Jane Emerson parted the blinds to sneak a peek into the yard next door. The lawn mower had finally fallen silent, which meant Bruno Martir had finished with that chore. Soon, he’d be moving along the fence as he turned to the next job.

She’d gotten accustomed to his afternoon habits. Knew he preferred yard work while Cord washed cars in the drive. Cord hadn’t finished working on his SUV, so there was still plenty of time to put her plan into action. It was already Friday—Monday she had a reservation on a flight home.

Her gaze slid covetously over Bruno’s lean body. His T-shirt had long ago been stripped away. Grass shavings clung to his broad shoulders and ripped abdomen. Sweat darkened the brown hair that lightly furred his chest and thick thighs.

She licked her lips, already tasting the salt of his sweat and cum. This was it. One last shot at putting the topping on her vacation.

Through with playing coy and dropping increasingly un-subtle hints, she was going for broke. If he didn’t take the bait this time, she’d have to assume she didn’t have the equipment to attract a stud like the fireman next door. Maybe his roommate Cord was more than just his best buddy, which would be a crying damn shame—at least for Jane’s plans.

She suppressed the jangle of nerves that vibrated in her belly and shut out the voice whispering in her ear that this was wrong in so many ways. Far, far away from her staid little life, she had one last chance to redeem her tattered pride and she wasn’t going to quibble over whether this was the right thing to do.

Grabbing up her boom box and sunscreen, she tightened the belt on her robe and headed down the stairs, not even trying to stem the flow of excitement dampening her short curls. She’d promised herself an elicit adventure. Something to wear like a badge of courage when she finally returned home. She might have been dumped for a hard-bodied fitness instructor, but she was still attractive, still sexy. To prove it to herself today, she’d be shameless.

Bursting through the glass sliding door, she blinked at the bright sunshine and slid her shades over her eyes. There might be fall-like weather in her Chicago home at the moment, but South Florida still held bragging rights for lingering summer weather—one of the reasons she’d agreed to housesit while her college friend enjoyed a pre-wedding getaway with her fiancé. Jane was still on the fence about staying longer to wait for the wedding that promised to be every bit as romantic as Sarah deserved, not sure if she could bear witnessing her friend’s happiness when her own had proven so elusive.

Sarah had worked damn hard to snag her sexy policeman. She’d determined his beat, run red lights, “lost” distributor caps and parts of her swimming suits to get his attention.

It was a good thing Fernando had a sense of humor or Sarah might have garnered stalking charges.

But all’s well that ends well, and now Jane was ready to take a page out of Sarah’s book. Not that she was looking for “happily ever after”. She’d settle for some down and dirty sex—the raw and nasty kind she hadn’t had in forever. And Bruno’s lush lips and sparkling dark eyes hinted that he knew a thing or two about “dirty”.

She strolled toward the lounge chair set in the center of the back yard, her heart thumping. The sound of Bruno starting up the weed eater on the other side of the fence assured her he’d be edging close to the large knothole.

Soon, he’d have to take a break and fill up on more fuel or stop for a drink to replace all the lovely sweat he wore like slick massage oil on his tanned skin. He’d hear the music and call a greeting across the fence. When she didn’t immediately respond, being the instinctively protective kind of guy he was, he wouldn’t be able to resist a peek through the knothole to make sure she was all right.

She adjusted the lounger, angling it so that his quick peek would be of her entire body from a flattering sideways view. Then pulling in a deep breath and saying a quick prayer for courage, she turned on the music and dropped her robe.

Her body already gleamed from a lavish application of coconut-scented body oil. Her tan was completely even, not a strap mark in sight. She tweaked her nipples for a little extra rosy color and then lay down on the lounger.

Now, all she had to do was wait. She’d baited a foolproof trap.

Cord Lassiter slipped the latch on the privacy fence, following the sound of sexy R&B. Sarah had asked him to take a look at the jack for her telephone connection to see if he could figure out whether the hum on her line was her problem or the phone company’s. Since she’d be back on Monday, he wanted to surprise her with the job completed. Sarah was good people.

He’d hoped to get to the job when the housesitter left for the day, but it didn’t look like that was gonna happen anytime soon, so he shored up his courage and shoved through the gate.

Jane hadn’t exactly taken a shine to him. Probably still held a grudge against him for dumping her panties on the driveway the day she arrived. But that fiasco hadn’t been entirely his fault.

He’d kept an eye out for Jane’s arrival as a favor to Sarah. Before Jane had even opened the cab door, he’d headed to the trunk to gather her cases. He’d reached for one, and then looked up as a set of long, delicious legs slid from the back of the taxi.

His jaw had dropped along with the case, and then he’d scrambled to pick up the microscopic bits of satin and silk as they’d begun to tumble across the lawn in the stiff sea breeze.

Bruno had shaken his head, giving him a look full of suppressed laughter, and then schooled his features into an appalled, consoling mask that completely bowled over the beautiful woman as his best buddy held out his hand to help her from the back seat.

Ever since then, she’d had her nose in the air whenever Cord was around, but a sultry smile for Bruno. Too bad she didn’t know that Bruno would never be interested in her—unless she was the sharing sort.

And Jane Emerson seemed way too self-absorbed to ever spread the lovin’ around. It was a damn good thing she was leaving soon. Ever since she’d come, he’d worn a hard-on no amount of pocket hockey could relieve.

As he rounded the corner of the house, his steps faltered. His gaze caught the glint of the top of her burnished reddish-brown hair, and then slid over the supple, nude body that had his cock tenting fast against the front of his jeans.

Holy shit! He’d underestimated just how damn beautiful she’d be. He almost wished he hadn’t seen because now he knew his dreams would be ripe with fantasies he hadn’t a hope in hell of fulfilling.

Still, a self-mocking grin tugged at his lips as he eyed her lovely rosy nipples, the shine of her oiled skin and the red glint of the short, springy curls cloaking her pussy. The long supple legs drew him last, reminding him of his fantasy of having them wrapped tightly around his waist as he hammered inside her.

A molten wave of heat washed over him and he clenched his hands at his sides. Jane could have been made for him. His ideal of perfection. The rounded curves of her belly and full hips excited him like no other woman ever had. So much womanly softness to hold.

But what the hell could he do about it? If Bruno looked through the knothole in the fence, he’d be chortling and wondering if Cord had the gonads to do more than slink away.

After another long sip of her lovely, mouth-watering body, Cord cleared his throat.

Jane’s head jerked back, her eyes widening beneath the rims of her sunglasses when she spotted him. She shot up in the chair and bent to reach for the robe lying on the grass beside her.

As if in slow-motion, the lounge chair tilted and fell to the side, dumping her on her knees in the grass.

Cord hurried over to her, trying his best to keep the smile off his face and his gaze off her delectable ass. He knelt beside her, reaching for her arms to help her up, but her slippery skin slid beneath his grip. She fell forward, her breasts landing in his palms.

All right, so he’d angled his hands for them to land that way, but she didn’t seem in any hurry to move away. Rich color filled her cheeks. The beaded peaks of her velvety nipples stabbed his callused skin and he couldn’t resist giving both weighty globes an assessing squeeze.

A sharp gasp pressed her breasts deeper into his grasp and he swept his thumbs over the spiking nipples. A strained murmur rattled at the back of her throat and her eyes began to drift closed.

Cord debated the wisdom of bending closer to plant a wet one right on her puckered lips, but instead gently pinched one nipple.

Jane’s eyes widened, then narrowed behind her glasses, and she came up on her knees, shoving away his hands. “That’s quite enough help from you,” she huffed.

Disappointed, Cord slowly wiped away the oil from his hands on the side of his jeans, and then rubbed his bare chest, drawing her gaze across his bare pecs.

As she stared, he bent and picked up her robe and held it just out of her reach, forcing her to kneel upward and expose the parts she tried to cover with a hand. “Thanks,” she muttered, snagging it from his hands. “Do you always barge into private yards without a warning?”

“Sarah doesn’t mind,” he drawled, his gaze cataloging her finer points—round, uptilted breasts, creamy-looking skin, a true redhead. “I’m doing her a favor.”

She quickly tucked the robe around her then rose to stand in front of him, her chin jutting skyward. “Next time, knock.” With color high in her cheeks and riding the swells of her upper breasts, she turned and headed back inside the house.

Cord watched her ass twitch below the terrycloth and let loose a quiet whistle as the door slammed shut.

“Hermano, anyone ever tell you that you suck at seduction?”

Cord shot a glance over his shoulder at his roommate who’d walked up behind him. “I wasn’t trying to seduce her. She kinda fell into my hands.”

Bruno’s mouth slid into a wide smile. “An opportunity like that, and you didn’t want to crawl all over that sweet ass?”

Cord snorted, strangely annoyed with Bruno’s coarse language. Since when did he curb his own? “I was just trying not to drool on the girl. How was I supposed to chat her up with my tongue hanging out? Besides, she hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you. She wouldn’t have let you feel her up if she wasn’t a little bit interested.”

Cord winced. “She didn’t let me do a damn thing. I think she was in shock.”

“You didn’t notice the way her whole body tensed when you squeezed her tits? Bet she creamed on the spot. She just needs a little incentive to see you as anything other than the clumsy neighbor.” Bruno waggled his eyebrows. “Leave it to me.”

Cord watched his buddy let himself in the sliding door and gritted his teeth. For some reason, this time, he wasn’t quite so eager to share.