Lavish Loving. Zuri Day

growth spurt and a face-cleansing regimen had begun his transformation. He wanted to approach her, but to say he’d been intimidated would not have been a stretch. They’d flirted from opposite sides of the room. She’d seemed interested. He still didn’t approach. One of the setbacks to being a teenage heartthrob—no time to perfect the rap game. All the women he’d been involved with had come to him.

      So their chance meeting in the hallway had been perfect. Even though he’d begun the conversation with a lame comment about her name. Thankfully, she hadn’t cared. Much. Later, when her publicist brought them together, he’d been more relaxed. They’d clicked. Most of the night he’d asked the questions. Then...she’d asked one. It led to their finding an empty room in the huge castle her agency had rented out and exploring every inch of each other’s bodies for forty-eight hours, interrupted only once to eat and recharge their batteries. But then he’d gone back to the United States on tour and she’d become the toast of Incomparable, and they’d lost touch. A few more casual meetings had followed, but never a chance to reconnect more intimately.

      Then he’d met his ex-fiancée, the one who’d stolen his heart and tried to steal his money. That betrayal sent him home to Oakland, California, to lick his wounds. There, a conversation with his stepfather led to Ace giving his career path and his life serious thought. He’d renegotiated his modeling contracts, gone back to school and met Tyler. He gave Tyler a portfolio of designs, Tyler found Mira, Mira found money. The three created Out of the Box, trademarked the terms Himwear and Herwear, and introduced the first line of OTB Him three years ago. At next month’s fashion week in New York City they’d unveil a new line—OTB Her. So here he chilled in a town called Temecula, pondering the perfect woman who could give life to this daring new line. And supermodel London walked into his bedroom. For Ace this was more than a coincidence. This was a sign. A dangerous, tempting, high-maintenance sign. A signal sure to rock the steady, predictable world he’d created since calling off the wedding with his ex and regaining control of his finances. Was he ready to bring such an unpredictable element into his life? Ace didn’t know, but he was damned sure going to find out.

      * * *

      London stepped into Katrina’s outstretched arms. “It was a pleasure reconnecting with you, too!” They rocked back and forth in a giant bear hug. She stepped back but kept her arms around her new favorite cousin. “Promise me you’ll keep in touch.”

      “Oh, trust and believe I’m going to do that. You’ve got connections to some fine-ass men and one of them needs to be my husband!”

      “Ha! I don’t know about all that, but if you come up north, I promise to show you a good time.”

      “I’ll hold you to that promise.”

      The women hugged again. London smiled and waved as Katrina, her brother, sister-in-law, niece, nephew and parents got into the limo that would take them to San Diego and one of two airports closest to the resort. Over the next hour, she shared farewells with other family members also leaving, some to San Diego and others to Ontario, the other major airport nearby. There were lots of hugs, a few tears and plenty of vows to stay in touch. In death, much as he had in life, Papa Dee had placed emphasis on the value of family and strengthened the tribal bond.

      Shortly after the last limo pulled away, London jumped into one of several golf carts parked in the lot and headed over to Diamond’s house. Built on the land by her construction company owner husband, Jackson Wright, it was a commanding design that seamlessly blended contemporary modern with Spanish and Mediterranean influences, filled with designer, exotic and top-of-the-line pieces. Along the way she passed several guesthouses, where some of the extended family had stayed, the home of Diamond’s older brother Donovan and his wife, Marissa, and the small yet stately home that had belonged to Papa Dee.

      She parked the golf cart next to another that sat in the driveway along with a Boss Construction company truck and an SUV. Knowing Jackson was out and Diamond was resting, she opened the unlocked door and walked inside.

      “Diamond?”

      “In here!”

      London followed her cousin’s voice down a long hall to a room with windows for walls. From here one could see almost the entire vineyard, from the rolling hills of grapevines to the stable of horses, the sparkling pond for fishing and both the Temescal and Santa Ana mountain ranges. You couldn’t see the hotel, wine store or executive offices, as per Diamond’s specific instructions. She’d told Jackson she did not want to bring work into her house.

      Diamond lay sprawled on a chaise in a canary yellow baby doll mini, looking big-belly beautiful with cantaloupes for breasts. “About time you got here. With Faye ordering me to come lie down, you’re today’s entertainment. I don’t much appreciate you making me wait.”

      “Stop being divalicious. Your sister-in-law played the doctor card, as she well should, and Aunt Genevieve eyed my every move. Your decorum-conscious mama wasn’t going to let me leave early, especially since I’d arrived so—”

      “Yes, whatever. Enough about that. Let’s get to the reason you were tardy. Ace Montgomery and your bribing Ellen—my employee, by the way—to give his massage.”

      London waved away Diamond’s stern segue. “Don’t worry about that.”

      “Don’t brush me off.”

      “Calm down, girl, before you bring on contractions.”

      “I’m serious, London. You bribed an employee into breaking a company rule. We could have been sued! Any other instance and she would have been fired. But Ellen is a hard worker with a stellar record whose family has experienced a year of financial setbacks. Five thousand dollars cash was understandably hard to pass up. Plus, I know how tenacious you can be.”

      “I’m sorry, Diamond. I guess I didn’t look at it from a corporate angle.”

      “Obviously.”

      “Please tell me she’s not fired.”

      “No, but she was written up and put on a ninety-day probation. If there are no more incidents, after a year we’ll remove it from her file.”

      “I really am sorry, cousin. Forgive me?”

      “I’ll think about it.” The frown lines disappeared as Diamond relaxed. “So tell me the who, what, when, where and why of it all. I want to hear everything.”

      London obliged, relating everything from overhearing the girls in the bathroom to Ace’s take-charge ways. “I let him get away with it this time. I bribed my way into his room and all. But next time he tries to boss me around, no matter the situation, I’m going to put him in check.”

      “Careful with that. I’m married to an alpha male. Trying to put them in check is a pretty tall order that usually ends with them on top. In fact, I think it was just such a conversation that led to my stomach now looking like this.”

      “Well, I’m not going to let a man boss me around.” London looked at her watch and abruptly stood. “Time is flying! I’ve got to run. Ace and I are having dinner at eight. He said if I were late there’d be consequences.” She rushed over to Diamond for a quick hug and kiss and hurried out the room. “Bye!”

      As London reached the end of the hall and headed toward the door, she heard Diamond burst out laughing.

       Chapter 5

      “You’re late.”

      London took a step back from the bungalow’s front door. “That is not a proper greeting.”

      Six feet of I-don’t-give-a-damn filled the large frame and looked amazing in the process.

      Had she read minds, Ace thought, she would have known his brusque behavior covered up how much her beauty threw him off guard. “I apologize. Good evening, London. You’re late.”

      London rewarded him with a smile. “I’m