Taylor Burnes has an old penny worth half a million dollars. His apartment was ransacked and now he needs a place to stay. Who can he trust with the penny in his pocket? Celeste Heplewich, a court reporter, comes to mind. It's Friday night, and there's more at stake than the penny . . . if only he can convince Celeste to shed her fuzzy pink slippers and her old robe. Secrets of the past haunt them both but can the past catch up with the future on a Friday night in bed together?

Excerpt

Friday night and not a date in sight.

Celeste Heplewich cast aside the dismal thought, stepped out of her fluffy pink slippers and climbed under the bed covers. Friday nights were always good nights to read if she could ignore the sounds of partying and laughter coming from next door. The walls between her apartment and the neighbour?s were thin, and she heard everything, not only on Fridays, but every other night, too. She tried to focus on her text, a study on why criminals became criminals, although, she believed sceptically, there couldn?t be any consensus.

?Oh drat,? she muttered, remembering she?d left her hot cocoa on the kitchen counter. She threw off the covers, slipped back into her slippers and padded out of the bedroom and into the darkened kitchen. The sounds of partying next door were louder here and the incessant pound of heavy metal music made her roll her eyes. It was past ten-thirty, she noted, glancing at the clock on the microwave.

The phone in its cradle rang. Without thinking, Celeste picked up the receiver.

?Is there a party next door?? her best friend asked with a hint of excitement. Jasmine Arquette didn?t consider herself beautiful, although Celeste thought so. Plus her friend of two years was vivacious and funny and every guy in Pine Woods wanted to date her.

?I know what you?re going to say,? Celeste replied. ?Why don?t I go and join them??

?It?d be fun. You?d get out and meet new people. Our jobs don?t exactly allow us to meet upstanding young gentlemen.? As a court reporter, Celeste didn?t see more than cocky criminals.

?Next door isn?t much better.?

Jasmine worked in the criminal division of the huge courthouse that served both Pine Woods and the outlying area?predominantly farm country?surrounding it. Several glasses shattered on the other side of the wall, and there was the sound of raucous laughter.

?I wouldn?t exactly say they?re upstanding young men, either,? Celeste continued. They were probably more the free spirit types who rode loud motorcycles and cursed heavily.

?Well, you could always move,? Jasmine suggested. ?In with me.?

Celeste was too polite to say that they both had men problems, and moving in with her friend would probably increase them. ?I?ll think about it, but what?s the saying? Two?s company and three?s a crowd.?

?The third is my libido, and no, I haven?t tossed out my slippers or my housecoat,? Celeste replied resignedly. Everyone, from her mother to Marly, her sister, teased her that she had rejuvenated her clothes from the late 1950s. What would they say about the curler at the top of her bangs?

?That?s a shame. You should try out some lingerie from The House of Sexy You. They?re fabulous works of sheer imagination.?

?I was in there one day.? On Wednesday, after she?d met Taylor Burnes at the coffee shop. He?d made her so hot and bothered as she watched him eat his ham and cheese on rye, that afterward, she?d challenged herself to at least have a peek at Sexy You. She hadn?t bought lingerie but instead picked up a tiny vibrator she could set at the end of her middle finger to give herself one orgasm after another. After seeing Taylor, she figured she?d need them.

?You were?? Jasmine asked in surprise. ?You?re just jiving me, aren?t you??

?I?m not. They had some very pretty things.? Along with hot books and both instructional and arousing DVDs. None of that was for her, and she?d felt out of place. Men didn?t date her often.

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