Game, Set, Match (A Humorous Contemporary Romance) (Love Match) (44 page)
Read Game, Set, Match (A Humorous Contemporary Romance) (Love Match) Online
Authors: Nana Malone
Throat burning from lack of oxygen, she stared at her father.
Without a word, he got up from his desk, thin frame moving with a fluidity and grace that belied his age. He left the office with a soft click of his door, Jaya felt more alone than she’d ever felt in her life. Her father had abandoned her.
Derrick spoke and at first Jaya couldn’t hear him for the muffled silencer of dread cocooning her. Through the hazy fog of bitter anger and hazy fear, she noticed his mouth moving. The sound coming in slow and lazy increments, as if it didn’t matter what else he had to say to her.
“Jaya? Jaya, are you listening?”
She blinked up at him, the urge to strike him so strong she could feel her hand twitch of its own volition.
Oh, God
. She could see the headlines in the Union Tribune. “Angry Black Woman Shoves Ex-Fiancé Through Thirty Story Window.” She forced a breath.
Derrick spoke again.
His voice tight and in control. “I’ll have security pack your things and a messenger deliver them to your apartment before week’s end.”
Suddenly too exhausted to breathe, she stood on wobbly legs. “Congratulations. You got what you wanted. Are you happy now?”
“You know I don’t like seeing your father unhappy. You did this to yourself.” He sniffed. “You could have turned this train around any time you liked. You chose to be an adversary.”
Before she exited the office, she turned back to glare at him. “You must really hate me.” She shrugged. “That’s okay because the feeling is mutual.”
Jaya managed to hold off the tears until she was down the hall, but then her resolve crumbled and hot wetness streaked down her cheeks.
Come on girl. Suck it up. Or at least wait ‘til the elevator.
Getting fired was so not at the top of her “Things To Do Before Hitting Thirty” list. The last thing she needed was to run into her sister or her father before she could get out of the building.
Never let them see you cry.
But her stupid tear ducts revolted. She punched the elevator button and wrapped her arms around her ribs in an effort to hold herself together. The chime of the elevator made her wince with its cheery tinkle. The tears on revolt swam into her field of vision like soldiers through a barricade, temporarily blinding her. She forced her leaden legs onto the elevator desperate to get out of the building.
She swiped at the freefalling tears and walked into a wall of muscle.
Nana’s love of all things romance and adventure started with a tattered romantic suspense she borrowed from her cousin on a sultry summer afternoon in Ghana at a precocious thirteen. She’s been in love with kick-butt heroines ever since. With her overactive imagination, and channeling her inner Buffy, it was only a matter a time before she started creating her own characters.
Waiting for her chance at a job as a ninja assassin, Nana meantime works out her drama, passion and sass with fictional characters every bit as sassy and kick-butt as she thinks she is. Though, until that ninja job comes through, you’ll find her acting out scenes for hubby and puppy while catching up on her favorite reality television shows in sunny San Diego.
Visit Nana at http://www.nanamalone.com
Other Books by Nana Malone
Sexy in Stilettos
©2012 Nana Malone
~ 4 out of 5 stars - Picked by Poison ~ "I liked Nana's writing style and how she made her characters quirky and fun, and not the usual romantic type."
Blurb:
What’s worse than having to watch your sister marry your ex fiancé? How about when that fiancé fires you from the family business?
Hyper-organized, event planner Jaya Trudeaux is used to doing things by the book and never making waves. It’s a strategy that’s served her well until she finds herself in failure alley with no fiancé, no job and her thirtieth birthday looming. Maybe it’s time to change her methods. Starting with an unlikely date to the wedding from hell.
The only thing that can tie carefree playboy, Alec
Danthers down is his formidable step mother. When she calls him home to help find his wayward brother, he never imagines an uptight, list making, sass- talking woman would make him think about putting down roots.
Can Jaya put the lists down long enough to enjoy the ride that is Alec? Will Alec stop running long enough to recognize true love?
Warning: Sexy, sass talking women will make you laugh, cry and want a pair of killer footwear.
Available for purchase
on http://www.nanamalone.com