Her heart beat faster at his words. She supposed men had been calling her beautiful her entire life, but every time she heard Micah say the words, it had a different effect on her.
“I’ll be the first to admit that I need to work on my insecurities. I know I’m beautiful, intelligent, driven. I just forget sometimes,” she said softly before continuing. “When Evan met me, I had all the confidence in the world, but somewhere along the line, I lost a part of that confidence.”
“You mean, he made you lose it,” he said protectively.
“He definitely played a large part in it. But I let him. He wanted a trophy wife. Someone who looked good on his arm and did what he said. And as much as I hate to admit it, I fell into the role all too easily. I had convinced myself that being with a man like him was what I wanted.”
“What did your family think about him?”
“They couldn’t stand him. But while we dated, and even when we got married, no one had really told me how much they hated him. But, in their defense, I wasn’t being honest about how controlling he was. They saw a few signs when we would attend family events, but whenever they asked me if I was happy, I would lie and tell them that I was.”
“I bet it was hard keeping how you really felt to yourself,” Micah said as he began rubbing her knee.
“It was,” Lex said, shaking her head. “Especially the brief time we were married. There were many times I thought about telling the girls, but decided against it. Looking back, I realize that I never told anyone anything because I was embarrassed.”
“What for?”
“Well, for starters, I was the one who chose to be with a person like that. Guaranteed, he wasn’t always like that. But the signs were there in college. We were talking on the phone one day and he heard my roommate’s boyfriend in the background and demanded to know who it was. I explained to him who the voice belonged to, but he didn’t care. He went to college an hour from where I attended school and he drove down to mine right after our call. That’s when his craziness started. We broke up for a while because I couldn’t handle how needy he was, and during that time he would leave me messages saying how much he loved me and couldn’t live without me. It wasn’t the messages themselves that were strange, but rather the amount of calls I received.”
“That’s insane,” Micah said, shaking his head.
“Tell me about it.” She shifted in her seat when the brisk wind slashed across her face. “One day, he left me over twenty voice mails.”
“Dude clearly had psychological issues,” Micah said in irritation. “How did you end up getting back together with him?”
“His parents had moved to New Orleans once Evan went to college and were killed during Hurricane Katrina. He was devastated, and when he told me he couldn’t live without me, I felt bad for him and we got back together. We got married right before I graduated, despite my parents’ warnings to wait. Almost instantly, Evan started acting crazy again. Screening my calls, placing hidden cameras in our house, watching me while I slept... He claimed he was just protecting me from the dangerous world, but I still didn’t feel safe. When I complained about him doing something, he would tell me I was lucky to have him and wasn’t that attractive anyway. Then he’d claim I was bad in bed among other things and this was all within our first month of marriage.”
“You can’t be serious,” Micah said as he outstretched her leg over his lap. “I hope you didn’t take any of that nonsense to heart.”
“At this point, I knew marrying him was a mistake. When I say he broke my confidence and made me more insecure, it wasn’t because I believed what he said. It was because I couldn’t believe that I had spent so many years of my life with such a jerk. I lost trust in myself and my ability to make the right decision. When Imani, Cyd, Mya and I decided to create Elite Events Incorporated, he found out and had a fit. And then my grandmother, Gamine, passed away, and he starting arguing with me because he felt I was spending so much time with my family. When I got the letter with the story that my grandmother left me, I told him it was over and that all the begging and pleading in the world couldn’t convince me to stay. He finally left Chicago and became a financial advisor in New York.”
“I’m glad you finally stood up for yourself.”
“Me, too,” she said with a sigh. “And you know the rest of the story... Him staging the robbery...stealing everything I loved, including my grandmother’s brooches.”
Micah reached out and gently rubbed his hand on her cheek. She shivered under his soft touch. “Are you ready to head back, superwoman?” he asked with an endearing smile.
“Superwoman? Hardly,” she said, standing up from the bench.
“When faced with adversity, you overcame a huge obstacle and re-created yourself into a better person by learning from your experience. Sounds pretty heroic to me.”
She looked over at him and reached out for his hand as they began walking. “Thank you for saying that, Micah.”
“Anytime,” he said, pulling her to him and kissing her forehead.
Chapter 16
Forget falling, Micah thought when they were almost to Madden Manor. I’m in love with her. The entire time he listened to her story, one thing became completely evident in his mind. He was going to marry this woman. His mom had always told him and his brothers that when they found the one, they would know. Micah had known that he wanted to date her. He even knew he wanted a committed relationship with her. But now, he knew that neither of the first two options would suffice. She was the one he couldn’t live without.
She looked over at him and flashed a smile. He smiled back thinking she had no idea just how much Cranberry Heights would become a part of her life. His mind ventured to the future as he imagined them bringing their kids to Cranberry Heights to stay with his parents. Or Lex’s dad, Ethan, telling their kids all his cooking secrets before they could even cook. But he couldn’t tell Lex yet. She wasn’t ready.
“By the way,” Micah said, breaking the silence, “what was the story that your grandmother gave you?”
“I love this story,” she said with a grin. “The story was handwritten in a vintage journal about the size of the palm of my hand. It’s about a woman who dedicated her entire life to meeting new people in hopes of taking a bit of every person she met to mold herself into the person she wanted to be. In the beginning of the story, the woman has a problem with change and as a result, she has a period in her life when she remains stagnant...not really living to her fullest ability. So for two years, she decides to journey outside of her comfort zone to find herself...to find her purpose by trying new things, visiting new people, eating new foods, learning about different religions. She meets some very impactful people on her journey, including her husband. Each encounter is detailed, along with the quality she chose to remember of that person. After two years, she finally realizes that life is what you make it. Her decisions and the people she met are all a part of her and her story. But she held the power to her life. Not anyone else...”
She leaned her head against Micah’s shoulder as they walked.
“The story changed my perspective on life. When I reached the end of the journal, I realized that the narrator of the story was my grandmother and the man she refers to that she met on her journey is my grandfather, Ed Burrstone. The three brooches were a gift from my grandmother’s friend, who was born in India and moved to the United States as a teenager with her family. She was the last person she met on her journey. Turns out, the woman was only given a month to live and in her last days, my grandmother happened to volunteer at the senior home where the lady lived. She had conversations with her every day and learned about her life and how she’d never married or had children. She was the last of her United States relatives and she told my grandmother that meeting her had made her last days joyful. A month after the woman passed, my grandmother received a let
ter from the woman’s lawyer stating that the woman had left her three golden brooches that were made in India.”
“Wow,” Micah exclaimed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “That’s an amazing story. And it’s even more remarkable that your grandmother knew you’d need to hear that story one day.”
“Gamine was intuitive that way,” Lex said, looking up at Micah. He wiped away a fallen tear from her face.
“Although Imani, Cyd and I haven’t discussed it, we each knew that she left us something when she passed. Gamine had a way of communicating with us in a way that our parents couldn’t. If I had to guess, I would assume that she left handwritten items for me, Imani and Cyd. We’re the three oldest grandchildren and she would always leave us little notes growing up.”
When they arrived at the house, they said hello to the guests that were still up before they headed to their own guestroom. “Gamine seems special. I wish I could have met her,” Micah said after shutting the bedroom door.
“Me, too,” Lex said, placing a soft kiss on his lips before removing her shoes. “But she knows you.”
“You think so?” he asked, removing his shoes.
“Yup, because at the end of the story, when she tells me it’s about her journey, she also states that one day I will meet someone who will take one look at me and know my self-worth,” she said bashfully. “And she said when that happens, I should embrace the feeling...and the person.”
As Micah stood there watching emotions cross Lex’s face, he was tempted to say the hell with keeping his thoughts to himself and tell her his plan to one day soon make her his. But he was more forthcoming with his feelings and she was just beginning to get accustomed to the idea.
“Thank you for telling me that,” he said, crossing the room to her with one goal in mind—getting her out her clothes.
When he reached her, she was already tugging on her shirt, clearly recognizing his intent. He helped her remove her clothes in record speed. Once they had removed her last stitch of clothing, Micah grabbed her arm and walked to the bathroom.
“What about your clothes?” she asked.
“I’ll take them off in a minute.”
“Why are we in the bathroom?”
Instead of responding to her, Micah plugged the whirlpool tub and began running the hot water.
“Why, Mr. Madden,” she said with a devilish smirk, “I think it’s only fitting that I tell you that I’ve never made love in the tub before.”
“Then I’m glad I can be your first,” he said as he tugged on her ponytail holder to release her hair. Brown waves fell about her shoulders while loose strands teased her cheeks. Pushing the strands out of her face, he thought he’d never seen her look so beautiful. And he was so glad she wasn’t hiding her body from him, because if he had his way, she’d never wear another piece of clothing again.
He lifted her onto the marble countertop and brought his face closer to hers, wondering if she could feel how hard his heart was pounding. She did that to him...made his heart beat uncontrollably just by being near. He’d told her things that he was sure would run some women away, but not Lex. She understood him and, in turn, she trusted him with her own story of her past. Love was never something that he thought was in his future, but he guessed that’s what people meant when they said love had a way of sneaking up on you when you least expected it. Lex had come along before he even had a chance to realize what had hit him.
She looked at him with her adorable brown eyes and winked before giggling. Needing to feel her lips, he leaned down and kissed her with all the love he felt.
* * *
When a man truly kisses the woman he knows he wants to spend the rest of his life with, that kiss will touch the depths of her soul and build a permanent home right on top of her heart. Mrs. Madden’s words echoed in her mind as Lex sat there kissing Micah as if her life depended on it.
To the outside eye, it may appear to be just like any kiss like they’d shared many times before. But internally, Lex’s stomach felt like she was riding a never-ending roller coaster. This kiss felt different... He felt different... The air that crackled around them felt different. By now, she knew Micah’s lips and how he used them on her. The way he was kissing and suckling her now was definitely not the way he’d kissed her before.
She opened her legs wider and encircled his head with her hands. What is going on? she thought, unable to get enough of his taste. Her heartbeat quickened as reality hit her. The emotions in this kiss had surpassed the feelings a man had for a woman he was interested in dating, but instead, embodied the feelings that a man had for a woman he planned on spending the rest of his life with.
He nibbled her lips once more before releasing her lips and resting his forehead on hers. Both of them panted heavily, waiting for oxygen to seep into their lungs. Lex felt like the next minutes moved in slow motion as they struggled to get their breathing under control. Micah lifted his head, his eyes caressing her chin before moving to her lips and nose, settling on her eyes. His penetrating stare made her breathing falter as he gazed into her soul, displaying his emotions for her to interpret as she deemed fit.
In that moment, she fully understood what Mrs. Madden and her grandmother had tried to explain to her. I fell in love with him...she thought, her eyes searching his at her internal admission. I fell, she thought again. Hard. And it wasn’t that she fell for him because of attraction or lust. She fell for the man he was in the past, the man he was now and the man he would be in the future. And after a kiss like that, she knew in her heart that Micah Madden wasn’t going anywhere...and she loved that feeling.
He glanced over his shoulder at the tub and ran over to turn off the water. “Are you ready to get in?” he asked, testing the water.
“Yes,” she said as she slid off the marble top. Even in clothes with his back turned to her, he looked good enough to eat. His hands grasped the bottom of his shirt as he lifted the fabric over his head.
Lex gasped louder than she’d intended at the sight of his full, muscular back. How did I not notice this before? she thought as she made her way to him and lightly touched the inked detail permanently splashed across his shoulders. The design of his tattoo made her mouth water to the point that she ran her lips across the edges, not caring if Micah thought she was crazy.
“Be careful,” he warned. “I’m letting you do as you please, but if you keep putting your lips on me, I’m turning around to finish the job.”
“Okay,” she whispered, running her hands over the parts she’d kissed instead. Every woman had a list of qualities that made her weak in the knees. For Lex, muscular arms, nice teeth, a good cook, sexy dimples and tattoos were her top five. The fact that Micah had all five of her drop-your-panties-on-the-spot attributes made it hard for her to stand there without stripping off the rest of his clothes. So she did just that.
“I can’t believe I missed this tattoo,” she said as she bent down to tug his jeans off.
“The lighting has been really dim when we’ve been naked,” he replied, undoing his belt when he realized what she was doing. “Plus I’ve kept you occupied in the bedroom so you haven’t had a chance to study my body like I have yours.”
Well, that’s changing tonight, she thought after she got his pants off and went for his boxers. Once his boxers were halfway down his thighs, she let out another squeal. Tattoo number two was located on his left calf and somehow, she’d missed it when she had taken off his pants. Her hands moved to his calf, lightly caressing the design.
“Lex?” Micah’s voice interrupted her observation.
“Sorry,” she said, removing his boxers and then immediately becoming distracted by his butt. Tight. Round. Kissable. Never had Lex wanted to kiss a butt before, but Micah had the type of butt that begged to be kissed. Better yet, it begged to be bitten...so she bit it.
“Um, that’s
a first,” Micah said apprehensively. “Not sure how I feel about you biting my ass.”
“I had to,” she said as she stood back to view his entire backside. “You are an incredibly tasty-looking man.”
“Thanks,” he said, glancing over his shoulder. “I’m guessing you have a fascination with tattoos?”
“You have no idea,” she said, bringing one hand to her mouth as her eyes continued to roam over him.
“I think I do,” he said with a laugh. “I’m turning around now.”
Lex should have held on to the towel rack because she hadn’t prepared herself for the complete view of his stark naked and very aroused, athletic body. Once again, she’d missed a tattoo on his right arm since she’d been so focused on his back. He also had a tattoo on his left pectoral muscle that flexed under her gaze. She wanted to run her tongue across the ink and pull one of his dark nipples in between her teeth. Her nipples began to harden at the thought. She didn’t want to be cliché and bite her fingers to keep from screaming, but she had to. Temptation was too high and the way he was looking at her gave her goose bumps. The body of a god. Muscles. Abs. Tats. White teeth. Dimples. Mohawk. Dark eyes.
“Damn,” she exhaled aloud as she closed the distance between them.
“You said the D word,” he said, taunting her. But that wasn’t the only curse word floating through her mind at the moment.
“Get in the water,” she told him as she pointed to the tub and clicked on the jets.
“Whatever you say, boss,” he said with a smirk. “You seem really dominatrix right now.”
She was feeling that way, too. But she was tired of talking. Tired of thinking. And quite frankly, she couldn’t think around Micah anyway, with him looking this scrumptious. He sat in the tub with his legs open wide, awaiting her body. She followed him into the tub, immediately getting on her knees the moment her body hit the water. Micah looked at her inquisitively, probably trying to figure out why she was kneeling in front of him. She was nervous to do what her mind was telling her she had to do, so she leaned in to place a seductive kiss on his lips before her hands trailed down his chest and landed on his thighs.
Red Velvet Kisses Page 14