Zane, Shonda Cheekes, J.D. Mason, Eileen M. Johnson
ISBN 0971195382
Retail Price $15.00
Blackgentlemen.com is the premiere web site
showcasing African American bachelors. Women from around the country search the
site in hopes of finding true love. Step inside this exciting collection of
novellas about women that meet men on the site, penned by some of the hottest
female novelists on the scene today.
In "Duplicity" Zane shows us what happens when twins end up sharing a little bit more than they morally should.
"In Lessons Learned" Shonda Cheekes entices us with a trail of lies and their ultimate consequences. In "Your Message Has Been Sent" J.D. Mason brings a lonely widow back to life in the most sensual of ways.
In "The Adventures of the Bold and Bourgeois" Eileen M. Johnson introduces us to a sister with issues that she finally decides to resolve with the aid of the right brother.
Zane rounds out the collection with "Delusions" about a woman on the brink of disaster with the man who seemingly stepped right out of her dreams.
Entertaining, witty, humorous, and not to mention extremely sexy, the five novellas in Blackgentlemen.com will keep you riveted and yearning for more. The really wicked part is that Blackgentlemen.com actually exists. Maybe you might find the man of your dreams on the Internet. Check it out and see for yourself.
Copyright©2002
All Rights Reserved
Duplicity
By Zane
"Nia, I thought I asked you to get my clothes from the cleaners?"
Nia glanced up from her computer monitor and leered at her twin sister, Neena, who’d just walked into the front door of their single-story brick house at the end of a country dirt road.
"Well, hello to you, too," Nia said sarcastically, after sizing her sister up.
"Sorry, I didn’t mean to come off foul," Neena stated apologetically. "I’ve just had a messed up day and I only have about two hours to get to the airport."
Nia got up from her computer workstation, strategically positioned by a picture window so she could look out at the trees while she did her medical-billing, telecommuting job. She walked over to the front door that Neena had left ajar and closed it before one of the gigantic bumblebees that descended on their home every summer snuck its way in.
"What time does your plane leave?"
"Seven," Neena replied, kicking off her burgundy, three-inch heels and collapsing gracefully into a comfy upholstered armchair. "I still can’t believe they’re making me go on a business trip at Christmas time."
"That’s messed up."
"I know. When I get back, I’m going to start some serious job-hunting. I can’t take this anymore."
Nia attempted to mentally tally the amount of times she’d heard Neena announce she was starting a hunt for a new job. Nia knew there was a greater chance of Dennis Rodman giving up his women’s clothing fetish than of Neena quitting her job as a district sales manager for a pharmaceutical company. A six-figure income, company car, extremely thick monthly expense account, corporate credit cards, and the ability to travel across country, sometimes internationally, was right up Neena’s alley. Having grown up on the outskirts of Charlotte, N.C., Nia was content to hang out in small clubs/juke joints while Neena always craved the city life. They were both still in small town Kannapolis, sharing a rental home less than three miles from the house where they grew up, a house still occupied by their widowed mother.
"Where are you going to find another job with that type of salary and those kind of benefits?" Nia asked Neena, knowing Neena was way too materialistic to settle for anything less. "This is North Carolina. Not New York City."
"What good are the fringe benefits if I can’t even spend the holidays with my family?" Neena retorted, rubbing her left foot and cracking her toes.
Nia’s face scrunched up when she heard Neena’s toes cracking. That noise was right up there with long fingernails scratching a blackboard on her disgusting sounds meter.
"Momma’s going to be so disappointed, Neena. Have you told her yet?"
"No, I thought maybe you’d do it for me."
"Oh no, that’s definitely on you. Momma’s not going off on me behind this while you’re somewhere flying over the friendly skies."
"Okay; all right," Neena conceded. "I’ll call her from my cell phone when we’re less than five minutes from the airport. That way she can’t fuss at me but so long."
Nia flicked on the television to the evening news and sat down on the sofa, propping her legs up on a leopard-print toss pillow. "Good idea."
"You and Bryant still spending Christmas Eve together, kissing under the mistletoe?"
Nia smacked her lips and held the palm of her hand up in Neena’s direction. "Please, don’t even mention his name!"
"That bad, huh?"
"Bad enough. Bryant is really acting strange lately. I feel like I need to move on."
"Maybe not move on, but you need to explore other options. You're too young to settle down with one man."
"Since we’re three minutes apart, I guess we’d fall into the same category," Nia chided.
"Silly heifer."
Nia picked up the matching toss pillow from the floor and threw it at Neena. "Trifling hoe."
"I love you, too, Sissypoo!"
Nia rolled her eyes at her sister and used the remote to switch to FOX so she could catch the end of Judge Judy. "Your clothes from the cleaners are on your bed."
"I knew you wouldn’t let me down." Neena jumped up and headed toward the back of the house. "Thanks."
"Don’t mention it. You need help packing?" Nia yelled out after her, attempting to be nice since she knew Neena was a slow poke when it came to packing and often had to find a mall as soon as she reached her location because she’d forgotten this thing or that thing.
"No, but can you get my toothbrush and toiletry bag out the bathroom for me?"
"Okay."
Nia walked past Neena’s bedroom door and paused long enough to see her toss a silver-plated vibrator into her flight bag. She held back a giggle, but couldn’t help but imagine the embarrassment Neena would feel if the damn thing set off a metal detector causing her bags to be searched.
Neena glanced up and spotted Nia in her doorway. She didn’t care if Nia had seen the vibrator or not. She knew for a fact that Bryant wasn’t dishing out any multiples. Shit, Nia’s bed would squeak for a measly five minutes, sometimes less, whenever Bryant stayed over.
"Don’t forget to throw in those trial bottles of shampoo. I hate that crap they leave on the sink counter in hotels."
Nia giggled. "That’s because it’s not made for sistas. At least not for sistas with thick ass hair like us."
"I know that’s right!"
Neena clicked off her cell phone and took a deep breath.
"Momma was pissed, huh?" Nia asked, fully aware that she was. "I could hear her clear as a bell."
Neena shifted in the passenger’s seat of Nia’s Mazda. Their mother definitely had a way of working her nerves at will. "She says I need to quit immediately. She doesn’t realize I have bills to pay and responsibilities. I can’t just up and quit; not until I find a new job."
Nia laughed and turned the radio back up. Kevon Edmonds was belting out No Love. "With your tastes, absolutely not."
Neena rolled her eyes at her twin, looking at the clock on the dash. If she didn’t get to the airport within the next five minutes, she was in serious jeopardy of missing her flight. It was one of the busiest travel days of the year, which meant long ass lines everywhere you looked.
"Very funny, Ms. Potted Meat."
"Hey, you can’t knock the hustle. That Hormel Chicken Spread is kicking."
"Oh, damn!" Neena exclaimed, slapping herself on the forehead.
"What? Did you forget something?"
"Not something. Someone."
"Come again."
"I was supposed to be hooking up with Jacob tomorrow."
"Who’s Jacob?" Nia asked, having never heard the name before.
"Promise you can keep a secret?"
"We’re twins, Neena. I’ve known all of your business since we were born and I’ve never spilled the beans. Why would I start now?"
"Well, you don’t know about these beans." Neena giggled.
"So tell me," Nia prodded, wanting her sister to give up the info quickly because they were getting off on the exit for the airport.
"Look at you, foaming at the mouth and stuff."
"You know I’m nosy."
Neena smacked her lips. "Promise you won’t tell?"
"That’s the second time you’ve asked me that, Neena! Now tell me!"
Neena debated about coming clean. She was afraid that Nia would hit the roof once she found out what she’d been up to. While Nia wasn’t prone to telling her business, she would if she felt Neena was doing something unhealthy or potentially dangerous.
"What about the Della incident?" Neena asked sarcastically, bringing up the time that Neena had experimented with speed with an older neighbor.
"Neena, now you know your ass had no business doing drugs! I tried to talk some sense into you, but when you wouldn’t listen to me, I had to tell Momma."
"You better not tell Momma this!"
"We’re older now. Besides, I know you’re not foolish enough to mess with drugs."
"True." Neena unzipped her purse and pulled out her plane ticket. "Okay, here goes."
Nia turned the radio not only down, but completely off. She didn’t want to miss a word relating to this Jacob person.
"I met Jacob on the Internet."
"The Internet!" Nia said excitedly. "Have you completely lost it?"
"Calm down. It’s not what you think."
"You don't know what I'm thinking right now, Neena."
"Of course I know what you’re thinking. I'm your twin."
Nia just had to hear this. "So what am I thinking?"
"You’re thinking that Jacob is some playa that uses the Internet as his pussy hunting ground, that he’s met a ton of women already, used them for sex, and now he’s setting me up to hit it and split. Am I right?"
Nia laughed. "Close. You left out the part about him being a midget."
Neena joined her sister in laughter, recalling the mess Nia had found herself in after frequenting a particular chat room for African-Americans on the Sistergirls.com web site. Nia had practically fallen in love with a brotha from the Bronx, solely on the basis of his New Yorker accent. They’d spent hours and hours cybering each other in chat rooms, burning up the telephone lines having phone sex, and making plans for a long and prosperous future. It wasn’t until Doug, the loverboy in question, mailed Nia two pictures of himself that she realized he was six inches shorter than she was. Since Nia and Neena were both hovering somewhere around five feet two inches, that made Doug a shoe-in for the role of Mini-me if they ever made a ghettoized version of an Austin Powers flick.
"Nia, Jacob’s definitely not a midget."
"And you know this how?" Nia asked snidely. "You’ve seen his picture?"
"Lawd, have I!" Neena licked her lips. "That’s what first attracted me to him."
"He emailed it to you? What chat room did you meet him in? What does the brotha look like? He is a brotha, isn’t he? Is he local? Have you already met? Did you fuck him?"
"Nia, shut up! Damn!" Neena stated angrily, trying to get her sister to stop rolling questions off her tongue long enough for her to answer one of them. "Let me respond, will you?"
Nia clamped her lips shut reluctantly.
"I found his picture on a web site and
we’ve never been in a chat room together. Jacob’s tall, dark, and fine as shit.
You know how I flow. If a man ain’t fine, he’s not worth my time. Since he’s
dark, he’s obviously a brotha and..."
"Not necessarily," Nia interrupted. "He could be Indian, Pakistani, Egyptian,
Por..."
Neena slapped Nia on the arm. "Quit!"
Nia giggled and shut up.
"Jacob lives in Durham and neither one of us has yet to make the two-hour trek to pay a visit because we decided to take it slow so, no, I haven’t fucked him."
"Hmm, how long have you been talking to him?"
"A few months. And, to be honest, I was planning on rocking his world on Christmas Eve, but my screwy job has once again interfered."
"Ooooh, maybe somebody’s trying to tell you something. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be."
"It is meant to be," Neena said, licking her lips. "When I get back, it’s on."
"You’re not going to invite him to our house, are you?" Nia asked. "Then again, that might be better. That way, I can be there to protect you."
"Nia, Jacob’s cool. He owns a real estate company and his house is paid for."
"What about his personality? Demons can own homes," Nia said sarcastically. All Neena was ever worried about were the materialistic offerings of a man.
"Look, just do me a favor." Neena took a grocery receipt out of her coat pocket along with a pen and started scribbling on it. "Here is my password for my Internet account and Jacob’s email address. I would call him, but I don’t think I’ll have time."
"So what do you want me to do?" Nia really wasn’t trying to get mixed up in Neena’s nonsense.
"Email him and tell him I had to leave town for a few days and that I’ll call him when I get back."
"Why can’t I just call him?" Nia asked, wondering why people felt it was easier to use email as a means of communication than the telephone.
"Because you might say something nasty to him." Neena shoved the paper at Nia. "Just do it, please."
"Okay, dang!"
Nia pulled up at the terminal in the passenger drop-off section and put the car in park. She popped her trunk, got out, and met Neena at the rear so she could help her with her bag, which probably weighed more than the two of them put together.
"Have a safe trip, Sis." Nia hugged Neena and kissed her on the cheek after a red cap relieved them from the bag. "I’ll eat double for you at Momma’s house so she won’t feel like she overcooked."
Neena giggled. "How kind of you. Love you, Sissypoo!"
"Love you, too!"
Nia watched Neena walk away and almost broke out in tears. The reason neither one of them moved away was partially because of their mother, but mostly because they couldn’t stand to be apart for long lengths of time. Sure, they argued and went through much drama at times, but their bond was undeniably strong.
Neena was almost in the terminal when the curiosity bug bit Nia. "Neena, what web site did you meet him on anyway?"
Neena turned and grinned at her before yelling, "BlackGentlemen.com!"
About the Authors
Zane is the National Bestselling Author of
The Sisters of APF: The
Indoctrination of Soror Ride Dick,
Gettin' Buck Wild: The Sex
Chronicles II, Nervous,
Addicted,
The Heat Seekers,
Shame on it All, and
The Sex Chronicles: Shattering
the Myth. She is the Principal/Publisher of Strebor Books International.
JD Mason is an accomplished novel/playwright, and lives in Denver, CO with her two children. She has completed two novels which are scheduled for release in 2003, "And on the Eighth Day She Rested" and "One Day I Saw a Black King", and is currently working on a third.
Shonda Cheekes, a native of Miami, FL, currently resides in Pembroke Pines, FL with her husband and two children. She has completed her first novel, Another Man's Wife, developed a sitcom, and is currently at work on her next novel.
Eileen Johnson is a graduate of the University of Southern Louisiana. Her obsession with fictional short stories began after reading "Pink Toes" by Chester B. Himes. She resides in Southern Louisiana where she is a full-time mommy and is working on a full-length novel.
For more information, please visit Blackgentlemen.com
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