Turn Up the Heat

Turn Up the Heat
Isabel Sharpe

He wanted Candy …

Candy. Candy’s voice. Justin whipped around to stare at his empty doorway.

Then she walked into his room, and he saw immediately that the light tapping footsteps were caused by the same sexy, high-heeled black ankle boots she wore the first time he saw her across the street. With the same leg-enhancing sheer black stockings. But instead of the same black miniskirt, today she wore—

He swallowed convulsively. No skirt at all. Just sheer black panties topped by a red lace garter. Above that a red lace bra trimmed in black, and a red-lipped sultry smile.

“Candy …”

“As sweet as.”

She put her foot up on his bed, heel sharp on his navy quilt, calf curving up from the boot to her knee, then diving down again on the slope of her inner thigh. His eyes were held hostage and he was speechless.

“Want a taste?”

There was no such thing as too much Candy …

Dear Reader,

I’ve had my share of online dating experiences, some fun, some boring, some downright bizarre. I’ve always thought there was room for a service using the convenience and accessibility of online dating, mixed with the personalization of old-fashioned matchmaking.

Milwaukeedates.com was born, and with it, Marie, its intrepid owner, who is determined to find perfect matches for her female friends and fellow business owners.

In this book, set in Wisconsin’s snowy cold February, Candy is looking for a man to help celebrate her first single Valentine’s Day in a long time. Coming out of a relationship with a guy who suppressed her true spirit, she is more than ready to be set free, sexually and emotionally, especially by a guy as magnetic as Justin, new in town from sunny southern California, and looking for any way he can to get warm.

Keep looking for those perfect matches!

Isabel Sharpe

www.IsabelSharpe.com

About the Author

ISABEL SHARPE was not born pen in hand like so many of her fellow writers. After she left work to stay home with her first-born son and nearly went out of her mind, she started writing. After more than twenty novels—along with another son—Isabel is more than happy with her choice. She loves hearing from readers. Write to her at www.IsabelSharpe.com

Turn Up The Heat

Isabel Sharpe

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

To sweet baby Alice,

who is such a welcome addition

Prologue

“IF YOU ASK ME, which I know you didn’t, you are ready to date again, Candy.” Marie nodded vigorously, looking around the table for confirmation from Kim and Darcy. The four of them were sitting together, as usual, at the every-third-Wednesday monthly breakfast meeting of Women in Power, Milwaukee’s organization of women business owners, held in a seventh-floor meeting room at the elegant Pfister hotel. “It’s January, the new year, time for a fresh start.”

“I don’t know.” Candy laughed nervously. She had a fresh girl-next-door beauty: heart-shaped face, long chestnut hair, wide-spaced light brown eyes and a generous, smile-prone mouth. If she put up an Available sign, men would kill each other getting in line. “I don’t feel ready.”

“You are, honey.” Marie laid her hand on Candy’s forearm. Candy had dated Chuck, the world’s biggest wet blanket, for five years before he had dumped her the previous February. “Trust me. I not only have a degree in psychology, but I am psychic. I had a vision.”

“Huh?” Candy looked startled.

“Wait, really?” asked Kim.

Darcy snorted. “Be serious.”

“Okay, not psychic, but certainly all-knowing.” Marie lifted her chin in mock outrage. “You should show respect for the wisdom of your elders.”

“Oh, what, you’re two years older than I am?” Darcy looked skeptical, as usual. “All of thirty-four?”

“Thirty-nine. Practically old enough to be your grandmother.” No, not quite that old, but Marie felt like a seasoned warrior, having been married ten years and divorced five, while the other three women at the table had never married and were currently single. “I know what I’m talking about. Candy should be out there dating, and she has the perfect resource in me to get started.”

“That’s for sure.” Sweet, shy Kim Charlotte Horton, the blonde of the group, stifled a yawn, striking blue eyes bleary from her being up all night to meet a particularly tough deadline for her struggling one-woman company, Charlotte’s Web Design. “You are the matchmaking queen.”

Marie agreed cheerfully. After her marriage had tanked and her online dating efforts met with no success, she became determined to create a site that didn’t just take people’s money and then make them do all the work. In five years, her personalized service, Milwaukeedates.com, had gone from the beginning of an idea to one of Women in Power’s Best Success Stories the previous year. Marie was happier than she ever thought would be possible again.

“I’ve considered it.” Candy nodded yes to the waitress’s pot of coffee and added two packets of sugar and two creamers to her refill. “At least I got that far.”

“Good first step.” Marie nodded her approval. Kim looked wistful. Darcy scowled.

Marie was content waiting for her own second chance at love, but she was determined to find that first chance for her friends. In fact, she’d made the three at this table her New Year’s Resolution. Each of these smart, fabulous women had so much to offer, and each deserved as much in return. “Candy, you do not want to let that first anniversary of being single go by without being out there looking for someone else. It’s a matter of pride.”

“When did Chuck break up with you? There was something horrible about it, that’s all I remember.” Kim wrinkled her nose. “But then I can barely remember my own name this morning.”

“Last February, on Valentine’s Day, the jerk.” Darcy narrowed dark eyes over her black coffee. “Candy planned a fabulous meal, made herself an incredible dress, decorated the dining room and her bedroom to the hilt, then Chuck slunk in and smashed her heart. So typically thoughtful of his gender.”

Marie sighed resignedly. Darcy, who could pass for a short-haired Catherine Zeta-Jones, was the work-obsessed proprietor of one of Milwaukee’s hottest new restaurants, Gladiolas, and would be Marie’s biggest matchmaking challenge, no question.

“How could I forget that charming story?” Kim made a sound of disgust. “The oinker.”

“Aw, he wasn’t so bad.” Candy moved uneasily. “It was my fault it all went wrong that night. The breakup had been written on the wall for a while. I just refused to read it.”

Darcy blew a raspberry. “Stop beating yourself up for something he did.”

“Thanks, Darcy, but …” Candy shrugged. “Every relationship is a two-way street.”

“From what I see, every relationship is a one-way street,” Darcy said. “The guy’s way.”

Marie groaned silently. As she’d thought, Darcy would be her biggest challenge, though she’d keep at her. Kim, she’d wait to match until her company seemed on firmer ground and her financial worries cleared. “In any case, Candy, if you let me help you I guarantee this Valentine’s Day will be a whole lot better than the last one.”

“Not that it would take much,” Darcy muttered.

“That’s for sure.” Kim drained her third cup of coffee. “You could scoop dog poo and have a better time.”