EXCERPT
Every woman knows fear. When your knees knock, your forehead sweats and you get that feeling in your stomach as if you’re falling off a cliff.
Melody Carter felt undeniable fear as she stood in her bedroom, bare-breasted and all in front of Keith Taylor, her older sister’s boyfriend.
Keith was weird. He was hard to read, and he was sneaky, but she never, ever thought he’d do something like this.
And he just stood there, his natural lavender eyes penetrating her.
“You are so beautiful.” His raspy voice blanketed Melody’s bedroom, the same way his overpowering cologne did. “I shouldn’t have come in here, but I couldn’t help myself. Should I apologize?”
Melody pressed her lips together, fuming.
“I guess I could apologize.” Keith chuckled. “But that would be bullshit. We both know I came up here because I wanted to.”
“And you think this is okay?” Melody’s orange-size breasts spilled from under her arms. “How dare you? This time you’ve gone way too far.”
“Please, Mel. You should be flattered a man like me would find you so attractive.”
Keith was right. Melody should’ve been grateful for his attention. A man like Keith Taylor didn’t just grow on trees. They fell off of private planes and into multimillion-dollar mansions, which he had plenty of all around the world.
At only 34, Keith was a bona fide billionaire. Yes, a real life billionaire stood in unemployed Melody Carter’s room. A guy that only existed in romance books or women’s wet dreams. Co-CEO of Taylor Industries, a worldwide marketing firm that handled accounts for some of the biggest brands in the world, Keith and his family owned Lapeka, Florida. His mother was the mayor, for God’s sakes, and his family was the richest in the area. There wasn’t one entity in this fun-loving, hipster seaside town that Keith didn’t have his hands or money in.
“I think I’ve figured you out.” Melody grabbed her Black Girls Do It Better T-shirt from the bed and slipped it on.
“Oh, don’t do that,” Keith teased. “Can’t I have another peek first?”
“I know your game now.” She straightened her shirt. “I couldn’t understand why you act the way you do when Sahara’s not around. Now I got it.”
The overhead light bounced off the diamonds in his Rolex. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re not interested in me.” She crossed her arms. “Why would you be?”
“I don’t know.” Hints of red shot out from his copper-brown hair, cut in the chic comeback all the actors were now wearing. “Maybe because you’re so goddamn sexy, Mel. You intrigue me.”
“Cut the bullshit, Keith. I think this is about something else. You wanna control me like you do Sahara.”
“There you go with the holier-than-thou routine. Always trying to read someone else when you’re mooching off your sister like some pathetic waif.”
“Are you kidding me?” Melody laughed. “You haven’t done a day of work in your life, Keith. You sit on your ass, taking credit for a company your grandfather built. If you weren’t a Taylor, you’d be nothing.”
“But I am a Taylor, Melody.” His trimmed eyebrows lifted. “And it’s best you
remember that.” He pursed his lips. “You got some great tits, Mel. Not as nice as Sahara’s, but yeah, you got some nice ones.”
“What the fuck do you want?”
“How about a quickie?” He leaned forward, grinning. “Before Sahara gets back?”
Hell, she couldn’t lie. A part of her wondered what rolling in between the sheets with Keith Taylor would be like. Fuck, she was human and would be lying if she said she didn’t find him irresistible. But she would never, ever do anything to hurt Sahara and Keith’s charm, gorgeous smile, and money wouldn’t change that.
“You and me will never happen, Keith.”
“I was kidding about the quickie. Trust me, there is nothing quick about fucking me.”
“If you do anything like this again, I’m telling Sahara.”
“Mm...” He wiggled his hypnotic lips. “You think she’d believe you? She already knows you don’t like me, even though I’ve been nothing but nice to you.”
“She doesn’t know the shit you’ve been doing behind her back.”
He rubbed his clean-shaven, diamond-shaped chin. “And what have I been doing?”
“Stop playing with me! The little flirty remarks? Or how you look at me or even coming into my bedroom? If she knew you did this, you’d be gone.”
“Or she’ll just think you tried to run me off like you did all her other boyfriends. This is a pattern with you, Mel, remember? You’ve never liked Sahara’s boyfriends because you’re jealous of her because she’s better than you. Isn’t that right, little sister?”
“Get out of my room and get out of this house.” She pointed toward the hall. “Get out!”
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