The ex-wife in question happens to be my mother who divorced this tall, dark and handsome cowboy ten years ago. I can't help wondering if he makes fun of me or he really doesn't know who I am. The only way to find out is to flirt with him until one of us backs down.

Charles and I never got along while he was married to my mother. I wasn't shy about letting him know that I wanted my father back. The day my parents remarried was the happiest of my life and tomorrow marks ten years since that day. The only thing that keeps us a family now is my half-brother Blake.

It takes a hurricane for Charles and me to be under the same roof again. Forced to be in the same house with my ex-stepdad, I can't help trying to torment him, but things don't go exactly according to my plan.

Kasey
I tried to make sense of his gaze. It was like craving and anger and shame and determination, all mixed together in a chaotic vortex. He looked like one of those rom-com heroes who got a second chance with the woman who broke their heart. My mom's ten-year anniversary would be the perfect setting for a dramatic scene. But he wasn't going to do that. Unlike my dad, Charles Patrick Moore wasn't prone to dramatic gestures.

"Do you still love her?" The words escaped, ruining my strategy of messing with him. It was a stupid question to which I didn't want to know the answer.

The anger and shame faded from his gaze. He straightened up, and an arrogant smile crooked his lips while he measured me up and down slowly. My skin tingled and it occurred to me that I might not win this game of chicken. I should throw in the towel and tell him that I recognized him. Stubbornness kept my jaw locked and the time to diffuse the situation was gone.

After a margarita-fueled sexual encounter with my ex-stepdad in a nightclub, followed by a crazy-risky night with him in my parents' house, I can't help seeing Charles Patrick Moore in a whole new light. Maybe he is the all-round good guy my brothers have always insisted he was. Maybe I was the jerk, all those years ago. Maybe I should grow up and get to know him like the man he is, not like an obstacle to my parents getting back togeher.

Once I decided to fix my strained relationship with Charles, I thought the hardest part would be to get over a lifetime habit of being mean to him. I want Charles to forgive me for how I treated him over the years. And for taking advantage of his complicated feelings for my mother to work through some issues of my own. And just when my hard work seems to pay off, I'm forced to admit that I might want more than his forgiveness.

I want to be in his bed, not on his Christmas list.

I don't need presents on my birthday or polite conversation on family gatherings.

I want fevered kisses and crazy sex.

Should I risk permanently damaging my newly-fixed relationship with Charles and the peace of our whole family? My body's vote is loud and clear. Definitely worth the risk. How long can my mind resist such strong arguments?

This older man/younger woman romance with a touch of taboo is an unusual enemies to lovers story. It's a steamy forbidden romance ending with a HEA.
The book is entirely from Kasey's point of view.

All books in the Girls Playing with Fire series are told from the point of view of the heroine.

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