Blurb:
With the big
four-oh looming, Larissa Cross is more than ready to shed the roles that have
defined her and make drastic changes. Gone are the widowed Army wife, soccer
mom and empty nester. She’s even setting aside the school teacher until fall.
A naughty challenge
has come at the perfect time and ignited Rissa’s competitive drive. It’s going
to be a glorious summer full of hot younger man lovin’ for a new cougar on the
prowl. Rawr!
Tattooed and
pierced fireman JD Harmon is tempting prey but there’s much more to the hunk
than his bad boy good looks. A one night stand isn’t in his plans and sex—no
matter how mind-blowing—won’t distract him from his goals. JD intends to tame
the wicked cougar and stake a claim on her heart.
Copyright © Nicole Austin, 2017
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Larissa Cross cruised along the coast with the top down, a
warm breeze rushing through her hair. She turned on satellite radio and cranked
up the volume as Steven Tyler’s signature scream blasted from the speakers.
There wasn’t a cloud in the bright blue sky and the weather forecasters had
rated the day as a ten on the suntan scale.
A picture-postcard-perfect Florida day and a great way to
kick off her new life. Well, her new summertime life anyway. In the fall it
would be back to “Mrs. Cross” and the comfortable routine of teaching
elementary school.
But this summer she was going to have fun! Her son had left
for college so Rissa was living alone for the first time. She’d sold the house,
bought and decorated a new condo, packed up her “teacher clothes” and shopped
for a new wardrobe, traded the minivan for a cherry red convertible and got
tattooed. Yup, she now sported a colorful butterfly on her right hip—just above
the bikini line—to symbolize her metamorphosis from Army widow soccer mom to
cougar on the prowl. Rawr!
When you put all the changes she’d made over the past year
together it added up to a rather frightening conclusion—midlife crisis. Scary
stuff!
Dios, where the hell
did all those years go?
Next month she would hit the big four-oh. Pretty sad she’d
waited this long to finally rediscover herself. Better late than never though!
The changes had all started with the first erotic romance
book she’d read. Then her friend Cami had told her about having a younger lover
and challenged Rissa to find a hot young guy or two over summer break.
She grinned at herself in the rearview mirror. Nothing
appealed to her more than the prospect of conquering a challenge. She couldn’t
wait to try out some of the erotic acts that had gotten her so hot and horny
when she’d read all those steamy books.
A truck full of young guys honked and whistled at her as
they sped by. Hmm…maybe the challenge wouldn’t be too difficult. These boys looked
way too young but their appreciation still made her smile and gave her
confidence a boost.
With a wave to the boys, she turned into the jam-packed
parking lot for the public beach. As she claimed one of few available spaces at
the back of the lot, her car sputtered, coughed and gave a loud hiss before the
engine stalled.
“Oh great!”
Rissa knew next to nothing about cars, yet even she realized
the smoke billowing out from under the hood meant bad news. She jumped out and
raced to the front, intending to pop the hood. That’s when she noticed the
flames.
Thankfully the pickup had pulled in behind her. The teenage
boys who piled out to help were on the ball, whipping out cell phones and
calling for reinforcements while warning others in the immediate area to stay
back.
In the few agonizingly long minutes it took for the cavalry
to arrive, Rissa convinced the boys to salvage the contents of her trunk. Once
they had her lawn chair, overstuffed beach bag, umbrella, towels, cooler and
her precious e-book reader on the side of the road it looked like someone was
having a yard sale. Or more apropos—a fire sale.
“Mrs. Cross?” one of the boys tentatively inquired.
Oh no. He must be one of her former students. Didn’t that
just make her day.
“Yes.” She slid the dark sunglasses down her nose and peered
over the tortoiseshell frames at him.
“Remember me? Tyler James. I was in your class?”
Prior students always failed to realize how much they’d
changed or how many kids she’d taught and expected her to remember them. She played
along to make him feel better. “Oh my gosh. You sure have grown up, Tyler.
How’s high school treating you?”
Once the others learned she was an elementary school teacher
they became a band of protective alpha-males-in-training and stayed by her
side, assisting her through the crisis.
In a flurry of flashing lights and blaring sirens, a fire
truck, ambulance and police cruiser arrived. The firemen quickly set to work
and extinguished the flames while the medics checked for anyone with injuries
and the police wrote reports. By the time the firemen were done, her crispy car
appeared ready for the junkyard.
What now, Miss
Smarty-pants?
Should she call a tow truck? How the hell would she get back
home? Anyone she could ask for a ride lived over the bridge, at least a half
hour away. She was in no mood to sit and wait that long.
There would be so much to work out now. Thank goodness she
had insurance. She’d have to get in touch with the agent to file a claim. Damn,
she really loved that car. Her first non-family car in two decades. Now she’d
have to shop for another and get a rental in the meantime.
Rissa plopped down on top of the cooler with a heavy sigh as
her wonderful plans for the summer disintegrated. In need of some emotional
support, she longed to call Cami.
What would she do in
this situation?
A wicked grin tugged at her lips. Cami would tell her to
check out the emergency workers and if possible get pictures. She’d also tell
Rissa to flirt her ass off and get one of those hot young studs to take her home.
“Who owns the car?”
She looked up as one of the firemen headed in her direction
while scribbling information on a battered clipboard.
“Uh…me. I do.”
Oh yes, I do. Please
and thank you!
Damn, the man was gorgeous. Tall, at least six-one, with a
shaved head. A bit of dark stubble covered his scalp, ran along his square
jawline and above his mouth. A plump, sexy mouth. He had to be in his
mid-twenties by her estimation. Not too young or old. Perfect age to pop her
cougar cherry.
“Name?”
Yes, what is your name,
hot stuff? Please tell me.
Broad shoulders blocked out the sun as he moved to stand
before her. What she wouldn’t give to have him strip off the fire gear and let
her ogle his body. From his solid build she guessed he had lots of yummy
muscles. Maybe even a six-pack. She pictured running her fingers over his
tanned skin, feeling the sinew ripple beneath her fingertips.
“That’s Mrs. Cross,” Tyler, her proud protector, stated.
“She’s a teacher in Tampa. Elementary school.”
What a wonderful,
helpful boy. Go away now, you brat.
The fire god nodded toward the police officer ready to
ticket the boys’ pickup. “If that’s your truck, you might want to move it.”
“Aw crap,” one of the boys groaned. The group loped off,
leaving Rissa alone with the hunk, whose sharply focused attention suddenly
made her nervous and fidgety.
He might have been preoccupied earlier but now she had his
undivided attention. Coal black eyes took a slow journey from the top of her
head down her see-through cover-up, pausing at breasts nearly spilling out of
tiny bright blue triangles before dipping down to linger on her tattoo then
stroke along her legs. And boy did his gaze ever have the impact of a physical
caress. Everywhere his eyes touched her skin tightened and long-ignored nerve
endings tingled.
If he can do that with
a look, imagine what he’d be able to do with those big, strong hands.
