Best Erotic Romance 2013

Readers of romance won’t find their familiar genre conventions in these 17 stories, which fall much more on the romantic erotica end of the spectrum. A violinist plays his lover like an instrument in Torrance Sené’s “Adagio.” A woman wants to “be the meat” for her butcher in Kristina Lloyd’s “Cutting Out Hearts,” not a “little cake” as she is for her husband. In Victoria Blisse’s “Chocolate Cake and You,” a woman on a diet is tempted by a tasty dessert and an ex-lover. Catherine Paulssen writes tenderly of a handcuffed bride’s encounter “Three Nights Before the Wedding.” Donna George Storey’s sweet “Flowering” begins as a woman watches her neighbor, recalling their one-night stand. Old friends without benefits reunite and change that equation in the surprisingly wistful “Another Chance” by Erobintica. There’s little emotional development or depth, but plenty of sexy fun. (Feb.)