Page 68 of Mahogany 2
“I’m not….” She paused and sighed. “I’m not running. I’m—I have to… I’m married. Let me be married.”
In other words, she wanted me to let her go. Let go of whatever attraction I had to her so she could be married to a nigga she didn’t really, truly want to be married to. Letting her should’ve been easy right? Accepting the transfer. Shit should have been a piece of cake but oddly, it wasn’t. I was fascinated by Mahogany. By her coyness. Her confidence. Her smile. Her attention to detail. Just her in general. But holding on to a married woman, if she was happy or not, didn’t make sense.
I let her go. Respected her boundaries because one, I didn’t have a choice and two… I knew it wasn’t the end for us. I’d have to see her in passing. She was the owner of Couture—of courseI’d see her again. Question was, when we did see each other would she be able to resist what I couldn’t? Wanting more time. Needing more time? Needing an interaction?Something.
“Let you be married,” I repeated. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah… okay,” I said, taking a step away from her. “It’s cool. I’ll work with Shardae. Hopefully she’s a good fit. If not…”
“If not what? You’re threatening to end the contract?”
I adjusted my cufflinks, looked up at her, smiled, and shook my head. “This is business, baby.”
She squinted at me, and the fire that laid behind those pretty little brown eyes from before, reignited. “Seriously?”
“Is it not?”
I liked Mahogany. I liked her a lot. And while my attraction for her was potent, my love for The House of Nova Ray triumphed all of that shit. I was serious. Serious about the project, serious about Shardae being a good fit. I would behave. Would do whatever and play all of the silly little games Mahogany wanted to play. But if Shardae didn’t live up to my expectations, I would be complaining, and if Mahogany didn’t do what Mahogany was supposed to do as a business owner, I would be severing ties. All of them. And that had absolutely nothing to do with her wanting space. It was business. Simple as that.
16
MAHOGANY
With my armscrossed over my chest, I watched as Crescent headed out of my office. I wanted to curse him out, but I said nothing because hello… I didn’t have the right to. I transferred The House of Nova Ray over to Shardae, a lead designer at Couture. I had to. I said I would, and I did just that. There was no way around it. I literally could not work with the man. The few short minutes we just spent together were heavy. Could you imagine how heavy a full meeting would be? After what we’d done, we’d probably get nothing done. I for sure wouldn’t be able to focus. I would be thinking too much about fucking. Thinking too much about the last time he was between my legs. Wanting more of that instead of wanting to finish the project. I didn’t work distracted and that’s exactly what I’d been doing with Crescent.
“Have a good day, Mahogany,” Crescent said, heading for the door, getting ready to leave.
Usually, I walked my clients down. But Crescent was no normal client and things were… awkward. So, I just stood there, nodded, and wished him a good day too. I was in my feelings. In my feelings because he’d just threatened to severties with Couture if things didn’t go well with Shardae. I mean, of course he said that. What respectable businessman would continue to work with a company if they weren’t living up to his expectations? But something told me he’d try to pull some bullshit. Something in my spirit said Crescent was so mad that he’d jeopardize our contract just because he couldn’t get what he wanted. And that would be completely unethical and unfair.
My anxiety began to rise, as I thought about how bad things could go because of the decisions I made, and I felt sick to my stomach. I should have put Shardae onto The House of Nova Ray the minute he requested me personally. I knew I wouldn’t have been able to work with him. I knew it was a risk. I could have stopped this from happening a long time ago. But I couldn’t help it. Found myself drawn to him like a moth to a flame, wanting to be engulfed in his energy. It was intoxicating, remember? Felt so good to be near him. Felt so… right. But it was wrong. Despite how right it felt.
Crescent paused a bit and looked over at me as if he wanted to say something. Except, he didn’t. Instead, he shook his head and turned to walk out of the room. When he did, he nearly collided with Duke. What the hell washedoing here?
“Ahh shit, my bad G,” Crescent apologized.
I swallowed and my anxiety immediately started to act up again. Wha—what was Duke doing here? I was so caught off guard that I paid very little attention to the bouquet of roses in his hand. He’d been very thoughtful lately. Had just given me a bouquet the other day after therapy. Now another one? I should have been appreciative, but I felt guilty and undeserving. Especially now, with Crescent smiling in his face, as if he hadn’t damn near eaten my pussy off the bone with the same lips.
“You good bro,” Duke said, before extending his hand to him. “Ducati.” Looking over at me he smiled and said, “Mahogany’s husband.”
Crescent looked over at me, smiled, shook hands with Duke, and said, “Crescent. Your wife does exceptional work. She’s phenomenal. It’s been a pleasure working with her.”
“Ahh,” Duke said with a nod. “Crescent of Skylight Industries? You’re her new client right? The person that’s been keeping my baby busy as hell.”
Crescent lightly laughed and said, “Hell yeah,” He paused. “That would be me.”
Because I didn’t like his tone of voice or the direction the conversation was going in, I inserted myself by joining them at the door. Turning to face Duke, I gave him a smile, and locked eyes with him.
“What are you doing here, bae?” I asked as we embraced.
Bae. I barely used terms of endearment with Duke but because I felt like Crescent was trying to be a little funny, I threw it in there. Just because I needed him to see that things weren’t as bad as he thought. I mean…yeah… he might’ve been right. But so?
Duke leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. Crescent cleared his throat.
“Y’all have a good day, alright? Mahogany… we’ll be in touch,” Crescent said, as if I hadn’t already transferred him over to Shar.
“You too, Mr. Carter. Don’t forget to check your email. Shardae’s contact information should be in it.”
