Red Velvet Kisses

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.”