Sweeter Temptation (Kimani Hotties) Read Free Page A

Butler, that would be...” Amy began, before Nia zeroed in on her with a laser-beam side eye. “Um, I mean it’s not necessary.”
    “Are you sure?” he persisted. “Snow’s piling up, and the roads are slick. Wouldn’t want you sliding off the road and getting stuck.”
    Ten minutes later, Nia wished she hadn’t been so hasty in turning down the deputy’s offer. The snow was coming down at a faster clip than when they’d started out, rapidly adding inches to feet remaining from back-to-back storms in the past weeks.
    Nia eased the truck down the two-lane road she usually sped along. The wipers on the 1979 Ford pickup barely kept pace with the snow pelting the windshield. Her passenger, on the other hand, was unfazed by Mother Nature’s tantrum.
    “You’d think we would have heard something from those damn Ellisons by now,” Amy said.
    Nia knew her friend was frustrated. Her husband, Matt, a foreman at the factory had seen his hours cut to the point he was practically part-time and had begun searching for a job out of town.
    “What good is the factory being bought by a powerhouse company if they’re just going to ignore it?” Amy asked. “You can’t turn on the television without seeing a commercial for their paper towels or detergent. You’d think Peppermint Lane could get a sliver of that fat Ellison money pie.”
    Nia thought about the idea she, along with the mayor and town council, had been working on for weeks. It was a solid business proposal she hoped would get the attention of the Ellison Industries CEO, Jonathan Ellison.
    A patch of black ice suddenly jerked the truck out of Nia’s control and sent it veering toward the guardrail. Easing her foot off the gas, she white-knuckled the steering wheel and wrestled the ancient truck out of the skid seconds before it would have crashed into the railing.
    Nia blew out a shaky breath at the close call. Despite the frigid night, beads of sweat rolled down her back.
    “You okay?” she asked.
    Her passenger was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice the near accident. “Matt’s interviewing at a manufacturing plant in Georgia next week. If they make him a job offer, he says he’s taking it...” Amy’s voice trailed off. “I don’t want to leave.”
    “Let’s hope Jonathan Ellison bites on this proposal, so you won’t have to,” Nia said.
    The tires of the truck crunched through the packed snow as Nia turned onto the narrow road leading to the Miller’s house. Visibility had decreased to the point she could hardly see the glow from the house’s lights less than a quarter mile ahead.
    “I know you turned down the mayor, but you’re welcome to stay with us,” Amy said.
    “I don’t have far to go now. I’ll be okay,” Nia assured her.
    “It’s not the drive. I don’t want you getting lonely out there by yourself. We could end up snowbound for days.”
    Nia chuckled. “Don’t worry. I have plenty of work to keep me company.”
    Amy looked through the windshield at the blowing snow and shivered. “Work won’t keep you warm on a night like this.”
    “I have two fireplaces and a stack of wood. They’ll keep me nice and toasty,” Nia countered.
    “You know what I’m talking about.” Her friend waggled her perfectly arched brows.
    “ You know isn’t high on my priority list.”
    Once she wrapped up her grandmother’s unfinished business, Nia had her own career to focus on. And nothing made a woman lose sight of her goals quicker than getting caught up in a man.
    At twenty-seven years old, she’d finally earned her bachelor’s degree in urban planning. Now that she’d acquired the education to accompany her work experience, Nia hoped her boss would make good on his promise to promote her from her dead-end secretarial job in the economic-development office of the small Chicago suburb.
    Amy made a tsking sound. “Would it kill you to take off those goody two-shoes of yours, just once, and have some fun? Just because