Queen of His Heart by Adrianne Byrd Page B

you nervous?” he asked suddenly.
    She weighed whether she should lie. “A little bit.”
    â€œGood. I would’ve been worried about you if you weren’t. But don’t worry, I’m going to take good care of you.”
    Something about the way he said those words warmed Jalila’s heart and strung a wide smile across her lips.
    â€œSo you can trust me. I’m not going to let any crazies or stalkers anywhere near you.”
    If he’s part of that crazy Hollywood crowd, I wouldn’t trust him any further than you can throw him.
    Jalila tried to push her father’s words to the back of her head. “How do you know what kind of men to screen for? Surely you haven’t figured out my type just by scanning my YouTube videos.”
    â€œYou could always tell me your type.”
    Was it just her imagination or had his voice dipped lower? It was incredibly sexy and was turning her knees into Jell-O. “Well.” She cleared her throat. “Ideally?”
    Keenan chuckled. “Yes. Pretend you have a blank canvas. What kind of man can win your heart, Jalila?”
    Jalila mulled over the question as she left the kitchen and headed upstairs.
    â€œDo you even know what you want?” he teased.
    She smiled. “I’ve always dreamed that my future husband would be tall, dark and handsome.” You sort of fit the bill.
    His laughter continued to rumble through the line. “All women say that. What about personality?”
    â€œOf course, he would have to be kind, funny, generous and thoughtful.”
    Woof!
    â€œOh, and he would have to be a dog lover.”
    â€œAll right. Sounds simple enough,” Keenan said, glancing over at the table to see Chips inching toward his plate holding the discarded bones. “I see you, Chips.”
    Chips glanced around as if to say, “Who me?”
    â€œOh. I didn’t know that you had company. I’m just chatting away.”
    â€œNo. No one is here. Chips is my always-starving dog.” He laughed and handed over another bone—nearly taking off one of Keenan’s fingers.
    â€œAww. What kind of dog do you have?”
    He smiled. “Great Dane.”
    Jalila’s excitement exploded. “Get out of here! And you named him Chips? You know there was another dog in a great horror movie named Chips?”
    Keenan bobbed his head. “Yeah. I named him after the dog in Dawn of the Damned .”
    â€œSo you love horror movies, too?”
    â€œWhen I was younger it was always a great excuse to curl up with a date.”
    Jalila rolled her eyes. “I should have known.” ’Course, she suspected that women didn’t need much of an excuse to cuddle with him. She suspected that broad chest of his was actually one hell of a security blanket. And here she was in her bedroom, pulling off her clothes to get ready for bed! “Can I ask you a question?”
    â€œShoot.” Keenan rinsed off his plate and set it in the dishwasher.
    â€œWhy me? I mean, there are millions of women with my story and plenty of them are on YouTube, a lot of them a lot more popular than I am. I don’t think I even have a thousand subscribers.”
    Keenan entered his bedroom, sat on the edge of the bed and removed his shoes. “You have what we call in the business a certain je ne sais quoi. The camera loves you and I think what you have to say is relevant to the state of what women—heck, men and women—go through trying to find that special someone.”
    Even you? Now that she thought about it, what was his story? She had noticed at the spa that he didn’t have a ring on his finger, but that didn’t mean anything in this town. Now they had been talking for nearly an hour and it was edging close to midnight. Should she ask?
    â€œI haven’t been out in the dating scene too long myself,” he admitted, during the silence. “I’ve been divorced for five