Home Is Where the Heart Is Read online

  Home Is Where The Heart Is

  A warming BWWM romance by J A Fielding.

  Part 1 in the Homes And Hearts series, each can be read as a stand alone story but they're best when all read together. Other parts include:

  Home Is Where The Heart Is.

  Jealousy And Trust.

  My Man, My Family.

  The Proposal.

  The Other Man.

  The Wedding.

  Billionaire Londoner Steven has moved to America to expand his house renting business. Here he meets Julie, an African American woman who may just be the person to help him get the properties he's after. But will this business relationship be all that blossoms from the time spent together? Or will something a lot more personal occur?

  Find out in this all new black woman white man romance by J A Fielding of BWWMRomance.com. Suitable for over 18s only due to sexual scenes.

  A big thank you to all the people who suggested I do a billionaire based book:

  T. Alston, Kristina Green, Rebecca Anderson, Tanya, Patreen / Maureen, Meia Batiste, Sharise, Joell Walker, Marcella, Stephanie Kelly, Tee, and Rae.

  A big thank you to you all for getting involved and suggesting what you want to read about.

  If you too want to become part of the community and help shape future books of mine, sign up as a free member at www.BWWMRomance.com. You'll also get a free ebook when you do. :)

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Get Another BWWM Book Free!

  More Books By J A Fielding

  About J A Fielding and BWWMRomance.com

  Chapter 1

  Julie Parker was having one of those mornings from hell. She had slept right through her alarm for the third time that week. As she got dressed she was cursing under her breath and wondering what she was going to tell her boss this time round. She was quite sure that Dana, her boss, was getting quite tired of her excuses. Julie could almost hear Dana’s questions ringing in her head.

  “Why don’t you move closer to work?”

  “Why don’t you just get a louder alarm clock?”

  She put on a pink high waist satin skirt and a white long-sleeved blouse. She coupled her outfit with a pair of black shiny pointy toed heels and then grabbed her bag before she ran out of her room and into the kitchen.

  “Great. Even dad made it out of here earlier than me. How pathetic is that?” she wondered as she nibbled on a bacon strip. She looked at her breakfast and frowned. She hated having to skip breakfast especially after her father had so lovingly prepared it for her. She looked at the time and sighed before she grabbed her keys and got out of the house. She decided she would get a bagel and a cup of coffee when she got to work. When she got to her car, she got inside and started it. As if her morning wasn’t bad enough, it seemed her car was not going to give her an easy time either. “Damn it!” she yelled as she banged her hand on the steering wheel. As soon as she did it, she knew it was a bad idea. She got out of the car and banged the door angrily as she rubbed the side of her hand. She took her phone out of her bag and called for a cab. Thankfully, the company had a cab a few blocks from her place, so she only had to wait for…fifteen minutes. After she was done talking to the cab company, she dialed Dana. She could feel her heart beating fast as she heard the phone ringing.

  “Dana, Hi….I’m running late,” Julie said. She could almost hear Dana’s tired sigh at the end of the line.

  “Slept through the alarm again, didn’t you?” Dana asked.

  “Yes and…my car won’t start,” Julie replied feeling almost too guilty.

  “Let’s just add that to the list of things you need to get,” Dana said. “When do you think you’ll be here?” she asked.

  “I just called for a cab so it might be a while seeing as it takes me more than an hour to get to the office,” Julie promised. “I’m really sorry Dana, I’ll stay in an extra hour today to make up for it,” she added guiltily.

  “Damn right you will,” Dana snapped before she hung up.

  Just as Julie had predicted, she did not get to work until a little after ten. She hated that her workspace was so close to Dana’s office. She could never really sneak in, but then again she had an angel’s morality sense. She had just sat down when Dana walked over to her desk.

  “You know, you could just lease a new car, right?” she asked as she looked at Julie.

  “Yeah, but I’d rather not. I am not in a great financial position right now,” Julie admitted. Dana smiled and nodded.

  “Well then, I have the perfect job for you. This property mogul from England is in town looking for a house. I thought you could show him some of the properties around town,” Dana said. Julie frowned.

  “A property mogul?” Julie asked.

  “That’s what the call from the London office said and the meeting is right now. So, you better get going,” Dana announced.

  “Wait. Where am I supposed to meet this mogul?” Julie asked as she stood up from her desk. Dana gave her a post-it with an address written on it. “Dana this is on the other side of town,” she responded looking at her boss. “Wait, is this...” she started asking before she noticed Dana nodding. She had seen that house before and fallen in love with it. She could hardly believe that she was getting the chance to show it. “Wow, I never thought it would be me,” Julie confessed still looking at the address.

  “Well it is and you are running late.”

  “But the car…”Julie started before Dana shook her head.

  “The show must go on,” Dana replied assertively. Julie rolled her eyes.

  “This isn’t theatre you know,” Julie retorted “And the fact is, traffic is a bitch right now. I will never get there in time.”

  “You will just have to try,” Dana said as she walked away from her desk. Julie wanted to scream. She hated taking cabs to meet with prospective clients and to make it worse, it was a property mogul. An English property mogul. If there was something she was sure about as far as Englishmen were concerned was time, and thanks to her good for nothing car, she was already late. She practically bolted out of the office and made her way to the elevator. This was one of those days she wished she had on some nice flat shoes or that her office had no strict dress code. Luckily, she managed to get a cab almost as soon as she got out of the building, and as luck would have it, getting across town was not as difficult as it usually was. Traffic was actually minimal on that particular day.

  “There is a god,” she thought as she got out of the cab. She paid the cab driver and then turned around to look at the house in front of her. It was the most perfect property she had ever laid eyes on. It had everything an estate agent could ever hope for: it had the most perfect driveway donned with a perfectly manicured lawn and the brick finish of the house was just the icing on the cake. She was still looking at the house when she heard a car pulling up. She turned around and smiled at a tall dark-haired man getting out of a white Range Rover.

  “Hi, you must be Julie Parker,” he questioned as he walked towards her. She could not help but notice just how perfect he looked. He actually reminded her of Christian Grey on Fifty Shades of Grey. He was almost exactly like him. He was in a pale blue shirt and a pinstripe grey suit. He looked really simple, but she was sure that his attire, simple as it was, probably cost more than her house. She didn’t even realize that she had been staring at him all this time. “Miss Parker?” he asked as he looked at her, snapping her out of her trance.

  “I’m sorry…yeah… I am Julie…Parker,”
she said. The man smiled at her and nodded.

  “Yeah, I kind of just said that.”

  Julie felt her cheeks get hot.

  “Sorry…” her words trailed off when she realized that Dana had not given her his name

  “Steven Davenport,” he said as he stretched out his hand to shake hers. “Pleasure to meet you.” She almost melted at his unmistakable British accent.

  “Julie Parker,” she told him. She let her gaze drop to the floor when she realized that she had just said her name for the umpteenth time. “Sorry,” she apologized, smiling at him embarrassed.

  “Shall we take a tour of the house?” Steven asked looking at her.

  “Sure,” she said as he walked towards the front door.

  “So, I have to say that I really love the brick finish. It makes me feel like I’m back home in London,” Steven admitted looking around.

  “I’m glad you like it. But I am sure you will like everything about this house,” Julie replied confidently as they entered.

  “I hope so,” he replied.

  “So, it is a three bedroom, four bath, two story house complete with hardwood floors. I should point out that everything in the house is one hundred percent original, nothing has been replaced and it is still in great condition,” Julie described as Steven walked around the gigantic living room. She had to admit, the house was perfect.

  “The lighting is amazing in here,” he gasped as he looked around.

  “Yeah, that’s one of the perks of the property,” she said chuckling. “Come this way, you haven’t seen the master bedroom yet.” She walked out of the living room and up the stairs. When they walked into the master bedroom, even she wanted to move in. It was so big that Julie thought that she could comfortably fit four king sized beds and still have plenty of room. “Mr. Davenport if you don’t take this house, I will,” she quipped.

  “What?” he asked looking at her.

  “Well, it would probably take me years to pay it off, but this room is most definitely worth it,” she said, looking out of the huge window that overlooked the driveway below.

  “You would buy an entire house just for one room?” He chortled.

  “Oh yeah,” she said nodding. “If this was my room, I would never leave.” Steven looked at her and smiled.

  “So far I am impressed but I still have to see what the kitchen looks like,” he told Julie, still looking at her. She raised an eyebrow and felt her cheeks flush.

  “You cook?” she asked surprised.

  “Every decent Davenport cooks. Some families have law or medicine as their legacy, but ours is in our culinary abilities,” Steven divulged as they walked out of the bedroom. Before they went downstairs, they looked at the other two bedrooms. Steven commented that the two other bedrooms were just going to be guest rooms. If his guests didn’t like them then they should probably have stayed at their own houses. Julie was smiling as she led him downstairs to the kitchen. When they got there, she suddenly felt as if she was looking at Chef Ramsey because he was busy talking about the counter tops, the storage cabinets…everything that a professional chef would be obsessed with.

  “I would hate to ever have to cook for you. I rarely cook, except when I make stew, or chili…or pot roast. Those I can kill at,” she boasted.

  “You would kill?” Steven asked, looking at her.

  “That’s American for how great I am,” Julie answered..

  “And do you ever bake?” he asked.

  “Sure. I make great blueberry muffins.”

  “Maybe I should give you a few recipes from my country. Spotted dick would be a good start,” he said. Julie looked at him in shock..

  “Spotted what?” she asked, surprised and horrified at the same time.

  “Spotted dick…It’s not what you think. It’s just a pudding made with currants and served with custard. Trust me, you Americans haven’t tasted great dessert till you have some of that,” he explained.

  “Yeah, you might consider changing the name though,” Julie suggested as she watched him walking around the kitchen. Steven laughed at Julie's comment.

  “I love this and I want it,” he confirmed.

  “But you haven’t seen the pool yet,” Julie told him.

  “That’s just a plus, I’m sure,” he replied confidently as he followed her out. The pool was more than perfect. It had a cave-like setting, complete with a rocky waterfall and a mid-pool bar, a bachelor’s dream. “If I didn’t want it before, I most definitely want it now.”

  Steven walked towards the pool.

  “I take it you are a party animal?” she guessed.

  “Not really, but I have a big family back at home and I would need something to keep them occupied when they are here. This is perfect,” Steven told Julie will a smile.

  “Well, the property is also in a great school district, I must add,” Julie said as she looked around. Steven turned to look at her and smiled.

  “I’m afraid that wouldn’t be much of a selling point as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I just assumed…” Julie felt her cheeks flushing as her words trailed off. “I just assumed that a man as fine as you would already be tied down with a couple of kids on the way, that’s all,” she thought as she looked at him. “I shouldn’t have said that,” she stammered, feeling a little bit embarrassed.

  “Don’t you worry about it,” he said as he looked at her.

  “So, Mr. Davenport, do we have a deal?” .

  “Definitely, Miss Parker,” Steven said as he turned his attention to her. “So how far will this set me back?” he asked. Julie looked at him with a grin on her face. For a man of his stature, she was sure that a couple hundred thousand wouldn’t be much.

  “Not that much. Two hundred and twenty five thousand,” she revealed looking at him.

  “I’ll have my office process the paperwork today,” he told her as they walked back into the house. Julie couldn't hide her amusement. Normally, people would try to bargain and get a better price, but clearly this man was worth a whole lot more than she initially thought.

  “Great,” she said as they walked towards the front door.

  “I didn’t notice a car when I came in. Would you like a ride back to town?” he asked as they walked out. Julie looked at him and nodded. He walked round the car and opened the door for her. Julie was a bit taken aback by his gesture. This never happened with some of the men she met. The car looked as great on the inside as it did on the outside. She slowly ran her fingers on the rich brown leather as Steven walked to the driver’s side of the car. When he got in, she buckled up and a smile played on her lips as she thought of the commission she was going to be getting. “So, Miss Parker,” Steven started as he pulled out of the driveway.

  “Julie,” she said looking at him.

  “Alright, Julie. How long have you been at Larson Properties Inc.?”

  “A while, almost three years now,” she said. “What about you, Mr. Davenport. What do you do?” she asked.

  “I'm like you, I deal in properties,” he explained. “And it’s just Steven. Mr. Davenport is my father.”

  “You are a realtor?” Julie asked looking at him surprised.

  “Well, yes. Why do you sound surprised?”

  “My boss told me I was showing a house to a property mogul, but I didn’t really think she was serious,” Julie admitted.

  “Really, it’s just a glorified title for a realtor,” he confessed.

  “Do you have any tips for me. I mean, I would like to drive a car like this just by selling houses,” she joked.

  “Maybe you should stick around then,” Steven said.

  “Oh you better believe I will,” Julie chortled.

  “Maybe that way I could introduce you to some of our best desserts too,” Steven teased. Julie smiled and shook her head. She wasn’t sure whether she was blushing at his attempt at flirtation or at his accent. She looked at him as he pulled out of the driveway with the smile still firmly on her face
.

  “So long as the dessert doesn’t have the same name as a human anatomy, I’m game,” she jested, surprising even herself that she would say something like that. He smiled at her as he drove out into the open road. Julie found herself fantasizing about living in such an area. It was perfect. All the privacy you could ever need. Even though the prospect of kids was not on his mind, she was most definitely thinking about it. The area was perfect for long bike rides on Saturday afternoons. And the schools in the area…in her opinion, they were the Harvard of education from kindergarten all the way to high school.

  When they got to the office, Steven looked at Julie and smiled.

  “I will be sure to tell Dana that you were of great help today,” he promised.

  “I will appreciate it,” Julie responded looking into his intensely warm brown eyes. “It was nice meeting you.”

  “The pleasure was all mine, Julie Parker,” Steven said before she exited the car. She gave him a smile before she walked into her building, fully aware that he was watching her all the way. By the time she walked into the office, she felt like she was walking on a cloud.

  “Judging by that smile, I’m assuming that everything went well?” Dana said when Julie walked into the office.

  “It was perfect,” Julie mused as she took a seat at her work station.

  “So you closed the deal?” .

  Julie looked up at her and nodded.

  “The paperwork will be processed today,” she bragged. .

  “Up top,” Dana exclaimed as she gave her a high five. “You know what, you can leave early today. You deserve it,” she added. Julie looked at the time. It was a few minutes past one, way too early to leave. “You could use the time to take your car to the shop and get it checked out” she said with a smile on her face.

  “That sounds really great,” Julie said gratefully.. “I think that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

  She picked up her bag and got ready to leave.