Renzo’s brain told him to be careful
Too bad his instinctive side was already caught up in the soft flame of Esme’s embrace and the unmistakable message of her lips planted against his. How could he interpret the signs as anything but a blinking neon-green light?
Breaking away from the liquid fire of her kiss, Renzo sought confirmation. He needed her to make the call tonight, since she had pushed him away last time.
“What is it you want, Esmerelda? I need to be sure.”
“I want the kind of pleasures you started to give me the other night,” she whispered. His body reacted immediately, an automatic spike of temperature between them.
“You like the way I touched you?” He trailed a hand down her hip, stretched his fingers across her thigh. His thumb pressed into the soft flesh, eliciting a throaty hum from the back of her throat.
“Yes. I liked it too much.” Her restless hands moved over him, sending those rising temperatures into the red-hot zone
“Esme, there’s no such thing as liking it too much.”
Dear Reader,
SINGLE IN SOUTH BEACH meets THE WRONG BED miniseries…oh, the possibilities! What a glamorous backdrop, and I already had the perfect hero in mind, since one of the owners of Club Paradise has a slew of gorgeous, overprotective brothers. I couldn’t wait to put one of them in the path of an unsuspecting female to see what happened!
The result is One Naughty Night, a classic case of an immovable object colliding with an irresistible force. I loved watching the way Esmerelda Giles learns to work around this particular immovable man, Renzo Cesare!
I hope you’ll join me for a very special SINGLE IN SOUTH BEACH story coming in January 2004. Look for Valentine Vixen in a volume entitled Strangers in Paradise with author Stephanie Bond. And there will be more SINGLE IN SOUTH BEACH books in spring 2004.
Visit me at www.JoanneRock.com to learn about future releases or to let me know what you think about the series!
Happy reading,
Joanne Rock
Books by Joanne Rock
HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION
863—LEARNING CURVES
897—TALL, DARK AND DARING
919—REVEALED
HARLEQUIN BLAZE
26—SILK, LACE & VIDEOTAPE
48—IN HOT PURSUIT
54—WILD AND WILLING
87—WILD AND WICKED
104—SEX & THE SINGLE GIRL*
108—GIRL’S GUIDE TO HUNTING & KISSING*
One Naughty Night
Joanne Rock
For the fantastic community readers at eHarlequin.com—thank you so much for the shared support, encouragement and twenty-four-hour entertainment. Also, I’d like to invite new readers and writers to join us. I’m often in the Blaze Boudoir or at the Temptress Tales thread on the Books & Authors board, but I bet you’ll find lots of other great chats to enjoy, as well!
Contents
1
BAD DECISION number five thousand thirty-eight—overdressing.
Esmerelda Giles rocked back on the low heels of her sandals and sighed as she watched the parade of half-clad bodies strut down Ocean Drive toward the swanky new dance club that would be her destination tonight.
Even though the hands on her antique silver-and-turquoise watch pointed to 11:32 p.m., the well-lit street hummed with activity. A steady stream of cars rolled down the avenue at a snail’s pace to see and be seen. Foot traffic converged on Club Paradise from every direction as if all of South Beach wanted a chance to meet and mingle at Miami’s most risqué hot spot.
And every single person Esme laid eyes on wore considerably less than she did.
Shoot. How could she have made such a mistake after spending at least forty-five minutes deciding what to wear for this ridiculous blind date?
Esme fingered the featherweight silk of her outfit—a vintage gypsy dress she’d unearthed at a consignment shop on one of her antiquing outings. The gossamer garment ranked as the most seductive item of clothing she’d ever owned, yet it looked like a schoolgirl’s frock next to the sexy getups sported by every woman in line at Club Paradise’s side entrance across the street.
Once again, Esme’s judgment had been faulty.
Surprise, surprise.
In the weeks since she’d lost her job, her car, a little bit of her self-respect and her life’s dream to boot, Esme had been trying really hard not to exercise her own judgment. In fact, following the explosion of her previously well-ordered life, she’d realized that every decision she’d ever made had led her to lose her job, her car, some self-respect and her life’s dream. Therefore, she couldn’t trust her horrendous instincts.
Which accounted for her new desire to do the opposite of everything her instincts suggested.
She would have never considered going on a blind date before, but now as she waded through the rubble of her old existence, she’d decided maybe she ought to try it. She’d accepted her kindly new neighbor’s matchmaking attempt and had agreed to meet the woman’s nephew at the Moulin Rouge Lounge inside Club Paradise tonight.
Yippee.
While she stood on the street corner where the bus had deposited her and debated what to do about her overdressed condition, Esme was jostled by a pack of young men. She stepped aside quickly, mindful that she