What the Heart Wants ; Sealed with a Kiss
Page 19
“You may not have to worry about any of that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Several months ago I applied for a research grant. A big one. I got a message today that it was approved. I’ll have the official letter by the end of the week.”
“What? Oh my God. That’s wonderful! Congratulations.” She palmed his cheeks and kissed him.
“The thing is, I’d have to leave DC and move to the Seattle Research Center, and I want you with me. Together we can change the face of cardiac surgery. We’ll have the money, the facilities and the support. I’ll have free rein to build my own team.”
Dina lowered her gaze. “Frank...that’s a wonderful opportunity, but it’s your opportunity. I’ve worked just as hard to get where I am. I had a chance to go back to California and build my own team, my own department.” She flipped onto her back and stared into the darkness. “That may be gone now, but I can’t settle...take a handout. I don’t want to be the woman who rises to the top because of a man.”
“Woman, there is no one in the industry that doesn’t know of the groundbreaking work you’ve done. You come to Seattle, you call your own shots, run your own division, just the way you wanted. This is no handout. You deserve and have earned this chance. Take it! Don’t let ego get in the way. I can tell you from experience that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”
She stifled a chuckle. “I’ll think about it.”
“Fine.”
“Let me ask you something. If you applied for this grant months ago, did you always plan to leave Jameson?”
“I knew it was a possibility. It was one of the reasons why I was grooming you. I wanted you to take my place if it came to that. But it would have been on my terms, not all this bull that’s happened with the hospital.” He paused. “And I didn’t bank on falling in love with you.”
She flipped onto her side to face him. “I didn’t bank on falling in love with you either.” She sighed heavily. “This is big,” she whispered.
“Yeah, it is.”
“Let’s get the inquiry out of the way...and I’ll give you my decision.”
He kissed her forehead. “I’ll tell you like a wise woman told me. Let your heart decide.”
Chapter 41
The inquiry into the possible wrongful death proceeding against Dr. Franklin Grant began on Wednesday, nearly three weeks after the incident. All members of the surgical team were interviewed and questioned by a panel of their peers. Video and audio recordings of the operation were presented, discussed and dissected. It took the panel seven days to come to a unanimous conclusion that Dr. Grant was not responsible for the death, and nothing that he did or instructed his team to do contributed to the loss of the patient. Autopsy results confirmed the panel’s conclusion that the patient’s heart simply failed and that all measures had been taken to save him. The panel determined that Dr. Grant must regain his full status and return to duty.
Franklin sat at the long table, facing the panel. “I want to first thank everyone for their time and diligence. I am relieved of course by your findings. But what I came to discover in the past few weeks is that whether I was found guilty or innocent, Jameson Memorial is no longer the place for me.” He pushed to his feet. “Thank you.” He walked out leaving everyone with their mouths open.
He strode down the corridor toward his office for the last time, feeling better and lighter than he’d felt in longer than he could remember. He had a chance to do great work, work that he was destined to do—without the strings and hypocrisy that ran rampant at Jameson.
“Franklin!”
He stopped, turned to see Lindsay hurrying down the hallway. She stopped in front of him.
“What the hell was that? You’re leaving?” Her eyes were wide in disbelief.
He half smiled. “Yep.”
“But why? Everything worked out. You got your job.”
He tipped his head to the side. “Thank you for everything, Lindsay. Really. But what I do—it’s more than a job. And if you know me like you think you once did, you’ll understand that, and understand why I can’t stay here. I have a chance to do truly important work, and I’m going to take it.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Take care of yourself.” He started to leave.
“She’s good for you, you know.”
He stopped midstride, frowned in question.
Lindsay winked. “See, I do know you.” She spun away in the opposite direction.
Franklin shook his head and chuckled. “Go figure,” he murmured.
Chapter 42
“Well it’s about damned time,” Monty said, then tilted the bottle of beer up to his lips. “You’re too good for that place. It would have sucked you dry.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Alonzo echoed. “There’s nothing like being your own boss.”
With their parents out of the hospital and on the road to a full recovery, the family returned to their routine dinner gathering.
Louis put his arm around his wife’s shoulder. “When are you planning on leaving, son?”
Ellen sniffed and pressed her lips tightly together.
Franklin snatched a look at Dina and took her hand. “Right after the new year. We figured that would give Mom and Dad enough time to fully get on their feet and...plan a small family wedding.” He burst into a grin that lit the room.
Dina giggled like a schoolgirl, then boldly held out her left hand to showcase the blazing diamond.
Monty jumped, covered his eyes. “Whoa! I’m blind,” he teased.
Alonzo slapped his thighs. “Congratulations, bruh.” He got up and grabbed Franklin in a bear hug before doing the same to Dina.
“Hey, watch it, man,” Franklin playfully scolded. “That’s my wife-to-be you squeezing on.”
Monty pushed Alonzo out of the way, lifted Dina off her feet and spun her around. “Welcome to the family!”
“Oh, Franklin,” Ellen cried, tears of happiness streaming down her cheeks. “I prayed for this day for you.”
Franklin walked over to where his parents sat on the couch and hunched down in front of them. “I have the best examples in the world in both of you. I let my work fill the spaces until the time was right and the woman was right.” He stretched out his hand for Dina. She came and bent down beside him.
“I haven’t had a family in a very long time,” she said, her voice unsteady. “I thought it was out of my reach.” She looked to Franklin with love blooming in her eyes. “And then Franklin brought me into his world and his heart, and I started to believe that family for me was possible.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” Ellen said. She cupped Dina’s cheek. “You have a family now.”
“I hope you’ll be adding to the numbers real soon,” Louis said with a wink.
“Dad!” the brothers chorused with laughter.
* * *
Franklin and Dina sat out on the porch of his parents’ home, under the light of a sky sprinkled with stars.
“I’m really happy that Anna was offered the attending spot. She deserves it. I hope she realizes that,” Dina said.
“She’ll do just fine.”
Dina rested her head on his shoulder. “Seattle, huh. Hear it rains a lot.”
“Might have to spend a lot of time indoors.”
“In bed,” she whispered.
“I like the sound of that.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
She lifted her head to meet his lips and they sealed their future.
* * *
Sealed with a Kiss
Nicki Night
Kendall remembered how annoyed she had felt when he’d left her waiting at their last meeting.
Yes. That would be her strategy. Every time she felt affected by how incredibly attractive he was, she’d remind herself of how disrespectful he had been in keeping her waiting. Sh
e’d give him attitude. It seemed childish, but it was the most mature thought she could conjure up because being around him made her feel like a teenager again.
“All business!” Kendall admonished herself. “No more drama for me.” She looked in the mirror and told her reflection, “It’s not worth it.”
A born-and-bred New Yorker, Nicki Night delights in creating hometown heroes and heroines with an edge. As an avid reader and champion for love, Nicki chose to pen romance novels because she believes that love should be highlighted in this world and she delights in writing contemporary romances with unforgettable characters and just enough drama to make readers clutch a pearl here and there. Nicki has a penchant for adventure and is currently working on penning her next romantic escapade. Nicki is a member of Romance Writers of America (RWA) and the New York City Chapter of Romance Writers of America.
Books by Nicki Night
Harlequin Kimani Romance
His Love Lesson
Riding into Love
It Started in Paradise
Desire in a Kiss
It Must Be Love
Diamonds for the Holidays
Sealed with a Kiss
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
This book is dedicated to my heartbeats—Les, Milan & Laila.
Acknowledgments
Lord! Thank you. We did it again. This journey has been such a blessing. There are many people who helped bring this story together. Thank you to my editors, Glenda Howard and Rachel Burkot. To my agent, Sara Camili, thank you for everything. As always, to my author girlfriends who help keep me sane—Zuri Day, Lutishia Lovely, Tiffany L. Warren, Victoria Christopher Murray, ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Leslie Elle Wright, Sheryl Lister, Brenda Jackson, Beverly Jenkins, Donna Hill and so many more. Thanks for the cocoon of your creativity, sanity, insanity and warmth, and thank you for always being the wonderful women that you authentically are. I adore each of you. To my street team, thank you for helping me spread the word—Priscilla Johnson, Michelle Chavis, Rowena Green Winfrey, Shavonna Futrell, Cheryl McClinton, Deidre Young, Yolanda Rigby-Wilson and Shannon Harper. To my heartbeats, Big Les, Little Les, Milan and Laila, you are my inspiration. I hope I impress you forever. To my siblings, my gals, readers and book clubs nationwide, thanks a gazillion! Where would I be without your support? I dunno! However, if I failed to mention your name, please know that I thank you and love you, and that you rock!
Dear Reader,
I hope you will enjoy getting to know the talented Kendall Chandler and the handsome entertainment mogul Tyson Blackwell. Have fun taking this journey as their love affair unfolds.
Kendall is ready to take her acting career to the next level. Love is the last thing on her mind. Besides, she’s not interested in mixing business with pleasure, since that has never worked out well in the past. However, when Tyson Blackwell comes along, neither can manage to help themselves, despite each of their vows to steer clear of dating others who also share the spotlight.
Find out if the spotlight creates more distance for these two who seem adamant to stick to their vows, or if the spark that crackles between them is just too strong to be ignored. Enjoy the ride!
Ciao,
Nicki Night
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 1
Kendall promised herself she wouldn’t spend any more time or energy taking in what those meddlesome bloggers wrote. Yet she found herself clicking her way right into that rabbit hole from the alert from Google that appeared in her emails. How did she get sucked in again?
“Ugh!” Her hard groan reached the rafters of her spacious home. She bounced back against her chair and huffed.
Despite almost a year passing, her and Storm Sanders’s highly publicized breakup was still a hot topic in the social media stratosphere. Bloggers weren’t tired of writing about it and the public didn’t seem tired of hearing about it, so the scandal lived on like a sitcom in a syndicated afterlife. But Kendall was tired—tired of the media, tired of being questioned if she still loved him, tired of being mentioned by bloggers whenever Storm was spotted with another woman, tired of Storm. Kendall wished everyone could move on like she had. Storm’s betrayal had lingered for too long. The lingering had prolonged the hurt until she’d finally become numb. She was so glad to be over that ordeal.
The media enjoyed debating whether or not she and Storm were over each other. No one bothered asking either of them directly. Paparazzi caught snapshots as they moved about separately, and somehow the pictures ended up side by side in celebrity gossip rags. They’d ask intrusive questions, printing whatever they chose despite their answers, so Kendall stopped responding to them altogether.
Buying a place outside of Los Angeles was the best decision she’d made in a long time. Kendall’s secret sanctuary in Temecula, Southern California’s wine country, was more than an hour away. The residents there didn’t meddle so much. Even as a well-known pop star, she could shop and dine practically undisturbed. It’s not like the people in Temecula didn’t know who she was, but it was void of paparazzi at every turn, and the town was much more mellow in the presence of celebrities. Kendall would sign the occasional autograph but had yet to find people with cameras lurking in her bushes.
Kendall still kept a condo in a gated community in LA, but when she was done with work, she’d trek back to Temecula where she could enjoy a semblance of a normal life in her lakeside home. Her heart lived in Chicago with her family. She also kept an apartment in New York on the West Side overlooking the Hudson for those times when business brought her to the East Coast.
But East Coast or West, her life belonged to her public. Minimal privacy came with her line of work, but every now and then, she wished she could remove the famous parts of her and live incognito.
Kendall left her laptop in her study, went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and sat in the room that had made her fall in love with the house. Folding her legs underneath her, she curled up in her favorite wing chair and took in the unobstructed view of the lake at the end of her yard and mountains in the distance through the wall of glass doors. Kendall did her best thinking here. She’d done her best everything here—crying, laughing, writing, reading. It was in that very chair that she’d mapped out her goals in her journal. She was going to be more than just a singer. Both sides of the big screen called her name. Kendall was going to make it in front of and behind the camera. She’d already visualized herself acting, directing and producing films.
Kendall’s first attempt at film didn’t go so well and nearly tainted her name in Hollywood. She shook her head to get rid of those memories. She was at peace and didn’t want to go there. It was time to show the world how serious she was about taking her career to new heights.
Kendall heard a faint ringing and realized she’d left her phone in the kitchen. Placing her tea on the small round table next to her cozy chair, she jogged to the counter to answer.
�
�Hello.”
“Kendall!” Her agent sang her name. Kendall smiled and prepared herself for good news. “Are you sitting down?” Randi asked.
Kendall hopped on the countertop. “I am now.”
“Are you ready for this?”
“Randi. Spill it! I can’t take the suspense.”
“I just got a call from the producers of that new biopic that rumors have been swirling about, and guess who they want to play Jocelyn James?” Randi squealed.
Kendall slid down from the counter. Her mouth fell open. Seconds ticked by before she could speak. “Me?”
“Yep. Can you believe it?”
“Oh. My. Goodness! Are you serious!” Kendall felt like she could leap ten feet into the air. “They want me?”
“They want you, baby girl!” She called Kendall a range of pet names.
Kendall screamed. Stomped. Screamed again. “Wooo! This is huge, Randi. Huge!”
“It’s your time, my dear! We’re going to show this world what you’ve got! So, it’s a go?”
“It most certainly is.”
“Woo! Great. I’ll get all the deets and get right back to you.”
“I hope I can do her justice. She is one of my dad’s favorite artists.”
“For sure! I think you can do Jocelyn James superior justice. She was gorg, you’re gorg, your voice has a jazzy flair...you’ll rock at playing her.” Kendall could hear Randi suck her teeth and imagined her waving her off. “So, Pops was into jazz, huh?”
“He loves it. He’s going to be so excited to hear about this.”
“Okay. I’m gonna jump off here and call them back to let them know you’ll take the role. You’ll have to come out of the woods, babe,” she said, referring to Kendall’s Temecula home. “They’d like for you to come and do a read sometime this week.”