Deadly Sexy (23 page)

“You know what I want to do on our honeymoon?”

“We’re having one of those too?”

“Yep, and I want to ride cross-country in a big rig.”

He laughed. “What?”

“Yep, and as your bride, you cannot deny me.”

He leaned in and kissed her softly. “I love you, Jessi.”

She kissed him back. “And I love you, Reese.”

They sealed their agreement with more kisses under the Hawaiian moon, then he picked her up.

“You’re carrying me again,” she said.

“Yep, taking you to bed.”

She placed her head against his chest, and in his mind Reese heard Frankie Beverly singing:

 

I knew you were meant for me.

Right from the start,

It was like destiny.

You’ve given me a reason to love one more time…

 

And she had.

I am a huge sports fan. How huge? Well, when I went into the final stages of labor during the birth of my daughter, it was the first day of the 1980 NFL season, so I put off going to the hospital until halftime of the
second
game of the day because I knew there’d be no football shown in the delivery room. My poor husband!

JT’s character has been with me for over a decade. Originally, I’d toyed with the idea of hooking her up with Mayor Drake Randolph, aka His Fineness, and having her be the heroine of
Black Lace,
but I’m glad I didn’t. Making her the sister of Max Blake from
Sexy/Dangerous
and putting her with Reese Anthony proved a much better fit. Authors will tell you that sometimes stories morph in ways only the characters seem to understand, and this was such a case. I had no idea the Anthony men were the descendants of the House of LeVeq until the story began to unfold. The realization put a smile on my face, and I hope all of you LeVeq lovers smiled as well.

I’ve never had a story come to me complete with its own unique soundtrack, but
Deadly Sexy
did. Frankie Beverley and Maze. When I first began sketching out the story, one of the local radio stations played a song by Maze titled “Reasons” that I’d never heard before. I’ve been a Maze fan for over thirty years, and in my mind and in the minds of many others this iconic group has never received the industry awards or accolades they’ve so richly deserved. The song blew me away. It said everything Reese felt for JT. I know that many of my readers reread my books, so before you do that second read, download “Reasons” into your MP3 or iPod. Start with “Reasons,” add “Golden Time of the Day,” “Traveling Man,” “Love You Much too Much,” “Can’t Get Over You,” and listen to “Reasons” again at the end, and you’ll have your
DS
soundtrack. In my fantasy world this book would have shipped with a customized Maze CD, but this is the real world,
so you’ll have to compile your own. Many thanks to Reve Gipson, Maze’s publicist, and their lawyer, Mr. Bernard Fischbach, for helping me get permission to use the “Reasons” lyrics.

For the readers who’ve recently discovered my work through the romantic suspense titles, all of the characters in these books are descendants of characters in my historicals. If you enjoyed
Deadly Sexy,
then pick up
Topaz, Always and Forever,
and
A Chance at Love
to read about Grace Atwood Blake and Loreli Winters Reed, the fiery great-great-grandmothers of JT and Max Blake.

In closing I want to send a few shout outs to: Lawan Williams, who’s over in Kuwait helping our soldiers; Rene Motley, in Lansing, Michigan, for her continued support and love; Sarita and the Songbird, whose six degrees of separation hooked me up with Maze’s people; Detective Sharon McCalop of the Dallas Police Department, for answering my questions about police procedure; my crew in Beverlyland and our newest bundle of joy—Marisa Haynes—who just happened to be born on my birthday! And last but not least to all my readers old and new. Stay blessed everybody. Keep reading and I’ll see you next time.

B.