Free Queen of His Heart by Adrianne Byrd

into the house. “Coming!” She wasn’t expecting anyone, and when she opened the door, she was rendered speechless.
    â€œHello. I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time,” Keenan said, smiling.

Chapter 8
    J alila blinked and tried to get her bearings. “No. No. Come on in,” she said, stepping back and allowing him to enter.
    Keenan’s smile broadened as he crossed the threshold into the foyer. His gaze swept around the room while he nodded appreciatively. “Nice place.”
    â€œThanks.” Jalila closed the door and stood before him, waiting. His brief inspection completed, Keenan’s dark gaze finally landed on her. Instantly, her body temperature rose a couple of degrees. Nervous, she cleared her throat. “So, what brings you by?” she asked.
    Keenan lifted his arms to indicate the gifts he carried. “Came to celebrate.”
    â€œCelebrate?” Had she told him about her dog’sbirthday? She glanced down and noticed the bouquet of flowers and bottle of champagne. Cujo didn’t drink champagne. “What are we celebrating?”
    â€œ Queen of Hearts has been green-lighted. ABC bought thirteen episodes. Filming starts in two weeks.”
    â€œWow.” Her eyes bulged. “That was…fast.” This was really going to happen. Suddenly it was hard for her to wrap her brain around actually going on national television to find a man. This would either be one of the best things to ever happen to her or the worst. Judging by the track record of most reality shows, she was beginning to think that it was probably leaning toward the latter.
    Having expected a bigger or even better response, Keenan rocked on his feet, searching for something to say. “You wouldn’t happen to have a couple of champagne glasses, would you?”
    â€œUh, what?” She snapped out of her reverie.
    â€œOr we could just drink it straight out of the bottle. I’m game if you are,” he joked.
    â€œOooh.” She shook her head and cleared her muddled thoughts. “Let me take those.” She reached for the flowers. The bouquet was a carnival of color: orange day lilies, purple asters and blue irises. “They’re beautiful. Thank you.”
    Without thinking, she stepped forward and placed a kiss against his left cheek. The moment her lips touched his face, a spark flared between them and she quickly stepped back in surprise. To her amazement, his warm gaze darkened. Was it her imagination or had she seen desire?
    Definitely your imagination.
    â€œI guess I’d better go put these in some water.” She turned to head for the kitchen, but she hadn’t taken more than a few steps when she looked up and saw Cujo rounding the corner at a full gallop.
    Jalila panicked. “Cujo, no! Cujo, stop!”
    Cujo paid her absolutely no attention as he continued his race toward them—more specifically toward Keenan.
    â€œ Cujo ,” she shouted one last time before she watched her two-hundred-pound Great Dane launch into the air. “Nooo.”
    Time crawled as Jalila witnessed Cujo’s full-body tackle, his front paws hitting Keenan squarely in the center of his chest.
    Keenan reeled backward. His feet were swept up in the air as total shock covered his face. Dog and man hit the hard wooden floor with a loud and resounding thump.
    Jalila watched as the air exploded from Keenan’s chest, but miraculously he managed not to bang his head or drop the champagne bottle. She couldn’t say the same thing for the flowers. She immediately dropped them and rushed over to the scene of the crime, praying that Cujo wouldn’t emulate his fictitious namesake and maul the Hollywood producer’s face off.
    Just as she reached for her dog’s collar, miracle of miracles, Cujo began licking Keenan’s face as though he was his favorite lollipop.
    Keenan laughed while trying his level best to ward off the dog’s