***Uploaded with new cover on 6/2/2013. No other changes made to the body of the novella.***Mari meets Luca on an adult website. She’s still smarting from a divorce and only looking to explore her desires. They create wish lists of their sexual fantasies and agree to work through them together. No strings, no attachments, nothing but pleasure, and Mari anticipates their first meeting with impatience. But through a miscommunication involving a private text message and Mari’s nosy brother, Luca ends up at her 30th birthday party, before their planned rendezvous. Much to her surprise, they seem to connect better than she expected, and in ways she hadn’t expected. He’s strong, commanding, but also gentle and respectful and he makes her ache in ways she never thought possible.But when Luca later expresses a desire for something more than just casual sex, Mari's impulse is to run the other way. After all, her failed marriage is evidence that she really shouldn’t go much deeper. Can Luca convince Mari otherwise? Can he help her see that he's her ultimate birthday wish come true?Birthday Wishes is Book 1 in The List Series is intended for an adult audience only and contains mature themes, including graphic and explicit sex.***EXCERPT***“It really is your birthday,” he said, a question in his tone, but not the words.“Yes. Thirty as of eight this morning.” I refused to be one of those women who lied about her age. I may not like getting older, but I wouldn’t let it turn me into a harpy clinging to long gone youth. I was thirty. I’d worked hard to make it through those years, and I wasn’t going to deny a single one of them.“When you said you wanted to work on your birthday wish list, I thought you meant it metaphorically, not literally.” He led me smoothly through a song change. He was so comfortable on his feet I couldn’t help but wonder what it would take to unravel him just a bit.“Nope, no metaphors here.”“Had I known, I would have wrapped the package a little better.”I looked at his crotch reflexively and pictured his cock with a ribbon and bow tied around it. “It’s not too late, you know.”He placed a finger under my chin and tipped my head up. “Your mom is watching us.” He was totally laughing at me. Busted checking out my date’s goods by my mom. Unfortunately, my eyes needed to stay above the waist for the rest of the evening.“Fabulous. One more thing for her to ask about.”“I created family problems by coming here?”“Problem is too strong a word, but since my divorce. . .” I let the sentence hang. How could I explain my mom’s interest without making her look like a pushy nut job? In fairness, she was a little bit of a nut job, but I think that was just my biological clock ticking. I couldn’t hear it yet, but somehow it’d tapped into my mom’s system instead of mine. Children were not high on my list of concerns, but grandchildren topped hers.“Until your brother explained, I thought you were the one who gave me the address.”“I figured. Ricky likes to play. He didn’t mean any harm.” I gave my baby brother a raft of shit at any available opportunity, but just like any older sister, I’d be damned if I let someone else judge him harshly. It was my job to defend.“He cares about you.”“Mmm.” What else could I say? Admitting we liked one another is not something Ricky and I would ever do willingly. “You should tell me something about yourself,” I said, “like what you do for a living.” My mom was going to ask and I couldn’t just say I don’t know, Mom. I want to fuck him, not marry him.