Lost in a Stallion's Arms (Kimani Romance) Read Free Page A

want to know what this neighborhood needs, sonny boy, you’ll find it here,” the man exclaimed excitedly as he turned an about-face, his newly gotten gains waving between his fingers.
    Luke smiled warmly, watching as the man disappeared out of sight. With one last glance over his shoulder he climbed the short span of stairs, pulled the glass doors open and stepped inside.
    A rush of noise and the pungent scent of lemon disinfectant greeted him at the entrance. A large reception area with a massive counter that spanned the lengths of two walls sat at the room’s center. The floor was a checkerboard of black-and-white linoleum, the covering worn thin from age. The walls were painted a vibrant sunshine-yellow, the bright color gleaming with energy. Select posters of beaming parents and children above messages of encouragement smiled down on them, the décor sparse but warming.
    There were four children—three little girls and a small boy—playing in the center of the floor. The space around them was strewn with plastic blocks and Matchbox cars. A teenage girl sat watching from one of two wooden benches, her gaze moving back and forth between the noise of their childish banter and the paperback book that rested open in her lap.
    The young woman glanced in the direction of the door that had closed loudly behind Luke. She met his curious stare with one of her own, her mouth slowly lifting into a friendly smile. Luke smiled back, lifting his hand in a slight wave. Before he could ask for assistance, the little boy let out a loud scream, calling out to everyone that could hear that there was a strange man in the lobby.

Chapter 2
     
    “M izz Joanne! Mizz Joanne! Some man out here! Come quick, Mizz Joanne!”
    Joanne Lake shook her head from side to side as she heard her name being called again and again, Mrs. Stanton’s baby boy screaming at the top of his lungs. No matter how often they told that child to use his inside voice when he was inside, little Bryson preferred saying everything loudly, and he always had much to say.
    Before she could lift herself from her seat, the boy came storming through the office doors. He barely missed slamming his face into the corner of the desk as he came to an abrupt halt. Joanne winced as he narrowly avoided what could have been a very nasty accident.
    “Some man out here, Mizz Joanne. We don’t know him. He’s strange,” Bryson Stanton sputtered, words spilling out faster than he could catch them.
    Joanne smiled, shaking her head as she admonished him. “Bryson, stop yelling. And what did I tell you about running when you’re inside the building here? You could have hit your head and taken an eye out!”
    “But there’s a man—”
    “I heard you, and I’m coming,” she said as the little boy clasped her fingers in the palm of his small hand and tugged anxiously, trying to pull her to her feet.
    “You got to come now, Mizz Joanne! Quick! He’s a stranger! Stranger danger!” Bryson exclaimed loudly, his outstretched arms waving excitedly to emphasize the urgency.
    Moving from the space of the small office to the outside reception area, Joanne chuckled softly at the child’s exuberance, sensing that things weren’t nearly as pressing as he’d proclaimed.
    And then she saw him, 286 pounds of pure delectable dark chocolate standing six feet tall in navy slacks, a white polo shirt and leather slip-ons. Joanne’s eyes widened with curiosity and obvious interest as her gaze raced from the top of his neatly cropped haircut down to the tips of his very expensive shoes.
    The handsome man was standing in conversation with Bryson’s older sister, Brenda, the sixteen-year-old leering at the stranger as if he were a bowl of ice cream and she were a spoon. As Joanne eyed them, she was only slightly taken aback by the girl’s brazen behavior. Brenda looked as if she were just a hair away from throwing herself into the man’s lap. Joanne and Brenda had had more than their fair share