Queen of His Heart by Adrianne Byrd

paramedics carried him out. You check the hospitals?”
    Jalila cracked up.
    â€œI can see him now, lying in a hospital bed with a broke dick.”
    The girls howled until there were tears running down their eyes. Jalila needed this, and after an hour of female bonding, her confidence was restored. Maybe Martina was right. Heck, maybe she was the one that was reading too much into what had happened the other night. There were no promises made, no vows broken. It was just…sex. Nothing more—nothing less.
    â€œI’m so glad that I talked to you girls about this.”
    â€œThat’s what we’re here for,” Fantasia said. “Does this mean that you’ll do the show now?”
    â€œWell, since I still don’t have a man—I don’t see why not.”
    â€œThen let’s make a toast.” Martina held up her glass.
    Jalila and Fantasia followed her lead.
    â€œTo Jalila, may she find her soul mate on Queen of Hearts .”
    â€œI’ll drink to that,” Jalila said and then tipped her glass against theirs. Who knew, maybe it just might happen.
    Â 
    Keenan felt like an asshole—and that was putting it mildly.
    Every time he picked up the phone to call Jalila, he hung up. What exactly was he going to say? Hey, thanks for that night of incredible sex but I’m just not looking for a relationship right now?
    The words were true, but complicated by the fact that he knew that she was looking for a relationship—a relationship that he was supposed to be helping her find.
    For the past week, Keenan hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything. His mind just kept playing that wonderful night over and over in his head. No one woman had the right to taste and feel that damn good. Not to mention the number of times he’d had tears in his eyes.
    Tears!
    Oh, no. He shook his head. The situation just wouldn’t work. He’d vowed five years ago that he would never let a woman leave him strung out again. Besides, he knew what Jalila was all about. She wanted the whole enchilada: the ring, the house, the two-point-five children. Keenan had already tried that path before. It wasn’t for him.
    His interest in Jalila Goodwyn started and ended with a television series. Business. Nothing more.
    Then why the hell were you so eager to take her to bed?
    â€œHell, she’s beautiful,” he argued with himself. “We’d been drinking and then the music and then…I kissed her.” He swallowed the thick lump clogging his throat as he remembered. “And…damn the things she could do with her mouth.” He expelled a long sigh and his body shuddered with a phantom orgasm.
    The taping for Queen of Hearts was to start next week. So far, he hadn’t heard a word about whether Jalila was pulling out. He was relieved and disappointed at the same time. If she elected to still do the show, then he had every intention of steering clear of the set. Nitara was more than capable of overseeing everything. He needed to focus on finding new material for the winter and summer seasons.
    He spent most of the morning networking and combing through some potential material with the William Morris Agency before rushing back to his office for an afternoon conference call with NBC studios. However, when he walked into the office, Dee Dee was blasting the Fugees’s “Killing Me Softly” from her iPod.
    â€œTurn that off,” he snapped.
    When Dee Dee jumped, he softened his tone. “I mean, please turn that off.”
    She rushed over to her iPod and shut it off, still looking as if he’d slapped her or something. He marched into his office.
    â€œOh, you have a visitor,” she called to him just as his hand landed on the doorknob.
    He turned. “Who is it?”
    â€œTenetria.”
    Keenan’s heart sank. He didn’t need this right now. “Did she say what she wanted?”
    â€œWhy don’t you come in here and