Page 2 of Mahogany 2
“Nothing. Pretend he’s not here and continue on with the meeting,” I interrupted, just as he walked in looking a hot ass mess. His eyes were red with bags underneath them as if he hadn’t slept all night. I could tell by the gray cast on his dark skin that he didn’t wash his face before he left the house neither. And his clothes? Baby, his clothes were a wrinkled mess as if he’d slept in them the night before.
He chucked his chin at Tami and addressed me. “Babe?—”
“Hi Duke,” I interrupted, steady wearing the smile. “I have a meeting in about,” Pausing, I nodded towards the doors at the group of men heading in our direction. Black men at that. “… thirty seconds. I’m sure you must’ve forgot, huh, babe?”
Duke glanced over his shoulder and ran a hand down the back of his neck. “My bad. You think you can push?—”
“Absolutely not, hun. I can’t push anything,” I said, forcing that smile again, heart racing, hoping Duke didn’t ruin today as much as he ruined yesterday. “Could you do me a favor and wait in the lounge while I handle this business, love?”
I was extra nice right? But anybody that knew about yesterday would be able to see that I was forcing it on purpose.Duke especially. I was never and had never been as… sweet as I was then.
Duke glanced over his shoulder again and took a deep breath just as the group of six walked through the door. “Babe.”
With my eyes locked on his, tears wetting the backs of them, I deepened my smile. “Ducati. Please… the visitors lounge. Help yourself to a few refreshments babe… okay? Please. Tam… could you show my husband to the refreshment room in case he’s forgotten how to find it?”
“Sure. Come on Duke,” said Tami, gesturing for Duke to come on. “I got us some of them good ol’ Dutch Girl Donuts. Mahogany said they were her favorite when she was little.”
As soon as they walked away, I took a deep breath and finally turned my attention to my guests. With a light gasp, I noticed him first.Judah Wolfe. When our eyes met, he paused a little in his stride and gave me a puzzled look. Instead of making it obvious that we were acquaintances, I smiled, lightly nodded and shifted my focus to the rest of the group.
Who I presumed to be Mr. Carter stepped forward and extended his hand for me to shake.
“Mrs. Mahogany Mills-Morris,” he greeted. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
I… again, I was shaken. A lot more than before because… what? I couldn’t move. Didn’t lift my hand to shake his neither. Just… stood there probably looking like a deer caught in headlights. I was good with faces, right. I mean, exceptionally good. But feelings? God, I could remember how a person made me feel forever. And he was heavy. Both dauntingly and alluring at once. Just like before, his presence commanded respect. Pulled my attention away from the other five men instantly. I—it was Armani suit. Except today, he was dressed in Tom Ford.
1
MAHOGANY
With a light smile,I finally shook his hand, after standing there for God knows how long. It took Tami clearing her throat for me to move. When our hands met, there were tingles. They felt the way those sparkling fireworks looked.Fizzly. Yeah… his touch wasfizzily. Our eyes met and I stayed there a minute. Felt safe too. Comfortable. A little too comfortable. For a split second it was almost as if we weren’t at Couture but at Pandora’s instead, standing at the bar. Not much had changed about him over the years. His beard was thicker, and he’d picked up a few more pounds. In all the right places though. Crescent was solid. I wondered how effortless it would be for him to carry me around a room, dick buried…
“It’s nice to finally meet you too,” I professionally responded, snapping out of my nasty thoughts, looking away. As comfortable as it was to stare into his beautiful browns, it doubled as intimidating. Turning, I introduced him to Tami who wore a grin so big that all four of her dimples were showing. “This is my assistant, Tamia.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Carter,” Tami said, shaking hands with him.
As real as Crescent’s hand felt in mine a minute ago, I wondered if I was imagining shit. It couldn’t be him. I had to be tripping. I was in such disbelief that I crossed my arms over my chest and pinched the inside of my arm. I could’ve been dreaming. Stress and fantasy could have pulled me so far from reality that dreams… they felt real. That happened before. Fantasy, blurring in with real life. Got so trapped in the fantasy of being loved properly that I psyched myself into believing I was actually getting that. Stress, coupled with fantasy and desperation could have created the illusion of him… right? Wrong. This was reality. It was actually him. In the flesh. Five years later, a day after my birthday.
God has a very dark sense of humor, doesn’t He? Crescent, Judah, and Duke.Allthree. The man I fucked, the man I wanted to fuck, and the man I married… in one fucking building. I needed to focus but my God that was hard as hell to do. Wouldn’t it have been for you?
Aside from a Tems track playing at a low level from the surround sound system, Couture was quiet. Usually, there would be laughter, phones ringing, chatter, regular office stuff but not today. Today it was eerily quiet, and it had nothing to do with it being a Saturday. I wasn’t the only one on pins and needles. The whole team was. I’d had five meetings about thisonemeeting specifically. The team knew what securing a contract as substantial as this one would do for their lives as well. I eat; we all eat.But I needed them to lighten up so instead of just introducing them to Tami, I introduced the rest of the team to them too.
Pivoting, I turned to lead them to the receptionist desk. The minute Claire noticed us coming, her cheeks turned beet red. With a smile, I raised my brows as a way to relax her. Her face softened and she smiled. She was comfortable as the minority atCouture, but us, plus six big black men heading her way? Yeah, I’d be nervous too.
After introducing everyone to Claire, I moved on to the rest of the team who met me with the same surprised look. Like I said, I wanted them comfortable. Not only because I felt a little bad about making everyone nervous about the meeting but because I had very high hopes and I wanted them to get used to this. Crescent Carter and his team. They were going to be seeing more of them.
“Nice to meet you all,” Armani su—Crescentsaid before pivoting to introduce me to his team. “Rahmir, Titan, Orion, Judah, and Bryce. Respectable men of Skylight Industries. We’ll go over titles after.”
After? After what? Was he already confirming what I’d been stressing over for the past two weeks?Locking eyes briefly, I gave him a light smile before turning my attention to the men he’d come with.
My eyes lingered longer on Judah, wondering if he had anything to do with this meeting. For some reason I wanted to curse him out. What the hell was he doing here? How was this even happening? It didn’t make any sense. But then again, shit, nothing in my life ever had. I had a baby at fifteen. Nothing in life ever went as planned for me. So, I honestly shouldn’t have been as shocked as I was. It was just… what type of coincidence?
Stepping forward, Judah extended his hand. The minute I grabbed it he slickly ran his thumb over the top of it and nodded.
“Nice to meet youMahogany,” he said, adding emphasis on my name.
I hadn’t seen Judah in months. The last time I saw him I was sitting at the bar, nursing a Manhattan, watching people fuck. He wanted me on all fours in his VIP suite, but at this point, I was done participating. Had only visited Pandora’s for a stiffdrink and to watch. When I told him I was done, he didn’t like it. Wanted to fuck me bad as hell.
Before I stopped participating at the club, Judah was my emergency dick. Who I looked for when there was nothing else appealing to take my frustrations out on. And taking my frustrations out on him was what I did. Ifuckedhim. After that initial timidness fell off, I gave him everything I gave Duke. Was a real freak. Let him fuck my face, let him nut all over me. Judah could do to me what other men in the club couldn’t. He got the whole Mocha experience. I sucked his dick like I loved him. Seduced him. Made him fall for the pussy so good that he wanted to hook up outside of the club.
