Her Good Thing

Love always has a plan…

As a partner in a successful Houston ad agency, Danetta Harris can check one thing off her list of things to accomplish before she’s thirty. Now she can concentrate on getting married and starting a family. In spite of being burned before, Danetta’s now ready to risk her heart again and forget about the man she’s secretly loved for ten years. Fed up with pining for him, Danetta decides to do whatever it takes to find her Mr. Right, right now!

Caring, charismatic and sinfully sexy, Marshall Windham is every woman’s fantasy. But after years as a major player, Marshall’s had his fill of the single life. He realizes that the perfect woman has been in his life all along—and it’s Danetta. Unaware of Danetta’s get-love-now plan, Marshall unveils a can’t-resist proposal of his own. Will Marshall be able to win Danetta and convince her that they should be partners not only in business, but also in love?

Did Marshall just say that he’d dated a woman because she reminded him of her?

“What are you talking about, Marshall? Veronica and I don’t look alike. That woman is the flashy, model type you normally date. I’m nothing like that.”

Marshall pulled up in front of her house and turned off the car. He turned to Danetta and let his eyes roam the length of her. When he met her eyes again he said, “You definitely bring sexy back—that is the type you are.”

The silence was thick in the car as their eyes met and locked. Then they started leaning toward each other. They were about to kiss. Danetta didn’t know if this was such a good idea, but she couldn’t stop herself.

She’d dreamed about kissing him since the day they met. But never in a million years had she ever thought Marshall would look at her the way he was looking at her right now or that he would…

Marshall’s lips touched hers and all thought ceased. There was only the heat that radiated between them as his mouth devoured hers.

Vanessa Miller

is a bestselling author, playwright and motivational speaker. She started writing as a child, spending countless hours either reading or writing poetry, short stories, stage plays and novels. Vanessa’s creative endeavors took on new meaning in 1994 when she became a Christian. Since then, her writing has been centered on themes of redemption, often focusing on characters facing multidimensional struggles.

Vanessa’s novels have received rave reviews, with several appearing on Essence magazine’s bestseller list. Her work has received numerous awards, including Best Christian Fiction Mahogany Award and a Red Rose Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction. Miller graduated from Capital University with a degree in organizational communication. She is an ordained minister in her church, explaining, “God has called me to minister to readers and to help them re-discover their place with the Lord.”

She is currently working on a trilogy, For Your Love, for Harlequin Kimani Romance. Her Good Thing is the first book in the trilogy. She is also working on a historical set in the Gospel Era for Abingdon Press. Her first book in the Gospel Series, How Sweet the Sound, releases in 2013.

Her Good Thing

Vanessa Miller

MILLS & BOON

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Dear Reader,

The idea for Her Good Thing comes from a Bible verse that says, “The man who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”

Well, I thought it would be fun to turn that verse upside down and have the woman try to find her good thing, rather than wait on the man to find her. But the truth is, Danetta Harris’s good thing has always been there, in the gorgeous form of her best friend and business partner, Marshall Windham.

Danetta has been in love with Marshall for years, but has finally given up all fantasies of the two of them walking down the aisle together. As Danetta starts looking for love in all the wrong places, Marshall begins to see what has been staring him in the face all along. But has he waited too long?

Her Good Thing is a part of a three-book series titled For Your Love, and it’s all about women going after their men. In the process they run into some funny situations that will make you laugh, but they also deal with a few gut-wrenching situations that just might bring a tear to your eye. I hope you will enjoy the stories of love, loss and adventure that the three women of the For Your Love series bring to life.

As you read this series I’d love to hear from you. Email me at vmiller-01@earthlink.net so we can chat about Danetta, Ryla and Surry.

Happy reading,

Vanessa Miller

To my grandson, Jarod Harris,

for all the joy you bring into my life.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 1

“We women are born nurturers,” said the speaker. “We tend to let the men in our lives take center stage while we stand behind them, doing all the work.”

Danetta Harris rolled her eyes as she received yet another urgent message from Marshall Windham, her business partner, and the poster boy for the message the speaker was delivering to the Women’s Empowerment group at that very moment. Marshall invaded Danetta’s dreams and he consumed her thoughts when she should have been concentrating on far more important matters. Because Marshall Windham was all wrong for her. The man had a brilliant mind for business and was Idris Elba fine. Not the Idris Elba who worked in a mechanic shop in Daddy’s Little Girls but the Idris Elba who was so fine in those gray pants with the black button-down shirt who strutted away from an exploding airplane in Takers. And that was the problem. Marshall was a taker and an unreformed ladies’ man.

The speaker said, “It’s time to enact your Get Success Now plan and get on with creating the life you were born to live.”

Another text from Marshall came in. Why haven’t you called me? I need you.

Danetta stood up and walked out from the back of the conference room. She sat down at a table near the bookstore and called Marshall. He thinks he can bug me at any hour of the day or night, she huffed. She understood that they ran a business together and therefore needed to make themselves available, but it was eight o’clock on a Friday night. What could be so urgent?

“Hey, where are you?” Marshall asked the moment he answered his phone.

“I’m at the symposium I told you about,” Danetta said, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice. “Why? What’s up?”

Marshall’s hearty laugh crossed the phone line and pierced Danetta’s heart. “That’s why you’re still single. I mean, really, Danetta, you take that I-am-woman-hear-me-roar stuff a bit too far and it is a major turn-off to most of the men I know.”

Most of the men he knew were Snoop Doggie-dogs. “Your text said urgent. So, what do you want?”

“Hey, no need to get your back up. I’m just looking out for your best interests. You’re not getting any younger.”

That stung. “Look, Marshall, I know you haven’t been blowing up my phone all evening just so we could talk about my love life. Now tell me what you want or I’m hanging up.”

“I’m packing for the retreat and I was hoping that you had changed your mind about attending it with me.”

The man was impossible. She had signed Marshall up for a business retreat that was notorious for being a “boy’s club” event. A few women attended, but unless they were multimillionaire businesswomen like the current CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Meg Whitman, or the former CEO Carly Fiorina, they were pretty much ignored. Danetta wasn’t worried; women had business retreats all the time. All Danetta wanted was the business that these companies could bring to their firm...and all Marshall wanted was someone else to do the networking for him. “I can’t help you mingle and network this time, Marshall. This is a men’s thing, remember?”

Born with clout and money, Marshall was in his element around presidents and CEOs. He simply hated networking. He said it just seemed too much like begging to him and Marshall didn’t beg anyone for anything. “We both know why you’re not going, Danetta, and it has nothing to do with how many men attend the retreat.”

He was right. There had been countless times when they’d received invitations that were clearly meant for the head man in charge. Danetta would go anyway; she loved showing those self-important men that her pants fit just as well as theirs. But she also preferred to drive to the events.

“Why don’t you just get over your fear of flying and join me at this event?”

“I don’t have a fear of flying.”

“Then what is it, D, because I’d really like to have you with me this weekend.” The conference Marshall was attending was in New York and the flight from Houston, Texas, where they lived was just too long for her to stomach.

“I am not about to trust some pilot with my life just so you don’t have to mix and mingle.”

“The mix and mingle I have no problem with. I’m just not as good at asking for business as you are. And since when do you trust anybody with your life, let alone a pilot?”

Danetta gave a heavy sigh. “Drop it, Marshall.”

“All right D, if you’re dead set against going, then maybe I should take a date with me.” It was a tease. They had already discussed why he shouldn’t take a date.

“I explained to you why that was a bad idea,” she reminded him through gritted teeth

“Yeah, but when I told Veronica she couldn’t go, she broke up with me.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Because she thinks I’m taking another woman.”

Marshall was talking, but all Danetta heard was ruff-ruff-ruff. He was a dog and she was a fool. She couldn’t believe that she had wasted years of her life waiting for this man to change his ways so that they could finally be together. But she was done hoping and wishing for this man who treated women like accessories...picking whichever one matched his mood for the day. She didn’t even know who Veronica was. The last she knew, Marshall was dating a woman named Diane. “In case you forgot, the last woman you took on a business outing got drunk and threw up on our client.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, but she apologized.”

She threw up her hands. “Do what you want, Marshall, but if you make a fool of yourself this weekend, you’ll be looking for another business partner next week.”

“Calm down, Danetta. I’ll go alone.”

“Thank you,” Danetta said, and then hung up. She was about ready to go tickety-boom. And if the truth was told, she didn’t want to go back into that conference room to hear the speaker pronounce her a fool for desiring a man who wanted nothing to do with her. Yet, she had put her career in his hands. She would have left the meeting and gone home much sooner because her conversation with Marshall had drained all of her energy, but she had given her two best friends, Surry McDaniel and Ryla Evans, a ride. She couldn’t just abandon them, no matter that she was to the point of foaming at the mouth.

Why had she gone into business with Marshall Windham in the first place? Because he’s gorgeous and brilliant and you fell in love with him from the moment he walked into your art class at Howard University, Danetta reminded herself.

Okay, Danetta confessed, I might have been a real good Boo-Boo-the-Fool for Marshall, but even fools stop falling and bumping their heads at some point. Danetta had finally come to terms with the fact that Marshall would never stop chasing after women long enough to notice her.

“Girl, what has gotten into you?” Surry asked, as she and Ryla came out of the conference room and sat down next to Danetta.

“You missed the best part of her speech,” Ryla said, sitting down on the opposite side of Danetta.

Danetta smiled as her girls sat down with her. On the surface it appeared that Surry, Ryla and Danetta didn’t have enough in common to be as tight as they were. Surry thought that straightening combs were evil and that the relaxer was a diabolical invention by Satan, designed to damage the hair of every black woman in America. Surry wore her hair in an afro or braids, and her wardrobe was strictly Afrocentric. Ryla on the other hand wouldn’t walk to her mailbox without a fresh relaxer and a cute hair cut. Ryla was a stylish former beauty queen, prom queen and cheerleader, while Danetta was all business with eyeglasses, knee- or calf-length skirts and turtleneck sweaters.

“And why did you keep checking your cell phone? You normally turn that thing off. What if you were giving the presentation? You wouldn’t want people in the audience sending text messages and ignoring you altogether,” Ryla said.

They were right. This wasn’t the first time Marshall had sent her numerous text messages during a business meeting, lunch with friends or even when she was having dinner with Aunt Sarah. As a matter of fact, Marshall often wrangled an invitation to dinner from Aunt Sarah, so he didn’t have to interrupt her during dinner, because he was there, eating it with them.

At that moment she realized that she had made herself too accessible to Marshall, and she was tired of living on his terms.

“Well, I may have walked out early, but I think she said the most important thing before I left.”

“And what was that?” Surry asked.

“That we as women need to enact our success plan.”

“What are you talking about, Danetta? You’re already successful. After all, you are co-owner of a multimillion dollar advertising firm,” Ryla reminded her.

“I’m not talking about business success. I guess I’m just fed up with being single and feel that it’s time to enact my Get Love Now plan,” Danetta said with conviction in her voice.

“What did that mongrel do now?” Ryla asked, as she rolled her eyes heavenward.

From the moment Danetta had first spilled her guts about Marshall, Ryla had dubbed him a mongrel. She’d said that he was half human and half dog. Danetta had laughed at the time, but the way she was feeling today, Danetta wondered if Ryla was being too generous. As far as she was concerned, Marshall was a full-bred hound dog.

“Why would my discontent have anything to do with Marshall Windham?”

“Well, let’s see,” Surry pretended to be thinking. “You have been in love with the man for over a decade, and you bake up a dozen brownies and eat them with a bucketful of vanilla ice cream each time Marshall starts dating someone new,” Surry answered.

“I’m done with all of that.” Danetta stood up and grabbed her purse. “Come on. I’m going to take you two home, so I can get started on making new plans for my life.”

Ryla harrumphed. “You can’t plan out every detail of your life, Danetta. Some things just happen and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Ryla had learned that simple fact all too well. She was a twenty-eight-year-old single mother of an adorable seven-year-old princess.

“I planned out my business life, and if I do say so myself, I have become quite successful.” Danetta put her key in the ignition and started the car the moment Ryla and Surry closed their doors. As she drove out of the parking lot, she said, “What hasn’t been going so well is my love life, and that’s because I’ve been too busy with business and hanging with a bunch of women—”

“Hey,” Ryla protested.

“—to develop a meaningful relationship with a man,” Danetta finished.

“Well, excuse us for inhaling the same air as you,” Surry said from the backseat.

“I know you’re not objecting to my wanting to find a man, Surry. You seem to have a new man every week.”

“That’s because I haven’t met one that I wanted to keep yet.” Surry corrected Danetta, “And it’s not every week...maybe every other week.”

“I’ve met some of the men you’ve dated. They seemed perfectly fine to me,” Danetta challenged.

“That’s until you dig a little deeper,” Surry said. “None of them are serious about righting the wrongs of blacks and most don’t even know who Marcus Garvey was. And what has really ticked me off lately with some of these so-called brothers is that most of them wanted to take me out, but didn’t want to help me canvas the streets for President Obama’s reelection campaign.”

“Don’t expect any tears from me. These men drool all over you, like you’re their Nubian queen and all you do is toss them aside.” And who could blame them, Danetta thought, even with all her eccentric behavior, Surry can’t hide the fact that she looks like the supermodel, Iman.

“Yeah, Surry, don’t expect us to feel sorry for you,” Ryla chimed in. “I can’t date because of all the mess I’m already in with my child who has never seen her father. So, I’m not trying to go down that road again.”

“And whose fault is that? You’re the one who left that man without so much as a word about your pregnancy,” Surry answered back.

“Okay,” Danetta held up a hand. “Let’s not get started on a subject that will take us someplace we don’t want to be.”

The three women agreed and then continued discussing Danetta’s Get Love Now plan. By the time she had dropped her friends off, she had pretty much convinced herself that a change of plans was exactly what she needed.

She stopped off at the bakery around the corner from her house and purchased two brownies. Yeah, yeah, Danetta mused, Marshall starting up with this Veronica chick does bother me, but I’m not going to spend an entire week eating a whole pan of brownies and a tub of ice cream. I’ll drown my sorrows tonight, but tomorrow I’ll learn to swim in a new pond.

Chapter 2

Yawning and stretching, Marshall eased himself into a sitting position. With his back against the headboard of his king-size bed, he rubbed his eyes as he looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was six in the morning and the doorbell was ringing. Reluctantly, he got out of bed and made his way to the front door. He unlocked the door and then opened it. He was surprised to see Veronica standing on his porch holding a small suitcase.

“I’m here,” she said with a bright and cheery smile on her face. “I’m ready to go.”

With her hair pulled back into a ponytail, Veronica looked more like Danetta than he’d noticed when they’d first met. Danetta, however, would never have just shown up on his doorstep after he’d already informed her that she would not be taking this trip with him. At that moment, Marshall felt the need to remind Veronica that they were no longer dating. “You do remember that you broke up with me, right?”

“I was just mad that you tried to cancel our trip, but I’m over all that now.”

She looked so cute with her honey-blond hair pulled back that he wanted to ignore Danetta’s request, get his overnight bag and ride out of town with Veronica. Danetta just didn’t believe in having fun anymore. But whether Danetta knew how to have fun or not wasn’t the issue. Marshall had promised her that he wouldn’t mess things up for their company, and he planned to keep his word. “Sorry, hon, I can’t take you on this trip.”

Veronica’s smile disappeared as she snarled, “You jerk. So, it’s like Diane said, huh? You really are going to take her on this trip instead of me.”

“Diane is just messing with your head. Now I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go, Veronica.” He closed the front door and headed back toward his bedroom. Two weeks after he and Diane had called their relationship quits, Marshall had accepted a dinner invitation from Veronica. Diane had gotten so upset that she’d been lying to her about him ever since. He’d unknowingly dated a pair of friends back when he was in high school, and it had ended badly: with the air being let out of his tires.

He would have taken the time to explain things a little more to Veronica and would have even let her in on the situation with the retreat, but Marshall was offended that Veronica would accuse him of two-timing her with Diane. He might date a lot of women, but Marshall had this rule to only date one woman at a time. And he never went back for seconds. Once he was done with a woman, that was it. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even like the idea of dating friends; that high school incident had taught him well. The only reason he’d even considered dating Veronica was because she looked so much like Danetta, but he probably needed therapy to uncover why that even made a difference to him. He went into the bathroom off his master bedroom, turned on the shower and got in. As the hot water steamed up the room, Marshall’s thoughts drifted to Danetta Harris, the only woman, besides his mama, that he’d managed to have a decent relationship with for over a decade. She was his buddy, his comrade. Their friendship had even survived a seven-year business partnership.

Marshall had been a junior and she had been in the second semester of her freshman year when they’d met. He’d thought she was one of the prettiest girls on campus. Not beautiful, but pretty and wholesome...the kind of girl his mother would have begged him to marry. That was the reason he’d kept Danetta in the friend zone. He had been too young to fall in love, and had no clue how to keep a woman like Danetta happy. So when Danetta had come to him one night after finals and confessed that she wanted to hook up with him, Marshall had told her that he liked her much better as a friend and didn’t want anything to spoil their friendship...like a marriage, three kids and a nasty divorce.

Even after that awkward evening, Danetta had stuck by him. Whatever he needed, she had always been there for him. And in return he’d made her a full partner in the company he founded. When he’d offered her the job, Marshall had told Danetta that he needed her to help him conquer the world. He didn’t know why he felt that way, but it was true. With Danetta as COO of Windham Enterprises, the company had tripled its profits within three years. As far as Marshall was concerned, he’d made a good call when he chose Danetta as a friend.

Slam...bang...boom!

“What the devil?” Marshall heard a loud crashing sound coming from his bedroom. He turned off the shower, put a towel around his waist and then opened his bathroom door. The first thing he noticed as he stepped into his bedroom was that his mirror had been shattered and the ceramic lamp Danetta had bought him for his thirtieth birthday was broken into hundreds of pieces and now lay in the middle of his floor. “Are you crazy?” he asked Veronica. “How did you get into my house?”

“Shouldn’t leave your door unlocked when you’re trying to be a player.” Her eyes darted wildly around the room as she looked for something else to throw.

“How am I playing you?” He was perplexed. He thought he was perfectly clear with her. “What are you talking about?”

“I just called Diane and she said that she was packed and waiting for you.”

He held up his hands in frustration. “She’s lying. If I had wanted Diane, I would have never started seeing you.” Marshall had dated Diane for about two months and then Veronica for three...about a month longer than he should have. But he enjoyed companionship on his business trips, and Veronica had been fun to hang out with. So, he’d kept the relationship going a little longer than he should have.

“Yeah, right. Then why aren’t you taking me to this retreat?”

As far as Marshall was concerned, Danetta look-alike or not, he would never take this woman anywhere again. But she had that mad-black-woman look in her eyes, so he wasn’t about to let her in on his little secret. He just wanted to keep the peace, and get her out of his house. “It’s business, Veronica. That’s why I’m not taking you. There’s no other reason.”

She picked up one of his Italian leather shoes and threw it at his head. “You’ve taken me on business trips before,” she said, as she ran out of the bedroom.

He ducked like former President Bush and then, Marshall thought about running after Veronica, but he needed to figure out how to maneuver his way around the room without getting broken glass in his feet. He jumped on his bed and then climbed down on the opposite side of the room. He really didn’t want to go after Veronica. The only reason he was even attempting to find her was in case she was in his kitchen grabbing a butcher knife. He’d seen Fatal Attraction and all those other some-man-did-me-wrong-and-I-done-lost-my-mind movies. “Veronica, where are you?”

She didn’t answer, but he heard footsteps that were headed toward his living room. He just hoped that she didn’t decide to break up any of the valuable antiques in that room. Most of the antiques and portraits in his living room had been purchased during trips outside the country. So, it wasn’t as if he could just run over to Italy or England and replace the stuff. “You’ve got it all wrong, Veronica. I’m not taking you to the retreat because my business partner doesn’t think it’s a good idea. I’m not taking anyone else either.” He tried to smooth things over before his mad black woman went Madea on him...found his electric saw and then cut his leather couch in half. Even though the guy in that movie was completely wrong for the way he’d treated his wife, Marshall had still cringed when Tyler Perry’s Madea had started tearing up the house. No man wants the stuff he’s worked hard for to get torn up. And every guy he knew could think of at least one woman with reason enough to tear his stuff up.

“Liar,” she screamed as she opened the front door and slammed it behind her.

Marshall pumped his fist in the air. “Yes!” he said, as he heard the door slam. But he wasn’t taking any chances. He rushed over to the front door and locked it before going back to his bedroom. He grabbed his cell phone off the nightstand and called his cleaning lady. She agreed to come back to the house and take care of the bedroom. He then threw on some clothes, pulled his overnight bag out of the closet and grabbed his keys. When he stepped outside and saw the key marks on his midnight black Cadillac SUV, he simply shook his head. This wasn’t his first time dealing with a woman who couldn’t handle the end of a relationship, but he hadn’t gone through this kind of drama since his late twenties. At thirty-two, dealing with a scorned woman was getting a bit old.

* * *

Danetta had done five miles on her treadmill. Two was the most she normally did in the morning, but after eating both of those brownies and half of her bucket of ice cream last night, she figured she needed those extra miles. She towel dried her face and neck as she stepped off the treadmill, and then walked upstairs to her home office.

On Saturday mornings she normally kicked back and tried to relax after her workout but she had work to do today. Today’s work had nothing to do with the advertising agency. Although, maybe some of the skills she’d acquired as an advertising executive could help her out with her manhunt. After all, she was skilled in product placement and creative design. Some of her knowledge would come in handy for the task at hand.

Opening her file cabinet, Danetta searched for the file labeled Husband Material. As she pulled it out, a picture of her and Marshall tumbled out and fell to the floor. As she bent down to pick it up, a smile crept across her honey-toned face. They had been hugging as they sat on the steps that led to the Howard University student library and a friend had snapped a picture of them. Danetta’s head lay on Marshall’s chest, while he put his arms around her and drew her closer to him. Danetta had hoped that Marshall would open his eyes and see her as more than a friend. But the night she threw herself at him, he’d made it abundantly clear that he was just not that into her.

Humiliated after that crushing blow to her self-esteem, Danetta had gone from one man’s bed to the next, trying to take back her heart. But none of the men she’d dated had measured up to Marshall Windham, and her heart remained broken. So, she finally stopped trying to date and just concentrated on her career.

And now she needed to move on with her life. She opened the file and began reading the list she had created about five years ago that detailed her perfect man. At the top of her list was the fact that she wanted to spend her life with a man that she could trust with her heart.

“So why’d you keep this picture of Marshall inside your Husband Material file?” she wondered out loud. Marshall was his own number-one fan and couldn’t possibly do right by her. But as she read the rest of the list and was reminded that she wanted a man who would be about his business, charming, handsome, adventurous, financially secure and someone who was able to make her smile...who enjoyed the same things she did, she realized that Marshall fit every characteristic but the first one.

Then Danetta got to thinking about where she had gone wrong. She reasoned that no one was perfect, and if she continued to wait for a man who satisfied her every hope and dream, she might be alone for a long time to come. But what if she threw away her list and just began to date men whom she found interesting. She jotted “lose the list” on the notepad on her desk.