Happy 2019!

I know it’s been a while. I hope your holidays and New Year went well. 2018 was a banner year for me as an author and it’s not stopping in 2019! So, even though I’ve been quiet around here for a little bit, I’ve still been working. The first change you can see is the layout of my website. I decided an update was needed. I’m also planning some more things for my website coming in the next few months, but that’s another story for another time. Right now, I’m here to drop a preview of my next book!

Coming up next are Damon and Sandra in Just Say the Word. You may remember Damon and Sandra from Meant to Be (Joshua and Kayla’s story.). I truly enjoyed diving into the story of these two and learning who they were as individuals and as a couple. With that said, here’s a sneak peek of one of their first encounters. I do not have a release date as of yet, but I am hoping it will be before the end of February. Also, cover reveal coming soon. Now, without further delay, your sneak peek:

******Unedited. Subject to Change******

Pushing thoughts of six-foot-three, mahogany skin toned, solid framed men out of my head, I turned the key to start my car and … nothing. I tried again and that time a little noise sounded before it died.

“No, no, no,” I whined, trying again.

Nothing.

She was dead.

I started to lower my head to the steering wheel when a knock on the driver’s side window scared the living daylights out of me.

I turned and my throat instantly went dry.

With his large hand he pointed in a downward motion indicating he wanted me to lower my window. With a shaky hand I used the lever to lower the window.

“Need some help?”

Oh god. How could a man’s voice be smooth as silk but laced with steal at the same time?

My gaze trailed from his full lips that were a shade darker than his mahogany skin, to the dark hairs of his beard, up to his, noticing, not for the first time that while both were brown, they were different colors. The left eye was the color of coffee, while the right eye was the color of warm honey. Raw, unfiltered honey, not the fake stuff sold at most grocery chains.

“Huh?” I asked dumbly.

“Your car.” He motioned with his head to my vehicle. “Won’t start?”

I turned my head as if taking notice of my vehicle, the one I was sitting in and had owned for the last ten years, for the first time.

“N-no.”

“You need a jump?”

“Y-ye-No … Huh?” Where was all my good sense?

“For your car. Do you need a jump? Do you have jumper cables?”

I blinked and came back to myself. “No. It’s not the battery.” I knew because I’d just gotten a new one a few months earlier.

“Then it’s something else. I don’t know much about cars, but I know a couple of mechanics who could tow you out of here to their shop. Unless you have one of your own?”

“Uh, no, I don’t. But I really just need to get to work. I’ll just catch an Uber and find a tow truck once I get back.” That, of course, relied on whether or not Kayla and Joshua minded my car taking up space in their driveway.

I sighed.

This was a mess.

Suddenly, I felt a whoosh of air. I turned and realized my car door had been opened.

“Kayla and Joshua won’t mind your car hanging out here for a few hours. No need for an Uber. I’ll take you wherever you need to go.” And without another word, he was holding out his hand nearly identical to the way he’d held it out to me when he’d asked me to dance at Kayla and Joshua’s wedding reception.

Placing my much smaller hand in his for the second time felt just like it had the first time. Perfect.

I stepped out. “You don’t have to. I’m sure you have other things to do. I can just get an Uber and then be on my way.” I started digging around my bag for my phone. Anything to avoid looking in his eyes. “I’ll just phone work and let them know I’ll be a few minutes later than I’d intended. I’m sure it will be okay. I might have to stay a little later than I expected. Monique might be a little miffed about that but-”

“Put your phone away.”

And just like that my little rant was cut short. My belly fluttered at the subtleness of his command. And despite the lightness of his voice it was a command.

“I’ll take you. Your car is fine where it is.”

I swallowed. I hadn’t even realized I’d voiced my concerns out loud. Unless this man was a mind reader? Then I was in serious trouble.

Get real, Sandra, I admonished. People weren’t mind readers. I just wore my emotions on my sleeve. Always had.

   “Thank you,” I stated since that was the only thing that seemed to fit at that moment.

“No problem,” he responded while moving to pull out a key fob from his dark jeans.

A second later I heard the distinctive sounds of car doors unlocking. Damon strolled—the man didn’t walk, he strolled, over to the BMW I’d originally thought belonged to Joshua and opened the passenger side door for me to get in.

I swallowed and told my pacing heart to chill out.

He’s safe.

I reminded myself as I got in the car. According to Kayla, Damon and Joshua had been friends for years. She trusted him. I tried to let that knowledge guide my decision-making as I lowered myself into the vehicle. But trust was difficult to come by. I flinched a little when the car door closed and Damon’s long legs carried him around the front of the car to the driver’s side.

“Where to?” He asked as he started the car.

I turned, feeling captivated by this thick beard. I briefly wondered if he moisturized it like I’d seen some men do on YouTube videos. Coconut oil. He definitely used coconut oil, at least. The shimmer of the hairs in the beard told me so.

“Sandra?”

“Huh?”

“Where are we going?”

Anywhere you want.

“Oh, uh, Mansfield, Duval, & Mason Attorneys at Law. The address is …” I paused as I dug through my tote bag for my wallet. I always forgot the actual address of my company.

“Don’t bother. I know exactly where that is.”

“Thank you,” I stated, my gaze straight ahead as we pulled out of Joshua and Kayla’s driveway. My bag was clutched tightly to my lap.

“You say that a lot, huh?”

My eyes shifted to the left to peer over at him. I tried to stop it, but my head followed, obviously needing a better look at the specimen that sat next to me.

“Say what?”

“Thank you. That’s the second time you’ve thanked me in like five minutes. I also heard you thank Kayla and Joshua at least twice. And that was only what I heard before you sprinted out the door.”

I could’ve sworn that last sentence held a tiny amount of accusation behind it. As if he was suggesting I was running from him.

Well, he was right.

But I would never admit it out loud.

“I like to show my gratitude when people are kind to me or go out of their way on my behalf.” Lord knows, there hadn’t been many throughout my life.

“Mm,” was his response.

I wrinkled my forehead wanting to ask what that meant but I kept my mouth shut. The less talking the better. The more we talked the bigger the possibility I might do something stupid like develop a crush on this man or something. I was certain he was just being kind to a friend of his friend. Same as for the wedding. I’d believed his asking me to dance and what I’d thought was watching me throughout the evening. Those suspicions were put to rest when I watched him leave with another woman who was the total opposite of myself.

“So, you’re a lawyer?”

His question pulled me from my thoughts which was good since they were starting to veer off into resentment territory. Which was silly since he wasn’t anything to me.

“No. Paralegal.”

“That’s cool. You like it?”

“I do.”

“What do you like about it?”

“Researching. That’s one of my favorite aspects of the job.”

“Working Saturdays doesn’t bother you?”

I shook my head. “I don’t usually work weekends. We’re working a big case and possibly taking on another.”

Damon nodded. “Which lawyer do you work for?”

“I work for more than one but Emma Leslie is who I’m working a couple of cases with.”

“I’ve heard of her.”

I wondered how but again, opted to mind my business. However, in the interest of not being rude I decided to say, “Kayla tells me you’re involved in real estate?”

“That and more,” he responded.

I wanted to ask what he meant by more but his cell phone beeped and soon was wringing through the speakers in the car. I glanced at the display and read the name “Scarlet.” I thought back trying to remember the name of the woman he’d left with the night of Kayla and Josh’s wedding. Was it Scarlet? From what I recalled that woman had been as sultry as her name indicated.

Like I said, nothing like me.

I ran my hands down my thighs smoothing out imaginary wrinkles of my dark denim. Weekends were the only time I wore jeans. But to keep it as professional as I could, I’d paired the jeans with my white, ribbed turtleneck and my Badgley Mischka crystal pointy toe flats, that I’d managed to score for less than half the retail price, at my favorite online thrift store that sold high end names. That morning I hadn’t had any problems with my outfit but as I sat next to Damon, I started to regret not wearing my usual high heels to the office, giving my five-foot-one frame more height. At least when I stood.

I was so caught up in my own head, I hadn’t even realized Damon had sent the caller to voicemail. Probably not wanting me to overhear a private conversation with his lover.

“We’re almost there. Do you need a ride back?”

“No. I’ll just catch an Uber or something. Hopefully by then I’ll have the name of a mechanic I can send it to get checked over.”

“I can do that for you.”

My eyelids raised. “Why?” I blurted out.

Deep creases formed in Damon’s forehead as he looked at me questioningly. I realized how accusatory my question had been.

“I mean, you don’t have to. Really. I can find someone-”

“Who’ll probably try to rip you off.”

My mouth snapped shut. He was right. I had enough experiences with mechanics to have been scammed a time or two, or five.

“My friend owns an auto shop and a dealership. Worse comes to worse, he can help you out with a great deal on a new car.”

I swallowed and looked down at my hands in my lap. I should’ve been grateful for Damon’s help. I was. But I was also just a touch … embarrassed. I was sure the car we were driving in was a 2018 model, if not newer, and was much more advanced and in better shape than my run down eighteen-year-old vehicle. It made me suspect that maybe Damon thought I needed help, especially since I had a kid. In other words, he felt sorry for me. That stung.

“We’re here. You sure you don’t need a ride back home?”

“N-no,” I blurted out, fear rising up my throat. I blinked and shook my head.

Calm down, Sandra.

The man was just offering a ride.

“I meant, thank you but no. I’ll give my mother a call and she can come get me,” I lied.

“You mother?”

“Yes.” I answered nodding my head but avoiding eye contact as I reached for the door handle. I rushed to get out of the car that was pulled up in front of my office’s main entrance, so fast that I didn’t even realize Damon had gotten out as well. Just as I affixed myself to stand upright, he was there, holding the door open for me.

I swallowed as my eyes made contact with his broad chest. Even through the dark sweater he wore, I could tell what lie beneath that cashmere material was solid enough to bounce a quarter off of.

“Thank y-”

“That’s the second time in the last sixty seconds. Don’t thank me again.”

I clenched my lips feeling admonished.

His body brushed past mine as he leaned down shutting the car door. The whiff of cologne I got filled my nostrils with a smell of strength, cardamom, and spice. A smell I knew was only written into this man’s DNA, not whatever bottle he’d used. I remembered it from our one and only dance.

“Well, you enjoy your day,” I stated, taking a couple of steps backwards. I bit my tongue to keep from thanking him yet again.

“You also.” He nodded in my direction but thankfully didn’t move any closer.

I stood there for a few seconds too long, making it awkward. At least, with another person it would’ve been awkward, but Damon simply stared at me, patiently waiting for me to turn and head inside. Those different colored eyes were hooded, unreadable which made him especially intriguing. A second later he ran a strong hand down the right side of his face and through his beard.

That was when I finally got my brain to communicate with the rest of my body. It was time to go into work.

I gave a small smile through shaky lips and turned, nearly stumbling over my own two feet. I ambled toward the door, inhaling and feeling deeply grateful that my nose wasn’t filled with the smell of his any longer. Grateful yet yearning at the same time. He wasn’t good for me. There probably wasn’t a man alive who was, but Damon Richmond sure as hell wasn’t it.