Up Close and Personal. Joanne Rock

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      Look what people are saying about

       Joanne Rock…

      “Sizzling chemistry with a splash of seductively intense suspense—fabulous Joanne Rock always delivers a page-turning read!”

      —RITA^® Award winner Catherine Mann

      “Filled with a complicated plot, as well as excellent, unexpected characters, and stirred with steaming-hot sex, Don’t Look Back is the kind of wonderful mix readers would expect from Joanne Rock.”

      —Romantic Times BOOKreviews

      “Filled with adventure, spicy sex, and a smidgen of danger, Up All Night is romance at it’s best.”

      —Romance Reviews Today

      “Rock’s snappy style of writing is perfect for a sexy, sassy contemporary romance.”

      —Booklist on The Pleasure Trip

      “Strong, attractive characters with serious heat…”

      —Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Silk Confessions

      “Joanne Rock does it again! The suspense is so deftly braided with the romance and hot hot hot love scenes…. If you love a hint of danger with your romance, this is one book you won’t want to miss.”

      —Romance Junkies on Don’t Look Back

      Dear Reader,

      As a Blaze writer, I think about sexual situations a lot. It’s part of my job, and let’s face it, that’s pretty fun! But when it came time to write Jessica’s story, I discovered a character who didn’t always have fun thinking about sexual situations. Because of a difficult past, sex had become problematic for her.

      But because I’m a Blaze writer, I needed to help her out of that dark corner, and that’s where Rocco Easton comes in. I loved writing about this hero whose career was stolen out from underneath him yet he still found a way to channel his talents into productive work. Rocco has faced plenty of dark corners himself.

      I hope you’ll enjoy Jessica’s journey to new healing and her path to reclaiming her sensuality.

      Happy reading!

      Joanne Rock

      UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

      Joanne Rock

      TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON

       AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      After testing out careers in public relations, teaching, acting and journalism, Joanne Rock became a fiction writer to maintain sanity while sitting at home with three small children. Writing books quickly went from a temporary mental exercise to an addictive passion. After more than thirty books she hopes her sanity has been duly maintained. Joanne is a three-time RITA® Award winner, and her stories have been reprinted in twenty-four countries and translated into nineteen languages. She pens medieval historicals and sexy contemporaries from her home in the gorgeous Adirondack region of upstate New York, where she lives with her husband and sons. Learn more about Joanne and her work by visiting her at http://joannerock.com or at http://myspace.com/joanne_rock.

      Books by Joanne Rock

      HARLEQUIN BLAZE

      108—GIRL’S GUIDE TO HUNTING & KISSING*

      135—GIRL GONE WILD*

      139—DATE WITH A DIVA*

      171—SILK CONFESSIONS**

      182—HIS WICKED WAYS**

      240—UP ALL NIGHT†

      256—HIDDEN OBSESSION††

      305—DON’T LOOK BACK‡

      311—JUST ONE LOOK‡

      363—A BLAZING LITTLE CHRISTMAS “His for the Holidays”

      381—GETTING LUCKY

      HARLEQUIN HISTORICAL

      749—THE BETROTHAL “Highland Handfast”

      758—MY LADY’S FAVOR

      769—THE LAIRD’S LADY

      812—THE KNIGHT’S COURTSHIP

      890—A KNIGHT MOST WICKED

      To Renee Halverson, whose dedication to writing

       has always been an inspiration. Thank you for being such a wonderful friend!

      Contents

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      1

      JESSICA WINSLOW NEEDED to arouse a room full of women.

      Right here. Right now.

      She took deep breaths in her small suite at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, an accommodation with no view of the spectacular oceanfront outside. She’d booked this spot as a prep space for the retreat weekend she was leading—her biggest business coup yet. Eight women had bought into the extravagant “Better in Bed” workshop offered by Jess’s fledgling company. Who knew there would be so much interest in reclaiming your sensuality among wealthy, successful women who—seemingly—had the world at their collective feet?

      “Do you need anything else, Ms. Winslow?”

      A sleekly tanned young caterer with a Spanish accent tucked a clipboard under her arm as she waited for Jess’s instructions.

      “Everyone has drinks next door?” She hoped this first session of the weekend would be made a smidge easier by plying her guests with alcohol.

      Hell, her discussion of erotic massage might be easier if she downed the alcohol. She’d wanted to kick off the retreat with a bang, but planning the workshop in theory hadn’t fully prepared her for the intimidation factor of teaching erotic massage to a roomful of strangers she desperately needed to impress.

      “They’ve all been served and there is a small bar set up for refills like we discussed.” The woman tapped her fuchsia-pink manicured fingernail down the itemized list on her clipboard. “Would you like me to bring you a glass of chardonnay?”

      Jessica winced. Was her tension that obvious? There was no reason for the attack of nerves, since