Recipe for Desire Read Online Free PDF Page B

said I was going to work with you ladies and this program, I meant more than write a check. What I’ve learned from you ladies is that anyone could end up in a situation like this. I’m glad to be a part of this team, and when the right people find out what’s going on here, they are going to want to help as well. We all have to pay it forward.”
    Shay propped up on her elbows and looked up at Devon. “You know, if my ex-husband was anything like you, I might not be in a place like this.”
    Devon smiled at Shay. “If my ex could fix a computer the way you can, then there is no way I would’ve allowed her to marry a multimillionaire,” he quipped as he tapped his laptop lid. “But, ladies, we can raise a lot of money, show a lot of people how much heart Charlotte has. Who knows what this could mean for the other women around the city who may need the services of My Sister’s Keeper.”
    Shay looked at her fellow culinary arts students. “We should do it. Devon hasn’t led us wrong before.”
    A ripple of mumbling went through the crowd while Devon focused on Bria, who looked as if she wanted to bolt right out the door and never return.
    “All right,” Shay said, “I’ll help. I did work in public relations before; maybe I can help the people who will be promoting the event.”
    “That’s the spirit,” Devon said. “I want you ladies to feel like this is your event; I want you involved in every aspect of it.”
    Shay and everyone else, but Bria, nodded and seemed to be getting excited about it. “We’ll talk more about this next week,” Devon said as the women began to file out of the room.
    “Bria,” Devon said as she approached the door and the others were out of earshot. “Can we talk for a second?”
    “I really have to go,” she said nervously. Devon placed his hand on her shoulder and forced her to face him. He’d seen that look before, only it was in his mother’s face when he’d seen it last. Bria was running from something just as his mother had spent years avoiding the spotlight and questions when Devon Sr. had gotten out of hand with his anger and slapped her. He’d tried not to leave a mark, because the wife of the Atlanta Hawks’ star center couldn’t be seen around town with the marks of an abused woman.
    When Devon Sr. would get a lick in too good on his mother, Devon and his mom would head out of town for about a month, pretending they were on a big adventure until he had grown up enough to know what was going on. By the time Amelia Harris had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and Devon Sr. had decided to play the doting husband as she died, Devon had decided he hated his father enough to turn his back on everything his father had designed for him—the basketball career, the education at Georgia Tech, and becoming the crown prince of the hardwood. Instead, he’d taken up his mother’s dream and discovered that being a chef made him happy. What he hated about himself was that in the process of finding himself, he’d hurt Kandace when he’d cheated on her with a throwaway groupie who his father had sent to “greet” him before he headed off to Paris. That had been the dagger in his relationship with Kandace.
    Devon couldn’t recall her name, but he’d never forget walking upstairs and finding a cocoa beauty lying in his bed with nothing but a white teddy on. His father and Kandace had gotten into another argument at the party and he’d grown tired of playing referee that night. Especially when Kandace had known that him becoming a chef would be the biggest tribute he could pay to his mother. He’d felt as if she’d allowed Devon Sr. to ruin his party, where he’d done all of the catering himself to show his father and his friends that he had culinary skills. Devon had overindulged on the scotch and champagne, and all he’d wanted to do had been to go to sleep. Until she’d licked her lips and stroked her double Ds. He’d needed a release, and Miss No-Name seemed