Slow Burn (The Blake Boys Book 7) Read online

  Tate was almost finished frying the last turkey, while J.J. and Seth were playing with remote controlled helicopters meant for the boys. Channing was showing off his new brief case with his initials embossed on it to John Jacob, Bo and Bubba.

  Michelle was excited about the prospect of being in business with Morgan, but her friend was more interested in the juicy details of the merger between her and Tyler at the house in Denver. Once the tots were busy playing with the array of toys they’d received, Michelle, Morgan, Isabelle, and Sam snuck away to the kitchen to gossip about the Blake men.

  “Thank you for helping me.” Michelle gave them each a hug.

  “I’m just glad everything worked out. I don’t think Tyler’s gonna get tricked a fourth time.” Sam laughed.

  “It felt good to do something naughty for a change. I feel like such a bad girl,” Isabelle quipped.

  “You tamed Tate McGill, I think you get top honors,” Michelle replied.

  “Sam, does this mean Regency will create a file of the misdeeds of the Blake Girls?” Morgan flashed a cheesy smile. “What would we have to do to catch up with the guys?”

  Sam thought for a minute. “Let’s see. Quit your jobs, let Teri-Lyn raise the boys and pick a fight at the Bright Star every night for two years. That might cover their high school years.”

  “What exactly have they been doing all these years?” Michelle asked.

  “Just being the good looking, rowdy cowboys they are. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree you know.” Sam waggled her eyebrows and motioned her head towards John Jacob.

  “Well, we have one civilized man in the bunch. Bo is handsome, sweet, sensitive and smart. They could all learn a thing or two from him,” Morgan huffed.

  “We should shield him before they corrupt him. It’s only a matter of time,” Sam mused.

  The ladies all leaned in the direction of Bo sitting on the couch. “We have to find him a woman.”

  Tate came in and declared the turkeys were ready. It was time to eat. Tyler held out Michelle’s chair for her at the table, and the family ribbed him about it. John Jacob told everyone to quiet down so he could say the dinner prayer.

  “There has been no greater moment in my life than being here with the woman I love and the family I adore. I am thankful to be blessed with both in my life.”

  “Amen.”

  Chapter Nine

  Six months later.

  Tyler tried his best to behave; there were cameras around them after all. But seeing Michelle work her magic on the set of her show, The Novel Foodie, made him want to make out with her right there. She’d done an amazing job acclimating to the stardom, the viewership on her show skyrocketed the moment she went on camera and flashed that beautiful smile of hers.

  “Are you having a good time?” Michelle asked.

  “I’m having a great time. You rock.” Tyler kissed her.

  “And we’re back in five, four, three, two, one…” The director motioned to Michelle to begin her dialogue.

  “This is the perfect race day menu. Plenty of tasty appetizers that will excite the palates of kids of all ages. You can find these appetizers and other delicious meals in my cookbook, The Novel Foodie Cooks, coming out next month. I’d like to thank my guest chef Tyler Blake, whose been burning up the racing scene for the past year and has just won the Headley Classic Racing Series. Congrats to him on his third victory this year.” Michelle smiled and put her arm around him. Tyler’s constant coughing was his not so subtle hint that she’d left something vital out of the script.

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Tyler smiled as he chucked a beer battered jalapeno popper in his mouth.

  “I don’t think so.” Michelle kept her smile plastered on her face as the camera man zoomed in on them.

  “You promised last night,” he mumbled.

  “Oh, that.” Michelle let out an exaggerated sigh. “For those of you out there who may not know, Tyler and I have been dating for the past six months.”

  “And?” He put his arm around her.

  “It’s been the best six months of my life.” Michelle kissed him. “Until next time, my fellow foodies, eat well, eat often, and share with good friends.”

  “And we’re done,” the director yelled. “Great job Michelle and Tyler.”

  Michelle giggled when Tyler pulled her in for a scorching kiss. Their public displays of affection were nothing new to the crew, who began eating the food while they cleaned up the mess around them. He was proud of her. So much had changed in six months’ time. He was making his mark in the racing world and Michelle had just signed a contract with a major cooking network to take her show, The Novel Foodie, national. She was also knee deep in expansion plans for Reed Bradley Books.

  By the time they came up for air, the sound stage was all but empty.

  “That was another great show,” Tyler murmured.

  “Thank you. I think we make a good team. My ratings always go through the roof when you make an appearance on the show.” She rubbed her nose against his.

  “Higher than that week you had Jake and the boys on making messy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?”

  She swatted at his bicep. “Stop competing with the boys.”

  “You left out the part I wrote about being the best lover you ever had.”

  “This is a wholesome cooking show, remember? You convinced me to nix the sex kitten routine and focus on cooking good food. The fact that I am devastatingly beautiful is just a plus for the viewer.” Michelle ran a hand through her hair.

  “A lot of good that did,” Tyler quipped. Michelle got a lot of fan mail, but most of it was from male viewers flirting with her. “Morgan and Seth are going away for the weekend, and Sydney and Curtis will have the boys. I thought I’d cook you a nice meal at the penthouse tonight.”

  “You’re gonna cook?”

  Tyler waggled his eyebrows. “You forget, I’m good with my hands.”

  “Don’t I know it.” She kissed him.

  With their new, busy schedules, it was hard to find the time to be together. But they were committed to making the time. Tyler came to Philadelphia regularly for visits, and they kept in touch constantly when he was on the road. It felt good being with the one person that he cared deeply for, and they were making an effort to build a solid foundation for their future.

  “I’m so excited about our trip to Vegas. I can’t wait to see Tate perform. I have to look for my ‘Tate’s Angel’ T-shirt.”

  Tyler nuzzled her neck. “I know vacationing with the whole family isn’t all that romantic. But I promise we’ll carve out some time for ourselves.”

  Tate was on tour and his concert was ending in Las Vegas. The family decided to make it an event and all meet up there. Besides seeing his brother in concert, Tyler planned on staying in their hotel suite the entire time.

  “Are you kidding me? I knew getting involved with you was a package deal. Everyone has gone out of their way to make me feel like I belong. And they’re giving us the space to figure things out for ourselves.” She sighed. “Well, most of the time.”

  Tyler shook his head. “Seth and Morgan think they’re the boss of us.”

  “Yeah. Can you believe they paid Avery to babysit us that time?”

  “I guess they didn’t trust us after we got into that pudding fight with Jake and the boys.” He shrugged.

  The great pudding war left yet another kitchen of Morgan’s and Seth’s in disarray. Their cook Kara threatened to quit on the spot when she saw the carnage. Tyler and Michelle cleaned up the mess and promised never to eat pudding in the house again.

  “Maybe they’re right about us. We have way too much fun with the boys.” Michelle chuckled. “Think we’ll ever grow up?”

  “I think we’re doing quite well. I love you, Michelle.”

  “I love you too.”

  Tyler walked out of the sound stage with his arm around her. He would never have guessed that when he finally stopped running from love, Mi
chelle would be there waiting for him with open arms.

  Hollywood Rush

  Bonus excerpt from the Hollywood Heat series by Rhonda Laurel

  Chapter One

  Kate Cavanaugh sat on the deck ogling her husband Chris as he emerged from the ocean with his surfboard under his arm and his swimming trunks sloped dangerously low on his hips. She hated to interrupt his fun. A great set of waves had been rolling in all afternoon, but she was getting hungry and he’d promised to cook her dinner. She could hardly believe they’d been married for two whole weeks. They had forgone a grandiose media spectacle and had opted for an intimate wedding ceremony at their Malibu beach house with family and friends. Kate had come down the sandy path from the house barefoot, wearing an elegant, strapless white gown. Chris had looked dashing in his tuxedo. After weeks of intensive training Chris was able to get Merlot, their prized Havenese toy dog, to carry the pillow that held the wedding rings all the way down the aisle.

  She wished they had more time together but with their busy schedules it just wasn’t possible. Chris would begin shooting the scintillating new action thriller Malediction in a month. She had a lot on her plate these days too. Her record label Atlantis was expanding, and thanks to her neighbor Marvin leaving her a substantial chunk of his estate in his will, she was now one of the principal shareholders of Pinnacle Studios and the legendary record label, Blue Vinyl Records.

  Kate rubbed her belly as Chris approached. “You looked good out there. I’m sorry to pull you away, but I’m famished.”

  “I can’t have my wife starve. It would be in poor taste.” Chris pitched his short board into the sand and stopped to rinse the seawater off his body.

  “I prepped the veggies but I couldn’t throw Myrtle and Ted into the pot.” She scrunched her nose.

  Chris laughed and bounded up the deck stairs to kiss her. “I told you not to name the lobsters when we were at the market.”

  “But they had so much personality,” Kate pouted. “Remember the way they were waving at us in the tank?”

  “Uh, Kate, honey, they were trying to break free. A lobster knows that when their hands are bound, they’re on the menu, not up for a round of bondage games.”

  “You should know.” She looked down at the faint bruising on his wrists. “I hope the marks go away before we return home.”

  “Don’t want anyone to know your little secret? You like tying me up and having your way with me?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “Hey! It’s not like you don’t reciprocate, Mr. I-Ignore-the-Safe-Words. Pomegranate, my ass,” she huffed.

  “I really did think you were just hungry for a snack.” He held back a grin.

  “Yeah, right,” she said as she led him into the kitchen. “I’m going to take a shower before dinner.”

  “I’ll join you.” He pulled on the string of her bikini top.

  “You surfed an hour longer than you should have, so now you suffer the consequences.” Kate gave him a peck on the lips and darted out of the kitchen.

  * * *

  Chris got to work, trying to keep his mind off his wife showering upstairs. It had been an incredible honeymoon, complete with a secluded beach. The time away from their glitzy world had done wonders for his soul. The grind of carving out an acting career was never ending, and if he wanted to reach mega stardom, there was no time to just disappear for a while. He needed to be out there auditioning, attending parties, anything that would keep him visible until the right break came along. And it finally had.

  He compared the role of Danny in The Knock Around Boys to that of a gymnast who had achieved the perfect dismount. He was sure he’d never again have the perfect storm of a great role and a juicy scandal going on in the background at the same time. Nor did he want to. Even though his scandalous “relationship” with Kate had been pure fiction at the time, people seemed to pay more attention to his career now because they thought he’d bagged his director’s wife. He thought it was funny how after all his risqué adventures, the one that gave him the greatest notoriety was the one that never actually happened.

  He took the lid off the pot and picked up the lobsters. “Myrtle and Ted, I want you to know you are not dying in vain. You are being sacrificed for two newlyweds, much like yourselves.”

  Chris dumped the lobsters into the pot, put the lid back on, and started the veggies. He loved trying new dishes with Kate, the ever-willing culinary guinea pig. She in return applauded his cooking efforts, but what he liked most was the time they spent in the kitchen preparing the meal. They had the best conversations. She was educated and sophisticated, but she was also silly with a wicked sense of humor. When she looked at him, he felt as though she saw who he was: a boy at heart who was more insecure about his looks and acting abilities than he let on.

  “Dinner is served,” Chris yelled upstairs.

  “How did I get so lucky and land a man who could cook?” Kate descended the stairs wearing a pretty sundress. “If we weren’t married already, I’d marry you again.”

  Chris kissed her hand. “You bring out the best in me.”

  “I’m going to miss this island. I can’t believe there’s some place on the planet that doesn’t allow outside communication.” She chuckled.

  “No media to spy on us here. When all of this attention dies down, I’m hopeful that ‘Chr-ate’ will have privacy again.” Chris poured her a glass of wine.

  Kate rolled her eyes. “I want to know who made up that preposterous blending of our names.”

  “Doesn’t matter. You’ll drive yourself crazy trying to trying figure it out.”

  “I’m sure there’s a betting pool out there somewhere on when we’ll divorce,” Kate mused.

  “There’s one going on in my circle of car enthusiast buddies. I think two years is the longest period so far. It’s nice when your friends have faith in you.”

  “I’m on husband number two within three months of my divorce.” She grimaced, then thought about it for a minute and smiled. “Hey, I’m a bad girl.”

  “Yes, you do run through men like Kleenex.” Chris waved his forked at her. “My reputation up this point was that of commitment dodger. You on the other hand seem to be in love with love. Should I be worried?”

  “Afraid you’re going end up like Ted?” Kate lifted the lobster off her plate.

  Chris laughed. “Nah. Myrtle had Ted tied up long before some fisherman found him. I’d happily meet my demise in a steam pot with you.”

  Kate went over and sat on his lap. “That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  “I don’t want to go back,” Chris said. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his bearded cheek against her neck.

  “Neither do I, but reality awaits us. What time is our flight tomorrow?”

  “Eleven thirty.”

  “You have fifteen hours to make love to me before we leave paradise,” she said, sliding her hand beneath the waistband of his swim trunks.

  * * *

  The last place Kate wanted to be after a fabulous honeymoon was in a courtroom continuing the legal battle with Henry Weismann. Since he’d stormed out of the reading, Henry had made good on his threat to contest his father’s will, and after a lot of legal drama over the last three months, it had come down to the hearing today. Waiting for the judge’s decision seemed interminable. Clara came to show support for Kate, testifying that the will was legitimate and that Henry’s alienation from his father’s life and exclusion from his will was years in the making. Now it was time for the legal system to weigh in on the matter.

  The judge returned from his chambers. Kate took a deep breath and hoped for the best.

  “I find this case is without claim and the last will and testament of Marvin Weismann will stand as filed.” The judge banged his gavel and walked out of the courtroom.

  Kate let out a huge sigh of relief, elated it was finally over. She hugged her attorney and friend Natalie Griffin. She looked at Henry. His pupils were dilated and he wa
s sweating. Clara went over to talk to her son, but he wrenched away from her grasp.

  Henry walked over to Kate. “This isn’t over.”

  “Actually, Henry, according to the state of California, it is,” Kate responded.

  “Come on.” Henry’s attorney grabbed him and hustled him out of the courtroom.

  As the doors swung open, Kate could see the camera crews out in the hallway.

  “There’s another way out of here,” Kate said.

  “No. We’re going to walk out the front of the building together. We’ve done nothing wrong. Henry is responsible for that media circus outside, not you,” Clara replied. “I understand that he’s upset, but Marvin loved you like a daughter. Henry should have respected his father’s last wishes.”

  Kate smiled and nodded at Natalie. Clara was a tough old broad. Since her husband’s death, Kate had witnessed a phenomenal strength in her.

  They waded through the cameras and the reporters, Clara made a few glib comments about the decision rendered being the correct one and that Marvin would have been happy about it. As they made their way to Kate’s car, she could see Henry across the street taking his anger out on a garbage can. He kicked it a few times but when that didn’t satisfy him, he picked it up and threw it into traffic. His attorney grabbed him and pulled him down the street.

  * * *

  Kate offered to take Clara home, but the older woman preferred to go shopping for her upcoming trip. Kate reluctantly dropped her off at The Grove and arranged for a car service to pick her up in a few hours. Once she was on her way to the office she gave a quick call to Chris to apprise him of the courtroom events. He’d offered to go to court with her but she’d refused. He still had a little free time before he was thrust back into the limelight, and she thought he should take full advantage of it.