Just Say The Word

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.