The Wild Side

The Wild Side
Isabel Sharpe

Melissa Rogers, restless good girl, longs to indulge her sexual fantasies before she meets Mr. Right and settles down.But instead she gets a walk on the really wild side, thanks to the uninhibited neighbor who skips town, leaving Melissa to take her place. Riley Anderson, brilliant private investigator and every woman's fantasy, is assigned to seduce a female suspect. But Melissa Rogers doesn't fit the profile of the woman he's after.This woman makes him long for things he didn't even know he wanted. Will it be pure eroticism, or forever-after commitment? You decide.

“Tell me what you want from me, Melissa.”

Melissa took a deep breath. “I…I want to try new things. I want an adventure. Something I can remember when I’m fifty and I’ve been with the same guy for twenty years. I want anything and everything but the same old missionary grind.”

Riley slid his hands up her thighs to her waist. “I understand,” he murmured, tightening his hold into a strong, reassuring grip.

She pressed herself against him, shocked to feel him hard between them. Oh, man. He wants me. A guy like this…

He led her over to the couch and pulled her down across his lap, kissing her all the while. She sank against him, totally carried away by the man and his mouth. Then his hands came up under her skirt, skimmed her thighs and settled on the mound of her sex through her panties.

Arousal seared through her; she gasped and arched up instinctively for more pressure, shocked by his boldness, shocked by her own. She’d never been this hot, this ready….

If he touched her, she’d die. If he didn’t, she’d die faster.

Dear Reader,

Harlequin Blaze is a supersexy new series. If you like love stories with a strong sexual edge then this is the line for you! The books are fun and flirtatious, the heroes are hot and outrageous. Blaze is a series for the woman who wants more in her reading pleasure….

This month bestselling Harlequin Presents author Miranda Lee delivers #9 Just a Little Sex…about one night of passion that turns into much more! Rising star Jamie Denton says you need to break the rules in #10 Sleeping With the Enemy, a story with sizzling sexual tension and erotic love scenes. Talented Isabel Sharpe takes us to #11 The Wild Side, a fun, lusty tale about a good girl who decides bad might be better. Popular Janelle Denison rounds out the month with #12 Heat Waves, another SEXY CITY NIGHTS story set in fiery Chicago—where the heat definitely escalates after dark….

Look for four Blaze books every month at your favorite bookstore. And check us out online at eHarlequin.com and tryblaze.com.

Enjoy!

Birgit Davis-Todd

Senior Editor & Editorial Coordinator

Harlequin Blaze

The Wild Side

Isabel Sharpe

To Barbara, Elizabeth, Heather, Karen and Susie,

who deserve public recognition for twenty-plus years

listening to my sorrows, laughing at my jokes

and tolerating my neuroses as only the best friends do.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR…

I’ve always preferred Mr. Personality to dark brooding hunks. Guys with whom I could imagine enjoying morning-after conversation almost as much as how we spent the previous evening. This is one of the reasons I love writing for Harlequin Duets, which is where you may have met me before.

But…to my surprise, I absolutely loved writing Riley, the darkest, broodingest, hunkiest hero I’ve ever created. I had a blast messing up his precise, controlled life by assigning him Melissa, whose natural humor, quirky cynicism and frank desire for sexual experimentation rattle him in a way he’s not at all prepared for.

Throw in stolen jewelled art, a little suspense and a secondary couple who have an equally rocky journey to love, and you’ve taken a walk with me on The Wild Side.

Enjoy!

P.S. I love hearing from readers. Write to me at IsaSharpe@aol.com.

Contents

Prologue

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

Chapter 15

Prologue

ROSE BLEW HER NOSE, then added the tissue to the pile on her pink-and-white rose-print bedspread. She glanced at the clock and collapsed into another spasm of sobbing. It was 9:00 a.m. Half an hour since the tears had started. This bout should be wrapping up pretty soon.

She’d finally gotten to where she could view her crying fits philosophically. Months could go by without them, but sooner or later, one would catch up with her. Put them down to exhaustion, maybe mild depression, hormones…whatever.

At first she’d thought she was going crazy. Now she considered the tears a harmless and probably healthy form of stress relief. Since her apartment had been broken into, the crying jags had been coming more frequently. Little wonder. That sense of unease, of her privacy being violated, had lingered, as if the intruder were still hiding in her home.