Queen of His Heart Read Online Free Page B

is just horny as hell.” She picked up the camera again and flashed a smile. “Now where was I? Oh, yeah—men.” She shook her head. “I know, ladies, that we’ve talked about all this before and I totally appreciate the whole thing about bonding and singing ‘Kumbaya’ but…damn, ladies. I gotta tell you. I want a man.” She laughed at herself and then waved a finger at the lens. “And I don’t mean just any man. I need a real man. You all know what I’m talking about.”
    Cujo barked and swished his tail across the hardwood floor.
    Jalila rolled her eyes. “Hush, you got out of the yard last week and got you a little sumpthin’ sumpthin’ with that German Shepherd down the street.”
    Woof!
    â€œAnyway…I know I said last week that I was just going to embrace my singlehood and be happy. Hell, I even treated myself to a dinner and a movie Wednesday night. Turns out I’m not exactly a cheap date.” She winked. “But that’s not the point. Look, I know that women can do a lot for themselves. We have careers and our own money. But like Billie Dee Williams said in Mahogany , ‘Success means nothing without someone you love to share it with,’ and he ain’t never lied.”
    Jalila rolled over onto her belly and panned the camera around the bedroom. “I’m tired of the other side of the bed being empty. I want to cook for more than one person. I even want to argue with someone to take the garbage out.” She turned the camera back on herself. “Ladies, I have to believe that my soul mate is out there. He just has to be.”
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    â€œTrue love,” Keenan mumbled as he strode through the door of his homey Beverly Hills mansion. What the heck did he know about love? Yeah, he loved his small close-knit family, his best friend Nitara and of course his nine-year-old dog, Chips. But that other stuff—that deep, cosmic soul-mate stuff—he was just as lost as the average Joe.
    That sounded bad since he’d been married once. Looking back on it now, one could say that he’d married Tenetria more out of loyalty than anything else. And, quite frankly, he wasn’t too keen about ever doing it again. In college, Tenetria had been the perfect girlfriend—pretty and fun-loving. She’d stuck by him while he struggled to make a name for himself in this crazy town. However, it was during the transition from kids to grown-ups that their problems came to light. Suddenly, Keenan didn’t know the woman who carried his last name. With new eyes, he saw that his wife was petty and spoiled. And when he caught her cheating…it destroyed him.
    Despite being in business with his ex-sister-in-law, Keenan didn’t know what Tenetria was doing now. He never asked and was thankful that Nitara never mentioned it. He’d dated from time to time in the five years since his divorce. Nothing serious, mainly because L.A. seemed to produce only petty and spoiled women, code for aspiring actresses and singers.
    No, thank you.
    So how was he going to come up with an idea for a reality show about true love?
    For the past two days Nitara had hounded him about going into reality television. She’d covered his desk with budgets, profit margins, focus groups—anything and everything she could get her hands on to convince him.
    In the office, he resisted the whole idea, but during his drives home and while pacing his bedroom floor, he was actually caving in to the whole idea. They could just give it a try this one season—see if they liked it. Tonight, he’d come home with his arms full of DVDs—footage of different reality shows over the past ten years. That’s why he had in his other arm a cold six-pack.
    Woof! From his comfortable spot on a red velveteen doggy pillow in the den, Chips, Keenan’s Great Dane, raced to the door to greet him.
    â€œHey, Chips.” He shifted the DVDs