He broke the kiss, heaving rapidly as his lungs filled with coldness. Her cheeks were pink and her lipstick smeared. Evidence of just how thoroughly he’d devoured her mouth. “That was some kiss,” he voiced, saying the first thing that came to mind. In all honesty, he didn’t know what to say because all he wanted to do was to continue kissing her.
Her eyes grew from seductive to big and cautious. Oh, no...what is she thinking. Before he could even ask her what was wrong, she hopped up from the seat, said she had to go and hightailed it back into the estate.
Micah wanted to go after her and knew whoever was still at the party would take one look at her flustered state and swollen lips and be able to tell she’d just gotten thoroughly kissed. But he couldn’t move from his spot on the bench. He looked down at the bulge of his pants and tried to will it to go down. But it was useless. There was only one person who could make it go down and, unfortunately, she’d run from him once again.
“Way to go, Madden,” he said to himself as he unbuttoned his coat and hoped that the harsh wind would help him calm down.
* * *
As soon as Lex stepped back inside Imani and Daman’s estate, she went straight toward an empty bedroom that was a couple feet away from the door with a window that overlooked the patio. She kept the lights off when she entered and softly shut the door behind her. Taking a deep breath, she pushed back the curtain to see if Micah was still sitting by the bonfire.
He was right were she’d left him and by the look on his face, he was just as affected by the kiss as she was. She had never been kissed like that, and even with the cold temperature, her body felt like it was on fire. She brought her hand to her lips, a little surprised by their swollen state. He put every man she’d kissed in her past to shame, and if that kiss was any indication of how good he was in the bedroom, she was in trouble.
While she watched him stare at the bonfire, she wished she knew what he was thinking. There was something so rugged and mysterious about his demeanor, and even though she wished she wasn’t curious about him...she was. She wondered what led him to become the man he was today. And what had he been arrested for? He ran one hand down his face and smiled. To be inside his mind, she thought, wondering what his smile was about. She hoped he was smiling because he was thinking about her. His response to her accusation about him being a womanizer had left her speechless. Not only had she offended him, but she’d also made assumptions based off little fact. He probably thought she’d kissed him because she was a little intoxicated, but she’d only pretended to drink the last couple times she was prompted to during the game, so she was alert. She’d kissed him because at that moment, she wanted to know exactly what his lips felt like...tasted like. For months, she’d convinced herself that kissing him wasn’t what she wanted to do, but in that moment, she decided to do something she didn’t do often. React before thinking about the consequences.
He pushed his coat off a little more and dropped his head back. He’d unbuttoned his coat despite the fact that the weather outside was slowly growing even colder. He placed both hands over his face and sat like that for a couple minutes. When he adjusted himself on the seat, she couldn’t see his face, so she opened the curtain a little more, moving closer to the window to get a better angle.
He placed his elbows on his knees before standing. His face looked strained for a moment, until he shook out his arms and rolled his neck. When he stretched his arms in the air, his back was turned to Lex. She watched him completely remove his coat and throw it on the bench before shaking out his arms for a second time. It’s freezing! Why in the world is he removing his coat?
Her question was answered the minute he turned around and she noticed the massive bulge in his pants. She gasped and brought her hand to her mouth, wondering how she’d missed it when she was outside with him. He looked down at his pants before looking up to the sky. Watching him standing outside, completely aroused just from sharing one passionate kiss with her was enough to wet her center to the core. She placed one leg in front of the other, clasping her thighs together as tightly as she could.
I wish I had the nerve to invite him back to my place. She quickly shook her head at the thought. “Where did that come from?” she asked herself quietly. He began pacing back and forth, the bulge in his pants slowly diminishing. She quietly giggled to herself when she finally realized that the only reason he was still outside was because he was trying to calm himself down before heading back into the estate.
He jumped in place a couple times before grabbing his coat and turning toward the window Lex was standing at. “Oh, crap,” she said before dropping the curtain. The lights were off so there was no way he could see her. But he looked right in my direction, so maybe he did see me standing here.
She quietly made her way to the door just as she heard the back door leading to the patio slide open. When she saw the knob turn, she quickly jumped behind the bed.
“Lex, are you in here?” Micah whispered into the bedroom. When she didn’t respond, he said her name again. This is stupid, she thought when she imagined how crazy it was for a grown woman to be hiding behind the bed. She slowly rose, and was happy to find him still in the doorway looking into the dark room, unaware that she had been hiding.
“I’m here,” she said softly as she reached the door. He pushed the door slightly open, leaving it cracked so that the light from the hallway could seep in.
“So you were watching me outside,” he said as more of a statement than a question.
“Only because I wanted to make sure you were okay since you didn’t follow me back inside.”
“Did you enjoy watching me when you thought I hadn’t noticed?”
She knew what he was doing. He was trying to make her feel uncomfortable, but she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. Just be honest. “Yes, I did enjoy watching you,” she said confidently. His face was half hidden by the darkness, but she didn’t miss the grin that crossed his lips right before he bent down to kiss her again.
You should stop him, she thought as her arms took on a mind of their own and curled around his neck. He’s your client and if you don’t stop him now, he’ll think he can kiss you whenever he wants. His hands went around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Once again, his mouth explored hers, lighter than before, but still just as demanding. She was just about to push him away when she heard him let out a deep groan as one hand sprawled across her back, while the other gently cupped her butt. She could feel him getting excited all over again, and the fact that he didn’t care that she could feel the length of him excited her way more than she wanted it to. Okay, maybe you can enjoy this last kiss before you tell him it could never happen again.
And that’s exactly what she did.
Chapter 6
Lex looked at her cell phone for the fourth time in the past thirty minutes. Usually, it only took her about ten minutes to get her eyebrows done, but the place she normally went to closed early on Fridays. She’d taken one look at herself in the mirror and knew she had to tame those bad boys before she met Micah for dinner.
She glanced around at the women in the waiting area to make sure no one was watching and slowly eased the back of her feet out of her heels. She was furious with herself for wearing heels to impress a man today of all days. It had been raining nonstop and not only were her feet wet and her shoes squishy, but her hair had decided to do a half straight, half curly look on its own. She’d spent all last night straightening her hair and this morning, she’d feathered it as well to add bounce and depth. Years ago, she’d grown out her relaxer and promised to never look back. Although she loved that her hair was healthier than it had ever been, Chicago was a hard city to maintain non-chemically-treated hair. Whether she straightened it or wore it natural, it sometimes decided to do exactly what she wished it wouldn’t do.
“Mam, we’re ready for you,” the salon assis
tant said to Lex. Thank goodness! She hadn’t seen Micah in a week and since they were leaving for Arkansas in a few days, she had to set some ground rules that she knew he wouldn’t like. After the intoxicating kisses they’d shared a week ago, it would be hard to ignore his advances but she had to. She would be there to do a job...nothing more. And the quicker Micah realized that, the easier it would be to convince herself that he was no good for her.
“All done,” the eyebrow specialist said to her after she was done threading her eyebrows. Lex settled the payment and tip and left the salon.
Goodness, she mouthed as she noticed several people on the corner trying to hail a taxi. The bus stop was a couple blocks away, and the new umbrella she’d just bought was clearly for fashion and not rain. She wouldn’t have a weapon against the rainfall.
She decided to walk across the street from the other taxi hopefuls, and luckily she was able to get a taxi right away. When she arrived at the sushi restaurant that Micah had chosen for dinner, she was just on time for their reservation.
“Hello, Micah,” she said, taking a seat at the table he was already at.
“Hi, Lex,” he replied, watching her every move as she removed her coat. She had chosen to wear a black skirt that hugged her curves in all the right places and a blue blouse with a few ruffles in the center that offered a peak of her cleavage. She completed her outfit with modest silver jewelry and sleek black pumps. All her partners in the office earlier had mentioned how great she looked, but more importantly, she felt great.
“You look amazing,” he said to her after she’d sat down. The appreciation in his eyes momentarily stole her breath and made her forget about her aching feet.
“Thanks...you look great, too,” she responded, taking note of his sharp black suit and name-brand loafers. She hadn’t seen him in a suit in a while and, apparently, seeing him all dressed up still had the same affect on her. She crossed her legs under the table and tried not to look too closely at his lips, which was a challenge as neither one of them said anything. In the comfortable silence, all they could do was observe one another. Instead of looking at his lips, she looked at his hair, noticing for the first time that it looked different than she remembered.
“Trying something new with your hair?” she asked. His curls were a little fuller at the top and the sides were cropped short in a fade that made his devastatingly sexy look even more masculine.
“Just changing it up a bit,” he said, shrugging his shoulders and flashing her a smile.
“It looks nice.” So nice that I wish I could run my fingers through it. Before her mind could wander any more, the waiter came to take their order. Lex had more than a few questions about the daily special and the top-rated dishes at the recently opened sushi restaurant. After a few minutes of back and forth discussion with the waiter, she finally placed her order and turned back to Micah as he placed his order, as well.
“So I take it you really love sushi?” Micah asked.
“I’m a huge fan of sushi, but I like all types of food.”
“What’s your favorite dessert?” he asked.
“That’s easy! Anything red velvet!” Who didn’t love mouthwatering chocolate, she thought. I bet he’s even tastier than chocolate. She shook her head, reminding herself that comparing Micah to anything that was mouthwatering would surely make her drool in public.
“I actually love red velvet cake myself. What’s your favorite type of food?”
She took a sip of her water and smiled before responding. “Honestly, I love food too much to pick just one type. Indian. Italian. Greek. Soul food...I could go on forever.”
“I see,” he said with a laugh. Just great, Lex...way to sound like your favorite pastime is eating. Which it was, but she didn’t need him to know that.
“Based off the questions you asked the waiter, I can tell you have a great food palate.”
Good, he seems more interested than turned off. “My dad is a huge foodie and a great cook so I guess you can say I got my love for food from him.”
“Do you love to cook like your dad, as well?”
“Definitely,” she answered just as the waiter placed their plates on the table. “When I was little, I would watch him in the kitchen all the time so naturally, as an adult, I mirrored a few of his techniques and turned them into my own.”
“Hmm, techniques. So you’re a whiz in the kitchen, huh?” he asked as he popped a piece of sushi into his mouth.
“I throw down every now and then,” she said, nodding her head. She took out her phone and snapped a quick pic of the sushi before uploading it to her Instagram account and hash-tagging the restaurant.
“Sorry,” she said when he was looking at her curiously. “I’m a bit of an Instagram fanatic and I love tagging things from new restaurants and events.”
She slid her phone over so he could see a few of the images. “Most of these are foods I cooked myself.”
“Nice pics,” he said after he’d scrolled through several. “Any chance you’d ever let me taste some of your cooking?”
Everyone knew how much Lex loved cooking, but she hadn’t cooked for a man in years. “We’ll see,” she said, taking her first bite of food and glancing at him as she chewed. He was charming and she hadn’t really seen this particular side of him before, not that she’d given him much of a chance. He hadn’t said anything about the kiss and if she hadn’t known how much he enjoyed it at Imani and Daman’s party, she would have questioned if the feelings were one-sided.
Conversation between them flowed easily as they talked about a few more things related to food, cooking and random shows on the Food Network.
“So you’re a fan of Top Chef?” she asked, surprised.
“Sure am,” he said, flashing his pearly whites. “Although I probably can’t cook as good as you, I like to watch Top Chef and a few other shows on the Food Network to brush up on my skills.”
My, oh, my. I love a man that can cook! If there was any weakness that Lex had besides a man with a nice butt and muscular arms, it was a man with good teeth and a love for cooking.
“I’ll cook for you, if you cook for me,” she blurted out without thinking.
“Just name the place and time sweetheart.” His astute smile was unmistakable and his statement triggered something inside her. Sweetheart? He hadn’t called her that before and the fact that she’d gone about eight years of her life being called sweetheart by a man she’d rather forget existed was unsettling. This wasn’t how the conversation was supposed to be going. She liked how easy it was for her to talk to him, but she hadn’t addressed any of the issues she had planned to discuss at tonight’s dinner.
He steered you away from your plan, the voice inside her head taunted. Lex lived off plans. That was how she made sure her life ran in order, leaving little room for mistakes. But Micah was a mistake that she wished she could convince herself to make. Not only was he not in her life plan...he stood for everything she convinced herself she didn’t need. This was exactly how her ex had trapped her. Charming her and calling her pet names. His favorite was sweetheart. As a matter of fact, the only name he called her was sweetheart. Ugh! Micah could have called her anything but that, and she’d still be captivated by him and the conversation.
“Micah, there’s something we need to discuss,” she said ignoring the confused look on his face.
“Are you okay Lex?”
“Yes,” she said directly. “I forgot to tell you at the party that although I agreed to go with you to the winter festival, we will have to refrain from kissing and behave professionally.”
“Um, okay,” Micah said, looking at her with concerned eyes. “But my parents think they’re meeting a woman I’m dating. Won’t it be weird if we don’t kiss.”
“Everyone won’t expect PDA.”
“Knowing how I am...they will.”
>
She wished his statement didn’t warm her body. “Well, if we have to share a kiss or two for show, that’s fine. But nothing more. And I will stay at your parents’ home because if they are anything like my family, they won’t allow me to stay at the inn when we are supposed to be dating. But we must have separate rooms.”
“That can be arranged,” he said, searching her face. “Did I say anything to offend you?”
She sighed as she contemplated the right words “No, you didn’t say anything,” she lied, finishing the remainder of her food. He seemed as if he wanted to ask her more, but her phone rang, halting their conversation.
“Sorry, I need to take this call,” she said to Micah as she rose from her seat and went to the waiting area of the restaurant.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Oh, Lex, so glad I got you! Is there any way you can stop by the house tonight?”
Lex glanced at her iPhone to check the time. “It’s almost 8 p.m. If I take the train, I still won’t get out to the suburbs until about 9:30. Can this wait until tomorrow?”
“Oh, okay. I understand,” Linda Turner said into the phone in disappointment. “Your father and I are driving to Tennessee with your aunt and uncle, Hope and David, and we leave at 4 a.m. tomorrow. But it’s okay, I guess it can wait until later. I just really wanted to see you before we left.”
Lex recognized the tone in her mother’s voice and knew it was definitely not okay. Her mom was more than just a mother. She was one of her greatest confidants and Lex hated to hear her disappointed.
Red Velvet Kisses Page 6