My Lover, His Murderer

By Latoya Porter

Lauren has been in and out of her relationship with boyfriend Rodney. She loves him unconditionally, but their relationship is complicated. She doesn’t know what to do, but she wants out. When Lauren goes on a business trip for her job, she runs into a handsome, tall, dark, bald-headed guy. She falls deeply in love with him. When these kick off on a good start, Lauren has realized that ever since moving forward with the love of her life, she has been getting an uninspected gift left at her front door. She has a few people in mind, but as everything turns left, she gets a big surprise from someone she never knew existed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796036268

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Copyright © 2019 by Latoya Porter.

Library of Congress Control Number:    2019942747

ISBN:                  Hardcover                        978-1-7960-3628-2

                            Softcover                          978-1-7960-3627-5

                            eBook                                978-1-7960-3626-8

All rights reserved. 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 copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 08/06/2019

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CONTENTS

Eye Candy

The Conference

The Dock

The Penthouse

The Visit

The Classroom

The Office

Our Plans

The Shooting

The Call

The Procedure

The Will

Eye Candy

As I boarded my flight to Miami for business, I noticed a tall, handsome, dark, bald guy who was standing directly behind me. He was sporting a navy-blue Armani 43940.png suit, with a navy and light blue necktie, and black Stacy Adams 43942.png loafers. When I glanced back, I caught him staring. We made eye contact for about three seconds before I looked away.

This is the sexiest man I have ever seen, I thought to myself, trying to keep my composure as the crowd inched slowly through the jet way and onto the plane. Still flustered, my hands shook as I placed my luggage in the overhead compartment and settled in my window seat. As I sat anxiously waiting for the remaining passengers to enter the plane, I checked emails from my Blackberry 43944.png and responded to as many as I could before takeoff. I looked up for only a moment and noticed that the tall handsome guy had claimed his seat in first class directly behind me. I immediately turned my head back to my phone but was unable to focus.

I should say something…no, I’ll wait until he says something to me. I wrestled within, realizing at that moment that this would be the longest 3-hour flight of my life. Instead of working on my laptop as I always did, I decided to take a nap so that I could spend some time that evening going over my materials before the conference.

The Conference

I took an Uber 43946.png to the hotel. The Three Seasons Hotel in Miami was always on point, expensive but definitely on point. Thank God my job funded this business trip because we were hosting a conference. I had to present a briefing to over 2,000 attendees the next day, so I had to be sharp and ready to speak.

What am I going to eat? I asked myself as I took off my travel clothes, pulled on the complimentary terry cloth robe and settled in my premier one-bedroom suite with a spectacular view of South Beach. It was only noon, but I was starving. I took out my laptop and note pad, and placed them on the table, determined to prepare for the briefing in the morning, but my first order of business was to call room service and order food. I reached for the menu and scanned the lunch options, unsure of what I wanted. It didn’t take me long to settle on the bacon double cheeseburger with fries, so I picked up the phone and dialed room service.

Hello, how may I serve you Ms. St. Patrick? The voice on the other end of the receiver greeted me cheerfully.

Yes, can I get the double bacon cheeseburger with fries? I asked, trying my best but feeling too drowsy to match her upbeat tone.

"Okay, anything to drink Ms. St. Patrick.

Oh yes, let me have a coke with no ice.

‘Will that be all for you today Ms. St. Patrick?"

Yes, that’s it. I stated.

Ok, it will be ready in 15 minutes.

I hung up the phone, hungry and exhausted, I laid down for a few moments and must have dozed off because twenty minutes later I was startled by a knock at the door.

Who is it? I yelled out groggily.

Room service, Ms. St. Patrick. The attendant replied nervously,

I jumped to my feet and eagerly rushed to meet him, feeling famished as though I hadn’t eaten in years. As I opened the door, the delicious smell of the food filled the foyer and I could barely wait another moment. I slipped the server a 5-dollar tip, closed the door behind him, and made a beeline to the table.

After devouring the meal, I looked over my presentation to make sure everything would go smoothly for the next day’s briefing. After a couple of hours of reviewing, I decided to have a glass of wine and call it a night. Before I knew it, my alarm was blaring.

Wake up! Wake up! The automated voice of the alarm clock called out.

It’s 6 a.m. already, I thought to myself as I got out of bed, grabbed my Michael Kors duffle bag and pulled out my black Worthington® slacks, white Worthington® button-down blouse, black dress belt and my size 8 red-bottom black pumps. I frowned as I realized that I should’ve ironed my clothes the night before.

I quickly ironed my outfit and immediately grabbed my hygiene bag and headed to the bathroom to shower. As I stepped in the shower and reached for my Dove® moisturizing body wash and bath sponge, the sexy guy from my flight crossed my mind. I wondered if I would run into him while in Miami. I was almost certain that I would and decided that since it was just Monday, I’d have plenty of time to go out for drinks later in the week if we did run into each other again. I got out of the shower and sprayed Rodin Olio Lusso® bath oil over my wet body. It’s my go-to. It smells so good and feels so silky on my skin, it made me crave a great massage.

I got dressed, gathered my things to head downstairs for the 8-hour conference. When I reached the main floor of the event, the volunteers were setting up equipment. I handed one of the volunteers a flash drive that held my PowerPoint® slides. I didn’t have to give my brief until 10:00, so I had a little time to sit back and chill.

It was showtime. As I stood there giving the brief on natural disasters, I scanned the room filled with 2,500 businesswomen and men and I somehow spotted the guy from my flight. I paused for a second to catch my breath, but my eyes opened wider, and I couldn’t do anything but smile. I wondered if he recognized me too. I continued with my 1-hour brief, but I couldn’t stop looking in his direction.

Halfway through my presentation, it was time for a 15-minute break, and it couldn’t have come soon enough because my throat was so dry from talking. I went to buy a bottle of water from one of the hotel’s shops. There were 4 people in the line in front of me. As I stood there waiting, I felt a tap on my right shoulder. As I turned my head, I caught a whiff of very expensive cologne, if I had to guess, it was the intoxicating scent of the latest edition from the Tom Ford® collection. When I turned around, I was in total surprise to see it was the guy from flight.

Hi, He said.

I looked up and met eyes with the 6’2", dark chocolate, handsome ass man with a jet-black goatee and shining bald head. I could barely speak.

Hi, how are you? I finally spoke after a five-second pause.

I’m good Ms. St. Patrick, he replied.

Oh, wow, he knows my name. I thought to myself.

"You look very familiar," he told me.

"Yes, we were on the same flight yesterday, you were sitting directly behind me in first class," I reminded him.

Oh yeah that’s right, He said, I think you’re doing a really good job on your brief today, he remarked.

Thank you, I smiled, deciding to still formally introduce myself. I’m Lauren. I told him and extended my hand to shake his.

I’m Jody. He looked me in the eyes as he shook my hand.

Nice to meet you Jody…

Next! The cashier called out, catching us both off guard. We laughed and I approached the counter with my water and also grabbed some mints from the display by the cash register and placed my items on the counter. Will this be all? The cashier asked, growing impatient as a long line of conference attendees rapidly filled the area.

Yes. I replied.

That will be $3.75, The cashier muttered. I reached in my Michael Kors® signature wallet to pay when Jody interrupted us, placing his items on the counter next to mine. He handed the cashier a $10.00 bill.

Can you add this to the water and mints? He nodded towards the counter.

Thank you, Jody, but you didn’t have to do that, I said.

I know Ms. St Patrick, and you’re welcome. He said with a smile.

As we walked back to the conference room, we smiled at each other then went in separate directions. I headed back to the stage to continue my brief. With only 30 minutes left in my briefing, I was looking forward to being able to sit back the rest of the day and listen to the other briefs. I scanned the room for Jody, and noticed he wasn’t in the seated in the same place he was before the break. I continued to scan and noticed he had moved closer to the stage.

Wow, my class isn’t that interesting. I thought to myself. But then noticed him sitting there with his hands locked together under his chin as if he was really intrigued. He looked so fine I started to feel nervous. Relieved to make it to the end, I closed my laptop and asked the crowd. Will there be any questions or comments?

Ms. St. Patrick, this was a great class, He began, As a businessman, I travel a lot. Rain, hail, sleet or snow…I’m always on the go for business, and if anything was to happen, I wouldn’t know where to go if there was a state emergency or evacuation. Your briefing helped me out a lot, very useful. Thank you, Ms. St. Patrick, Jody stated.

You’re welcome Mr.… I waited for him to respond.

Mr. Wallace, He replied.

Mr. Wallace, I repeated with a smile. "If there aren’t any more questions or comments,