The Hottest Ticket in Town. Kimberly Meter Van
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He had a ticket...to her bed!
Country music star Laci McCall is on the run. Away from her punishing tour schedule and her pushy manager. Away from the exhaustion. All she wants is to escape to her home-away-from-home in Woodsville, Kentucky. But there’s a small problem—her bed at the Bradford Ranch is occupied by a damnably hot country boy...her first love.
Kane Dalton is overwhelmed by the fierce lust he’d long thought gone, and feelings he’s tried to forget. He walked away from Laci once—a second time would damn near kill him. Now they have only a small, stolen moment together. Enough to surrender to that lightning-hot electricity once more. Enough to shake them to their cores...before reality crashes in and reminds them that their two worlds were never meant to collide.
“A cold beer on a hot day is almost better than sex...”
“Then you’re not having the right kind of sex,” Laci countered with a mildly teasing grin.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said, his gaze unreadable.
Was he going to kiss her? He had that look on his face as if he was going to bend her over and take her right there on the kitchen counter—and if she were being truthful, she wouldn’t lift a finger to stop him—but just as he crowded her personal space and she angled her lips to his, his chuckle broke the spell as he deposited his empty bottle in the trash bin behind her.
Drat. Way to get your hopes up, Laci.
“Why, Laci McCall...is that disappointment I see?” he murmured.
“Go wash up,” she told him. She didn’t want him thinking he had her figured out and twisted around his finger. If anyone was going to get twisted, it was Kane. She’d be sure of that.
“Yes, ma’am,” Kane said with an exaggerated drawl that sent arousal coursing through her body. Once he was out of the room, she let out her breath in a whoosh as she sagged against the sink for a minute to regain her bearings.
She’d plainly underestimated the raw, animal attraction still pulsing between her and Kane, even after all these years. Maybe it was stupid to share the same space together, even for a few days. It’d taken her a long time to get over Kane.
Maybe—if her reaction to him was any indication—she never had.
Whoa! The Hottest Ticket in Town is my first Blaze and I do believe it is smoking! I was a bit nervous jumping into the sexiest line in the Mills & Boon family, but I think I managed to pull it off, and I hope you agree. The love story between Laci McCall and Kane Dalton is my favorite kind—rekindled first love. I think first loves are the sweetest and the hottest of all kinds because everything is fresh and new.
The challenge is to rekindle that love when life has jaded you. For me—the hopeless romantic—the challenge is part of the journey that makes a rekindled first love...epic.
I hope you enjoy my first Blaze and I assure you, there will be more to come. In fact, Rian Dalton’s story is next!
Hearing from readers is a special joy. Please feel free to drop me a line via email through my website at kimberlyvanmeter.com or through snail mail at Kimberly Van Meter, PO BOX 2210, Oakdale, CA 95361.
Kimberly
The Hottest Ticket in Town
Kimberly Van Meter
KIMBERLY VAN METER wrote her first book at sixteen and finally achieved publication in December 2006. She writes for the Mills & Boon Superromance, Blaze and Romantic Suspense lines. She and her husband of seventeen years have three children, three cats and always a houseful of friends, family and fun.
To my Mills & Boon family...
Twenty-five-plus books in and I still love calling myself a Mills & Boon author. Thanks for taking a chance on me all those years ago. You changed my life.
Contents
Dear Reader
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Epilogue
LACI MCCALL WASN’T raised to cry—not even when it seemed the whole world was falling down...like this very moment.
“Get Laci some lemon water, now!” Trent Blackstone, her manager barked to a roadie when she wavered on her feet for just a blink of an eye. “You feeling good, honey? Sold-out crowd again. Memphis loves you, baby!”
That’s right, they were in Memphis. Two days ago, it was Charleston. Next week, it would be Atlanta. A brutal tour schedule was the mark of a successful artist, so she must be on top of the world, right? Yeah, sure. Top of the world.
“You all right, Laci?” Audrey, her makeup artist asked, pausing with her powder brush in midsweep. “You don’t look so good.”
“Last I checked, you’re not a doctor, Audrey,” Trent said, gesturing for Audrey to scoot. “She’s fine. It’s just prestage jitters, ain’t it, honey? The minute you hit that stage, you’re gonna shine, just like you always do. That’s why people come to a Laci McCall show...they all wanna hear that golden angel sing.” He looked sharply at the costume designer, who was fiddling with one of the million hand-sewn sequins on Laci’s costume and said, “Make sure it’s good and tight. The last time, she looked like she was dancing around in a burlap sack it