If Tudor vampires, leather-clad fairy godmothers, or CEO’s with whips don’t do it for you when it comes to naughty reading, you might just be looking for a little more story and a little less sex (or something that doesn’t require a heavy duty safety net).

Here are some surprising sizzlers that just might inspire a few candles around the hot tub.

The Last Time I Saw Paris by Elizabeth Adler

Once you get past the somewhat preposterous notion that an affluent–though self-deprecating–forty-five-year-old would invite the young carpenter repairing the back deck of her California beach house to Paris, you can sit back and enjoy what soon evolves into a credible tale of two distinctly different people falling in love. The love story develops, despite lost luggage, flight delays, and an arrogant soon-to-be ex-husband.

From the quietly glitzy boulevard St. Germain to the perfumed hills of Provence, to the shell-white beaches of the Cap d’Antibes, Adler, a serious world-traveler herself, keeps it sensually real in the ville de la magie –the city of magic–Paris.

Délicieuse.

More than a Mistress by Mary Balogh

Don’t let the thin gauzy gowns, demure décolletage, and early 19^th century attitude fool you. Author Mary Balogh’s More than a Mistress may be set in Jane Austen’s neck of the woods, but her Duke of Tresham is no Mr. Darcy.

Instead he is a bit more “Christian Grey,” albeit a regency version. The duke, a self-proclaimed instructor in the erotic arts, has set his sights on a person in his employ: the seemingly reserved, although outrageously opinionated Jane Ingleby–a most apt pupil.

Frothy fun.

French Silk by Sandra Brown

Cool, elusive New Orleans’ entrepreneur Claire Laurent owns and runs French Silk, an audaciously erotic lingerie company.

When it comes under attack by a zealous evangelist and he’s later found murdered, Claire is at the top of the list of suspects.

Investigating the murder is brooding rogue shark da, Robert Cassidy.

Set during one steamy summer in New Orleans’ exotic French Quarter, Brown serves up a potent cocktail of suspense, politics, miscegenation, and sexual combustion.

A page-turner to the very end.

A Kept Woman by Louise Bagshawe

Plucked, polished, coiffed Diana Foxton is all that plus the Brit wife of a sadistic publishing executive. Then she meets Michael, a struggling but dynamic media broker. Tough, self-made, and in a second-rate suit, Diana treats him accordingly. Then her husband dumps her for a dominatrix and she soon finds herself on the mean streets of New York and begging Michael to give her a job–even if it means a bit of enslavement.

Wicked and yummy.

Hank and Chloe by Joanne Mapson

This book is a handsomely written and sexually frank tale about a nerdy, forty-something college professor and an earthy horse-whisperer. Gritty goings on in the still Wild West.

The Feasting Season by Nancy Coons

High-maintenance American author and Francophile Meg Parker at last meets the notorious photographer, Jean-Jacques Chabrol. Assigned to photograph her coffee table book on the sweet spots of France, Chabrol proves cantankerous and downright rude.

For Meg, as they travel past lush vineyards and medieval castles, the feeling is mutual.

Then a surprising summer storm hits, and a rustic shelter and a more than mutual interest in the finger foods of Auvergne prove interesting.

Way better than chocolate.