Snaring Her Man

SNARING HER MAN MELVERNA MCFARLANE MCFARLANE PUBLISHING, LLC CONTENTS Author's Note Keep up with Melverna McFarlane 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 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Epilogue Sneak Peek Other Titles by Melverna McFarlane About the Author This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. All trademarks, service marks, registered service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author, Melverna McFarlane. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions. WARNING: Criminal copyright infringement without monetary gain is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $ 250,000. For more information regarding the government’s stance on copyright infringement visit: http://www.fbi.gov/ipr. Copyright © 2023 Melverna McFarlane All rights reserved. AUTHOR'S NOTE Snaring Her Man was a labor of love for me. Please enjoy this story. It is my first foray into a semi-slow burn. While these characters navigate who they want to be, the friends and family who surround then can’t help their meddling ways. Enjoy the laughs and the romance. For a list of sensitive topics to help you decide if this is the book for you, please click here. KEEP UP WITH MELVERNA MCFARLANE Join Melverna McFarlane’s newsletter to get updates, bonus scenes, and more. Cameron and Kenya made their first appearance on my Patreon, which inspired me to write their full story. Once you’ve finished Snaring Her Man, click here to see how Cameron and Kenya first meet. Snaring Her Man wouldn’t have come about if not for my community of supporters. You know who you are. You’ve been there to push me through on the hard days when I tore up my precious words (and you know I don’t like to waste those precious babies) and you let me be when I needed to retreat into myself while keeping me aware that you were there for me when I finally emerged. I’d like to also thank my amazing readers who helped me name the glamorous Glamma Onyx (Christina Blake, Pascale Pun, Kim Spencer, Tammy Cornelius, Eunice Bourne, Deborah H., Meli A, Ella Laster, Kim Spencer, Gail F., Lynn McNeill, Heidi Leger, and Dyan Owens); and the band Liquid Obsession (Ginelle Colorado, Lucenda Hudson, Carolyn Labbe, Sylvie Theis, Gail F., Jaleda Wyatt, Kim Spencer, Victoria Ziglor, and La'Jacinth). Your enjoyment of these stories keeps me motivated to write more. Thank you for staying with me. Here’s to many more stories that feed your soul and keep you smiling. CHAPTER ONE Kenya “Oh no oh no oh no. This isn’t happening,” I mutter while running around my room in my bestie, Jazzy’s, amazing new digs and blindly throwing everything I brought for my long weekend visit haphazardly into my bags. I just returned from the biggest gamble of my life and must now wait until the small production company reaches out to either green light all my hopes and dreams or dash my life’s work and eradicate my purpose for being. I got this. Standby and I are best buds. So many times, I’ve felt my entire life has been a series of standby moments. And this one will end in success. It must. Ever since I put crayons to construction paper and drew my favorite Arthur cartoon character, drawing and I have been inseparable. I wanted to be here when the call from Studio Z97 comes in. Whereas people aspire to work for Disney and Pixar, the smaller studio cranking out innovative animations has been my dream and I’m so close to fulfilling it. At least, that’s my hope. But before I can soak in the out-of-this-world feeling, I have to handle business back home. “What exactly isn’t happening?” Jazzy’s head bounces left and right, imitating the spectators of a tennis match who follow the ball. In this case, I’m the ball bouncing between my bags and everywhere else. Her thick, curly tresses spring with the slightest movement of her head. The overhead light adds an extra sheen to her warm brown skin that lotion companies would envy. She sits on the bed hugging my cat, Jackpot, in her arms. Jackpot goes everywhere with me, but the feline’s presence was a requirement to gain entry into Jazzy’s house while I pitched my dream project. I can’t blame her. My cat is a Birman, loves playing as a substitute for teddy bears, and her silky fur begs to be petted. You know who else’s silky fur loves to be petted? I silence the voice in my head. I’m not committable, I swear. Although for the last couple years at work, my alter ego has gotten lippy with me where I almost never used to hear from her. I call her Keating because Annalise is already my middle name—thank you Ms. Rhimes for that. Ever since How to Get Away with Murder, I swear Keating has taken on Annalise’s persona but I’m the only one that catches her zingers, side-eyes, and twisted lips. Thank God for Jazzy, my cheerleader. She saved me from a complete breakdown the night before my big presentation. She is also the reason for an unprecedented experience that brought out a