Red Velvet Kisses. Sherelle Green

halfway.

      “Lex! Great, you’re finally here,” Cyd said as she led her through the hall to the back of the floor where the conference rooms were located.

      “Why the rush, Cyd?” she asked with a smile as her warm brown curls bounced around her shoulders.

      “Well, we need to decide who will lead a 35th anniversary party that Micah Madden wants to have for his parents. He has a meeting down the street so he dropped by the office a few minutes ago. Mya told him we could all meet with him before he leaves for his own meeting,” Cyd explained.

      The smile fell from Lex’s smooth caramel face the instant she heard that Micah was in the office.

      “Judging by the look on your face, that’s exactly how I thought you would feel,” Cyd said with a giggle. “That’s why I came out of the room to warn you.”

      Three months ago Shawn proposed to Cyd and she happily accepted. The two were getting married next summer and Lex and Micah were both in the wedding party. Unfortunately for Lex, that meant she would be seeing a lot more of Micah as the wedding grew closer.

      “A meeting? How convenient. Seriously, Cyd, I don’t even understand why he has to plan a 35th anniversary party for his parents anyway. Why not plan a 40th anniversary party like any other normal person.”

      “Actually, the percentage rate for people who have 35th anniversary parties is very high and increasing every year,” Micah said, standing behind Lex and Cyd. “My parents have never had a grand anniversary party so I think it’s long overdue.”

      Crap, what are the odds, Lex thought to herself as she dropped her head to the floor. Of course he’s standing right behind me. The man always had a way of sneaking up on her.

      “I wasn’t trying to sneak up on you,” Micah stated, sensing her thoughts. “I had to step into the hallway to take an important phone call.”

      Lex recovered from her embarrassment and lifted her head before turning around to face Micah.

      “Hello, Lexus Turner,” Micah said as he extended his hand to greet her. There he was...in the flesh. The one man she wished didn’t occupy so many of her thoughts. Most people called her Lex instead of Lexus, but her full name rolled off his tongue as if he said her name every day. Better yet, by the deepness in his voice, you’d think he said her name every night.

      “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