A REALLY Sexy Novel

I'll bet when you saw that title you rolled your eyes in amusement and figured I must have gotten ahold of one of those really torrid Harliquin or drugstore romance novels--they kind that spend pages telling who touched whom where and how, and what the verbal and physiologic responses were. Well, I didn't. I read yet another book by Christine Lynxwiler, whose Along Came a Cowboywas one of the First Wildcard books about which I posted. Like Along Came a Cowboythis was set in a small town in Arkansas and featured not only a romance but also the story of the relationship among four women friends, the Pinkie Promise Sisterhood. Promise Me Alwaysfeatures a 35 year old widow with two kids who has just been laid off from her job. She decides to follow her dream to start a landscaping business. After striking out at the bank, she learns of a contest, that should she win, would give her the capital with which to start her business and, of course, the publicity to get her first customers.

The guy in the story is the high school bad boy who hurt her feelings terribly in grade school. He has just moved back to town and owns a coffee shop/bookstore and works part time as a camera man for the TV station so as to support his eating habit. Anyway, at some point during the book, they kiss and it just sent chills down my spine. The description of the kiss was pretty mild compared to those torrid romances I have been known to read, but there was something about it that struck me as oh so HOT--and then it struck me--the reason that kiss was so HOT, so sexy is that he loved her (you can't tell me this is a spoiler--its a romance novel, of course they get together). He didn't see her across the room and want to tear her clothes off. He wasn't using her to get even with someone. She wasn't his captive nor did she need something from him. It wasn't an arranged marriage they were making the best of--or any of the other normal situations in those mainstream romance novels. No, he was a friend who wanted to be more, someone who was willing to risk being hurt and who wanted more than anything to spare her pain. When that kiss happened you knew it wasn't going any further and you knew it meant something other than "I'm horny". Guess that's why I think the guy in bed with me is so sexy (but I'm sure you'd think he was sexy if you saw him).