**** "Driven" by LuAnn McLane. Heh. Did this make anyone else think of Jenny Crusie & Bob Mayer? (though the main things didn't fit--they're not in a romance, he approached her for a collaboration; the details do: Maui, romantic comedy, tough guy) Cute story, though.
***½ "What Happens in Vegas" by Patricia Ryan. The 3½ stars is deceptive. The first half of the story is ho-hum dull. Some bimbo-y chick acting dumb and some dull guy playing blackjack. Then we find out that the sleazebag owner of the casino wants her to find out how the dull guy keeps winning, but I still don't care. Then... there's a VERY hot sex scene. An example for the next time there's a conversation about taking sex scenes out of context. This one works out of context--it probably works BETTER out of context, because I really didn't care at all about these characters. And no, it's not in the details, it's in the way she writes about the details. *sigh* I wish more authors understood that. So maybe 2½ stars for the story itself, but that sex scene bumped it up a star.
**** "Brushstrokes" by Toni Blake. Cute story. Matchmaking grandma sets up artist granddaughter with commitment-phobic bar owner by getting him to hire her to paint his bar. She ends up painting angels on his ceiling, & he keeps trying to tell her to quit, but he can't bring himself to. Points for inventiveness in the sex scenes. ( )