“Think of the hottest guy you’ve ever seen. Real life, movie, whatever. What guy out there, just by thinking about him, gets you hot?”
She didn’t even have to consider it. All she had to do was close her eyes and a face flashed into her mind. Unruly dark hair, vivid green eyes and a body to die for. The hottest, sexiest, guy she’d ever met.
“From the grin on your face, you’ve got someone in mind?”
“Oh, yeah. Remember Dante Luciano?”
“Nice,” Audra said, her tone both appreciative and amused. “Dante was trouble, through and through. He was so bad, he made me look like a goody-goody.”
Which was saying a lot, since back then Audra had one of the wildest reps to ever hit the local high school.
“His father’s my contractor, you know?” Isabel said.
When her parents had retired earlier that year, they’d sold the family florist shop and adjoining apartment. Then they’d given her the money to fund her new location. A darling Victorian located on the main street of Santa Vera. The small, tourist haven in Northern California was a few miles from her hometown of Auburn. Close enough to keep some of the existing customer base, far enough away to feel like she was finally striking out on her own.
“Didn’t you have to talk to him or something at a party back when we were kids?” Audra frowned, obviously trying to remember.
Isabel just shrugged. She’d never discussed that that night with Audra. At first, because she’d been grounded for three months and hadn’t been allowed to go out of the house or to make any phone calls. Later, because she hadn’t wanted to hear how bad or how far out of her reach Dante was.
“It’s a good thing you didn’t hook up with Dante, then,” Audra said with a laugh. “He and his dad had major issues. I remember a few times he ended up staying at our place after his old man kicked him out.”
Twirling one long black curl around her finger, Isabel frowned. She’d never been jealous of Audra’s reputation or lifestyle before. But she’d always been curious.
“Did you and Dante ever, you know…”
Audra gave her trademark wicked grin and winked. When Isabel frowned, she laughed and shook her head. “Nah, we never did more than flirt. Dante was a couple years ahead of us, remember. He was tight with my brother, Drew. By the time I was up to his standards, he’d left town.”
Before Isabel could do more than wonder at the relief surging through her, Audra tapped the notepad with the pen. “Okay, keep your fantasy guy in mind and let your imagination soar. Let’s come up a few hot fantasies for him to fulfill.”
Isabel eyed her friend, then the notepad. She turned around and called out to the waiter, “Another glass of wine, please.”
WHO KNEW BEING A YEAR OLDER would hurt this bad? Isabel pressed the heel of her hands to her forehead to try to keep the pounding from making her eyeballs explode.
She wasn’t sure what was worse, the hangover or the sense of impending doom tapping on her shoulder. All these big plans, everything she wanted, was right here, spread out across her desk.
Could she make it happen?
A glance at the color-coded and bulleted spreadsheet told her she was a week behind on the shop renovations. Another week and she stood to lose her contract with the town council for their spring festival. Since she needed that contract to launch her business with enough success to avoid becoming a first-year statistic, she couldn’t afford the loss.
Everything she had was invested in this new floral shop. Years of planning, of dreaming and hoping. And she was going to lose it all because her contractor broke his foot? Panic rumbled sickeningly in her stomach. She couldn’t fail. Her parents’ retirement depended on her success. Their pampered and protected only child—they expected her to excel. They’d sold their store and loaned her the money to open this new floral and gift shop. Sure, they said they wanted to move to the little town in Oregon and retire next to her aunts, but she knew it was because they couldn’t both lend her the money and afford to retire in California.
She couldn’t let them down. She just couldn’t.
Pushing the spreadsheet aside, Isabel grabbed her notebook to outline a possible plan of attack to get the renovations finished on time. Flipping pages, her eyes went wide. She flipped back.
The Man Plan.
Holy shit. She pressed her index finger to the vein throbbing in her right temple. Had she and Audra actually made a plan to catch a guy? A hot sexy guy? Glancing over the pages, a reluctant smile tugged at her mouth. They’d actually created something excellent here.
She ran her finger down the page.
Rules:
1 Take control.
2 No second-guessing or backing out.
3 No falling in love.
Steps:
Find the perfect guy—check credentials.
Feel him out—or up. Make sure the spark is there.
Take the list in order; build up the tension.
Set a time limit. Two weeks is ideal affair length.
Cut him loose. Remember rule three.
Fantasies:
Hot, sexy kiss—make me melt.
Slow, sexy dance. Get a feel for the moves.
Hot, wild and a little rough up against the wall.
Intense passion in a semi-public place.
Pure romance-novel sex. Complete with a ride on a white horse along the beach.
A smorgasbord of sexual pleasure, complete with whipped cream, strawberries and lots of decadent chocolate.
Water play, shower, bath, hot tub. Something with pulsating heat.
Tied up and crazy—for extra spice, add a dollop of chocolate.
Isabel snickered. Right. Like she had time for something like this. Maybe after she’d opened the shop. Or later, once Sweet Scentsations had wowed the town and made its niche. There wasn’t any deadline on the Man Plan.
Regardless, she couldn’t worry about it now. She simply had too much to do. Tearing the pages from her notebook, she tossed them on the corner of her desk with a smirk.
Her priority right now was the renovations. With the click of her mouse, she pulled up the phone number and dialed the home of her balance-challenged contractor.
“Mrs. Luciano? Hi, it’s Isabel Santos. I’m calling to see how Mr. Luciano is doing and if my job might be back on schedule soon?”
The sweet older lady launched into a description of the extent of the fracture, the extent of Mr. Luciano’s displeasure with his confinement, and their worries about losing business.
With a wince, Isabel crossed “get out of contract and hire a new contractor” off her tentative plans.
“Do you have any idea of a timeframe?” she asked, wishing she were the hard-as-nails type who’d insist they meet the original deadlines.
“I found someone to step in,” Mrs. Luciano assured her. “He’s a wonderful carpenter. Actually one of Frank’s best, although lord knows the man won’t admit it.”
Isabel listened with half an ear while she clicked her mouse, synced her revised to-do list with her task list and updated her renovation plan.
“He said he’d go directly there,” Mrs. Luciano continued, “He wanted to look over the job first. Afterwards I’ll get him the paperwork.”
“I have a copy of the work schedule and renovation