LITMIR.BIZ

      She knew what she wanted...and went for it.

      Della looked deeply into Gabe’s eyes, hoping she was communicating every bit of desire she was feeling.

      “Tell me if I’m overstepping, but do you think our waiter would wrap this dish up so we could take it back to your place?”

      Della smiled. Was Gabe asking what she thought he was asking?

      “I think he’d do that, yes,” she whispered, lifting her face toward his so she spoke close to his mouth, just a breath away from a kiss.

      “Good.”

      The way he said the word, with so much sensual promise, made her shiver.

      This was a first for Della, for sure. With the meal paid for, she took Gabe’s hand and they moved quickly down the walk, less busy now that the stars were out.

      As they passed into the shadow of a streetlight next to a huge tree, Gabe held her back, directed her under the tree. He pulled her up close and looked down into her face. “I’ve wanted to do this ever since I saw you on that plane.”

      He kissed her then, and Della’s world turned upside down. She’d been kissed before, but certainly not like this...

      Dear Reader,

      Book settings are so important to me, and I’ve visited most of the places where I set my stories so that I can capture the details and atmosphere of the location. I like to think the books are a mini-vacation as a reader accompanies my characters on their adventure. In the case of Hot in the City, Della Clark and Gabe Ross meet in a place I’ve been to many times, my home state city, New York.

      What I love about New York City is its contrasts: it’s a place of glaring neon and noise, big buildings and bigger personalities—but it’s also a city with surprisingly quiet corners, quaint, tree-lined streets and beautiful gardens. Gabe and Della experience all of these as part of their own romantic landscape. Of course, the city has its secrets, and so does Gabe. With him, Della is about to discover more adventure than she ever counted on in her hometown.

      If you’ve never been to New York, I highly encourage you to go. But in the meanwhile, you can enjoy some of the sites and atmosphere of the city in this book. As for me, I’m continuing to travel, which means more settings for future books, including new areas of the US as well as Europe. To hear more about where I’m going and the books I’m writing, follow me on Twitter or Facebook, or at The Chocolate Box blog. I love to chat.

      Happy Summer,

      Sam

      Hot in the City

      Samantha Hunter

      

www.millsandboon.co.uk

      SAMANTHA HUNTER lives in Syracuse, New York, where she writes full-time for Mills & Boon. When she’s not plotting her next story, Sam likes to work in her garden, quilt, cook, read and spend time with her husband and their dogs. Most days you can find Sam chatting on the Mills & Boon Blaze boards at www.millsandboon.co.uk, or you can check out what’s new, enter contests or drop her a note at her website, samanthahunter.com.

      For my editor, Kathryn, and thanks to all of the Mills & Boon Blaze editorial staff and production crew I’ve worked with over the years, for your hard work in making every book shine. With much appreciation.

      For all of my friends who put up with me while I’m writing and often kvetching about it—you are all made of gold.

      Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Text

       Introduction

      Dear Reader

       Title Page

       About the Author

       Dedication

      1

      2

      3

      4

      5

      6

      7

      8

      9

      10

      11

      12

       Extract

       Copyright

       1

      AS SOON AS Della Clark settled into her first-class seat, flying back to New York City after a month of consulting on a project in San Diego, she pulled out her tablet to check for progress on her online dating accounts.

      Yes, accounts—plural.

      Statistically speaking, she needed to cast a broad net. Fellow mathematicians had posited that the chances of finding a perfect partner, depending on the variables and location, were about one in two-hundred and eighty-five thousand. Della was pretty sure she hadn’t met that many people in her thirty-three years, and true to the math, very few were at all suitable for her. Well, at this point, the sum was actually zero.

      On top of that, census numbers showed that there were far more unattached females than available males in the world, and the older a woman got, the more unlikely she—Della, for instance—would be able to find a man her age, thirty-three, or older. It wasn’t impossible, of course, just nearly so.

      Unless you compromised, but Della didn’t want to compromise on love. Or sex. With a few mediocre sexual relationships in her past, she had yet to discover the sex that other women crowed about, the blow-your-mind sort. The kind of sex that made women fall in love with the wrong man—not that she wanted to do that.

      Or maybe she did, if only for a while.

      People crowded into the plane, but she was oblivious as she studied a few of the suitors’ profiles.

      Jamie Reynolds was cute,

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