Queen of His Heart (19 page)

I
t wasn't too late, Keenan decided. What he'd witnessed tonight between Jalila and Evander wasn't necessarily the nail in the coffin of their relationship. Just because Jalila wasn't home didn't mean that she was off somewhere with Mr. I-Can-Cook. The best way to handle this whole situation was to pull the plug on the show. Of course that would mean pissing off a lot of people at the network, not to mention Nitara, but he could stand the heat if it meant that he would be able to keep the woman he loved.

Loved
. He chuckled. It was the truth. He
did
love her. That information alone would—or should—get Nitara off his back. He just hoped that Jalila felt the same way.

Again, the image of her dancing in Evander's arms
flashed in his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. Jalila was just putting on a show for the cameras, he told himself—or rather, he tried to convince himself. With his mind set, Keenan drove home. Even as he put the key in the front-door lock, his mind ran through different scenarios on how he would deliver the news to Nitara, and—more important—how Jalila would take the news. Would she think that he was being presumptuous or would she be as thrilled as he hoped?

Memories of their previous night together soon flooded his mind. The way she'd felt, quaked, tasted and even the way she'd called out his name. He smiled with renewed confidence.
Yeah, she'll be thrilled.

Woof! Woof!
Chips shot toward him and then jumped up on his hind legs to plant his forepaws on the center of his chest.

“Hello, boy! Sorry I'm late.” He rubbed Chips behind his ears.

Woof! Woof!

Keenan laughed. “How would you like to have a brother soon?” he asked good-naturedly.

Woof! Woof!

“It's nothing definite yet, but keep your paws crossed.” He winked and then released an exhausted yawn as he headed up to bed. It was going to be a big day tomorrow, and if could hit the sack within the next twenty minutes, maybe he could squeeze out four solid hours of sleep. As he hit the top landing and started to peel out of his jacket, the faint scent of vanilla wafted under his nose.

He frowned. He hated the smell of vanilla. It was Tenetria's signature scent.

Still frowning, Keenan strolled cautiously down the long hallway. The scent grew stronger. When he reached his closed bedroom door, he stopped. Light was flicking beneath it. “Who's here, boy?” he asked Chips in a low voice.

Woof! Woof!

Whoever it was had to be familiar to Chips or the door would have been busted down and he would have come home to a crime scene. He turned the doorknob and slowly entered the room.

“Welcome home,” Tenetria said, lying back in his huge bed. She wore a cotton-candy-colored bra-and-panties set that lifted and accentuated her every curve.

Keenan's jaw hardened. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Unperturbed, Tenetria kept her sensual smile in place. “Now is that anyway to greet a half-naked woman lying in your bed?”

“It's exactly the way to greet an unwelcome guest,” Keenan said, tossing his jacket on a nearby chair. He leaned against the doorjamb. “Get dressed and then get out.”

“Aww, come on,” she said, purring like Eartha Kitt. “You don't really mean that.”

“The hell I don't. Get dressed.”

Tenetria's smile slipped. “Don't be rude.”

Keenan flipped on the light switch, ruining her romantic mood. “You can either get dressed or I can throw you out dressed the way you are.”

“You wouldn't dare.”

He arched one brow. “You wanna bet?”

Tenetria's stony expression now matched his own. Finally reading the seriousness in his eyes, she bounced out of bed. “You're such an asshole. I don't even know why I bother.”

He shrugged. “That makes two of us.”

She glared.

“Since I didn't see a car out front, I take it I need to call you a cab?”

Tenetria snatched up a see-through robe. “You can't do that,” she snapped. “I don't have anywhere to go.”

“Oh. We're back to that again, are we?”

“Yes. We're back to that. My situation hasn't changed. You'd know that if you'd bothered to call me like you promised. I'm broke.”

“Then call your family.”

“I told you I can't go back to them with my tail tucked between my legs.”

“You can, you just don't want to.”

“
Fine!
I don't want to.”

“And
I
don't want you here. So guess who's going to win that argument.”

“Keenan, stop being an asshole and just help me out. I'll pay you back.”

“It's not about the money,” he growled. “You need to get it through your head that I'm not responsible for you. I'm not your safety net. You need to move on with your life. Lord knows that it's time for me to do the same thing.”

“Oh. Let me guess. Just because you have a new toy, you feel free to kick me to the curb?” she accused. “Give me a break. What did you do, pick her up off
Hollywood Boulevard?” Tenetria shrugged. “Sure she has a good body and everything, but what kind of skank just shows up at a man's front door naked?”

Keenan frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Suddenly, Tenetria's eyes gleamed and she tried to act casual. “Nothing.” She marched over to the corner of the room where her bags were stacked neatly.

Keenan wasn't buying it. He knew Tenetria too well, and he knew that something was up. “That wasn't
nothing
.” He marched over to her and took her by the arm. “What did you mean by that?”

“Please let go of my arm,” she said, sounding almost bored. “You made it clear that you don't want me here so I'm leaving.”

“Tenetria,” he warned.

“What?” She arched her brows. “Are you going to beat it out of me or something?”

If only
…He released her arm.

She smiled. “I didn't think so.” Tenetria pulled out some clothes and started shimmying into a pair of tight jeans. “Of course if you wanted
to pay
me for some information then…”

“My God,”
he roared. “You never quit, do you?”

“Fine.” She shrugged again. “It's no skin off my nose. I'm sure that you'll find out sooner or later.”

He didn't like the sound of that. Keenan's mind scrambled. What on earth could she possibly know that was worth anything? When dealing with Tenetria, it could be anything…or nothing. He stared at her, wavering. Her smile was too cocky, he decided. “All right. How much?”

Her smile broadened. “Don't you know never to come to the negotiating table without a checkbook?”

“You're kidding, right?”

“Does it look like I'm kidding?”

Stomping back his irritation, Keenan warred with himself on whether to continue this game. “Fine.” He turned and marched over to the dresser and removed his checkbook from his jacket. “Tell me what it is and I'll write you a check.”

“Now I look stupid, is that it?”

“Is that a real question?”

“You write the check first and then I'll give you the information.”

He glared.

She smiled.

“How much?”

“How about three hundred thousand?”

He laughed. “How about one thousand?”

“How about you kiss my ass?”

Keenan's eyes narrowed. “You better not be messing around with me.”

“Now would
I
do that?”

Their hardened stares battled one another.

“Two hundred and fifty thousand,” she amended.

“Ten thousand,” he countered.

“I'm leaving,” she said.

“All right. All right.” He huffed. “One hundred thousand.”

“Two.”

“One-fifty. Take it or leave it.”

She stared him down and then smiled. “Fine. A hundred and fifty thousand. You drive a hard bargain.”

Keenan flipped open his checkbook and wrote out the check. When he tore it out and handed it over, Tenetria greedily snatched at it, but he held on to it. A small tug of war ensued, but she finally managed to take it from his fingers.

“Thank you very much.” She smiled, folded the check and then stuffed it into her pink bra.

“Now tell me what was worth that kind of money,” he said evenly.

Another shrug. “Well, I don't know if it's worth that much.” She turned back to her bags and pulled out a blouse.

“Tenetria…”

“I'm getting to it. I'm getting to it.”

Keenan folded his arms as he watched her take her time buttoning her blouse. “I'm waiting.”

“All right. All right.” She slid her feet into a pair of pumps. “It just that earlier tonight someone stopped by. I think I've seen her in your office before.”

Keenan's heart stopped as his brain leaped to a conclusion.
No. No. No.

“Some lady came by,” she continued. “Well, I don't know if I should call her a
lady
. I mean you gotta be some kind of ho or chickenhead to pop up at someone's house butt-assed naked in just some heels…don't ya think?”

Keenan groaned. “Jalila.”

“Oh, was that her name?” Tenetria smiled wickedly. “She ran away so fast that I didn't quite catch it.”

With his worst nightmare confirmed, Keenan closed his eyes and fought back a murderous rage.

 

At exactly six o'clock the next morning, Nitara hit Martina up on her cell phone. “I'm sorry, but she's not going to continue the show,” Martina announced.

“Oh, God, no,” Nitara moaned. “No, no. No. Are you sure? Let me talk to her.”

“We've tried, but right now, she doesn't want to talk to anybody. She just wanted me to tell you that she doesn't want to continue the show. Period.”

Nitara felt sick just thinking about the amount of money at risk. They had sold the show off on spec and now they wouldn't be able to deliver. It would be the first time they'd ever failed to do so and it could severely damage their reputation. Of course this mess wasn't exactly
her
fault, but she felt responsible all the same.

“Did you tell her that I was the one that called you last night?”

“No. She didn't really harp on that, thank God. We hadn't come up with a good lie to explain how we knew that she was in jail. Then again, I'm still a little hazy on why you were following her around myself.”

“Let's just say that I suspected that there was going to be a twist at the end of the show.”

“Does this have anything to do with that asshole of a business partner of yours?”

“Did she tell you about their relationship?”

“I know bits and pieces,” Martina admitted. “I just know this whole thing has turned into one big mess
and I'm not happy about it. Jalila is my best friend and I don't like seeing her hurt—no matter how much I've warned her about it.”

“Look, I had nothing to do with what was going on. In fact, Keenan hasn't told me anything. Let's just say that I sort of stumbled onto the story.”

“So you figured it was okay for you to just go snooping around in her private life like some Peeping Tom?”

“Hey! Don't jump on me. Jalila signed up for a reality show, which by definition is giving the production company permission to snoop around in her private life. No one forced her to do this so why are you attacking me?”

“I don't know. My girl is hurt and I gotta take it out on somebody. Better yet, send that damn Keenan over here and let me really go off.”

Nitara expelled a frustrated sigh. “Please. Just let me talk to Jalila.”

“No. It's over. You two can go and find someone else's life to ruin.” Martina slammed the phone down, ending the discussion.

K
eenan didn't sleep a wink. Instead, he sat up all night after his evil ex-wife left and just stared at the clock. He didn't bother trying to call Jalila's house. He knew that there was no way in hell that she would take his call. This was going to require him groveling in person. Right now he needed to figure out his best way to approach the situation. Unfortunately after five hours, he was still drawing a blank.

At one point his ego tried to tell him that it wasn't like he'd violated any vows. They had made no promises to each other. After all, she had caught him once before in a compromising position and she had let it go. So maybe this wasn't as big a deal as he feared. When he finished that line of bullshit, Keenan gave serious thought to just showing up at her place on
bended knee and trying to explain how crazy his ex-wife was and that nothing was going to come between them.

But why would she believe that?
Because it's the truth
. He laughed. Hell, if he was her he wouldn't believe him. That's how seriously effed-up this whole thing was.

After considering all of his options thoroughly, he realized that there was only one thing to do: beg.

Chips lifted his head from Keenan's lap and shared a mournful gaze as if he was experiencing the same pain as his owner. He reached up and licked one side of Keenan's face.

“Thanks, but cut it out.” Keenan went to the bathroom to wash his face. It was seven o'clock in the morning. Now was as good a time as any to drive over and plead his case.

The front doorbell rang, surprising him and then filling his heart with hope. He rushed to the door in record time. But once again, his hopes crashed onto the shore of reality when he jerked open the door only to see Nitara standing there.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well, good morning to you, too,” she said, pushing her way into the house.

“Look, Nitara, this really isn't a good time.”

“We have a problem,” she said, interrupting him.

“I was just on my way out,” he continued.

“Jalila is backing out of the show,” she countered.

“What?”

“You heard me. Your up-and-coming superstar of
reality series television just pulled out of the show. She won't even take my phone calls.”

Keenan's shoulders deflated. Even though he had had every intention of canceling the show on his own, this latest development told him that Jalila wasn't just dumping the show, she was dumping him. “I'd better get over there and talk to her,” he said, rushing out of the door.

“What do you plan to say to her?” Nitara yelled after him.

“I don't know yet,” he shouted back. But before he could open his car door, Nitara had caught up with him and pressed her hand against the door. “Where's Tenetria?”

“What?” He blinked.

“My sister. Surely you remember her? She was here last night, wasn't she?”

Keenan's face twisted in confusion. “Yes—but how did you know that?”

“It doesn't matter how I know. The better question is when were you planning on telling me that you've been sleeping around with the bachelorette of our show?”

Keenan drew a deep breath and rolled his eyes, then expelled it in a long sigh. “Believe it or not, I was going to tell you today.” As she stared at him, he could see that she was warring with whether she should believe him or not. “Nitara, I know that this looks bad but—”

“
Looks
bad? What exactly were you planning to tell the network? You know how much money they've put into this? They'll have to scramble for a replacement
at the last minute, and we may never get them to work with us again. This could ruin our reputation. Yours
and
mine. I mean, really, of all the women to have an affair with.”

“It's not just an affair.”

“No? Then what is it?”

Silence.

“Were you screwing her when you came up with this show?”

“No.”

“So the affair happened, what—during? After the cameras left for the night? And since you made it clear to me the other day that you weren't interested in a relationship, that leaves me to conclude that you were undermining the show on purpose.”

“No. No.” He huffed. “It's a long story. It's complicated. Just—just let me go over there and talk to her.”

“Again—and say what?” Disappointed, Nitara shook her head. “You know, we've been friends for a long time. And it just surprises the hell out of me that you would deliberately risk both our reputations for a cheap fling—a meaningless affair.”

“It's not meaningless!
I love her
.”

Nitara jerked back at his bark, but then a soft smile curved her lips. “I thought so. Now we're getting somewhere.”

Keenan frowned. “What do you mean ‘you thought so'?”

Nitara smiled. “I just needed to hear you say it.”

More confused than ever he cocked his head at her. “You knew? How?”

“Well, it's not every day I see you climbing out of a woman's windows wearing only a towel around your hips.”

Keenan's brows stretched in surprise. “If you knew, then—”

“Then I've been waiting for you to come to your senses. Now get on over there and tell her what you just told me.” She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. When she pulled back there were tears in her eyes. She loved this man who had once been her childhood crush and more than anything she wanted him to be happy—wanted him to be loved the way he deserved to be loved. She had known for some time that it would never be with her. “You better get going,” she said. “Good luck.”

“What about the show?” he asked, opening his car door.

Nitara drew a deep breath. “I expect you to absorb all the losses, of course,” she said, shrugging. “What else?”

He nodded. “What else.” Keenan slid behind the wheel and started the car. “Thanks, Nitara.”

“For what?”

“For understanding…and for being the best friend a guy could have.”

She winked. “Don't mention it.”

He returned her wink and then sped off, hoping to win the queen.

 

Jalila had no plans to get out of bed, despite only sleeping in twenty-minute intervals. In the spirit of
commiseration, Cujo had climbed onto the empty side of her bed and lay there watching her. Under normal circumstances, Jalila wouldn't have allowed him to be sprawled all over her good sheets, but this morning she took comfort wherever she could find it.

The bedroom door crept open and Jalila quickly slammed her eyes shut. She listened to the soft padding of Martina's and Fantasia's footsteps as they walked over to the bed where she and Cujo were curled up.

“Now I'm sure that this is against the law even in California.”

“Just leave her alone, Martina.” Fantasia sat on a small corner of the bed and then gently brushed Jalila's hair from her face. “Jalila, are you awake, honey?”

Jalila hesitated. She couldn't decide if she wanted her friends' sympathy or their silence.

“If you like,” Fantasia said, as if knowing that she was awake, “I can go down and fix you a big breakfast. How'd you like that?”

“Forget that,” Martina said. “If you want we can go over and cut that bastard's dick off.”

“Martina!”

“What? He's got it coming.”

Something about her friend's indignation made Jalila smile.

“Aww. See there? She is awake,” Martina said.

“Jalila,” Fantasia inquired.

Jalila finally rolled onto her back and cracked open her eyes. “As much as I think…you-know-who…deserves dismemberment, I don't think that it's worth any of us going to jail.”

“You sure? You gotta get caught in order to go to jail.”

Jalila chuckled. “I'm positive. I just want to put these past few weeks behind me.”

Fantasia looked as though she wanted to cry for her friend. “You still haven't told us what happened. It might make you feel better.”

Jalila doubted that, but as her two best friends waited with bated breath, she decided to come clean. Especially since she'd just told Fantasia the other day about how much she thought she was in love. Love. What the hell did she know about love? Other than that it was painful and elusive as hell?

Jalila pushed herself up and then leaned back against the headboard. For added comfort Fantasia took her hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze. Finally, Jalila gave her friends the 411 on what had transpired between her and Keenan during the hours after her reality show. Of course, Fantasia knew more of the story than Martina, but the women shared looks of indignation when she got to the part where she showed up at Keenan's place and ended up flashing his ex-wife in just heels and a smile.

“You had no clothes on underneath that coat last night?” Martina said, her eyes as big as saucers. “Wow. You really have turned into a bona fide freak.”

“Martina!” Fantasia snapped.

“What? I'm just making an observation.”

Fantasia rolled her eyes and returned to the discussion at hand. “You mean that he still lives with his ex-wife?”

“What kind of sick bullshit is that?” Martina asked.

“Who knows?” Jalila moaned. “My father was right. I shouldn't have trusted a Hollywood producer any further than I could throw him.”

“There is that,” Martina agreed.

Fantasia continued to look mournful.

“Well, I don't know which was worse, flashing his ex-wife or being frisked by a cop and trying to explain I'm not a flasher—well, not a professional one, anyway.”

Ding-dong.

Cujo jumped at the sound of the doorbell.

Woof! Woof!
He tried to scramble out of the bed but got caught up in the sheets and took a tumble over the side. He hit the floor with a hard thump, but sprang back onto his feet and took off running for the door.

Martina and Fantasia nearly leaped out of their skins. “Good Lord.”

“Really! Can't you get a Chihuahua or something?” Martina complained. “That dog is entirely too big.”

Ding-dong!

Woof! Woof!

“If it's the camera crew, tell them to go away!”

“It better not be them,” Martina said, heading for the door. “I already told that Nitara chick that you weren't going to continue doing the show.”

Ding-dong!

“Wait. I'll come with you,” Fantasia said. “You stay in bed. After we get rid of whoever it is, I'll fix you something to eat. Would you like that?”

Jalila was all for a pampered pity party. “I don't know if I feel like eating.”

“You gotta eat something.”

Ding-dong!

Woof! Woof!

“We're coming. We're coming,” Martina shouted.

When her girls left, Jalila inched back down into the bed and pulled the sheets over her head. Maybe if she was lucky she could get another twenty minutes of sleep.

Martina and Fantasia marched down to the front door, both prepared to do battle with the
Queen of Hearts
production crew if necessary. But when they snatched open the door they both blinked in surprise at seeing Keenan on the other side.

Cujo bounded out of the house, barking in an excited circle to see him.

“Hey, boy.” He reached out and rubbed Cujo's sweet spot behind his ears. Keenan then returned his attention to Jalila's two wide-eyed, staring best friends. “Is Jalila here?”

“I like your nerve,” Martina said, snapping out of her trance. “You gotta lot of balls coming around here.”

Fantasia cut in. “Yes she is in. But she's not interested in seeing
you
.”

Keenan's congenial smile dropped into a stony frown. “Excuse me?”

“You're excused,” Martina said. “Now just turn your ass around and get ghost.” She snatched the door from Fantasia's hand and sent it sailing.

With sharp reflexes, Keenan shoved his foot between the door and the frame and stopped it from slamming in his face.

Both women grabbed the door and tried to shove it closed, but Keenan had no problem pushing it back open with only one arm while they slipped and slid all over the hardwood floor. “If you two ladies don't mind, I'd like to speak with Jalila please.”

“Cujo! Attack,” Martina barked.

Cujo just cocked his head in confusion at the command.