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    Photo Finish: Teach Him Tonight, Book #1
    Photo Finish: Teach Him Tonight, Book #1
    Photo Finish: Teach Him Tonight, Book #1
    Ebook88 pages1 hour

    Photo Finish: Teach Him Tonight, Book #1

    By Mardi Ballou

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    About this ebook

    Photo Finish: Teach Him Tonight, Book #1
    a contemporary romance short story
    by Mardi Ballou

    Short story Photo Finish is the first book in Mardi Ballou’s Teach Him Tonight series. In these contemporary romances, a determined woman provides an essential lesson in love to a deserving guy.
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    Ambitious attorney Cassandra Harrell is primed to battle her hot, hunky opposing counsel Alex DeLuca—a.k.a. Alexander the Great—in the courtroom. Though she fantasizes about getting him into her bedroom, she’s determined to avoid this bad boy distraction and focus on her career.

    Alex spots the author photo on the back cover of a steamy romance and recognizes Cassandra. Who knew the desirable but icy lawyer had such a fascinating sensuous side? When he teases her about the book at a deposition, she furiously denies any connection.

    Her sister wrote the book and, for a prank, used Cassandra’s photo. Outraged at Alex for embarrassing her in front of clients, Cassandra plots a revenge lesson. This teacher comes out on top until her student raises the stakes — and the heat.
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    From reviews for Photo Finish: Teach Him Tonight Book #1

    5 STARS: Photo Finish is a wonderful short contemporary story that will grab you from the first page. Alex and Cassandra are both exciting characters and when they make love it is sizzling HOT! This story truly raised my temperature a couple of degrees as I was reading. Treat yourself! Run out and buy this fabulous book. I know you will enjoy it as much as I did.
    —Just Erotic Romance Reviews

    5 ANGELS: At times both humorous and serious, I found Photo Finish to be a wonderful introduction to the writing of Mardi Ballou... Looking for an enjoyable, entertaining and quick read? Don’t go past Photo Finish. I guarantee you won’t regret it.
    —Fallen Angel Reviews

    A short but sizzling story, Photo Finish packs quite a punch in just a few pages... There are depths to these two people that the author explores very well... The sex scenes are red-hot, erotic, and romantic. It’s amazing what you can do with a bit of imagination and a pair of handcuffs... Mardi Ballou writes a quickie that’s extremely satisfying. Photo Finish will have readers salivating, sweating, and ready for a little playtime.
    —Romance Reviews Today

    ... a splendidly developed story... Cassie and Alex have a spark that is tangible right from the start. Their fire is evident in their dialogue as well as in the bedroom. It is well written and injected with just the right amount of emotion. There is also a secondary storyline that is included. It deals with the all too serious issue of sexual harassment and how it should be handled. Ms. Ballou includes everything in this quick, sexy read.
    —The Road to Romance

    4 BLUE RIBBONS: Photo Finish will have you turning pages right up to the end and then wishing there was more! Mardi Ballou is a wonderful storyteller. The characters are well described; you feel as if you really know them.... I highly recommend it.... Photo Finish is a perfect addition to your collection.
    —Romance Junkies

    ... very enjoyable book. ...extremely likeable characters. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a quick romance with plenty of steamy sex.
    —Sensual Romance Reviews

    4 HEARTS: The chemistry between Alex and Cassandra is explosive, but also kind of sweet. Mardi Ballou has done a remarkable job in creating a short story that left me feeling completely satisfied.
    —The Romance Studio

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMardi Ballou
    Release dateAug 14, 2012
    ISBN9781476156002
    Photo Finish: Teach Him Tonight, Book #1
    Author

    Mardi Ballou

    By day, she’s a mild-mannered language teacher. But after hours, Mardi Ballou’s wild writer persona erupts and entraps her in bondage...to her computer. Release comes only once she achieves her word count goal, at which point the maniacal chocolate monster will give her one sublime piece. And then she can spend time with her hero husband Lee, who gives great massages at strategic times. So Mardi writes what she knows—romances—hot and mainstream. In addition to independent publishing—Emergency Ex: Teach Him Tonight, Book #2 and Photo Finish: Teach Him Tonight, Book #1 are her first two—she’s written for Ellora’s Cave, Samhain, NCP, Whiskey Creek, and Changeling. Also women’s fiction. Other recent releases are Deja Brew, Dark Venues, and Soap Bloke in e-book format and Perfect Pear in the Ripe and Ready print anthology from Ellora’s Cave, plus the Fangly, My Dear anthology—Byte Marks, What’s a Ghoul to Do?, and Playing with Matches in print from Samhain. Check her out at http://www.MardiBallou.com .

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      Book preview

      Photo Finish - Mardi Ballou

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      Photo Finish

      Teach Him Tonight, Book #1

      a contemporary romance short story

      by Mardi Ballou

      Photo Finish

      Teach Him Tonight, Book #1

      by Mardi Ballou

      Published by March Forth Press at Smashwords

      Author Revised Edition

      Copyright 2012 Mardi Ballou

      http://www.MardiBallou.com

      All rights reserved. This is a work of imaginative fiction. Any resemblance to any person living or deceased is the result of unintentional coincidence.

      The e-book version of this story is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Please purchase an additional copy of this e-book for each person with whom you want to share it. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at mailto:Mardi@MardiBallou.com

      Table of Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Epilogue

      Other Works by Mardi Ballou

      Teach Him Tonight series

      An Excerpt from EMERGENCY EX (Teach Him Tonight Book #2)

      An Excerpt from SOAP BLOKE

      About Mardi

      Dedication

      Creation always takes a village. Thank you to all my village mates – especially Lynn LaFleur, Janet Miller and Celia Juliano. And, of course, always to my hero, Lee – the guy I teach every night.

      Chapter One

      Invasion of Love Slaves from Planet X. Alex DeLuca cocked an eyebrow at the book lying facedown on his paralegal’s desk. She’d slipped out for a coffee break. Evidently he didn’t give her enough work. His other brow shot up when he got an eyeful of the cover with its artistic depiction of alien love slaves. Startling as that was, his real surprise came when he glimpsed—and then stared at—the photo on the back. The print claimed the author was K.C. Corrigan, but there was no disguising Cassandra Harrell—opposing legal counsel in the Martin divorce case. Even worse, Cassandra was the woman who’d invaded his nightly dreams for months. A tall, green-eyed brunette with the long legs of a dancer, a hot body he longed to liberate from her no-nonsense career suits and a killer brain. Alex’s day just got much better.

      Cassandra Harrell, a.k.a. the hotshot ice princess of McLaine, Berman and Arthur—the second most successful law firm in town, right after his own Levine, James and DeLuca. Was it coincidence or fate—seeing the photo just before Alex had to face off against Ms. Harrell at a deposition? He chuckled to himself, rehearsing how he’d tease Cassandra about her secret identity. Lawyer by day, erotica queen by night. If he played his cards right, maybe her nighttime activities would soon include him. Her other identity hinted at her undiscovered depths, just inviting him to explore…

      Alex reined in his wandering mind and rising lust. He needed to concentrate on the deposition at hand. Though that wouldn’t prevent him from having a little fun with Cassandra…and taking their acquaintance to a whole new level.

      * * *

      The deposition did not go the way Cassandra Harrell had rehearsed and practiced with her client. She bit her lip in frustration. After all parties agreed to call a halt to the morning’s lack of progress, she packed her papers in her voluminous briefcase. Though her client, Parker Martin, swore that his soon-to-be-ex had offshore bank accounts and other undisclosed assets, Cassandra hadn’t been able to budge Ms. Templeton-Martin from her previous denials. Cassandra would spend much of the evening to come mentally rehashing the deposition. She was already thinking of strategies for what to do next and how to deal with the current setback.

      Worst of all, Cassandra felt like Alex DeLuca, whom the Bay Area Single Women’s Coalition had nicknamed Alexander the Great, was undressing her with his eyes. His gaze even seemed to hint that he knew she was wearing black lace under her gray flannel pinstripe power suit. He always made her feel like an awkward tenth grader with a crush on the senior class president/captain of the football team. She hadn’t felt like that since she’d been an awkward tenth grader.

      Cassandra chided herself to get a grip and not to let her personal quirks mess up her life. She was not about to become another entry in Alex DeLuca’s little black book. She glared at him with icy professional resolve, determined to prove to him and the world that she was immune to his tall, dark Mediterranean good looks. Bad enough that he had thick black hair she ached to run her fingers through. She needed to run, not walk, when he laser beamed her with his smoldering blue eyes and George Clooney grin.

      Given her penchant for Alex DeLuca, she’d almost turned down the Martin divorce because he was representing the wife. But Cassandra had to take the case and win or she’d lose her spot on the fast track to early partnership—and she was determined to come out on top. After years of financial struggle, a.k.a. poverty, Cassandra was firmly focused on achieving a gilt-edged life. Partnership in her firm was the shortest route there. This meant repressing any desire for bad boys, her biggest weakness. It also meant sublimating all her sexual energy and horniness into work, work, work. Making her dreams come

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