Illicit Dreams, by Vicki Lewis Thompson

Illicit Dreams is a novella by Vicki Lewis Thompson which came packaged with two Harlequin Blaze novels by Suzanne Forster and Alison Kent in the Undressed anthology. From what I see elsewhere, it seems it's a reprint, and it first came out in another antho, Invitations to Seduction.

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.Lindsay Scott can't help but overhear Hunter Jordan's nightly activities though her thin apartment walls. But she finally decides to do something about her crush when she discovers a naughty book full of ideas guaranteed to make Hunter her sex slave... .
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I meant to do one post for the three books in the anthology, but when I was about to start the Alison Kent, my M-Bag full of books arrived, and I got distracted. And now I can't find Undressed under the piles of other books. It'll turn up soon, I'm sure, but I'd better review Illicit Dreams quickly, because it's quickly evaporating from my mind. Pretty good sign that it's a forgettable, if nice, story. A C+.

Lindsey Scott is hot for her neighbour, Hunter Jordan, and it's torture for her to hear him get it on with his swimsuit model girlfriend every night (yeah, very thin walls in that building). She doesn't know that Hunter has noticed her as well. He's a pretty stand-up guy, too, so when he starts dreaming about Lindsey rather than about his girlfriend, he breaks up with her.

Unfortunately, Lindsay overhears a discussion between Hunter and his now-ex that makes her think she dumped him, not the opposite, so when Hunter shows some interest, she thinks he's on the rebound. And Lindsey has had very bad experiences with guys on the rebound, who use her to get over their exes and then promptly leave her. But she can't resist accepting what Hunter offers, and soon they're having a hot and heavy affair of their own.

I mostly enjoyed this one. Both Hunter and Lindsay are truly nice people, and they approach their affair with a joy and a lack of angst that was good to see. Even Lindsay's worry about being rebound girl again soon proves to be baseless, and so there just aren't many obstacles there. Sounds boring, but the story is short and the sex is hot, because these two have plenty of chemistry, so it zips along nicely. I especially liked Hunter's lust-think, strangely enough.

A couple of quibbles, though. First, something that's bothered me in other VLT books: the characters seem a bit too quick to reveal their kinks and innermost fantasies to each other. Some of the things they do here... well, let's just say that I would have bought it much more easily if they'd happened after they'd been in a relationship for a while and trusted each other more.

Then there was the thing about Hunter recognizing that he was a pretty vanilla guy before Pamela (the dumped girlfriend). I kind of liked that he really appreciates the woman for having taught him a few things and thinks warmly of her for that, but then there's his thinking that now that he's learnt this, he wants to apply it with a different kind of woman. That left a bad taste in my mouth.

Finally, there's this strange book with sexual fantasies in a bridal shop that felt like an unexplained gimmick that's out of context. It adds nothing but distraction here, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it had been a theme in the previous anthology this story was packaged with, so ok.

All things considered, not a bad way to spend an hour or so.