"Well structured read with in-depth characters."

Austin Gardner, professional web designer, is stuck in a rut. She takes care of her ailing mother who either criticizes her or ignores her, and she has no social life. With her 35th birthday coming up this weekend, she decides it's time for a change. As she's going home after work on a crowded bus, she gets pushed backward into a stranger -- and he pulls her against him. He slips his hand under her shirt to caress her smooth stomach. She's shocked, but doesn't move away -- wasn't she just telling herself it was time for a change? So when he calls her by her middle name and tells her to be on the bus the next day without a bra, she agrees. This stranger, who she's not allowed to turn around to see, has turned her life inside out. Suddenly she has something to look forward to -- but will it be enough?

Tyler Birch has been in love with Austin ever since she walked into the lobby of his company five years ago, looking for a job. He wanted to ask her out many times, but she always avoided him, and even seemed to dislike him. He was tired of waiting. When he got on the crowded bus after work he formed a plan. Approach her anonymously as a sensual stranger, and have her get to know him better through work. But will his duplicity come back to haunt him?

This was a very in-depth, well structured read. Ms. Knight is very descriptive and thorough with her characters, so much that the reader feels a part of the story. Austin is a strong, independent woman, who is confident in her job but not her social life. The reader watches her grow in self- confidence throughout the book. Tyler is a successful, confident, tender man who knows what he wants and is determined to get it. I really enjoyed this book, and found myself cheering the characters on.

Reviewed by Maryellen Kunkel
Courtesy Sensual Romance
Posted April 11, 2003

Summary

Austin D. Gardner, an award winning web designer in San Francisco, has just faced the fact that she is going to turn thirty-five years old on Saturday and her life is nowhere near what she dreamed it would be. She needs to make big changes.

On the crowded bus trip home, Austin is pushed into a man. Instead of trying to move away, he pulls her to him. Austin is shocked at first, but then lets fate take her by the hand. An anonymous adventure on a crowded bus might be a safe way to break out of the dull life she is living.

Tyler Birch had spent years waiting for Austin to give some indication she would welcome getting to know him better, but time is up. He decided Monday to stop being passive. That afternoon he finds himself pressed against her on the crowded bus trip home. Not one to turn down an opportunity when he's presented with one, Tyler accepts the chance to mount a two-pronged plan of attack. One as the anonymous stranger who can set Austin on fire with his touch, and the other as Tyler Birch who can touch her soul.