When Hell Freezes Over
Read When Hell Freezes Over Online
Authors: Darrien Lee
Darrien Lee
WHEN
H
ELL FREE
Z
ES OVER
The unforgettable characters from the bestseller
What Goes Around Comes Around
are backâin a smashingly suspenseful tale of love, trust, and the secrets that can make or break our lives.
The dashingly handsome Keaton Lapahie has watched many of his friends do the one thing he has vowed he will never do: get married. His plan is to enjoy his retirement, open a restaurant, and remain a bachelor for life. But when he is unexpectedly put on mandatory medical leave, he decides to visit his sister and her familyâ¦not realizing fate is about to take him on a tripânot just out of town, but toward his own heart.
In Philadelphia, Keaton is reacquainted with Dr. Meridan St. John, his sister's pediatrician. Meridan is seemingly the perfect womanâsmart, bold, and beautiful. Why can't Keaton attract her attention? He soon learns that Meridan is haunted by something in her pastâand though Keaton can read her better than anyone else, he cannot figure out the cause of her nightmares and fears. Things become even more complicated when Jacob, her jealous childhood friend, arrives in Philadelphia and threatens to expose all the dark secrets of her past. Worried that Keaton will not believe she was innocent in her situation, she does the only thing she can⦠run. Thus, Keaton must decideâdoes he follow her, and get to the truth, or does he leave the woman he loves to her own dark nightmares?
Penetrating in language and powerful in meaning,
When Hell Freezes Over
is a remarkable story about how accepting the past is the only way to make a future.
WHEN
H
ELL FREE
Z
ES OVER
Keaton entered the bathroom and leaned against the door. Meridan had confirmed everything and there was no turning back now. He would make love to her and hope he would be able to return back to his life in Texas in a couple of weeks.
When he opened the door to the bedroom, Meridan was sitting on the bed painting her toenails. She looked up and smiled at him. He stood there with his skin glistening with water. He walked over with the towel wrapped around his waist.
Looking down at her, he said, “Let me do that.”
“Are you sure?”
Grabbing her foot, he sat down on the bed and proceeded to finish painting her toes.
This man is killing me!
Meridan was being seduced by the way he was blowing on her toes. He painted each toe methodically, making sure he didn't make any mistakes.
“You're good at this. You must've done this before?”
He looked up at her mischievously.
“Not as much as you might think. MaLeah keeps me busy, painting her little fingers and toes.”
“I'm talking about big girls, Keaton.”
“You're the first big girl whose toes I've ever painted. Scout's honor.”
Meridan couldn't help but admire his handsome features. The silky hair on his chest had now dried. His skin was a beautiful brown and his dark eyes were piercing. He wore his hair closely cropped and had a neatly trimmed goatee surrounded by dimples that surfaced with every smile.
“There! You're all done. You have pretty feet.”
“Keaton, are you a foot man?”
Keaton put the top on the nail polish. “No, I'm simply a man. I like everything about you, Meridan St. John, and then some.”
They stared at each other for a moment. He looked down on the bed and noticed the bottle of lotion. She followed his eyes, then looked back up at him.
“May I?”
Handing the bottle to him, she said, “Help yourself.”
In her heart, she knew the moment his hands touched her, she would fall apart. Keaton poured some lotion in his hands.
“Ready?”
She swallowed. “As ready as I'm going to be.”
It seemed he had pleased her just by his touch. God knows what the experience would be like when they finally made love.
As Meridan lay there trembling, she prayed he would never find out her secret before he went back to Texas. She wouldn't be able to look him in the eyes. A man like Keaton would never understand.
DARRIEN LEE is the author of
All That and a Bag of Chips; Been There, Done That;
and
What Goes Around Comes Around.
She lives in LaVergne, Tennessee.
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Register online at
www.SimonandSchuster.com
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Jacket artwork by André Harris
Author photograph courtesy Darrien Lee
Copyright © 2005 Strebor Books International
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Published by
Strebor Books International LLC
P.O. Box 6505
Largo, MD 20792
www.streborbooks.com
When Hell Freezes Over
© 2005 by Darrien Lee. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means including electronic, mechanical or photocopying or stored in a retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages to be included in a review.
ISBN-13 978-1-59309-042-5
ISBN-10Â Â Â Â Â 1-59309-042-0
LCCN 2004118375
ISBN: 978-1-4516-9481-9 (eBook)
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Distributed by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
1-800-223-2336
Cover Illustration: André Harris
First Printing August 2005
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I would like to dedicate this novel to all my devoted fans, who have supported me and continue to support my efforts. THANK YOU!
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I would like to thank my entire family for continued support, especially my husband and daughters. I appreciate you for giving me the private time I needed to put this novel together. Your love and patience is priceless.
To my fellow sidekicks, V. Anthony Rivers, JDaniels, Tina Brooks McKinney, Harold L. Turley II, Allison Hobbs and Shelley Halima, thanks for the encouragement during the down times and the laughter during the fun times.
I want to thank Cory and Heather Buford for hooking me up with a new website and to André Harris for creating another slamming book cover.
I want to lift up my Pastor, Rev. Vincent Windrow, and the members of Olive Branch Missionary Baptist Church in Antioch, Tennessee for their spiritual guidance and support. I wouldn't have made it without you.
To the rest of my Strebor family members, thank you for pushing my novels even when I'm not around. It means so much to me to know we support each other in our efforts no matter what.
I send more thanks out to the members of The Ties That Bind Book Club for their support and encouraging words. I also have to thank my friend Tiffany Lee for “dogging me” to finish my books when I didn't feel like working. Many thanks also go out to Samantha Green and Rita Rippy for always staying in touch and supporting me.
Many thanks go out to my closest friends, Tracy Dandridge, Brenda Thomas, Buanita Ray, Sharon Nowlin and Monica Baker for the things you've done for me no matter how big or small.