He kneeled on the bed, never disconnecting them and placed both palms on each of her thighs. “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he instructed her as he pulled her thighs onto his so that she was sitting on his lap. Lex obeyed, and when she was securely in place, he grabbed her by her hips and began lifting her up and down, quickly sliding her in and out. It took him a few seconds to register the animal-like growl that escaped his own mouth. Soon, his growl was joined by her feline purr as both sounds mingled in the air resulting in the sweetest love music that Micah had ever heard.
Without further warning, his body jerked in release at the same time he felt her convulse uncontrollably in his arms. Completely and utterly spent, they both collapsed on the bed, only gathering enough strength to look at one another and smile. The satisfaction was evident on both of their faces, neither able to formulate any words. Words aren’t necessary, he thought as he pulled her into his arms and continued to soak in the moment.
* * *
You’ve got to think of a better lie, Lex thought to herself as she wobbled from one food table to the next. Being a foodie, Lex had been really excited to help Micah’s family pass out chili dishes and taste all the different Southern cuisines that had entered the Warm Your Soul food competition. Now that she was here, she really wished she would have listened to Micah and soaked in the tub before they left.
She glanced across the room at Micah and his mom as they passed out bowls of her famous white bean and turkey chili. He caught her eye and winked before greeting some more customers. Lex was initially helping them pass out the chili, but her legs had started cramping up, so Micah had advised her to walk around and try to stretch.
Last night, they’d made love more times than she could count and Lex hadn’t really thought about the fact that she hadn’t had sex in over six years. She’d been too wrapped up in the moment to think about the sad sex life she’d subjected herself to after her divorce. She also hadn’t gotten a chance to tell Micah how long it had been since she was sexually active. She had a feeling he knew it had been a while, but she was sure that if he’d known she’d been celibate for over 2,190 days, it would have ruined the moment.
“Hi, miss,” said a cheerful lady with a Southern drawl and a bright red Christmas sweater on. “Want to try some of my famous five-layer mac and cheese?” she asked, handing Lex a plate.
“Thank you,” she responded, taking the dish from the lady. So much for my winter diet, she thought as she took a bite of the deliciously cheesy pasta. There wasn’t one dish that she’d tasted that she didn’t like, with the exception of a chitlins-and-rice dish that she couldn’t stomach after one whiff.
“This is delicious,” she told the woman as she turned to walk to another table.
“Are you okay,” the lady asked Lex. “You’re walking mighty funny.”
“I guess yoga isn’t for everyone,” Lex responded with a laugh, sticking with her original lie. Anything was better than saying she had the best sex of her life last night, and now she couldn’t walk straight.
“Oh, I agree,” the mac-and-cheese lady said, clasping her hands together. “I once went to a yoga class they had in the high school gym, and by the time we got to the downward dog, I prepared to do the move and couldn’t get up. Is that what happened to you?”
“Um,” Lex said, trying to come up with a response. “Yeah. The downward dog is the same move that put me in this position.” When she thought about all the different ways Micah had bent her legs, they’d definitely done something similar to the downward dog, so she was at least telling the woman part of the truth.
“Well, when you get home. Take a nice bath,” the lady suggested.
“Thanks! I’ll do that,” Lex said before making her way back to Micah and Cynthia. When she got to the table, she placed the remaining mac and cheese on the table and took a picture of it so she could upload the image on her Instagram account along with the picture she’d taken of herself eating a bowl of Cynthia’s chili earlier.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” Cynthia asked.
“I’m having a great time,” Lex responded with a smile. She glanced over in time to see Micah take a swig of his water, looking at her over the bottle. She tried to will her eyes away, but she couldn’t, mesmerized by the way his throat constricted when he swallowed.
“Sweetie,” Cynthia said after she passed a dish to another customer. “Are you okay? I noticed you’ve been limping all morning.”
She pulled her eyes away from Micah. “I hurt myself practicing a yoga move last—I mean, this morning.”
Micah slightly choked on his water, but she refused to look at him.
Cynthia lifted an eyebrow. “You did all that,” she said, pointing a finger at Lex’s legs. “What type of pose did this to you?”
“Ummm...the downward dog,” she replied, saying the first thing that came to mind. In her peripheral view, she saw Micah turn away, probably to keep himself from laughing in front of his mother. Stay calm, Lex warned herself, knowing that if she got flustered, she would blush. And Micah’s mom was already paying close attention to her.
Lex looked to the floor before stealing a peek at Micah, who was still turned away from them.
“Oh, I see,” Cynthia said, looking from Lex to Micah. “Downward dog, huh? That must have been some yoga move.” With that, she smiled at Lex before assisting more customers.
“How embarrassing. Way to help me out,” Lex whispered as she punched Micah in the arm when his mom wasn’t looking.
“Yoga?” Micah said with a laugh. “LG, I couldn’t help you with that one. And I told you to take a bath this morning when we snuck back into the manor.”
“I know,” she said with a pout. “And now I’m paying the price. My thighs are killing me.”
“Well,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. “How about we leave here in thirty minutes, I run you a nice hot bath and then we head back downtown for a couple night festivities.”
“Hmm...like an official date?” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Yes, an official date,” he answered. “Plus, I need you good to go for the Snowlympics the day after tomorrow since you’re my partner for the events.”
She looked at him inquisitively. “Do I even want to know what Snowlympics is? It sounds intense.”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he replied. “I’m just helping you fulfill my proposition to be more spontaneous.”
“I assume that’s what last night was about, too, right?” she responded, placing a quick kiss on his mouth. “And the night before?”
“Now you’re getting it,” he said before giving her a kiss that caught the eyes of a few onlookers.
Chapter 15
He was falling for her. Hard. Quick. And although he knew she was different from the moment he met her, the feeling was still something he wasn’t used to. Their date last night had been perfect, and now all he could think about was a life filled with plenty more moments like that one.
“Earth to Micah,” Lex said, snapping her fingers in front of his face. “Did you hear what I said?”
No...I was too busy looking at your face...lips...breasts...eyes. “Micah,” she said again when he’d dazed back off. “Since the Snowlympics is tomorrow and the Christmas party at the B and B is after that, I need you to focus. Here are the plans I have for your parents’ 35th anniversary party so far.” She slid her notebook to him.
The current mayor had let them utilize the town hall. They’d been sitting in an unoccupied conference room for two hours as he handled some necessary M&M Security paperwork, while she made calls to the Elite Events office and other vendors she needed to assist with the party. Micah had also called his brothers and his cousins and learned that a couple of them couldn’t make it to Arkansas for New Year. They had then decided to plan the surprise an
niversary party in early February instead, so that everyone could make it.
“Okay,” Lex said, pointing to one of the items on her list. “I’ll talk to Mr. Grudy to make sure he is okay with us throwing the anniversary party at his barn house. It’s the only place large enough to hold 300 to 400 people, so I think it will be perfect.”
“Sounds good. He’ll be fine with it and the more I think about it, maybe I should tell my parents that Mr. Grudy is throwing a Cranberry Heights Founder’s Day party since the town was founded in February. That way they won’t suspect anything if word gets around town.”
“That would be great,” she agreed. “Also, here is a list of the food dishes and desserts that will be available, all being supplied by shops here in town. We are outsourcing the cake and having it brought here from a bakery in Little Rock, a suggestion from the bakery here since this event is so special.”
“I’m fine with that. What about the decorations?”
“All under control,” she said, taking out her laptop. She typed in a few keys and turned her computer toward Micah. “Here are some images of the decor I have in mind after really studying your parents and taking note of their individual styles.”
Micah liked the decoration ideas immediately. Victorian lace and old-world embellishments representing his mom, combined with charming rustic designs themed around nature that represented his dad.
“I love it,” he said with a smile. “What website is this?”
She lifted her eyebrows. “You’ve never been on Pinterest?”
“Um, what exactly is Pinterest?”
“Oh, man,” she said as she hit the backspace button on her computer. “Here’s my Pinterest homepage. It’s basically a site that allows you to electronically pin things you love to themed user boards. That way, all your likes are in one place in whatever category you want.”
He laughed at the excited look on her face. “So I guess it’s the same as cutting out pics from magazines, right?”
“True,” she said turning the computer back to her and scrolling to another page. “But it’s way more effective. I created a secret board for your parents’ anniversary party that only my partners and I have access to. That’s the electronic board I was in when I showed you the decor images.”
“Pinterest. Instagram. I’m learning a lot about you Lex.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“Like the fact that you’re a visualizer and you need to visualize things to see the bigger picture. You probably react better to people and places after you do a little research through a website or social media,” he said. “Am I right?”
“You don’t know me,” she said with a giggle that let him know he was right. “I’m just glad you like my ideas so far.”
“I do. And I know my mom will be so surprised. There’s no way she’d think her sons or even her nieces came up with this decor.”
“What about your dad?” Lex asked, gathering her notes to stack them in a neat pile.
“He’ll probably be excited until he realizes that it was my idea to throw them a surprise anniversary party.”
“Have you ever talked to your dad about how he makes you feel?”
“I gave up trying to talk to him,” he huffed. “Years ago, after that college incident, my dad decided that I wasn’t worth his time.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Lex chimed in. “Every time I see you and your dad together, you both look like you want to say more, but don’t.”
“If he wanted to say something to me, he would.”
“Or,” Lex said gently, rubbing his hand, “like you, your father is stubborn and doesn’t know how to right a wrong. I’m sure he was mad at you back then, but I bet he got over it and was just too proud to apologize.”
Long ago, Micah had decided that he couldn’t care about his dad’s opinion of him. “When I needed a father most, he turned his back on me. If it weren’t for my uncle Barry, who knows how I would have turned out.”
“Son,” Cynthia Madden said, entering the conference room, “I didn’t know you felt this way and I probably should have had this conversation with you years ago.”
Micah’s head shot over to Lex, and he was glad to see that she had closed her laptop and placed all of the party planning documents back in her bag.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I had to drop off some papers for the town-hall council meeting tonight. I didn’t know you two were here.”
“We’re catching up on work,” Micah said. “What conversation should you have had with me?”
Cynthia took a seat next to Micah. “Growing up, your father was constantly in trouble. It seemed he couldn’t stay out of it. Even when he met me, he was still running up and down the streets of Arkansas. Believe it or not, what you went through was nothing compared to the things your father did.”
Micah shook his head in disbelief. “Naw, I don’t believe that. Dad has always been big in the community and into doing the right thing. Cranberry even chose him as mayor.”
“But he wasn’t always like that,” Cynthia said. “I loved him and tried to convince him to give up a life in the streets when we met, but eventually I had to accept him for the man he was and I couldn’t change that. Your uncle even tried convincing us to move to Cranberry Heights years before we actually did. But Mason chose to change his ways when he found out I was pregnant with Malik. The day we found out, your dad drove out here to Cranberry and told your uncle that he was going to stop being reckless and start a better life for his family. Luckily, people in Little Rock believed in him and he was given that community director job.”
What? Micah couldn’t believe what his mom was telling him. For years, he’d assumed that his father didn’t understand what he went through back in Little Rock when, actually, he understood all too well.
“You know what I think,” Lex said, still rubbing her hands against his, “I think that before our trip is over, you should have a conversation with your dad. A real conversation.”
“I agree,” Cynthia said giving her son a soft smile.
Micah looked from one woman to the other, trying to push aside years of anger and resentment to focus on the overall picture. Life was too short. If the streets had taught him anything, that was definitely it.
“Okay,” Micah finally stated. “Before we leave, I’ll talk to Dad.”
“Great,” Lex said with a gleeful smile. “I think the conversation will go well.”
Micah smiled but kept the rest of his thoughts to himself. Conversations with his dad never went well.
* * *
“I can’t believe we were in the town hall for four hours,” Micah said, running his long fingers over his face. Although it was chilly outside and the first December snow had fallen, Lex had suggested that they take the thirty-minute walk back to Madden Manor instead of waiting for the local bus to arrive, which they’d taken to get into town.
“The life of an event planner,” she said with a laugh. “Plus, we hadn’t planned on running into your mom. On a positive note, I shouldn’t have to bug you with any more details. I can handle everything from this point on, now that I have all your family’s contact info. Patty in the library said she can print off the invites for all the townsfolk tonight so I can hand those out tomorrow since you aren’t limiting who can come from here.”
“That’s good to know,” he replied as they walked side by side down the long road to the house. “I don’t know how I let you talk me into taking the bus this morning instead of driving. And now we’re walking home in the cold,” he said with a chuckle.
“I want to soak in as much of Cranberry as I can before we leave,” she said, no longer surprised that she’d grown to love the town. “Besides. It’s not that cold and I love looking at the fresh-fallen snow blanketed over the hills.
”
She could feel Micah’s eyes on her, so she turned to look back at him. “What?” she asked.
“This doesn’t have to be a one-time trip,” he said to her. “Even though we head back to Chicago soon, I’d like to bring you back here sometime.”
“I’d like that,” she said, slipping her hand in his. The gesture had become natural to them, and when they weren’t holding hands, Lex felt like something was missing. Looking back at him, she thought about how different he was from what she’d originally thought.
“Can we stop here?” she said as she pointed to a bench underneath a large hickory tree that was covered in frost.
“Sure,” he said, walking over to the bench and brushing off the white flakes. Lex had never really cared for the cold even though she was born and raised in a cold city. But with Micah, here in Cranberry Heights, everything felt different.
“You’re nothing like Evan,” she said as they sat on the bench. She didn’t really want to bring him up, but she felt inclined to share more about her past since he’d been so open with her.
“When I first met Evan, I was in high school,” she said, curling one leg underneath her and turning to her side to face him. “I was on the cheerleading team and he was a football player.”
“A cheerleader, huh,” he said as his goatee curled to the side at his cunning smirk.
“Yeah, a cheerleader,” she said with a laugh. “Back then, it seemed natural for us to be together. You never saw one of us without the other. We were both popular, although I never understood how I’d gotten so popular. I’ve always been a little different. A little clumsy...awkward at times.”
“You may be all those things, but that’s what’s so attractive about you,” he chimed in. “Plus, you have a great personality and you’re extremely beautiful, although you have no idea how striking you are.”
Red Velvet Kisses Page 13