Red Velvet Kisses. Sherelle Green

Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

       Chapter 15

       Chapter 16

       Chapter 17

       Chapter 18

       Chapter 19

       Chapter 20

       Epilogue

       Copyright

Prologue

      “To buy or not to buy,” Lexus Turner said to herself as she admired the pleated lilac babydoll in her hand. She’d been in Bare Sophistication lingerie boutique for over thirty minutes and had yet to find something sexy to purchase. Earlier that morning, she had listened to an audiobook of a female motivational speaker who stressed the importance of feeling and looking good. Lexus didn’t have a special someone in her life, but she was tired of the frumpy, yet comfortable, undies she often wore.

      Would this even cover anything? she thought to herself as she observed the uncomfortable-looking tiny silk thong that accompanied the babydoll. She then pulled out the silk G-string placed next to the thong. Now this I like. She may have been contradicting herself by disliking the thong yet liking the G-string, but to her there was a big difference. The couple times she’d worn a G-string, she felt as if she was wearing nothing at all. The one and only day she wore a thong, she’d felt as if something was stuck between her butt cheeks all day. That feeling had caused her to not-so-discreetly adjust herself by shaking her leg as she walked.

      She looked through the rack at the other lilac panty options. “Oh, now this is different,” she said as she held up a panty with a slit in the middle for easy access to her feminine treasures. She could only imagine all the naughty things one could do in a silky lace boyshort with a slit in the center of the panty. It was attached by intertwining ribbons on each side adding to her visual imagination.

      “Oh, yes, I love this,” she said aloud as she paired the silky lace boyshort with the pleated lilac babydoll. “Perfect match.”

      “I think you settled on a great set,” a deep voice said behind her. Startled, Lexus turned around quicker than anticipated, running right into the solid chest of the man with the low timbre voice. She jumped back from the intensity of the direct contact and misjudged her steps. The oversight of the large rack caused her to trip over her feet and sent her tumbling right into a pair of powerful bronzed arms.

      “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said as he helped her regain her balance.

      Lexus tried to speak, but she couldn’t formulate any words. Oh...my...goodness. The man looked tastier than the tiramisu she’d sampled earlier at a local coffee shop. His eyes were chestnut brown with gray specs sprinkled in the coloring. And from what she could tell by the outline of his clothes, he had the body of a god. She was pretty sure she was drooling, which probably didn’t look sexy at all.

      She tried to stop her eyes from looking him up and down in admiration, but she couldn’t help it. He was wearing jeans and a button-up with quarter-length sleeves. He looked slightly familiar and had the sexiest deep dimples she’d ever seen on a man. She couldn’t have met him before because she was sure she would have remembered a man this fine.

      “Do you need me to help you with that?” he asked.

      Lexus squinted her eyes together in confusion until she followed his gaze and noticed that all of the belongings from her purse had fallen out and were scattered across the floor.

      “Oh, crap,” she whispered as she bent down and began picking everything up. The man bent down to help her, and although Lexus wanted to tell him not to, she still couldn’t speak. She’d met attractive men before, but none had left her speechless.

      “You sure do have a lot of lipstick,” he said with a laugh as he handed her two of the six tubes that had fallen near his feet.

      Come on girl! Say something, Lex chanted in her head. Still nothing. Not a single word. Instead, she gave him a big smile and tried to make a sexy I love lipstick and look good in it sort of laugh, but it came off as an I have issues please don’t ask me any more questions type of laugh.

      Big fail. Why do I even try?

      “Would you like me to ring that up for you,” he asked as he picked up the lilac babydoll and boyshort that had fallen on the floor, as well. Lexus timidly nodded her head in agreement.

      Making her way to the counter, she admired his walk and the way his butt moved in his jeans. She looked down at her outfit, wishing she’d chosen to wear cute skinny jeans, a flattering top and stylish shoes rather than leggings, a simple T-shirt and gym shoes that needed a good cleaning. She’d just left a nearby workout facility so she was sure the once smooth edges of her hair were now in little curly cues. Her fellow cofounders at Elite Events Incorporated always told her to dress in sexier workout gear, but she never listened. I should have taken their advice. Or at least worn a headband.

      When they got to the register, he began ringing up her items. She noticed that his eyes lingered on the panties a little more than the babydoll. When he lifted his face back to her he seemed amused. She couldn’t tell if he wanted to flirt with her or laugh at her since it seemed she had no business buying such raunchy underwear. The fact that she couldn’t tell the difference from the expression on his face was even more unsettling.

      “You don’t talk much do you?” he asked her as he bagged her items.

      “Hahaha, um, yeah. Oh, boy do I.” Huh! What did she just say? The amused look on his face turned into a hearty laugh. Lexus only felt it fitting to awkwardly laugh along with him although she saw nothing funny about her current situation.

      “You’re adorable,” he said as he handed her the receipt. Adorable? Lexus thought as she raised an eyebrow at the man. She definitely didn’t want the hot guy thinking about her as adorable, cute or any other word best used to describe a bunny, not a woman he found attractive. She had to hightail it out of there before she embarrassed herself any further.

      Grabbing her bag, she flashed him a small smile before turning to the door. She arrived at the front entrance of the boutique just as a woman was entering. “Thanks so much, sweetie,” the woman said as she hastily made her way to the man that had helped her and gave him a tight hug. “You’re the best,” she continued as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

      Oh, well...you win some, you lose some. And there was no doubt in her mind that she wasn’t winning this man even before his girlfriend walked into the shop.

      When Lexus stepped outside, the hot August air did nothing to calm the inferno the man inside the shop had ignited within her. She hastily walked to the edge of the block before rounding the corner. Briefly stopping to lean on a nearby wall, she took a couple minutes to think about the recent course of events. The motivational audiobook she had studied said that she should take charge of her life and be aggressive. Well, she definitely hadn’t taken charge of that situation. And even though she didn’t have an aggressive bone in her body, she’d wished she had at least tried to be the aggressor back in the lingerie shop.

      “It doesn’t matter. He has a girlfriend anyway,” she reminded herself as she thought about the exchange between him and the woman who entered the store when she was leaving.

      Getting up from the wall, Lexus put her headphones back in and began listening to the motivational audiobook she’d downloaded through iTunes. She only had a couple