What is the “Cost of Love”? Is it money, honesty, appearances, excitement, or sex?
Catt Black and Wren Jones are women who know the cost but gamble anyway. Wren convinces Catt to get back into the club scene after a period of alone time. While at the club they dance. Dancing leads to dating and dating leads to trouble.
Catt has encounters with two very different men. One is a man who appeals to her traditional views of romance. He is tall, dark, handsome, and rich…and too good to be true. Or is he? The other is a man of mystery who turns out to be exotic, unpredictable, and unbelievably sexy. He gets Catt to express her darker side, and teaches her things about herself she didn’t know. Who would Catt choose?
Wren meets the man of her dreams and has visions of walking down the aisle. But her dream turns into a nightmare. Will strange occurrences, leading to an outrageous fight cause her to lose her man, and her best friend in the process?
The pleasure is in the choosing, but the pain is in the losing.
Excerpt
Chapter Four
Catt awoke from a very satisfying dream feeling
disoriented. For a minute she wasn’t quite sure where she was.
Then she felt his body beneath hers and she became fully alert.
Jordan was still asleep and it was nearly 8 P.M. “Oh what the
hell.” She whispered softly to herself, and laid her head back on
his chest. Smiling, she reminisced about how they had spent the
afternoon.
After they had both cooled off from the “heat” they had
generated in the kitchen, Jordan created a delicious brunch. An
omelet to die for filled with onions, peppers, mushrooms, ham,
cheddar cheese, fresh basil, and various spices he had found in her
spice rack. He also made biscuits, from scratch no less! Catt set the
able in her kitchenette instead of the dining room table since there
were only two of them. She placed pretty white lace place mats
on the glass top and used her white cloth dinner napkins that she
reserved for company. She used her white stoneware dishes and
the flatware with the white handles. She started to get the glasses
when she realized that they didn’t have anything to drink, since she
usually only drank bottled water at home, and orange juice, which
she was all out of. She started to ask Jordan if they should run to
the store when, as if reading her mind, he produced a container of
Tropicana orange juice. Then before she could comment, he held
up a bottle of Dom Perignon.
“Mimosas okay?” Jordan grinned.
“My, my, my. You have thought of everything. I didn’t see
that stuff in the bag Mr. Slick!”
“Ahh, you don’t pay attention sweetheart. I had a separate
bag inside of the big bag.”
“Oh, you did, did you?” Catt put her hands on her hips and
raised one eyebrow then went to the cabinet and pulled down two
fluted crystal champagne glasses.
They filled their plates and talked and laughed while
they ate and drank and tried to find out as much as possible
about each other before they got tired of talking. Catt tried to
encourage Jordan to do most of the talking because she was never
comfortable talking about her personal life, past or present.
“Look,” she tried to thwart his prodding, “you already
know my last name, not that I told you, but you know it none the
less. Let’s just say you know enough for now.”
“Oh no, Ms. Catt Black! I will not stop until I Know all
there is to know about you, and I want to know now, not later.”
Catt just laughed and began to clear the table. Jordan
helped. They stacked the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen and
decided to go to the park, knowing that it was too dangerous for
them to stay inside, knowing that they would not be able to pull
apart from each other again. They drove to Hempstead Lake State
Park in his pearl Infiniti Q45. Catt could actually smell the beige
leather interior; she guessed that the car was new. They held hands
and talked as they strolled around the park, with Jordan still trying
to get Catt to open up. Catt on the other hand, had other questions
in mind for Jordan and she still had no intentions of answering his,
at least, not yet.
“I hope I’m not being too blunt,” she said cautiously, “but
even though I know your job must pay you well, I didn’t know
banks paid that well!”
“What do you mean?” Jordan asked without feeling
insulted.
“Well, the Dom P. for breakfast for one. And you are
driving a new Infiniti, top of the line at that! You told me you live
in a posh co-op off of Central Park West. Not to mention the two
outfits I’ve seen you in, Coogi is not cheap. Need I say more?” Catt
truly did not expect an explanation, but again, that feline curiosity
got the better of her. To her surprise, Jordan answered her without
hesitation.
“I married a wealthy woman.”
“Married?” Catt was taken aback. Her mind began to race
and she felt the heat rise in her face. Damn, she thought, I knew
this was too good to be true!
“Yes married.” Jordan repeated. “I was married for two
years to a very special person. Before you ask, I did not marry her
for her money. I didn’t even know she had money until we were
engaged for about a month. She was afraid to tell me until she was
sure that it would not cloud my true feelings for her. Her father had
been the founder of a very well known company that is now one
of the Fortune 500. When he died, he left her and her mother very
well off. When I met her in college, she gave the impression that
she came from a typical middle class African American family.”
“So, Jordan, if she’s so wonderful, where is this wife now?”
Catt asked carefully, dreading the answer. When it came though, it
was not what she expected.
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Reviews for "The Cost of Love"
Reviewed by Michele Weeks
11/1/2008
I thoroughly enjoyed your book, "The Cost of Love." Once I started reading it I found it hard to put down. I enjoyed how you developed the characters and I could relate to each one of them. I found a little bit of myself in each character and that kept wanting me to read and know more about them.
The storyline hooked me from the beginning and there were several developments I didn't see coming. I was a little sad when the book ended because I really wanted to continue my journey with Catt and Wren. But, it sounds like you have a sequel coming, so I'll just have to wait. I appreciate your writing style and imagination. Keep up the great work! Michele Weeks .AskMichele http://www.askmicheleweeks.com
Eight e-books regarding Pathological Narcissism, relationships with abusive
narcissists and psychopaths, and the Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).
