Red Velvet Kisses
“Hello, Micah Madden,” Lex said, taking her cue from him and saying his full name, as well. “It’s good to see you again.”
Micah stood there observing her, his eyes burning a hole through her snug-fitting sweater dress. When his eyes left her dress and reached her lips, they lingered there for a while. On instinct, she licked her rosy colored lips trying to stop the pulsating feeling between her legs. Every time she was near him, she couldn’t help but be consumed by his presence. The first quality she studied on him today were his muscular arms that were clearly visible through his white fitted dress shirt. The second quality she observed were his perfect white teeth and sexy dimpled smile. The third quality she liked was his unique sense of style. The man could wear a pair of sleek slacks and slim black tie like no other, and always looked as if he’d just walked off the runway.
“Likewise,” Micah finally replied as he finished appraising her. “You look very nice today LG.” She wished she knew why he thought it was okay to call her LG. He had started calling her LG two and a half months ago at Cyd and Shawn’s official engagement party. It was short for lingerie girl. No one knew what it meant except for the two of them and when anyone asked, she never told them. He always called her LG after initially greeting her as Lexus. What is with this guy? If she ever got the nerve, she would question him about it. She wanted to question him now, but she couldn’t. Secretly, she liked the way it made her feel. Even saying the nickname he’d given her, Lex thought he made it sound heavenly.
Cyd cleared her throat.
“Oh, and you look very nice as well, Cyd,” Micah replied.
“Why, thanks,” Cyd said as she flipped her jet-black hair over her shoulders. “It’s so nice of you to finally notice that I’m standing here. I was about to tell you both to take it to the bedroom.”
“Cyd!” Lex exclaimed loudly. “Really?”
“No, she’s right,” Micah interjected. “We should handle this.” At Lex’s raised eyebrow he continued. “I meant that we should get started with the meeting. I wasn’t referring to the bedroom comment.”
Lex breathed a sigh of relief.
“Unless there’s something you want to tell me,” Micah stated aloud, looking solely at Lex.
“Nope, nothing to tell,” she responded a little too quickly.
“You two are hard to watch,” Cyd said as she shook her head and glanced from Lex to Micah. “Let’s just go into the conference room. Imani and Mya are waiting.”
While Micah and Cyd were making themselves comfortable at the conference table, Lex decided to pour a much-needed cup of coffee. She took her seat next to Imani, but not before she cut Cyd a slicing look of irritation.
Cyd responded to the look by innocently lifting her hands and eyebrows in indication that she didn’t understand what Lex was referring to.
“Ha! Yeah, right,” Lex said aloud, although she hadn’t intended to.
“Is everything okay?” Imani asked.
“Yup, everything is fine,” Lex replied. As long as I keep my hormones in check.
“Great! Now let’s get down to business. As you all know, Micah would like to throw a 35th anniversary party for his parents in their Arkansas hometown. First things first, we need to decide who will lead this event.”
“I think Lex should handle this event,” Mya quickly replied.
“I agree,” Cyd added.
“Sounds good to me,” Imani continued after Cyd.
“Great. Then, it’s settled,” Micah said as he stood to shake each woman’s hand before finally reaching Lex.
“I have to get to work. But let’s set a date to meet and discuss my needs.”
Lex was a little taken aback by his comment and the fact that her partners had decided she would be the event lead. Micah was still holding her hand when he voiced the last words. Did he mean work needs or personal needs?
“Both,” Micah said as if reading her thoughts again.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Lex asked in confusion. Everything was happening too fast and she couldn’t react that quickly. “Never mind, I will call you to set up a preliminary meeting for the anniversary party. Is there any day this week that doesn’t work well for you?”
Micah finally let go of her hand and flashed another priceless smile.
“Any day this week works for me.” He winked, clearly entertained by the fact that, once again, she was ignoring his advances. With that, he gave a quick nod to all the women and left the conference room.
“What just happened here?” Lex asked Mya in particular after Micah was out of earshot. “Last week, I thought we both agreed that we would figure out what Micah wanted for the anniversary party before deciding who would be the best planner since Imani and Cyd already have a few events lined up.”
“I don’t remember us saying that,” Mya responded as she pretended to be occupied with straightening a stack of unruly papers. “I talked to Micah when he first got here so I already knew that it worked best with your schedule.”
Imani and Cyd both laughed. While eyeing her friends and partners, Lex tried to figure out exactly what scheme they were trying to get away with.
“I’m pretty sure that’s what we discussed,” Lex said raising her voice a bit. “And what do you mean it worked best with my schedule. He didn’t even say what date he was interested in so you couldn’t possibly know what worked best.”
“Yes, he did,” Mya answered. “His parents never had a real wedding, but their actual wedding date is Valentine’s Day. He said that he wanted to plan their anniversary sometime next month before New Years, or after if that’s too soon. Like I said, I’d already talked to him.”
“That soon?” Lex exclaimed. “Why did we agree to plan this party? It’s already November!”
“We’ve planned plenty of parties with way less time,” Imani responded. “Besides, you still have another two weeks left in this month.”
“And let’s not forget that last year, I planned the formal for the Peter Vallant Company with way less time than you have,” Cyd added. “I had about two weeks to plan that entire event. If I can make that work, you can definitely make this work.”
Lex crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance. Her body language was a clear indication that she was pouting, but she didn’t care. She felt as if she was the focal point of the joke, and being the main focus of any joke was not a good feeling.
Mya’s smartphone vibrated. “Lex, I’d love to continue this conversation but I have to meet with a client to discuss the grand opening event for their new clothing store.”
“Of course you do,” Lex said sarcastically. Imani and Cyd had their phones in their hands as well, and if Lex was a betting woman, she’d bet any dollar amount that one of them had texted Mya to give her an excuse to leave the conference room.
“I have to go, too,” Imani stated. “I have to tweet about a couple upcoming events and I have to update our page on Facebook.”
“I should probably call the florist for my wedding to confirm my appointment next week,” Cyd interjected. “Besides, I’m sure you have to start working on a game plan for the anniversary party.”
“Ugh,” Lex responded in annoyance. “I know what you guys are doing and it won’t work.”
“Sweetie, that childlike pout doesn’t look good on you,” Cyd said with a laugh.
“Besides, we don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mya added.
“Oh, really,” Lex said sitting upright in her chair while uncrossing her arms and bracing both hands on the conference table.
“Look, I’m not blind. I know Micah has a thing for me. But y’all know I’m not going there with a man like him.”
“Lex, listen to yourself,” Cyd said. “Micah is educated, successful and sexy. Plus he’s a bit of a bad boy. Trust me, women in Chicago have been drooling all over him ever since he moved here this past summer.”
“But he’s only interested in you,” Imani added.
Rubbing her hands over her face, Lex tried to ignore what they were saying. She couldn’t date a man like him. He was too easy to fall for and after everything she’d been through, she wasn’t willing to risk her heart again.
“You guys know what I went through with Evan.”
Imani reached over and softly touched Lex’s hand. “Lex, we all know that Evan’s craziness made you swear off men. But you can’t let him define your future. You need to move on from that situation.”
“I know,” Lex replied. “But it’s not that easy. He controlled every part of me in high school and college. If I hadn’t seen the light after Gamine’s death, I would have never realized the type of man he was.” When her grandmother, Faith Gamine Burrstone died a few years ago, a light switch had finally been turned on in Lex’s head.
“Sweetie, Evan Gilmore was the ultimate a-hole!” Cyd exclaimed. “We all blame ourselves for not always speaking up when it came to our true thoughts about him. But Micah Madden is not Evan Gilmore.”
“Not even close,” Mya added. “You’re twenty-eight. You need to date a real man.”
“I have dated real men,” Lex said, defending herself. “Remember Reginald Collins?”
“Right, how can we forget nerdy Reginald,” Cyd cynically replied. “I still don’t understand why you wasted your time on someone who didn’t even like to kiss in public...or private I presume.”
“That’s not true,” Lex responded. “He was just very selective on how and when he showed his feelings.” She wouldn’t dare tell them that even though they’d dated for over seven months, they hadn’t had sex and had barely even kissed.
“A peck on the cheek is not a kiss,” Imani stated. “And that’s all we ever saw him give you...a light peck on the cheek. Even with that peck, he did it sloppily.”
“He sure did,” Mya agreed. “It made us gag just watching it. Like he wanted to open his mouth and French kiss your cheek, but decided against it. Awkward.”
“Okay,” Lex said drawling out the word. “Enough about my last boyfriend.”
“If you can even call him that,” Cyd mumbled beneath her breath.
“Anyway,” Lex continued, “since I don’t have a choice, I will plan the anniversary party. But I want to make it clear that I will continue to look at Micah in a completely professional manner.”
“Hmm, and how is that working out for you so far?” Mya said, laughing. Imani and Cyd followed suit and joined in the laughter.
“Oh, you guys didn’t see them in the hall earlier,” Cyd said, ready to spill all the juicy details.
“Oh, do tell,” Imani said, rubbing her hands together.
“My work can wait,” Mya said, making no attempts to leave the room as she’d previously been prepared to do.
“Well I don’t think I need to stay around for this,” Lex said as she gathered her stuff and walked out of the conference room. Before the door fully closed, she heard the women giggle as Cyd explained how she’d made the situation even more awkward for her and Micah when she had suggested that they take it to the bedroom.
Chapter 2
When Lex got to her office, she quickly shut and locked the door. Slipping off her winter boots and replacing them with her ballerina flats, she took a seat in her cozy chair behind her large mahogany desk. She then twirled in the seat until she was facing her window with a partial view of Lake Michigan.
“I knew I should have called in sick today,” Lex said to herself. It probably wouldn’t have even mattered. Micah Madden had been a constant distraction to her stable psyche since she’d met him in the lingerie shop.
“Lord, give me strength,” she said as she shook her head and softly closed her eyes. She needed to avoid his advances and treat him like any other client. Otherwise, she had no doubt that she’d lose herself in him.
A soft knock on her door interrupted her thoughts. “Coming,” Lex said loudly for the person on the other side of the door to hear. As soon as she opened the door, she wished she’d first asked who was behind the closed door before crossing the room.
“Yes, Micah?” she asked with more disdain in her voice than she’d intended.
“Well, I’m happy to see you, too, Lex,” he said, his filled with laughter.
She stood back to let him enter her office. “I thought you left,” she said, making sure her behind swayed when she walked back to her desk.
“I was almost out the building when I remembered that I needed to give you a few notes I had about my parents. You know, their likes, dislikes...that sort of thing. That way, you can start planning now if you’d like.” He reached out his hand to give her a typed sheet of paper.
As Lex took the paper, she made sure their hands didn’t touch. The last thing she needed was any close contact. She glanced up at him again. Their chemistry was undeniable and it seemed the more she saw him the harder it was to ignore how badly her body wanted him. Her mind was saying, Heck no, you better stay away. But her body was screaming, Girl, what in the world is wrong with you? Sleep with him already!
Lex cleared her throat and briefly looked at the paper again. When she looked back up to Micah, he glanced from the paper she was holding to her eyes and flashed one of his infamous half smiles. He had to know she was daydreaming about him. He was a smart man and probably felt the heat emanating from their bodies just as strongly as she could.
“Well, I guess I’ll be going then,” Micah stated as he turned to leave her office. Lex followed, heading to the door so that she could lock it behind him. She didn’t need any more interruptions until the afternoon. When he reached the door, he quickly turned to face her, completely catching Lex off guard and causing her to run directly into his chest.
“Why do you always do that,” Lex squealed as she tried to back away from him. But she couldn’t. Her feet wouldn’t move the second she gazed into his piercing eyes. He began taking deep breaths, his eyes slowly dragging over her entire body. Lex couldn’t breathe. She feared that he would make a move if she so much as batted an eyelash. She wasn’t sure how long they stood there before he finally said something.
“You can’t fight it for much longer.”
Just watch me. “I don’t know what you mean,” Lex said, deciding to play stupid. Micah stepped a little closer to her, further invading her personal space.
“Sooner or later, I will have you positioned spread-eagle style on my bed.”
“I should smack you for saying that,” she quickly replied, surprised by his blunt comment.
“But you won’t,” he responded, getting even closer to her. “You wouldn’t hurt me.”
“You don’t know what I’d do,” Lex replied, trying to sound as sassy as she could under the circumstances.
“Yes, I do,” Micah said. “But that’s not all I want to do to you.”
Lex squinted her eyes. She shouldn’t ask him to go on, but she was way too curious to end the conversation there. “What else do you want to do to me?”
Micah glanced at her lips before looking back into her eyes. “You’ll see soon enough.”
Concluding that he wasn’t saying anything more, she finally exhaled. Her eyes dropped to his lips before she could stop them. She positioned her foot so that she could take a step back from him, but he moved toward her again, stalling her in her place.
“Be careful LG,” he said as he took one finger and dragged it over her lips. “I’m usually not a patient man so your time avoiding me is almost up.” She gasped out of surprise, but didn’t move away from his touch. Her gasp gave him the opportunity to slightly dip his finger into her mouth. He then took his lipstick-smeared finger into his mouth and gently sucked the tip.
“I can only imagine how good you really taste,” he said before taking another long look at her lips.
“Ew, I don’t know where your hands have been,” she stated as she took a step back from him. She huffed aloud, irritated at herself for not initially smacking his hand away, and aggravated at her mouth for wanting to suck his finger longer.
“Maybe not,” he said as he moved closer again, this time bringing his face close to her ear. “But I can tell you where my hands want to go.”
Once again, she gasped. Lex tried to think of a comeback, but her mind was blank, replaced by a feeling that was becoming all too familiar when she was around Micah Madden.
“See you soon,” he said as he walked out her door. Once he was gone, she leaned against her closed door and chastised herself for not being stronger.
“How in the world am I going to plan this anniversary party?” she asked herself. She had too much baggage and she needed a safe guy...a predictable guy. Not the type who represented every wet fantasy rolled into one hot male specimen.
Walking away from the closed door, she went back to her desk in hopes that Micah wouldn’t invade her dreams later.
* * *
Micah twirled his keys around his finger as he made his way to his parked Mercedes-Benz. Micah and Shawn had finally decided to name their security firm M&M Security and headquarter the company in Chicago. After leaving the police force, Micah had wanted a new start so he didn’t mind where the company was located. And after he had met Lex, he’d been even more satisfied with the location. He wanted Lex in the worst way possible and his needs went way beyond the bedroom.
Sliding into his leather seat, he pulled out of the circular parking garage and into Chicago’s morning traffic. He hadn’t lied about his meeting. He had to meet with a potential investor in the security firm in two hours. But first, he had to meet with Shawn to discuss a few details.
Although he’d only been in Chicago for six months, he had grown quite fond of the city. Leaving his job as a police officer in Arkansas had been the best decision he could have made. He enjoyed being in business for himself and he knew he had to leave the police force after realizing that it was way more corrupt than he could have ever imagined.
He turned off of Michigan Ave. onto a side street, minutes away from the M&M Security office. His thoughts instantly returned to Lex. When he’d arrived in Chicago over the summer, he was glad he could check on his cousin and see how her new lingerie boutique was doing. He had hoped that a woman would catch his eye, but he definitely wasn’t prepared to meet Lexus Turner. He hated to sound shallow, but Lex was not the type of woman he was usually attracted to. Lex was the type of woman you wife and he was more accustomed to dating the type of woman you simply bed.
Her natural beauty had captured him from the moment he first saw her. And her clumsiness and failure to form a complete sentence around him had only intrigued him more. He couldn’t explain why he was so fascinated by a woman who’d made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him. Gone was the unsure, wide-eyed woman he’d met in the lingerie shop. She’d been replaced by a woman who avoided his advances every chance she got and she wasn’t afraid to tell him no.
Micah turned up his radio and instantly, Jay-Z’s latest hit filled the car’s speakers. Pulling up to a stop sign, he delayed at the sign to let three women cross the street. They took their sweet time walking, too busy flirtatiously looking at him through the front glass of the car. The one with the tight jeans, boot heels and slim winter coat caught his eye. When she turned around, Micah noticed that she was the same woman who had approached him several times at a bar near his office. Micah flashed her a smile and she waved just before stopping at the corner of the sidewalk and crooking her finger to indicate that she wanted him to pull over. Flirting with other women will definitely get my mind off Lex.
He pulled over as directed and watched the woman seductively walk in his direction. Lex would look better in those jeans, he thought. Micah shook his head, annoyed that even a woman as attractive as the one walking toward his car could not take his mind off Lex.
“Where are you headed to?” the woman voiced as she leaned over his car window, licking her lips in a way he assumed was supposed to be attractive.
“I’m headed to work,” he replied with a smile.
“I live right around the corner. Do you have some time to spare?”
The smile began to fade from Micah’s face. This is what you pulled over for...right? “In fact, I’m already late so I should go,” he continued, brushing her off. She took the hint and stood up from his car window.
“Why did you even pull over?” she huffed with an irritated frown.
“My mistake,” he said as he gave her a slight wave and took off. Crap. It wasn’t like him to be so into a woman who wouldn’t even give him the time of day. He knew Lex was attracted to him, but he didn’t understand why she spent so much time ignoring his advances when she could clearly feel the chemistry. On several occasions when they were out with their friends, Micah would catch Lex staring at him with wistful eyes full of lust. He wasn’t extremely cocky, but he knew he was a damn good catch, and women—like the one he just left—had been throwing themselves at him since he’d arrived in Chicago. All except for the one woman who he craved more than he had ever desired any woman.
When he arrived at M&M Security he greeted the receptionist before making his way to Shawn’s office and knocking on the door.
“Come in,” Shawn announced. Micah walked in and sat down in a nearby chair.
“What’s wrong?” Shawn asked, reading the tense look on his face.
“Man, I’m only gonna tell you this because I know you’ve been there,” Micah said as he let out a frustrated huff of air. Shawn laughed as if he already knew where the conversation was headed.
“Does this have to do with Lex?”
“Of course it has to do with her,” Micah exclaimed. “I had a meeting with all the ladies this morning and within minutes, Lex was informed that she would be the event planner for my parents’ anniversary party.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“It is, but it’s what happened after I left the office that caught me off guard.”
“What happened?”
Micah dragged his long fingers across his face. “Remember that woman from the bar the other night? The one who wore those blue stilettos and tight jeans? We danced a few times before you and I left.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“Well, I ran into her on my way to the office and she invited me back to her place.”
“In the middle of the day? Man, some women are bold nowadays,” Shawn said shaking his head. “But from the annoyed look on your face, I’m assuming you declined her offer.”
“Sure did,” Micah said as he dropped his head to the floor.
“So I guess the self-imposed streak of celibacy continues,” Shawn said with a laugh.
“You know when I turned thirty this year I promised myself that I would stop sleeping around.”
“Sleeping around with so many women, yes. Not sleeping with any women period, no.”
“I’ve been too busy trying to get settled in Chicago to think about having sex with random women. Besides—” Micah glanced out the side window in Shawn’s office “—there’s only one woman I have my eye on, and until Lex accepts the inevitable, I don’t think I’ll be satisfied with any other woman. That sounds crazy, right?”
“Well, considering I know the type of man you used to be, hell, yeah. But I understand,” Shawn responded leaning back in his desk chair. “I felt the same way about Cyd, but luckily, Cyd didn’t make me wait that long. Plus, I heard that Lex was in a serious relationship for years, one that went terribly wrong. According to Cyd, she’s sworn off dating real men.”
“So that means what? She dates fake men?”
“I don’t know. Cyd and I got distracted so we never finished the conversation.”
Micah didn’t even bother asking what had distracted Shawn and Cyd since he already knew. Nor did he bother to ask about Lex’s old relationships because he’d asked Shawn before and he said he needed to ask Lex. So he would just have to find out from her. There was way more to Lex than met the eye, and he was determined to figure it out. He’d spent the past few months observing her and patiently waiting for her to stop fighting the desire she was trying to hide. Now he was done waiting. Micah never had to persistently pursue a woman, but Lex was making him work for it. But if he left it to her they would never get together, so it was time for him to stop letting Lex control the course of their nonexistent relationship.