too bad.

So she would locate Gregory the birthday boy, sing him a cute song for his special day, and be on her way back to her solo Friday night. She’d be fine without a man in her life, and she’d be fine getting through tonight’s performance.

Assuming she didn’t burst a seam on this two-sizes-too-small cat costume first.

Jackie took slow, shallow breaths to ensure the black fuzzy suit stayed in place. She could handle this as long as she kept her song in a manageable octave. Those high notes had been known to strain even the best of seams—she sure as heck wasn’t about to try shattering any glass outfitted in this feline shrink-wrap. She’d just keep the tune in a comfortable range and she’d have no problem staying in her garb.

She was singing a simple ditty at a birthday party for a six-year-old boy. What could possibly go wrong?

“MAYBE SHE GOT THE address wrong,” Greg De Costa shouted into the cell phone. He couldn’t hear a damn thing over the music set at full blast in a back room of Flanagan’s.

Struggling to keep the phone against his ear while he wrestled open a new bottle of champagne, Greg ducked out of the way of a rogue dart sent sailing through the bar by a soused partygoer. He didn’t mean to hassle the office worker at Zing-O-Gram, but the stripper he’d ordered for his brother’s bachelor party was almost half an hour late.

Where was she?

The masses were starting to get restless. If he didn’t produce a naked woman soon, he’d definitely lose his audience. As the general manager for one of Boston’s major television stations, Greg couldn’t abide any event—televised or otherwise—that didn’t hold its own in the ratings. He would dance on the tables himself before he lost his viewers.