BEDDING DOWN

Author: Rachel Kramer Bussel, ed. ISBN: 9780061560637 11/2008 EROTIC Publisher: AVON RED

...A lusty collection of scintillating erotic dreams from some of the best writers in the field, here is a sexy and sure cure for the winter blues! Two uptight Manhattanites discover a hotspot in frigid Minnesota where they can shed their inhibitions and explore their most intimate fantasies . . . A billionaire recluse and a beautiful paparazzo generate some serious heat in a snowbound cabin in the Colorado Rockies . . . Combine a blizzard, a romantic old castle, a burglary, and a breathtakingly sexy devil—her perfect recipe for dangerous lust . . . In the unfamiliar chill of a New York winter, a California sun bunny discovers the secret to igniting her boyfriend's inner erotic fire . . . Stuck with a man she despises on her sister's wedding day, a distraught beauty resolves to be civilized—until her studly adversary lures her into a forbidden place with no rules or taboos . . . A husband and wife whose marriage has stalled get their pistons pumping once more when a sudden winter storm strands them in their car . . . Though she's been taught all her life never to beg, her insatiable desire for him is bringing her to her knees . . .

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Imagine yourself stranded in an avalanche, or even a freak snowstorm in Virginia or a typical slushy, winter day in New York City. You are chilled to the bone; hypothermia is settling in; and you start thinking about warm things like a roaring fire, Malibu beach, or a muscle-bound guy who is looking at you hungrily, a bulge in his pants growing by the minute. There. Feeling toasty now? I thought so.

Rachel Bussel presents seven stories of wintertime erotica guaranteed to take off the chill. But more than just getting the blood temperature up to the point of automatic self-pleasure, each of these stories enriches our understanding of love, romance, and how the physical act of lovemaking enhances or sometimes detracts from the relationship, no matter what the level of commitment.

In One Night in Winter by Kristina Wright, a couple has a torrid love affair and then separates for ten years because he broke her heart. Well, he was married at the time, but just barely; but still… he broke her heart. And ten years later (at her sister’s wedding) they are paired as Best Man and Matron of Honor, caught in a freak snowstorm, and the physical fire of passion is still there; but will she hide behind her wedding ring this time? What does he know about her that could bring her back to him?

Gwen Master’s Six Weeks on Sunrise Mountain, Colorado starts off with a bang, as Janine falls on Fletcher’s mountain while trying to get a tabloid story about this reclusive, billionaire geek who went off the grid to get away from the paparazzi. He spends weeks nursing her back to health, not knowing for sure why she was there, denying his attraction to this probable enemy to his privacy, when suddenly, an avalanche engulfs his cabin. After spending hours digging themselves out, they find the best way to take off the chill.

It’s not the Weather by Alison Tyler tells the story of an unlikely duo. She’s a meteorologist in Los Angeles, living on the beach, hired as the consultant for a sitcom about a weather girl. He’s one of the writers for said sitcom, a native New Yorker, so in love with missing the four seasons of back home in New York that he totally misses all of the cute ways she tries to compensate for daily, near-perfect weather. In a bizarre twist, she ends up in New York, cold and alone, until one night she comes home to find a sympathetic friend from back home has brought a little bit of the beach to warm her up.

Marilyn Jaye Lewis tells the story of a couple in Baby It’s Cold Outside who seem to enjoy a little risky love au natural until the subject of babies comes up, and he has to deal with why he’s afraid to move forward to this next step in their marriage. His insights seem to take their lovemaking to a whole new place when he decides not to let babies take a backseat in their relationship.

Northern Exposure by Isabelle Grey is the bittersweet story of a married couple who are tested by life, as many are. They have a thriving life in New York City, until the day they move to his father’s house in the North Country in the Midwest. His father is dying and the more years they stay, the more strained their relationship becomes, until the only thing they have left to hang onto is their great sex. Until even that is not enough, and she decides to go back home when the spring comes.

Sophie Mouette is the pseudonym for a pair of writers, and their Hidden Treasure is, indeed, a gem. Brenda and Sean had crushes on each other in high school that they didn’t act on, but now that they’ve returned to their small town in upstate New York, the possibilities seem endless. She’s the curator for a Victorian mansion-turned-museum, and he takes a job as the security guard for the museum to get closer to Brenda. When they get snowed in one afternoon, the only thing better than testing out the master bedroom is reading the erotic love letters to each other that the former owners left in a hidden drawer.

Sweet Season by Shannon Germain could have been a sappy love story about the granddaughter of a maple syrup maker who promised to keep the business running, but as soon as the sugar shack heats up, Dulcie and her old flame, Travis, heat up too.

I guarantee these short stories will warm up the coldest day. You can serve them up one per day for a week, or binge on them one after the other. Since the stories hold together as well as any, you can enjoy the plot while cooling off from the naughty bits. Whew!

Susan Barton