STEAMED DESIRE
FLEUR DE LIS
ISBN: 978-1-60435-978-088-3
February 2008
Red Rose Publishing
www.redrosepublishing.com
E-book
$1.99
41 Pages
Contemporary Erotic MC/IR
Rating: 5 Cups

Callista Turnage has got the ‘Hots’ for more than the several cups of coffee she is purchasing from Java Jitters. Her regular trips to the coffee shop are not going unnoticed by staff who are observantly clued-up. A virtual merchandiser for a store on Fifth Avenue, Callista has worked her way up from receptionist in six years, proving that she has got what it takes to “go-for-it“.

Cole Westland is a barista at the Java Jitters who has spent the last eight months watching Callista coming and going. Callista is not what he is used to, her figure is not slender like his previous girlfriends’ and she is of Cherokee and Irish-American mix, but he likes what he sees.

Callista enjoys a close relationship with her employer, designer Drake Linton. Cole suspects they are an item and in view of that he still wants to date Callista but he does not know how to ask her. Time is spent in hesitancy until he finally plucks up the courage to pop the question to her. He wants to see her up close and personal, not from the drive-thru sitting in her SUV purchasing coffee. So, Cole concocts a plan. The plan does not work out as smoothly as he would have liked, but he gets his chance to get a close shot of Callista.

Short and literally sweet is this delightful read. The mind games and the battle of the wills between Callista and Cole had me in bursts of laughter. Their characters are superbly constructed. Callista is a very likable person, down-to-earth, warm, hard working and reliable. She is comfortable in her skin and proud of the different heritages of her parents. Cole is an easy going, laid-back, unflappable, cool dude with no airs and graces. Fleur de Lis intelligently found the space to fit the complete formula into this short story of ‘girl meets boy‘.

Delores
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books