Otis Redding probably said it best in his rendition of "If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right." An affair between two married people can sometimes be more, mean more than just sex and infidelity. It can mean everything to two, love-starved people.
Former Texas beauty queen, JaiHonnah Reise Chapman, of African and Native American ancestry, is finally moving back to the United States after studying abroad for the last four years and completing her doctorates in architecture and structural engineering at Arcadia Laboratories, Politecnico di Milano, Italy. A new career opportunity awaits her in Washington, DC, away from her wealthy, powerful, and manipulative father, Jake Hawkins, and the brutal man she should never have married, international financier, Calvin Chapman. The last thing she needs or wants at the beginning of her professional life is to have an unguarded moment with another woman's husband, her new boss.
J. Roderick Baylor, know as the sports icon, JRock, has shed the highlights of his illustrious, professional basketball career, and the lowlights of his disastrous marriage to Monique, a would-be starlet. Now he has custody of his twin, five-year-old daughters—Shelly and Shelby—a highly successful construction and property development business and loving, supportive family and friends around with which to build a new life. Little did he know that an illicit affair with another man's wife, his new employee, had the power to refurbish the torn parts of his life and erect a monument to the power of love.
What people are saying about An Unguarded Moment...
"This was a book I couldn't get enough of. I read at night to fall asleep and this had the opposite affect on me. I didn't want to put it down. Just a little more... Very well written with enough spice to keep things interesting. Never a dull moment!" — Terri Hershey (reviewed on Amazon.com): 5 STAR REVIEW
"An engrossing and sensuous love story that immediately grabs your attention and keeps you involved till the last page. Highly recommended." — Amazon Customer: 5 STAR REVEIW
Read more reviews for An Unguarded Moment on Amazon.com! And, while you're there, purchase your paperback or one-click download your copy!
Excerpt from An Unguarded Moment:
Finally they arrived at the job site at Pennsylvania Avenue
and 21st Street, North
West. A fourteen-story building that
took up the entire city block was growing up out of the ground. A big sign at the site read: BAYLOR CONSTRUCTION. DOTHAN
ELECTRICAL. AVERY PLUMBING. Cement trucks were lined up around the site
with their motors running and barrows rolling.
Men in hard hats were everywhere on every floor of the open-frame,
concrete structure. A huge crane swung
its long arm over the edifice and lifted tons of wet cement up the skeletal
structure while a convoy of backhoes churned up a blizzard of dust and dirt as
they backfilled around the base of the structure.
“C’mon, lady, let’s see if he’s still
here,” the driver tentatively grumbled.
JaiHonnah didn’t have to be invited, but
when she exited the truck cab a dry dust cloud coated her from head to
foot. She cupped her hands over her
face, coughing and looking around for anyone who might be the tough-as-nails
Baylor.
“Hey!
JRock!” the man escorting her yelled and then, with fingers between his
teeth, whistled loudly.
Other men at the work site stopped and
turned in their direction. They began
whistling, too, but not for Baylor, she noticed. The dry, dusty wind was lifting her
above-the-knee linen skirt and tugging at her criss-crossed blouse as she
fought through the blizzard. The
catcalls were for her, but she was too anxious to find her potential new
employer to care what was going on around her.
“JRock!
Hey, JRock!” her escort called again.
“Over here!”
JaiHonnah covered her eyes against the
blowing dust and tried to see who was approaching.
Out of the storm of noise, dirt, dust and
lewd comments, JaiHonnah saw a mountain of a man bearing down on them. Suddenly the earth seemed to shift, tremble
from under her feet and the sun was born.
Moving toward her was the brawniest man ever created. The white hardhat on his head didn’t mask
much, including the scowl on his all-too-handsome face. The dust parted for him like Moses opening
the Red Sea.
All six feet, eight inches, two-hundred-thirty pounds of molten
masculinity was bearing down on her with a vengeance. Sharp, piercing, black eyes like those of a
hunter seeking his game surrounded by thick lashes and eyebrows furrowed to the
bridge of his flaring nostrils, neatly trimmed mustache, and full, luscious
mouth. JaiHonnah saw muscle mania from
the neck down under a Million Man March T-shirt that must have been painted on
by one of the master artists. A black Adonis
with a narrow waist, a pronounced six pack and long, sculptured thighs under
the low-riding jeans, Baylor’s tall, powerful torso moved relatively swiftly in
the ruthlessly laced brogans on his feet.
He was intimidating with his imposing size and, as he cast his eyes
around at the melee, the noisy catcalls immediately ceased. JaiHonnah involuntarily caught her breath.
“Murray, what the hell are you doing
here?” he bellowed. “You were supposed
to be over at McKinley
High School thirty
minutes ago!”
“Boss, this lady is looking for you. Said she—.”
“Move it, Murray!” the mountain rumbled
with malice.
“Sure thing, JRock. Color me gone!” Murray said. “I’ll put your luggage in his truck, lady,”
the driver whispered to JaiHonnah before he scurried away.
Then Baylor swung his laser-beam gaze to
her. JaiHonnah had forgotten to
breathe. She felt like she had been
moving at the speed of light and suddenly hit the proverbial brick wall, J.
Roderick Baylor. She choked as his eyes
seized her.
“Well?” he asked none too politely.
“You’re
J. Roderick Baylor?” she asked in disbelief.
His brow furrowed, lips thinned to a
straight line, and his fists punched his hips.
“Is that a trick question?” he clipped sarcastically.
“Uh-uh, I’ve come about the job. I mean, I’m sorry I was late, but, you see,
my flight got in---.”
“Job?
What job? I already filled the
secretarial positions. Didn’t your
agency tell you? Damn! You called me all the way down here . . .
Look, lady, this is no place for a woman
. . .” he rapidly spat, clearly frustrated.
“Secretary? No, I’m not a secretary, Mr. Baylor. I’ve come about the—.”
“You’re the baby-sitter then, Mrs.
Betterman? Oh, okay. I’ve read your qualifications, but somehow I
thought that you’d be older. Never mind. I can deal with . . . Look, my girls are still away, but your
credentials and references are acceptable, so I’ll try you out on a temporary
basis. I want you to start in two weeks
when they return—.”
“Baby-sitter?” she interrupted, her confusion
began to clear like the dust. “I’m no
baby-sitter!” Her ire rose, then settled when JaiHonnah reminded herself that
she wanted this job. “I’m, uh, uh . . .”
“Speak up, woman! I don’t have all day. Who the hell are you?”
“I’m your new architect and civil engineer,”
she said confidently, squaring her shoulders, and extending her hand. “I’m J. Reise Chapman.”
The look on his face was priceless; sold
for about two cents with expectations for five cents change JaiHonnah thought,
but she noticed his fists tighten on his hips.
“Damn!
I’m going to kill Vivian!” He scowled, turning his back to her in
apparent frustration and issuing a string of imaginative expletives.
JaiHonnah was left with her outstretched
hand hanging in midair as Baylor communicated with the heaven above. She had enough of his arrogant, chauvinistic
tantrum though. She could feel the hair
standing up on the back of her neck, her temper peaking. She didn’t have to take this kind of behavior
from this Neanderthal. He acted just as
arrogantly as Big Jake, and JaiHonnah wasn’t having it. Job or no job.
She grabbed a thick arm muscle in a failed
attempt to turn him around. He lifted
his eyes from her hand and looked over his shoulder at her. Her voice rose in direct proportion to her
ire. “Look, Mr. Baylor, I’ve had years of training, and I’m qualified to do the
job. If you think you can do better with
that paltry little sum you’re offering, go ahead and try it, but you’ll be
missing out on the best architect and civil engineer in the western world!”
“Oh, really?” he said then snorted
derisively. He turned toward her, his
arms akimbo.
“And another thing . . .” she continued.
Greetings all!
