Praise for the authors of
The Guy Next Door
New York Times and USA TODAY
bestselling author
LORI FOSTER
“Intense, edgy and hot. Lori Foster delivers everything you’re looking for in a romance.”
—Jayne Ann Krentz,New York Times bestselling author
“Known for her funny, sexy writing.”
—Booklist
New York Times and USA TODAY
bestselling author SUSAN DONOVAN
“Sassy, smart and sensual.
Susan Donovan will steal your heart.”
—New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd on Public Displays of Affection
“A fine frappe of romantic comedy and suspense…laugh-out-loud hilarious.”
—Publishers Weekly on Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
Award-winning author VICTORIA DAHL
“Dahl delivers a fun, feisty and relentlessly sexy adventure.”
—Publishers Weekly on Talk Me Down
“A hands-down winner, a sensual story filled with memorable characters.”
—Booklist on Start Me Up
The Guy Next Door
READY, SET, JETT
Lori Foster
GAIL’S GONE WILD
Susan Donovan
JUST ONE TASTE
Victoria Dahl
CONTENTS
READY, SET, JETT
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
GAIL’S GONE WILD
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
EPILOGUE
JUST ONE TASTE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
READY, SET, JETT
Lori Foster
To Chris and Queen Janeen of “Married With Microphones,” WGRR radio, 103.5.
You guys keep me company every weekday morning while I write. I love the banter, the jokes and the wonderful music.
While Chris hasn’t yet appeared on any of my book covers (despite his claims otherwise), you’ve both become a big part of my creative routine.
Thanks for the great entertainment!
Lori
Dear Reader,
Many of you have asked me if I’ll have more SBC fighter stories, but for the foreseeable future, the answer is no. You see, I’ve launched into a new series of über-alpha hunks. The men are similar to private mercenaries, so they’re big, capable and oh-so-sexy. When it comes to rescuing the innocent, they do what has to be done, however it has to be done. I think of them as men who walk the edge of honor.
My novella “Ready, Set, Jett” will introduce you to the characters in the first single title, When You Dare, hitting shelves in May. That will be followed by Trace of Fever in June and Savor the Danger in July.
To learn more about the books, visit my website at www.LoriFoster.com. And feel free to chat with me on my Facebook fan page—www.facebook.coms/ Lori-Foster/233405457965.
I’m very excited about this new series, and I hope you will be, too!
CHAPTER ONE
HANDS ON HIS HIPS, impatience growing, Jett Sutter paced the length of his living room while his youngest sister, Betts, blathered on about God-knew-what. She’d been at his door when he arrived home, throwing off his intricate plans and putting a damper on his fevered expectations.
Never would he deliberately hurt his sister’s feelings, but pretending interest had become impossible half an hour ago. A glance at his wristwatch showed that he needed to shower. He needed to…prep. When he thought of what he had planned, what he would do and with whom, his breath quickened and his muscles twitched.
It wasn’t an unfamiliar reaction when dealing with his supersexy neighbor, Natalie Alexander.
Jett loved his family, he really did, but damn it, he needed privacy to deal with the blooming heat and anticipation of the next few hours. He needed…
The familiar sound of a Volkswagen Bug pulling into the apartment complex parking lot cut short his thoughts. Without caring what his sister would think, Jett took two long strides to the patio doors and parted the curtains just enough to look out.
And there she was: delectable Natalie Alexander.
Superstacked school teacher. Seduction personified. Enchanting enigma.
His lover.
Damn, she looked hot. Natalie was his most elaborate fantasy in the flesh, made up of scorching contradictions.
Long, corkscrew curls the color of dark honey danced around her face as she hurried from the minuscule cherry-red car with a bag of groceries in one arm, her requisite heavy book bag in the other, her enormous purse slung over her shoulder.
As usual when returning from work, she wore her school-teacher duds of a long dark skirt, flat shoes and a crisp blouse under a warm cardigan. For Jett, it looked like fetish wear—a modest ensemble to disguise the centerfold body.
Seldom had Natalie mentioned teaching, and that was mostly before they’d become intimate. Since then, she’d gone out of her way to keep all conversation to a minimum.
It really burned his ass the way she fought to keep him at a distance.
Not that her evasive attitude had done her any good. He knew what grade level she taught, that she enjoyed reading political dramas and true-crime novels, that she cried over commercials and laughed at birds when they visited the bird feeder off her balcony.
He also recognized the vulnerability she tried to camouflage with sexual bravado—at least, with him. Thinking of her utilizing that