Читать книгу Beautiful Surrender - Sherelle Green - Страница 14

Chapter 4

“Who the hell does he think he is?” she said through clenched teeth into the phone as she paced the hallway. “I don’t care how much money he wants to donate. He can’t blackmail me into working with him.”

“It’s hardly blackmail,” Lex said on the other line. “He presented Imani, Cyd and I with an actual contract that we had our lawyer review. He isn’t asking Elite Events for anything more than allowing Madden Incorporated to cosponsor the date auction and be notified of all the steps of the planning process.”

“Sounds like blackmail to me since I’m the main Elite Events founder planning this event,” Mya huffed.

“Mya, it’s not as bad as it sounds,” said another voice through the line. Mya looked questionably at her phone before bringing it back up to her ear.

“Imani, is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“And me,” Cyd chimed in.

Mya slowly closed her eyes and dropped her head to the floor. “Let me guess, all three of you are together.”

They didn’t have time to answer before she heard the soft cooing of baby DJ in the background that proved her point.

“No need to answer. You all knew I was getting together with Malik tonight anyway. Ugh, this is ridiculous. I was really looking forward to planning the date auction drama-free.”

“Malik is by far the least dramatic person I know,” Imani responded.

“So true,” Cyd agreed. “You’re way more dramatic than he is. Just look at how you’re reacting right now.”

“I’m not even going to respond to that,” Mya rebuked.

“No need. I know I’m right,” Cyd replied.

“Listen,” Mya said ready to start a debate. She was fed up with the entire situation.

Before she could begin, Lex cut her off. “Mya, it won’t be that bad. The bottom line is, Malik is cosponsoring the event and donating an extremely generous amount of money. If I know you, you probably didn’t even read the contract in detail since your first thought was to reject whatever it stated. He isn’t asking for a lot and he is nowhere near as demanding as Micah was when y’all signed off on that ridiculous contract he had drawn up for me last year.”

Mya smiled as she thought about the part she’d played in the contract Micah had presented to Lex last year when he needed Elite Events’ help planning an event.

The sound of the elevator ding distracted her from her call. “Hold on, guys,” she said into the phone before placing them on mute.

She followed the food courier who had walked into Micah’s office suite. “Hello, can I help you?”

“Sorry, someone was leaving so I came right up,” the young man said with a smile. “I have a food delivery for Malik Madden.”

Mya observed the restaurant icon on the brown paper bag and wondered if he’d purposely ordered food from one of her favorite Spanish restaurants. If he did, how did he even find out? “I can take it,” she stated as she took the bag. “Hold on while I get some money for your tip.”

“No need,” the courier stated. “It’s already been taken care of. Have a great day, miss.”

“You too,” she replied as he walked out the door.

She glanced at her phone and unclicked the hold button. “Hey,” she said into the phone. “Did any of you happen to give Malik a rundown of all my favorite restaurants?”

Of course, they all said no, but Mya didn’t know how much she believed them. She sighed into the phone. “Okay, I’m not done with you guys, but I want to speed up this meeting, so we’ll finish this conversation later.”

She hung up her phone and briefly contemplated taking the food, getting on the elevator and heading to her South Loop condo. But she knew that wasn’t possible. Not only was her bag still in the conference room with Malik, but she also didn’t want to be that rude.

Why is he being so persistent? she asked herself as she began walking back to the conference room. She should have known that helping Micah get closer to Lex would come back to bite her in the butt. After all, Malik and Micah were brothers, and although they were opposite in personality, they probably had a lot in common, like how they chose to pursue women they were interested in.

Mya stopped walking abruptly. Malik had only officially asked her on one date, so that didn’t necessarily mean he was looking for a relationship. He wants to get a rise out of you. That had to be it. Malik wanted to make her feel uncomfortable so she would give in and go out with him, which was absolutely out of the question.

She took a few more steps. But you’re attracted to him too, and it’s been a while since you’ve had sex with a man that fine. She stopped walking again, surprised at the direction of her thoughts. “This isn’t like me,” she mumbled under her breath as she continued her walk back to the conference room. She didn’t spend time agonizing over men and the tactics they used to try and get with her. She was too fierce for that. Too independent. She’d spent too much time trying to become the person she was today and had gone through too many misfortunes to let the likes of one man jeopardize her character. She could handle this. So what if you’re more attracted to him than you are most men. Who cares! She’d overcome a lot in her thirty years and she could definitely handle a man like Malik Madden.

When she opened the door to the conference room, Malik’s back was to her as he stared out the window. It was dark outside now, but the city always looked good at night. He was positioned towards a well-lit street and he didn’t appear to hear her enter. She took a brief moment to savor how good he looked from the back.

Even through his gray dress shirt, she noticed how broad and muscular his shoulders and arms were. He had unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled them to quarter length. His hands were in his pockets so his pants stretched slightly forward, accentuating his butt.

Standing there ogling him felt somewhat invasive, but she couldn’t help it. It was hard enough trying to not sneak glances at him when he was watching her, so it was even harder to tear her eyes away when he didn’t know she was watching.