Single mom Valentina wants to provide a good life for her son, starting with the perfect home. When the deal on her dream house falls through, rather than move back in with her parents and disappoint them and her son once again, she accepts the help of the intimidating-as-hell stranger she’s admired from her coffee shop seat for the last six months. She’s afraid to fall for the wrong guy again, so she makes Cole promise to keep their relationship strictly professional.
Following his failed marriage, Cole can’t find a reason to care about anything or anyone. Saving his company from his ex-wife is the only thing that has kept him afloat for the past six months. As loneliness sets in and he begins to lose the fight over his company, Valentina becomes his lifeline. Cole wants to be more than her landlord, and he has a plan to get her to release him from his promise.
Hicks’s sizzling first Desert Monsoon contemporary romance is a touch predictable but wholly entertaining. Valentina de Cordoba has an emotional meltdown in a café when she finds out that her rental application has been rejected, jeopardizing her future with her young son, Max. Hunky Derek Cole, who’s been eavesdropping on Valentina’s conversation, impulsively offers to rent her the cottage on his estate. With no other options, Valentina reluctantly takes Derek up on his offer but wants to keep things strictly professional—something he has a hard time doing, though he and his wife are in the midst of a rough divorce. The acerbic wit of Derek’s housekeeper and the precociousness of Valentina’s son boost an otherwise stock plot with humor and heart, and Valentina and Derek’s great chemistry gives this story its sizzle. Each stolen glance is taut with sexual tension that continues to build until an utterly satisfying release. This irresistible romance is sure to satisfy. (BookLife)
