Better Than Ice Cream
by Alicia Sparks

There's nothing quite like a pint of ice cream on a hot summer day. The way it melts on the tongue, the way it cools the throat as it slides down, the bone-shattering orgasm it leaves in its wake. Of course, this isn't just any ice cream. It's I Scream ice cream, the only dairy product in the country guaranteed to give its female clients a little something more. And Ryan LeJeune doesn't buy into the reputation for a minute. No woman in her right mind would choose ice cream over a man. But when he returns to Oak Creek, Louisiana, and meets the brains behind the company, he realizes that is exactly what Laura Reynolds has been doing. And he has a good mind to put an end to it.

He knows he needs this deal with Laura in order to save his family's business. And the sugar formula tucked into his shirt pocket seems to be exactly what Laura's company needs in order to expand. But there's something unsettling about being part of a business that claims to be able to replace the need for hot, sweaty sex. He decides there's only one way he will give Laura the formula: if she lets him prove to her that men are better than ice cream.

Laura can't believe the business arrangement Ryan wants to work out. Sex for sugar! He's got to be out of his mind. Even worse, she knows the deal has nothing to do with her and everything to do with his manhood and his need to prove himself. The only problem is, when his skin slides against hers and she looks into his blue eyes, she sees so much more and can't help but wonder if he really is better than ice cream.

Alicia Sparks' Bio

Alicia's interest in romance began as a child when she used to hide out reading her mom's forbidden romance novels. She remembers very distinctly the first time she ever read Gone with the Wind and was instantly hooked on the concept of the Southern gentlemanly rake. She likes to think that there's a little bit of Rhett in all of her heroes, whether they be sexy cowboys or dark and brooding rock stars.

Always writing against a soundtrack, Alicia finds inspiration for her cowboys and contemporary heroes from country musicians such as Kenny Chesney. Her love for the gothadelic sounds of Type O Negative has inspired several vampire stories and stories about tragically beautiful musicians. Other inspirations include the music of Saliva, Van Halen, Santana, Blake Shelton, and Prince. (She's a Gemini. That explains the wide variety of influences!)

Alicia has completed several manuscripts ranging from comedic contemporaries to dark, sexy paranormals and fantastical futuristics.

Her favorite ice cream is Godiva's dark chocolate truffle. Eaten straight from the container, it is almost—almost—as good as reading erotica!