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  That sucked.

  He hadn’t known her long enough to feel this disappointed. It was stupid. And lame. And dammit, he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

  He spent an hour in the basement, cataloging boxes of sugar packets and bottles of mustard and cartons of napkins. By the time he came upstairs, he’d managed to calm himself a little, at least enough so that when the bell jingled again, he didn’t want to jump over the bar and pummel the crap out of the person who wasn’t Colleen.

  It was, to both Jesse and John’s surprise, The Fallen Angel’s owner. Rick Benjamin hardly ever came into the bar himself. Now he stamped snow off his boots and off the shoulders of his heavy winter coat.

  “We’re closing,” he said to John. To the customers gathered around the tables and sitting at the bar, he announced, “Listen, folks, the weather report says that instead of another inch or so, we’re looking at a possible six to ten, along with freezing rain. I got an update from the power company that outages are likely. My advice to all of you is to head home and stay safe and warm.”

  “Again?” John said. “Who pissed off Mother Nature?”

  Jesse was already gathering up the few empty glasses and putting them in the plastic bin to take back to the kitchen. At Rick’s warning, everyone in the bar got up and started putting on their coats.

  “Scattered like the wind,” John said. “Look at them go.”

  Rick snorted with laughter and looked at Jesse. “Leave that stuff. It’s bad out there and getting worse. I’m closing up tonight and for tomorrow, too, just to be safe. I’ll let everyone know how Saturday’s looking. But get out of here.”

  As Jesse grabbed his own coat, his phone buzzed. Laila’s school, announcing another day closed. He texted Diane to make sure she and the kid were okay, then headed to his car. Rick had been right. It would’ve been smart for him to head straight home and get out of the storm, but he remembered there was nothing in the fridge but some ready-to-expire yogurt and some limp celery. Jesse frowned as he pulled into the grocery store parking lot. Better stock up, he thought, before he was snowed in—sadly, by himself this time.

  * * *

  Spring couldn’t get here fast enough, Colleen thought as she snagged one of the last carts at the grocery store and managed to avoid being run over by a woman who’d filled her buggy with bulk packages of toilet paper. The small grocery store didn’t carry a lot of stock as it was, but even so the aisles were incredibly picked over. She was able to grab some salad and a bag of apples, as well as some canned spaghetti and ravioli. Also some sardines, because what the hell, if she was going to prepare for what looked to be the Snowpocalypse, she might as well make sure she had a wide variety of things on which she could survive. Besides, she didn’t have to fight anyone for the sardines. She’d have shoved someone for one of those packages of Oreos, though.

  “Oh,” she said, startled. “Hi.”

  Jesse turned, the last package of cookies in his hand. He looked good. Beard a little scruffy, hair rumpled where it showed beneath the navy stocking cap. He didn’t smile when he saw her, and that broke her heart a little.

  “You’ve got my favorite,” she told him.

  He didn’t look at the cookies. Just at her. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Oreos. My favorite. Think we could snag some milk to go with them? The shelves are getting picked pretty bare.” She kept her voice light. Casual. But she made sure to keep eye contact.

  Jesse stepped to one side to show her the cart his body had been hiding before. In it, a gallon jug of milk, a few bags of potato chips, some paper plates and napkins. He had a box of white utility candles, too. He didn’t say anything. Just let her look.

  “In case the power goes out?” she asked, pointing at the disposables.

  He nodded.

  “Milk and cookies by candlelight. Could be romantic.”

  His mouth twitched the tiniest amount. She couldn’t blame him for keeping his smile tethered down. She couldn’t blame herself for trying to tease one out of him anyway. She held up her sardines without saying anything, just a wiggle of her brows she meant to be deliberately strange and suggestive.

  Jesse gave in. He laughed, she laughed with him and suddenly everything seemed as though it might actually be okay. Colleen took a chance and stepped closer. He didn’t move away.

  “I missed you,” Jesse blurted out and looked instantly as though he regretted it.

  Her heart broke more than a little this time. She moved near enough to touch his face. The way he closed his eyes at her touch told her everything she needed to know. Everything she’d been hoping was true.

  “I missed you, too.” Then she kissed him. Right there in the middle of the store, oblivious to anyone who might be watching, not giving a damn if she was making a mistake. She kissed him, kissed him, kissed him.

  Jesse kissed her back. His arms went around her, squeezing hard enough to crackle the cookie package. She didn’t care. All that mattered was that he was holding her. That she had a chance to make things okay, if she was willing to take it. It might not work out. She might have to eat crow, like Mark said. And even then it might be too late.

  But she had to try.

  “Come home with me,” Colleen said against his mouth. “Let’s get snowed in together.”

  Jesse drew back enough to look into her eyes. She wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d seen hesitation there, wouldn’t have blamed him for saying no. But, as with everything else he’d ever done, Jesse didn’t disappoint her.

  “Yes,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  * * * * *

  Seize the Night

  Tiffany Reisz

  Dedication

  To Mrs. Colvin, my freshman high school English teacher,

  who introduced me to Romeo, Juliet, Paris, The Nurse

  and (of course) the one and only Mercutio.

  Shakespeare and I have been star-crossed lovers ever since…

  About the Author

  Tiffany Reisz is an award-winning and internationally

  bestselling author of The Original Sinners series (Mills & Boon Spice).

  When she’s not writing scandalous tales about naughty priests and

  quirky dominatrices, she’s doing sordid things to Shakespeare plays.

  She lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with her fiancé and two weird cats. Contact her at [email protected] if you dare.

  Also by Tiffany Reisz

  Cosmopolitan Red-Hot Reads from Mills & Boon

  MISBEHAVING

  The Original Sinners Series

  THE MISTRESS

  THE PRINCE

  THE ANGEL

  THE SIREN

  Novellas

  THE MISTRESS DIARIES

  THE GIFT (originally published as SEVEN DAY LOAN)

  SUBMIT TO DESIRE

  IMMERSED IN PLEASURE

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you enjoyed Misbehaving, my first Cosmopolitan Red-Hot Reads from Mills & Boon story. Now I’m back with Seize the Night, a new sexy Shakespeare retelling for your reading pleasure.

  When Mills & Boon asked me for a second Cosmopolitan Red-Hot Reads from Mills & Boon story, I went for a long bike ride to think about what I should write. Since Misbehaving was a modern erotic update of the comedy Much Ado About Nothing, maybe I’d try my hand at retelling a tragedy. There’s no more famous romance in the history of English literature than the one between Romeo and Juliet. I live in Lexington, Kentucky, also known as the “Horse Capital of the World,” and as I rode, I saw horses everywhere. There’s lots of drama in horse racing, lots of money, beauty and romance, too. Could I update Romeo and Juliet to fit into this world? Of course I could! I took out the death, added a lot of sex, set it among two rival horse-racing families, threw in a happy ending and turned Mercutio’s infamous line “A plague on both your houses” into my Merrick’s “A plague on both your horses!”

  What can I say? I was an English major. This is how I put my degree to use.

&n