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Chapter 2 (#ulink_19157008-46d3-5133-8a31-15372f78ec07)
“You have got to be kidding me,” Mya said loudly with both hands on her hips as she paced back and forth. “No offense, but you don’t exactly strike me as the type to host an event like this. I’m pretty sure hosting a retirement party is more your speed.”
Hosting a retirement party? He turned an eyebrow up at her as he listened to Mya’s voice bounce across the office walls. He had been in her office for ten minutes and Mya still seemed as irritated by the idea as she had when he had first delivered the news.
Malik would be the first to admit that he didn’t exactly go club hopping every weekend. But in all his almost thirty-four years he had never had a woman make assumptions about him like the ones that were spurting from Mya’s mouth. A mouth that he wasn’t sure needed taming with words or his lips. Since he was pretty sure she would slap him across the face if he dared to pull her into his arms and silence her with a breathtaking kiss, he figured words were his only ally.
“Hear me out,” he said, getting up from the sturdy chair. “I was surprised that the women wanted me to cohost too. But like it or not, we are in this together and I never break a commitment. Besides,” he continued as he stepped a little closer to her. “I happen to know a lot of professional singles in the Detroit area, as well as other Midwest cities, so we can use my connections to our advantage by pulling in as many influential people as possible.” Although he had been hesitant to accept at first, now that he was committed to hosting the event, he planned on doing a damn good job at it.
“Right. Because that makes all the difference,” Mya mumbled sarcastically as she finally stopped pacing. “Look, I know that you’re well connected. But this charity date auction is really important to me. You have to be personable and engaging. Yes, it’s great that you have connections, but...never mind.” Mya crossed her arms over her chest in slight irritation.
Malik gave her a stern look as he contemplated what he should say next. A part of him wanted to tell her to finish her statement. But he knew she’d only stopped herself because the words that had been on the tip of her tongue were unpleasant.
“Mya, I understand that this may not be the most ideal situation for you.”
“You think?” she said cutting him off.
“But like it or not, I’m your cohost,” he continued, ignoring her interjection.
Her arms remained crossed, but her facial expression softened.
“This is a huge commitment because the event is next month. You don’t even live in Chicago, so I assume you’re fine with traveling back and forth from Detroit in case you’re needed before the event. I have to be able to rely on you.”
Malik studied Mya’s expression and shook his head in disbelief. Responsible and dependable were two qualities often used to describe his character, yet Mya was treating him as if he wasn’t either. Granted, she didn’t know a lot about him, but he assumed with the mutual friends they shared, she knew enough.
“I’ve had an office in Chicago for years since I have so many clients in this city,” he said enjoying the surprised look on her face. “So I’m constantly commuting anyway. Trust me, I’m a man of my word.”
Mya squinted her eyes once more before the tension finally released from her face. She sat on the edge of her desk, her navy skirt rising ever so slowly up her luscious thighs. Smooth. Creamy. Kissable. In any other situation with an attractive woman, Malik would have kept his eyes positioned on the woman’s face. After all, he was a trained private investigator who usually portrayed patience and discipline.
But Mya wasn’t just any woman and after listening to the incorrect judgments she’d made about his character since he stepped into her office, he figured he was allowed to take a look at the sexy set of legs he’d love to see wrapped around his midsection.
When the room grew silent with awareness, Malik forced himself to tear his gaze away from her to peer at the clock on the wall.
“I have to get going, but I’m in town for the next few days. How about we meet up and discuss some of the details for the charity date auction over dinner. I want to make sure I’m giving you exactly want you need,” Malik said, purposefully implying a double meaning. She couldn’t mask the interest reflected in her eyes quickly enough, proving to Malik that she could feel their chemistry as well. But he also knew that she would refuse to entertain the idea unless he gave her a push in the right direction.
“I could pick you up around seven and we could head to that Spanish restaurant in the West Loop,” he continued. During Cyd and Shawn’s rehearsal dinner, he’d heard Mya mention to Lex that she had really been enjoying Spanish food lately. He wasn’t sure if that was still the case, but he hoped it was.
She tilted her head to the side and slightly squinted her eyes in observation. “Why can’t we just meet for lunch or meet here at the office?”
He sensed her hesitation, so he decided to adjust his tactic. “Tell you what,” he said crossing his arms over his chest. “If you want, we can meet at my office and I’ll order takeout. That way, you get to see my office and we won’t be alone because my assistant will still be there finalizing some paperwork for me.”
Her brow creased as she considered his suggestion. Malik forced himself to concentrate on her face and not the increased pace of her breathing that drew attention to the peaks of her breasts lightly covered in a white blouse. To him, meeting in his private office was much more intimate than meeting in a restaurant, but the choice was hers to make.
“So,” he said uncrossing his arms and placing his hands in the pockets of his sleek black slacks. “What will it be? The restaurant or my office?”
* * *
Mya met Malik’s stare, determined to give him her best poker face. She knew what he was doing. If she chose the restaurant, it would feel more like a date rather than a business dinner. If she chose his office, even with his assistant there, it would probably feel more intimate than the restaurant.
She gave him a quick glance over. There was no doubt that Malik’s good looks would garner more attention to the charity date auction. Especially when single hopefuls found out he would be cohosting. And she knew he really did have a lot of connections. The more people they had at the auction and the more prominent singles that agreed to be auctioned off, the better turnout they would have.
She didn’t need help with the planning portion because most of it was already under control. But she did need someone who was reliable and believed in the cause. She didn’t doubt that Malik had the best intentions, but she had hoped he would back out when he realized she didn’t want to work with him. Instead, it only made him try harder.
She had to give him points for his patience. The past few minutes, he had been silently awaiting her answer and she hadn’t done much talking after her rant about him cohosting.
She took a deep breath and thought about her choices once more. Standing before her in that sexy suit and those glasses, he reminded her of Tyson Beckford on this reality show she’d watched a few weeks ago, and it wasn’t making her decision to constantly reject him an easy one.
“Okay,” she said as she stood from her desk. She slightly smiled to herself over the fact that he was trying his best not to look at her legs and thighs as she did so. Her heels gave her an extra three inches, but at about six feet tall he still towered over her five-foot-three-inch frame. “How about you give me the address to your office and I’ll meet you there on Thursday.”
His lips curled into a slow smile. “Sounds like a plan. As promised, I’ll order dinner while we work. I’ll stick with Spanish if that’s okay with you.”
“Spanish is fine,” she replied, moving behind her metal and glass desk. She pulled a business card from the desk holder and jotted down her personal cell number on the back. “If you don’t already have it, here’s my contact information in case anything changes with your schedule.”
“No, I didn’t have it. Thank you, but I doubt anything will change,” he said with confidence as he took the card from her before slipping his own business card out of his pants pocket. “Here is the address to my Chicago office,” he said, jotting down the information on the back of the card. Just as she’d carefully given her card to him, she was cautious to accept his card without their hands touching.
“This is the address,” she stated as she read the details he’d written on the back of the card since the front had his Detroit information. “It’s only a few minutes away from here and right down the street from Micah and Shawn’s office.”
He gave her a small grin before responding. “It’s definitely the right address. I was the one who told Micah and Shawn about the River North vacancy. But I wasn’t aware that the Elite Events office was this close until today.”
“Then I guess it’s just my luck that you’re so close to my office,” she said sarcastically.
“Do you ever think about the things you say before you say them?”
She smiled pretentiously. “Of course I do. Some people just take what I say the wrong way.” Mya was a straight shooter and she’d rather be blunt and honest with people than passive and misleading.
“If you say so,” Malik said with a slight laugh. “But something tells me you’ve been asked that before.”
She shrugged her shoulders and pretended to tidy a few unruly papers on her desk. He was right. She had been asked that question before. But she wouldn’t dare tell him that. He already seemed to pick up on more of her personality traits than any man she’d met before.
She was still fumbling with the papers when she chanced a look in his direction. As she’d predicted, his eyes were still locked on her. But it wasn’t the look in his eyes that was unnerving her at the moment. It was the slow curl of his lips when he caught her attention.
Oh lord, what is he thinking? Mya wasn’t the type to ever put much effort forth into trying to figure out what a man was thinking. But she also never really cared since for the most part, men were always really easy for her to read.
In her experience, there were two thoughts that men always had on their mind regardless of the conversation or situation. The most obvious thought was always how soon they could get laid, and the less recognizable thought that was still true of most men, was the process of trying to remember everything about you so they could masturbate later to the vision of having sex with you.
Both thoughts had been proven true on more than one occasion. Men dreamed of situations with women they knew would never happen in real life. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop some men from trying to pursue the object of their desire any chance they got. She had no doubt that Malik wanted to sleep with her since they had obvious chemistry. She could admit that the thought of sleeping with him had crossed her mind more than once, but Malik wasn’t like most men. He kept his thoughts more guarded. And the reason she assumed they always got caught staring at one another was because neither one of them could ever really tell what the other was thinking.
Malik was very respectable and while they had only had a couple conversations, it hadn’t felt forced like other men she’d been in contact with. But what annoyed Mya about Malik wasn’t that she put him in the same category as most men...it was the fact that she didn’t.
That smile, that side smirk that he did all too well, had a lot of meaning behind it. From what she’d observed, Malik was safe. Predictable. Played by the rules. However, when he gave her that smirk, she wasn’t quite sure he was as harmless as she assumed he was.
Breaking their trance, Malik glanced at his black metal watch and informed her that he had to get going. As he made his way to her office door, Mya stood to see him out, careful not to get too close to him.
When he reached the door, he slightly glanced over his shoulder, catching Mya off guard. “I look forward to our meeting on Thursday,” he said as he studied her eyes once more, and shut the door.
As the door closed behind him, Mya placed her hand on her stomach and swished a light breath into the air. She remembered in a business class she had taken in college, her professor had stated that it was beneficial to study the competition and familiarize yourself with their strengths, weaknesses, and their sales and marketing tactics so that you could develop a strategic plan to win over a client or business.
Mya knew this wasn’t exactly the same situation, but it sure as hell felt like it. Malik was up to something and she knew it had to do with her. She really didn’t have any time to focus on avoiding a man’s advances and a couple months ago, she thought she had succeeded in figuring out the type of man he was. But today had been an eye-opener. Although she had thought she had made herself clear in Anguilla that she had no interest in going out with him, it was obvious that Malik Madden could not be underestimated.
Chapter 3 (#ulink_b4c814d4-d431-51d2-a939-f76ff8887db0)
Malik glanced around the small conference room, glad that Mona, his office manager, had cleared out the boxes that had originally been stored in the room.
“Do you need me to do anything else?” Mona asked.
“No, that’s all for today,” Malik responded as he opened the blinds to allow sunlight to seep into the room before the sun set.
“Great,” Mona replied. “I placed an order for the food to arrive around 8:00 p.m. As promised, I’ll leave now, so you can have the office to yourself. Good luck with your meeting.”
“Thanks, Mona.” The minute Mya had agreed to meet him at his office he had decided that he would release Mona a little early that day. He figured Mya wouldn’t like that they were alone, but he definitely preferred it that way.
Malik checked the clock on the cream-colored wall before heading back to his office. She should be here soon. He had a feeling she was a stickler for being on time after the speech she had given him the other day about being reliable.
When he arrived to his office, he glanced around at the decor he had added to the walls. Abstract paintings created by his younger brother Malakai now decorated the once-bland space. He’d also replaced his furniture with more contemporary office furnishings. With the help of Mona, his Chicago office was finally starting to look like a place where he actually spent time.
The loud sound of the buzzer interrupted his perusal of the office.
“Madden Incorporated,” Malik said into the speaker.
“Hi, Malik. It’s Mya.”
“I’ll buzz you up.” As he pressed the buzzer to let her into his second floor office, he took note of the way she had said his name. He enjoyed listening to the way his name rolled off her tongue, but the way she said it sounded too formal. This might be a professional meeting, but Malik preferred her to sound a little more relaxed.
At the light ding of the elevator, he opened the door to his office suite just as she was stepping into the hallway. She had worn a similar skirt to when he had seen her a couple days ago, but this one was beige and she wore it with a russet-colored blouse. The colors really brought out the golden highlights in her wavy brown hair that he hadn’t really noticed before.
“You look great,” he said. She gave him a quick up and down glance before replying, “Thanks, so do you.”
Malik had chosen to get rid of his tie and had unbuttoned the first few buttons of his light gray dress shirt that he’d paired with dark gray slacks.
“Thanks. If you’ll follow me to the conference room, we can begin discussing business.” Mya followed behind Malik and he could feel her eyes glued to the back of his head.
“You must be in Chicago quite a bit,” she said as they passed Mona’s desk.
“Not really,” he replied as he held open the conference room door for her to enter. She placed her bag and purse in a nearby chair and sat down at the table, observing the art on the wall. “Since I’ll be cohosting the auction and I currently have more clients in Illinois than Michigan, I figured I would work out of Chicago for a while.”
Mya’s head whipped towards Malik just as he took a seat across the table from her.
“You’re staying in Chicago?” she asked.
“Yes, I am. I figured it would be easier than all the traveling. But once a week, I’ll still take a drive to my office in Detroit. I have an office manager and three interns there, so my office is in good hands.”
Mya stared at him for a while and didn’t say anything. He imagined that she was still trying to accept the fact that he would be residing in her city for a while.
She cleared her throat and nervously brushed her fingers through her hair before leaning back in the swivel chair. The act was done subconsciously, which made her look even sexier to Malik. She had a good poker face. He’d give her that. But he was paid to see beneath the surface and study a person’s actions. He wondered if Mya knew that her actions were proving just how nervous she was.
“So,” she said, recovering from his statement. “You said your assistant would be here too. Did she step out for a minute?”
“Actually, I told her she could go home early, so it’s just the two of us,” he responded.
“Oh, I see,” she said, her brown eyes growing slightly bigger before returning to their normal size.
He was sure she didn’t see the big picture. Not fully anyway. Malik was a careful thinker. He was the type of person who could develop a plan that would take years to execute. And he would maintain his patience until every task of the plan had been completed.
“Where will you stay?” she asked.
“I own an apartment complex in Hyde Park. I have tenants in all units except the penthouse, so I will reside there while I’m in Chicago.”
“Nice,” she said as she began removing items from her bag. “Did you decide how long you will stay?”
I’m sure much longer than you’d like. “Probably at least until the auction. After that, I’ll play it by ear.”
Malik stood up and walked to the corner of the conference room where the Keurig was placed. “Would you like some coffee?”
“I don’t drink coffee,” she stated as she jotted something down in her notepad. “But tea would be great if you have it.”
“Yes, I do,” he said as he placed the sugar holder and stirrers on the conference table. “So, how about you tell me the overall goal of the fundraiser.”
“Sure,” she said as she crossed one leg over the other. It took all Malik’s strength not to drop his eyes to her legs. He distracted himself with making his coffee and her tea instead.
“At Elite Events, there are a variety of organizations and events that we sponsor. One of my most cherished sponsorships is the work we do with Chicago after-school programs. There are two programs in particular that we donate a hefty amount of money to annually. But a few months ago we learned that our efforts to save those programs weren’t effective, and they will have to permanently close before the start of school.”
“That’s unfortunate,” Malik responded as he placed the hot drinks on the conference table.
“Exactly,” Mya stated. “After talking with my partners, we’ve decided to open our own after-school program. The employees who currently work in the programs that are closing have agreed to transition to our program since they will be out of jobs soon. It will take a lot of hard work to make everything happen in a little over three months, but we have a lot of support, so I think we can do it. I’ll also be spending one or two days a week as needed working in the office of the after-school program instead of the Elite Events office.”
“Wow,” Malik stated as he absorbed everything Mya had said. “I admire your dedication, it will really make a difference in the community.”
She smiled before she slid a piece of paper across the desk. “Thanks. I just hope we can help the students that benefit from the programs that are closing and also bring awareness to those who don’t follow what goes on in the education system. We can’t fund the entire program and keep it running without the help of the community, that’s why we are having the charity date auction next month.”
“I’d say you’re well on your way and I like the idea of a date auction to raise money. June is a good month to have a singles event because people probably spent last fall, winter and spring preparing mentally and physically for the hot weather.”
“Exactly,” Mya said nodding her head in agreement. “You know the streets overflow with people as soon as the weather gets above fifty degrees. And it will take place right after school ends.”
“So,” Malik said as he stirred around the sugar and hazelnut cream he’d poured into his coffee. “What help do you need from me?”
“Well, that piece of paper details everything,” she replied as she pointed to the paper she had slid across the table. “It’s a tentative schedule of all deadlines including dates for auditions to see what singles we want to auction off and many other details. My partners and I have settled on auctioning off twenty singles...ten women and ten men. Of the twenty participants, I want at least half to be business professionals or well known individuals in the Midwest states to up the ante and get singles more excited at the possibility of going out with a local celebrity. I already have two business women and two Chicago athletes who have agreed, so I’m looking for about six more.”
“I can definitely reach out to a few people as well,” Malik added.
“Great! We may charge a small fee to enter the auction and since we’re event planners, we will plan dates for a few lucky couples in the audience.”
“How would that work?” Malik asked.
“Two weeks before the auction, we will email a questionnaire for everyone to fill out. Anyone interested in winning a date will only have forty-eight hours to fill out the form and return it to us. Then we will shuffle through the data and match at least six singles. We will announce the matches at the auction.”
“It looks like you and your partners even have the media plan for the event taken care of,” Malik said as he skimmed the sheet of paper.
“We do,” Mya said as she nodded her head. “Which is why I knew we didn’t really have to meet tonight to discuss anything further. I will let you know when I need you.”
