Hot Mama

Jennifer Estep

H O T M A M A

MAMA

Jennifer Estep

BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Ofﬁces: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England This is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group. This is a work of ﬁction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used ﬁctitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content. Copyright © 2007 by Jennifer Estep.

Cover art by Stanley Chow.

Cover design by Judith Lagerman.

Text design by Kristin del Rosario.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions. BERKLEY is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. The “B” design is a trademark belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Estep, Jennifer.

Hot mama / Jennifer Estep.—1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN: 1-4295-5622-6

1. Heroines—Fiction. 2. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. I. Title. PS3605.S687H68 2007

813'.6—dc22

2007025825

To my mom, the best person I know.

And to Andre, who coined the phrase “So, are you going to eat that?”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Once again, this book would not have been possible without the help of many people.

Thanks again to my super agent, Kelly Harms, and fantastic editor, Cindy Hwang. You both help me make my books the very best they can be, for which I am always grateful.

To artist Stanley Chow. Thanks for another great Bigtime cover. They just keep getting better. To all the readers out there who wrote, e-mailed, and talked to me about Karma Girl. Thank you for your kind words. Your enjoyment and enthusiasm mean more to me than you know.

Happy reading!

P A R T O N E

Wedding Bells

´ 1´

My wedding day.

It was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. A time of joy and celebration and new beginnings. The day every girl dreams of from the time she’s old enough to play dressup in her mother’s clothes. It was exactly that sort of day.