Alison Kent’s latest offering reflects what has been my usual experience with the Harlequin Blaze series. I have found one or two truly engaging reads, but while most of them have plenty of hot sex, they’ve also had less than wonderful characters. If you’re mainly looking for a fast and sexy read, No Strings Attached might just fit the bill for you.

Chloe Zuniga needs a favor. Her potty mouth and dating habits have gotten her in trouble at gIRL-gEAR, the fashion company at which she is a VP, and in order to set things right, Chloe wants to have a proper escort for the next three company events. The man she chooses is her friend Eric Haydon, who initially wants nothing to do with Chloe’s plan. But when he sees the opportunity before him, he agrees, and asks for three wishes in exchange for the three dates with Chloe.

Eric owns a sports bar, Haydon’s Halftime, a setting that to Chloe brings memories of a childhood spent trying to be a perfect little lady, instead of joining in team sports like her brothers. Chloe’s father concocted the ideal of the perfect woman, which did not include participating in anything unladylike, and as a result, Chloe ended up in the fashion business and with a pretty low idea of what men are all about. Now that her fashion career might be in danger, she turns to Eric for help.

As plots go, I think you can see where this one is going, but Ms. Kent makes No Strings Attached a fast-paced and very trendy, if not completely satisfying, read. Both Chloe and Eric have thought about each other before in a way that goes beyond friendship, and though their relationship after the “3 for 3” agreement quickly gets physical, it still takes a long time for Chloe to acknowledge that she wants more. Furthermore, she has a rival at work to deal with, someone who wants Chloe’s job and might get it if Chloe is not careful.

There is a second storyline concerning another gIRL-gEAR partner, Lauren Hollister, whose relationship with Anton Neville started in the previous book of this series. Lauren and Anton have hit a rough patch and she is now seeing another man, but their story will apparently be resolved later in the series. The rest of the partners make for potentially interesting characters, but with the short length of the book, it’s difficult to get more than a cursory grasp of what the other women are about.

I couldn’t quite warm up to Chloe for the most part, not only because of how her relationship with Eric takes a turn towards the physical, but also, because she seems to forget why she has engineered the whole scheme at the worst possible moment.

The gIRL-gEAR series looks intriguing, and I especially want to know how Lauren and Anton’s relationship is handled in the upcoming book. Although No Strings Attached was not altogether successful, Ms. Kent definitely hooked me into reading her next book.