Twists and Curves - A Sexy BWWM Interracial BBW Romance Novella from Steam Books (Romantica) (2 page)

“Alright.” Deana said, getting a taste. As soon as she had placed the spoon between her lips, her expression brightened.

“Told you it was heavenly.”

Deana could only nod.

Yolanda chuckled, then started eating the éclair. She knew that her friend was still hurting, but at least she seemed to have cheered up a little.

She, too, felt like she needed a little cheering up after having heard that her show could be cancelled or overhauled, and for a moment, she was tempted to tell Deana about it, but decided not to. There was a chance Deana could lose her job as Yolanda’s wardrobe consultant, after all, and another bit of bad news was the last thing Deana needed at this point.

Instead, she decided to bring up her friend’s favorite topic – clothes.

“By the way, Janine said she loved that outfit you chose for me tonight,” Yolanda said. “And I have to agree with her that that shade of green is absolutely lovely.”

“I knew it would go well with your skin tone,” Deana said. “Though I think that dress would still have looked better with short, ruffled sleeves.”

“Speaking of ruffled dress, I saw this top the other day…”

They continued talking about fashion as they dug into their desserts, eating them leisurely so they could savor every bite. Then, when they were done, Yolanda got up to go the restroom.

“I’ll be right back,” she said, picking up her purse.

“Sure.”

Yolanda walked past the other tables towards the sliding door at the end of a small corridor, knowing that led to the gardens where the restrooms where also located. Apart from the great food and the exquisite ambience inside the restaurant, Yolanda adored the French gardens, though she had little time to admire them as she walked quickly towards the women’s restroom, the considerable amount of wine she had drunken taking its toll on her.

Minutes later, when she walked out of the bathroom, she felt both relieved and refreshed. She decided to take just a short stroll, unable to resist the lure of the beautiful gardens, but had only taken a few steps down the cobblestone path when she smelled the scent of cigarette smoke.

Wrinkling her nose and not wanting to get the smell on her hair, she was about to turn away, but stopped as she recognized one of the men standing a few feet from her.

Roy Carmichael, the newest CEO of Basix, the leading software company in the country.

And one of the guests on her next show.

She thought about introducing herself, but as her instinct as a former investigative journalist kicked in, she had a better idea. Carefully, she took a seat on a bench behind a tall hedge, covered her nose and listened in, thinking now was a good opportunity for her to get to know Roy Carmichael with his guard down and maybe learn something interesting which she could use in her next show.

Besides, she could not deny that she was curious about the man who had been hailed as the most successful businessman of his generation.

“That was cracking under pressure right there,” Roy was saying. “He knew the clock was winding down and he panicked.”

“He should have just given up that ball,” the man with him said.

Yolanda furrowed her eyebrows. Were they talking about basketball?

“Well, not everyone can make the right decisions at the crucial moments,” Roy said. “It’s what separates the men from the boys.”

“Now you’re boasting.”

“I’m not. I’m just saying.”

“So I guess you’ve already made up your mind about what to do with Wilbur.”

“I have a few modes of actions I’m leaning towards,” Roy said. “I’m not going to let him off easy, of course.”

“Smart and ruthless,” the other man said. “A deadly combination.”

They fell silent for a moment, letting Yolanda think they were probably stopping to take a puff. 

“So, have you found your next target?” the other man asked when he spoke again.

“I have.”

The other man chuckled. “What is it with you and black women?”

“I don’t know. They just astound me. This next one, in particular, is quite fascinating. I can’t wait to have her squirming beneath me, though I imagine she’ll put up a fight. She seems quite feisty, after all, but that’ll only make things more fun. You can’t call it conquering if the other side doesn’t put up a fight, can you now?”

“And you pride yourself on conquering. So tell me, who’s the lucky lady?”

There was a pause before Roy answered. “Yolanda Gray.”

Yolanda’s hand moved from her nose to her mouth to stifle a gasp, the blood draining from her cheeks. Did she hear him right?

“I’m going to charm her when I get on her show next week,” Roy went on. “That way, she won’t be able to stop thinking of me.”

“Thought you didn’t go after celebrities.”

“Celebrity my ass, she’s not even D-list. Besides, she has these really nice curves.”

Yolanda blushed as the other man gave another chuckle. So Roy Carmichael really was planning to seduce her.

“This I’d like to see,” the other man said.

“Oh, you will,” Roy promised.

At that point, Yolanda got up and walked away, not wanting to hear anymore.

How dare he?
she thought, her fists clenched at her sides and her brows furrowed in indignation. How dare he think he could be on her show and then just get into her pants?

Well, he was wrong.

She would prove him wrong.

~ ~ ~

“What do you mean my appearance on Yolanda Gray’s show has been cancelled?” Roy asked as he set down his cup of coffee angrily. 

He had woken up late that Saturday morning after going to bed late last night and was looking forward to a relaxing morning, only to find a disturbing message on his phone.

“I’m afraid that’s exactly what it means, Mr. Carmichael,” his assistant, Miranda, said on the other end of the line. “I received a message from the show this morning, saying they have decided to invite someone else to guest on the show next week.”

“Did they say who?”

“No.”

Roy frowned. “You said the show sent you a message?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Was it the producer who sent you the message?”

“It was Yolanda Gray herself. Apparently, she is also the assistant producer of her talk show.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Roy said through gritted teeth. 

“Would you like me to call her and insist that you guest on the show?” Miranda asked. “They were the ones who invited you to guest in the first place, after all, so it’s quite rude to…”

“I’ll handle this myself,” Roy interrupted. “Thank you, Miranda.”

“Alright.”

Roy hung up, tossing his phone on the table so that it slid across the surface. Then, he banged his fists on the table, still seething in frustration, though he tried his best to take deep breaths and calm down, knowing letting his emotions get the better off him was never a good thing.

What in the fuck had just happened?

Just as Miranda had said, the staff of the show were the ones who had invited him to be their guest, and it was both rude and unconventional for them to cancel, which meant there was a reason why. And since it was Yolanda Gray who cancelled, he had an idea what that reason was.

She must have found out about his plans. 

He sat on his chair, deep in thought as he wondered how Yolanda could have found out. In the end, he simply shrugged.

So what if Yolanda now knew about his plans? He was not about to change them, much less stop them.

He was a man who was used to getting his way, who never gave up easily, and he was definitely not going to give up on Yolanda Gray. He would just have to give a little more effort, which was no problem for him at all. He had known she would be an elusive prey, after all, and it would have been disappointing if she had allowed herself to be easily caught.

He grinned as he leaned back on his chair.

So she thought she could dissuade him just like that, did she?

He would see about that.

Chapter Two

Yolanda couldn’t see why, but the moment she walked into the office on Monday, everything seemed to be in chaos, as if somebody had made an announcement that the world was coming to an end while she had been driving on her way to work. Everywhere, members of the production crew were rushing back and forth while those who were at their desks were either busy on the phone or frantically running their fingers across their keyboards.

Yolanda frowned. 

After having cancelled Roy Carmichael’s guesting on her show, she had felt better, even managed to enjoy the weekend, but now, she suddenly had a bad feeling.

She grabbed Terry’s sleeve as she passed by. “Terry, tell me what’s going on here, please?”

Terry stopped and adjusted her glasses. “Ms. Yolanda, everyone…”

“There you are,” Simon, the executive producer of the show, interrupted them as he approached. “Yolanda, you won’t believe what happened.”

“What happened?”

“Roy Carmichael and everyone else refused to be on the show.”

Yolanda blinked. She already knew that Roy Carmichael wouldn’t be on the show since she had asked him not to come herself, but everyone else?

“What do you mean everyone else?” Yolanda asked.

Simon took a deep breath. “I mean everyone else. Eileen Morrow, Tom Philips, all the other celebrities who were supposed to be on our show. And now, we can’t even get anyone to replace them.”

That made Yolanda puzzled. “Why did they cancel?”

“Oh, they had different reasons and wouldn’t change their mind no matter how many times we asked. Does it matter?”

Yolanda shook her head. She supposed it didn’t matter what their reasons were if they couldn’t come to her show.

“Maybe you can talk to them?” Simon suggested.

“I have a feeling that won’t work, either,” Yolanda said. “But surely, there are other celebrities who’d like to be on the show.”

“They’re all busy.”

“What about Abigail Duncan? She has a movie coming up so she’s gotta be wanting some publicity.”

“Too busy.”

“Jonathan Coleman. He won some tournament recently.”

“He’s out of the country.”

“Well, it doesn’t have to be a hot celebrity,” Yolanda said. “What about those that haven’t been in the spotlight recently, like Renee Dasher? She hasn’t had a movie in two years since she gave birth.”

Simon shook his head. “I’ve already tried calling her.”

“What about Larry Holloway?”

“That former child star? He’s in rehab.”

Yolanda frowned, her shoulders dropping. “You’ve tried calling everyone, huh?”

Simon slapped his forehead. “Oh, Yolanda, what are we going to do? The whole universe seems to be against us.”

“Not the whole universe,” Yolanda said, then added under her breath. “Just one man.”

“What?” Simon asked.

“Nothing,” Yolanda told him. 

She was pretty sure Roy Carmichael was behind the whole disaster. After all, it was too much to be a coincidence or a mere trick of fate. Besides, from what she had heard, Roy Carmichael was bound to be pissed by her rejection and he would likely want to exact some kind of vengeance. 

“Smart and ruthless,” she repeated the words of Roy’s companion the previous night.

“What was that?” Simon asked again.

Yolanda patted Simon on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Simon. We’ll get through this.”

“But how?” Simon asked.

“If we can’t get a celebrity, then we’ll just get ordinary people with extraordinary stories to tell,” Yolanda said, her mind racing as ideas popped into her head. “Like a zookeeper who’s been working with wild animals for over a decade, or a couple with more than a dozen kids, or a surgeon who specializes in doing difficult surgical procedures.”

At those words, Simon paused, his panic dissipating. “You do seem to be on to something there.”

“I’m sure we’ll find some people who can fascinate and inspire our audience.”

“But we still need at least one celebrity,” Simon added.

Yolanda’s brow wrinkled. Simon was right. They still needed at least one celebrity as the show’s final guest so that those watching television would keep tuning in.

“We’ll just have to keep calling every name out there until one of them says yes,” Yolanda said. 

For sure, there was at least one celebrity out there whom Roy Carmichael could not intimidate.

…Right?

~ ~ ~

Shane McFiggins sat on the old couch, stared at the stationary ceiling fan and let out a long sigh. After nearly nine months of going on tour around the country and in different parts of the world, he was finally back home and no words could describe how wonderful it felt.

He looked at the mantel where the framed picture of his father stood.

“I’m home, Dad.”

He turned his gaze to the patio where his agent, Jill, was on the phone, apparently still working. He frowned. Surely, both of them deserved a break.

He stood up, about to get a glass of water, when he heard a car pull up on the driveway. He looked out the window to see a familiar figure jump out of the passenger seat, and he rushed to the front door.

“Moses!” he called out as the German Shepherd jumped on him. He rubbed the dog behind his ears and hugged him. “Boy, I’ve missed you.”

The dog barked, saying it had missed him, too, Ryan assumed.

“Welcome home, Shane,” said Shane’s friend, Ryan, walking inside.

“Hey!” Shane greeted him.

“I just passed by to drop Moses off since you said you were arriving today.”

“Thanks for taking good care of him. I owe you.”

“It was no problem.” Ryan handed him a bag with Moses’ things. “The kids loved him, actually. Now, they’re begging me to get them a dog.”

“You should,” Shane told him. “Dogs do nice things to people, especially to kids.”

“Well, I better go. I still have to pick up Lory from school.”

“Okay. Take care and thanks again.”

Shane watched his friend jump back into his pick-up truck and drive off. Then, he went inside the house. 

“Let’s get inside, Moses,” he told the dog who obeyed. “I don’t think you have some dog food left, but I’ll get some later, okay?”

The dog barked.