Look what people are saying about these talented authors…
Leslie Kelly
“Kelly is a top writer, and this is another excellent book. 4½ stars.”
—RT Book Reviews on Play with Me
“A hip contemporary romance packed with great one-liners! 4½ stars.”
—RT Books Reviews on Terms of Surrender
Janelle Denison
“Kudos to Ms Denison for her fantastic, hot, steamy love stories and the heroes that leave you wishing you had one just like him!”
—A Romance Review
“When I want a sensuous read, I know Ms Denison delivers what I want to read: sexy heroes, sassy heroines and sinfully erotic games to die for!”
—Reader to Reader Reviews
Julie Leto
“Julie Leto certainly knows how to put the X in sex! A great and exciting read!”
—Fresh Fiction on Too Hot to Touch
“Get a cold drink when you sit down to read this one; this is one hot book!”
—Fresh Fiction on Too Wild to Hold
About the Authors
LESLIE KELLY has written dozens of books and novellas for Blaze. Known for her sparkling dialogue, fun characters and depth of emotion, her books have been honored with numerous awards, including a National Readers’ Choice Award, an RT Book Reviews Award, and three nominations for the highest award in romance, the RWA RITA® Award. Leslie lives in Maryland with her own romantic hero, Bruce, and their three daughters. Visit her online at www.lesliekelly.com or at her blog, www.plotmonkeys.com.
JANELLE DENISON is a USA TODAY bestselling author of more than fifty contemporary romance novels. She is a two-time recipient of the National Readers’ Choice Award, and has also been nominated for the prestigious RITA® Award. Janelle is a California native who now calls Oregon home. She resides in the Portland area with her husband and daughters, and can’t imagine a more beautiful place to live. To learn more about Janelle, you can visit her website at www.janelledenison.com, or you can chat with her at her blog, www.plotmonkeys.com.
Over the course of her career, New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author JULIE LETO has published more than forty books—all of them sexy and all of them romances at heart. She shares a popular blog—www.plotmonkeys.com—with her best friends Carly Phillips, Janelle Denison and Leslie Kelly, and would love for you to follow her on Twitter, where she goes by @JulieLeto. She’s a born-and-bred Floridian homeschooling mom with a love for her family, her friends, her dachshund, her lynx-point Siamese and supersexy stories with a guaranteed happy ending.
The Guy Most
Likely To…
Underneath it All
Leslie Kelly
Can’t Get You Out of My Head
Janelle Denison
A Moment Like This
Julie Leto
To Janelle and Julie. This project has been a long time coming…I’m so thrilled we got to work together at last! Long live the Plotmonkeys!
Prologue
The Winfield Academy Times
May 2002
Prom Rocks: But Where Was The King?
THIS YEAR’S PROM WAS a huge success!
Held at the downtown Marriott, the members of the class of 2002 partied the night away in their tuxes and glittering dresses. The decorating committee’s “A Night in Paris” theme was a big hit and made everyone feel like they were strolling along the Seine or posing for pictures beneath the Eiffel Tower.
Deejay “Mad Mike” spun all the class’s favorite tunes, and students and faculty alike shook their stuff on the dance floor. The hotel-catered food was delicious, the punch managed to go all evening without being spiked and everyone had a great time.
There was only one incident, which left prom-goers whispering and confused.
What happened to Prom King Seth Crowder?
His queen—and longtime girlfriend—Lauren Desantos had to go up on the stage alone to be crowned, and her tears sure didn’t look like happy ones. Rumor has it that Seth stood Lauren up, with only a mysterious phone call to explain his absence.
The plot thickened Monday when word got out that Seth had withdrawn from Winfield Academy…and he hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
Which begs the question: Where’d he go?
One thing’s for sure—judging by the picture of Lauren up on that stage, all alone, looking absolutely heartbroken, Seth Crowder has some explaining to do!
1
Present Day
STANDING AT THE BACK of the A–E line at the registration desk, her dark sunglasses shielding her eyes and her stiff posture discouraging communication, Lauren Desantos came to a sudden realization. The Marquis de Sade had invented the high school reunion. Him, or that Torquemada guy from the Spanish Inquisition.
It made perfect sense; there could be no other explanation. Only someone who enjoyed seeing others squirm in discomfort, who got off on inflicting pain, who thrived on reducing mature adults back to their overemotional, whiny, bitchy, competitive, miserable adolescent selves, would have thought this reunion thing was a good idea.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, along with the fear and discomfort came other remnants of high school days—nervous twitches, weak, fake-sounding laughter. Heck, even long-left-behind acne seemed to show up. It was probably brought about by the stress of wondering who you were going to run into first, who looked better than you did, who would notice the extra ten pounds you’d put on since graduation, who would remember you had once slipped on mashed potatoes in the cafeteria. And, more important, who would ask if you ever fulfilled your dream of becoming a magazine editor and what they would say if they found out you worked in marketing for a grocery store chain.
Yeah. Pure hell. Straight evil. Really, only a masochistic idiot would ever agree to attend one of these reunions.
So what on earth am I doing here?
There were a thousand ways she could be spending this lovely summer weekend, including staying with her family during this all-too-rare visit back to the Chicago area. Instead, she’d driven outside the city to this sprawling, dubiously themed hot spot called Celebrations, which catered to the let’s-relive-past-glory-days-and-pretend-we-aren’t-bitterly-crushed-by-the-reality-of-our-adult-lives crowd. In other words, a reunion resort.
Blech. Next thing you knew, they’d be opening a spot for post-hemorrhoidal-surgery patients to get together and shake their recently-operated-upon backsides.
So get out. Go before anybody sees you.
She considered it, but knew she