Read Online Larger Than Lyfe by Cynthia Diane Thornton - Free Book Online

only one, small request. No pork or red meat.”
    “Not a problem there, my queen. I don’t consume the stuff either. Seven o’clock?” Mars asked.
    “Seven o’clock’s fine,” Keshari replied.
    “Would you like me to pick you up?”
    “I’ll drive,” Keshari responded.
    Mars gave her directions to his condominium and they hung up. Keshari buzzed her assistant again.
    “Terrence, run a full background check on Mars Buchanan.”
    “Hmmmmm,” Terrence said coyly, “bouquet of flowers…backgroundchecks. New love interest on the horizon? It’s about time.”
    “Don’t be silly, T. Get back to me with the findings of that background check in a couple of hours.”
    “No problem,” Terrence said, chuckling and clicking off his extension.
    Terrence got back to Keshari in just over an hour with the background information that she was seeking. Keshari regularly used a Los Angeles intelligence agency that was able to provide fast, accurate and extensive details, from medical histories to criminal backgrounds and credit profiles, on anyone. She read the findings of the background check that Terrence had printed from his e-mail and smiled to herself. Mars Buchanan’s background couldn’t have been any more spotless.
    Keshari wasn’t naively deluding herself into believing that nothing could or would happen to her in regard to her current predicament with The Consortium, particularly after Marcus Means’s entirely unexpected visit at the party the night before, but she certainly wasn’t going to be fearfully crawling under any rocks either. It was time that she started living her life COMPLETELY on her own terms, from running her record label to getting up in the morning fully able to face herself in the mirror without having a constant, moral tug-of-war taking place in her head and maybe…just maybe meeting someone fun and smart and sexy and worthy of her and, as her best friend constantly admonished her, getting herself laid.

    For the time being, at least until Ricky’s trial wrapped, she would not deviate from the regular program of her obligations, including her obligations to The Consortium. But her mind would not be swayed in terms of her ultimate intentions.
    She had a date that night…a real date…for the first time in she didn’t know how long.

K eshari had no idea why her heart was racing a mile a minute as she rang the doorbell outside Mars’s condominium in the posh, Los Angeles suburb city of Marina Del Rey.
    “I bet you could make wearing a Hefty trash bag look like a fashion statement.” Mars smiled when he opened the door.
    “That’s cute.” Keshari smiled back. “That’s really cute.”
    Keshari was very casually chic in skintight, cuffed Roberto Cavalli jeans and fire engine-red Jimmy Choo sandals. She walked into Mars’s huge apartment and looked around, thoroughly impressed. Mars had a table set on his terrace complete with linen tablecloth, matching napkins, and floating candles. There was a gazeboed Jacuzzi at the far end of the terrace just begging for a middle-of-the-night rendezvous with chilled champagne and strawberries. Ceiling-to-floor windows gave a spectacular, 180-degree view of the marina from the huge, sunken living room.
    “Who did your decorating?” Keshari asked. “Your apartment is beautiful.”
    “A friend of mine is an interior decorator. She owns the PFI Firm in Beverly Hills. She did it.”
    “She did a great job. The soft grays and black leather are very tastefully masculine and you have a very substantial African art collection. That large, Yoruba fertility statue is one of my favorites.”
    “I’m glad you like it. Actually, I purchased two of the condos, had an architect and contractors knock out a few walls, make the floor plan flow, and make it my own. I’ll show you the rest of it later. Let’s go outside, kick back, and get better acquainted.”

    Mars poured Keshari a glass of chardonnay, then went to attend to their meal. He brought back