The Men of CCD: Help Wanted Read online

  The Men of CCD:

  Help Wanted

  A novel of interracial erotic romance by

  Marie Rochelle

  Published by Phaze Books

  Also by Marie Rochelle

  A Taste of Love: Richard

  All the Fixin

  Caught

  Caught 2--Ajana’s Return

  Closer to You: Lee

  Crossing the Railroad

  Desire

  Loving True

  Lucky Charms

  Lucky Desire

  My Deepest Love: Zack

  Slow Seduction

  So Much Better

  Taken By Storm

  Tempting Turner

  This is an explicit and erotic novel

  intended for the enjoyment

  of adult readers. Please keep

  out of the hands of children.

  www.Phaze.com

  The Men of CCD: Help Wanted

  Copyright © 2010 by Marie Rochelle

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Edited by Judy Bagshaw

  Cover Art © 2010 by Debi Lewis

  First Edition July 2010

  ISBN-13: 978-1-60659-932-7

  Published by:

  Phaze Books

  An imprint of Mundania Press LLC

  6470A Glenway Ave., #109

  Cincinnati, OH 45211

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, Mundania Press LLC, 6470A Glenway Avenue, #109, Cincinnati, Ohio 45211, [email protected].

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without permission from Mundania Press LLC. Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights and livelihood is appreciated.

  Dedication

  To Mr. Little,

  Without you, I wouldn’t have become a writer.

  Chapter One

  Thick black smoke filled Keira’s lungs as she tried to crawl through the debris that covered the carpet floor. It was so dark that she could barely see her hand in front of her face. She heard the moans of the people around her and tried her best to help them. Without a doubt in her mind, she had to get up off this floor and walk; it was the only way that she would be any assistance to anyone. She ripped a piece of fabric from the arm of her uniform and covered her mouth hoping it would keep some of the smoke from overwhelming her.

  Sticking her hand out next to her, she felt around in the darkness until her hand touched the side of a seat. She grabbed it and pulled herself up. The smoke made it harder to breath and she coughed several times. Shaking off the frantic feelings rushing through her fatigued body, she tried to slow her pounding heart.

  She had to get herself back under control. It was her job to help those around her. She didn’t have a clue where the plane had crashed or how many people were still even alive.

  She moved the cloth away from her mouth and hollered. “Can anyone hear me? Is anyone hurt? Please scream out and let me know.”

  Time seemed to tick by forever before she finally heard a response.

  “Yes…I’m over here. I need some help. I can’t move my legs. I think one of them got broken by the seat in front of me when the plane went down.”

  Keira slowly made her way towards the sound of the man’s panic-filled voice. She was halfway there when the sound of something snapping caught her attention, and the part of the plane she was trying desperately to reach gave away and disappeared from sight…

  * * * *

  “No!” Keira screamed as she bolted up in her bed. The sheets were twisted around her sweat- covered body plastering her nightgown against her skin.

  She scanned the dark bedroom trying to remember where she was. It took her a while to realize that she was at home and not back in the nightmarish wreckage of the airplane crash or still inside the hospital. Reaching across the bed, she fumbled with the lamp switch before she finally got it to come on and light the room.

  Bringing her legs up to her chest, she dropped her head down on her knees and took several deep breaths. I have to stop having these nightmares. The plane crash happened over eight months ago.

  She couldn’t understand why she wasn’t getting any better. She wouldn’t get her job back unless she got a grip on her fears. She loved being a flight attendant and she didn’t know what she would do if she had to give it up.

  Untangling her body from the sheets, Keira got out of the bed and slowly made her into the bathroom. She flicked on the light and stared at her reflection in the mirror. The frightened woman gazing back at her wasn’t the person she wanted to be anymore. She missed laughing, having fun with her girlfriends and flirting with hot guys.

  Her friend, Charisma, had invited her over several times to see the new baby, but she wasn’t up for that yet. Everyone had been so worried about Charisma because she had gone into labor six weeks early.

  Jenisha told her that Dave had practically made the entire hospital staff crazy with all of his questions and demands. He had almost been banned from the waiting room by hospital security until Clinton calmed him down. What hurt the worst is she wasn’t here with her best friend when she needed her the most. She had been overseas on a flight when Dave Jr. was born.

  However, everything turned out perfectly in the end because now Charisma and Dave were the proud parents of a healthy eight pound baby boy. Charisma had emailed her a couple of pictures and he was absolutely beautiful. He was really going to be a heart breaker when he grew up.

  She was ecstatic that all of her girlfriends were married to the loves of their lives with beautiful and happy children, but she had to be honest with herself. She was more than a little envious too. It just seemed like everything was going so wrong for her.

  For years, she thought she would be ‘the one’ who would get married first and have a house full of children, but it didn’t turn out that away. She was the single one living vicariously through her friends’ happiness.

  Plus, her father passed away from Alzheimer’s a week before the airplane crash and she still hadn’t recovered from that loss. He had been her only parent since she was thirteen years old. Her mother had gone into the hospital to have her appendicitis removed and ended up dying on the operating table because she waited too long to go.

  Her mother had hated doctors, needles or anything that involved medicine. The loss had devastated her father and she always wondered if he really ever had got past losing his true love. Everyone thought the disease had taking him away from her, but she truly believe he had died from a broken heart years before his Alzheimer appeared.

  She had to get herself together so she could deal with the guy coming tomorrow about the shop. She still couldn’t believe her dad h
ad sold the bike shop without talking her to first about it. How did she know that the disease hadn’t already started to take over by then? Maybe this guy had tricked her poor unsuspecting father without him even knowing it

  Dennis Winters had loved his motorcycle shop Choppers. When she was a little girl she would come home from school and often find him there working on a new bike. The look of happiness on his face always amazed her because she never got what he found so appealing about it.

  He tried teaching the family business to her, but she just wasn’t interested. Now because of her indifference, a total stranger was going to be working in the family business right next door to her house. She hated it, but there was nothing she could do. Before his death, her father had made the contract legally binding.

  Keira brushed her hair off her face and grabbed a washrag off the rack by the sink. She turned on the faucet, dampened the cloth and ran it over her face hoping it would relax her and help her get back to sleep without any of the nightmares coming back to haunt her. After she finished, Keira turned the water off, hung up the cloth and returned to bed.

  Chapter Two

  “Uncle Jim, do you want to come outside and race cars with me?”

  Jim Russell looked down into the adorable face of Kevan Campbell. The five-year-old looked at him like he was dying for him to say yes. He knew something was up, but he couldn’t figure out what was going on with Hayward’s oldest child.

  “I’m sorry I can’t. I have to leave in a few minutes. Why don’t you find Dylan and play with him?”

  “I can’t. He’s taking a nap and so is my brother Evan. I don’t have anyone to play with,” Kevan whined.

  “Kevan Campbell, aren’t you supposed to be upstairs taking a nap?” True came into the living room carrying the latest addition to the Campbell family.

  “I don’t want to take a nap.” Kevan pouted. “I want to race cars with Uncle Jim outside on the sidewalk.”

  Jim laughed as True gave Kevan a stern look. “You are going to take a nap Kevan. All of the other kids are asleep, but you.”

  “My’kael isn’t asleep,” Kevan said, pointing to his baby brother.

  “He will be as soon as I feed him. Your baby brother Kyle is already asleep upstairs in his crib,” True said.

  “I’m not a baby. I won’t take a nap and you can’t make me.”

  Jim watched as True’s eyes widened behind her glasses before she looked in his direction. Lord…what was she going to make him do? “Jim, will you give My’kael his bottle while I deal with my outspoken child?” True handed him the squirming baby along with the bottle before he could tell her no. Spinning away from him, True picked up a crying Kevan and carried him out of the living room and upstairs.

  He glanced down at the cute baby in his arms and found a pair of hazel eyes staring back at him. “Do you want this, little guy?” He held the bottle against the baby’s mouth and My’kael sucked it right in.

  The sight of Hayward’s son taking his bottle made him get lost in the memory of the few times he was able to feed his own son. He had stayed so busy with working odd construction jobs that he traveled a lot. However, he made sure that Trevor always had food on the table despite what his bitch of an ex-wife Kathy told their son.

  God, if he hadn’t come home early from work that day he wouldn’t have caught her in bed with his twenty-one year old co-worker, Jackson Morris. The next day he made a trip to his lawyer’s office and had the divorce papers drawn up. He wasn’t about to stay with a woman who had been cheating on him for God knows how long.

  Kathy had tried to drag out the case as long as she could, but she finally signed the papers. He was so damn happy to finally be free of her and all the lies she had loved to tell him over their seven year marriage. Now he could focus all of his time on his son and running the dream bike shop he had just bought.

  He finally knew how Dave felt when he started working in the business department of Campbell Construction Design. He wasn’t upset when Dave left working as a construction worker to get an office job with CCD. He had been so proud and that made him pursue his dreams even more. He was thrilled about finally having his own business. He had secretly been talking to the bike shop owner for the past couple of years, but everything became final with the guy’s death. It had taken a lot of sacrifices on his part to save up enough money to buy that shop from Dennis Winters, but he was proud he had done it. He had to pick up the keys and paperwork today from his daughter. Glancing down Jim noticed that My’kael was done with his bottle. Setting the empty bottle on the table next to him, he placed the baby on his shoulder and gently rubbed My’kael’s back so he could burp.

  “Should I be jealous that another man has my son?”

  Looking over his shoulder, Jim saw Hayward standing next to Clinton and Dave, a huge smile on his face. “No, I think he would rather you burp him than me,” Jim replied.

  Hayward came into the living room and took My’kael away from him. He resumed patting his son on the back. “Where’s True?”

  “She’s upstairs with Kevan. He didn’t want to take a nap.”

  “Yeah, he’s been having a problem with that lately. He’s getting a horrible independent streak now. He wants to do a lot more stuff on his own now that he’s turned five. But he isn’t big enough yet and his new personality is driving True crazy.”

  “I have to make sure to keep Dylan away from him.” Clinton laughed as he took a seat across from Jim. “I don’t want my little boy acting like that. He’s a good son and I want him to stay that away.”

  “I think Dylan is the one who gave it to Kevan. My son was a perfect angel until his cousin came along,” Hayward laughed.

  “My son didn’t do anything. I believe he was taking his nap when we left my house,” Clinton tossed back. “Jenisha would agree with me if she wasn’t at the doctor with the baby.”

  “How is Parker doing?” Dave asked touching My’kael’s hand before taking a seat on the sofa.

  “He’s amazing.” Clinton bragged like a proud father. “I swear he’s better looking than me, and Dylan loves him to death. He likes the idea of being a big brother so much. He’s already trying to tell his little brother what to do. It’s so cute.”

  “Were you disappointed that Jenisha didn’t have twins?” Jim asked getting back into the conversation. He remembered how excited Clinton was at the thought of the possibility of having twins like his brother and True.

  “No, we are just thrilled to have another healthy addition to our family,” Clinton said. “Jenisha never thought she would be a mother and now we have two beautiful kids. I would have loved Jenisha without kids, but our sons bring so much more to our lives. We don’t know what we would do without them.”

  “I know what you mean. I’m so glad that Charisma and Dave Jr. are doing better now. I don’t think I could have gone on without them,” Dave cut in. “Charisma has been trying to get Keira to come and see the baby, but she won’t.”

  “That is one woman who needs an attitude adjustment.” A frown crossed Jim’s handsome face “I swear, I believe she’s worse than Kathy.”

  “Keira isn’t nastier than your ex-wife,” Hayward interrupted holding his sleeping son against his chest. “She’s very nice. Maybe you just rubbed her the wrong way. I heard about the disagreement the two of you got into at the airport. I thought it was kind of funny to be honest.”

  “I didn’t have an argument with her,” Jim said. “I only told her to stay out of Dave’s relationship with Charisma. It wasn’t any of her business.”

  “Are you telling me that you haven’t thought about Keira since then?” Dave asked. “She’s very pretty. You usually like those types. I know she’s single. I could have Charisma put in a good word for you.”

  “No, I haven’t thought about Keira. She’s too much drama for me.” Jim wasn’t about to admit that the sexy flight attendant had crossed his mind several times since their brief encounter.

  “I think Keira would be a per
fect match for Jim,” Clinton said, adding his opinion to the conversation. “I think they would make a good-looking couple.”

  “I would never date one of them,” Jim retorted and then quickly realized how his comment may have sounded to the men around him.

  “What do you mean by ‘one of them’?” Hayward asked in a dangerously low voice.

  “Yeah, what in the hell do you mean?” Dave and Clinton demanded together.

  Jim knew that he had to clear this mistake up very quickly or he was going to lose his three best friends along with all the fun and enjoyment they brought into his life with their families.

  “I’m not referring to her race. I’m talking about her being a know-it-all. I bet she has an opinion about everything. I was already involved with one of those types. I don’t want or need it again.”

  “So, you have thought about Keira.” Clinton teased easing the thick tension in the room. “I think she’s cute.”

  “Who do you think is cute and should I tell True about this?” Jenisha asked coming into the room carrying a car seat “You know that she has my back.”

  “Don’t be jealous.” Clinton got up, kissed his gorgeous wife on the mouth and then took the car seat from her. “How is Parker doing? Did the doctor agree that he’s as perfect as we think he is?”

  Jim watched how Clinton looked at Jenisha with such love in his eyes and was a little envious. He was glad that his buddy had found true love, but he was jealous that he was still alone. The guys didn’t know it but he was tired of going home to an empty house every night unless Trevor was spending some time with him. He would love to walk in his front door and find someone there waiting with open arms.

  “The guys are trying to fix me up with Keira, but I’m not interested,” Jim said filling Jenisha in on what was going on.

  “Why aren’t you interested?” Jenisha asked. “I’ve always thought you should ask Keira out on a date. She would be so good for you. She could make you get over the way your abusive ex-wife treated you for all of those years. I swear she’s Satan reincarnated.”