“Come on, now, I know your work, and that was a great way to get some buzz going about the future boutique hotels and his partnership with the Atlanta University Center. It’s as if you guys have hit the ground running. How are you going to celebrate later?”
Alicia sighed. Whatever got Richmond on TV today, she didn’t have anything to do with it. “That’s odd,” she began. “Richmond told me that he wasn’t ready to get in front of the media. Do you know how hard it was to convince him to let me set up an interview with Atlanta Scene?”
“I wonder what changed his mind?” Jade asked. “He looked really comfortable on screen though. Dionne was standing by his side, looking as if she’d found her next meal. I figured that you’d come up with—”
“Wait, he was with Dionne? That’s just stupid! I told him we can’t depend on one sex-crazed politician to make this project work. I hate it when people don’t listen to me.”
“Oh. Kay. What’s really going on?”
Alicia groaned. “While I’m sitting up here having the worst day of my career, Richmond is on CNN. That’s crazy to me and . . . Forget it. I just have to get some other clients who will actually show up for meetings and follow my advice. I have to go.” When she hung up the phone, Alicia downed her milkshake and decided that she was going to confront Richmond about his little media appearance.
But not until she finished her hot dog.
* * *
Richmond was livid. He was beyond pissed at Dionne and himself. First of all, she didn’t tell him that the restaurant opening was going to be covered by so many media outlets. Then there was the reporter from CNN who used to work in New York, who recognized Richmond. Savannah Idina wasn’t a fan of Solomon, because he’d slept with her once and never called back. Then, when he married Kandace and Savannah brought a camera to the wedding after Solomon had banned media, she had a vendetta against the Crawfords. Richmond was surprised that she had been fair with him and asked about why he was in Atlanta.
Still, after the cameras were gone, he’d turned to Dionne with anger in his eyes. “What the hell was that all about?”
“It was supposed to be about the restaurant. I wasn’t aware of your own celebrity. I hope you plan to put one of these restaurants in your hotel.” Her smile reminded him of a snake.
“That’s why you wanted me here?”
“No, I wanted . . . Look, you got a lot of free publicity and you could thank me.”
Richmond folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t even have a location for my hotel and you have me on TV talking about it as if it is a done deal.”
She’d smiled and folded her arms across her breasts. “It can be if you decide to build in my district. I can make things so simple for you, or I can make things a little tough. Let me know how you want to go with this.”
Richmond shook his head and smirked. “You’re slick, just like every other politician I’ve ever met. Good job for getting me out here to bring more attention to this restaurant.”
“Honey, I don’t need you. You need me. That girl, Savannah, doesn’t like you or anything you do that doesn’t jive with Atlanta’s qualities. She is going to fry you like crispy chicken.”
“And, of course, you’re going to be her source? What’s your game plan?”
She smiled, looking sweet, but Richmond knew better. “I want your hotels in my district. It’s going to lead to a lot of other developments that will make me look like a great woman to be the next mayor of Atlanta.”
“A quid pro quo? Being that I haven’t found a site for my hotel, you had a chance to get everything you wanted. But I don’t take to blackmail.”
“You’re not going to get anywhere without my help.”
Richmond winked at her. “We’ll see. Enjoy talking to your people. I’m going back to my office.”
She stepped closer to him and brought her lips to his ear. “You don’t want to make an enemy of me. I’m the honey you can use to catch all the flies you need to get everything put together to build your hotel.”
Turning to her, Richmond ran his index finger down her cheek. “I’d rather eat fifteen hot dogs with coleslaw than deal with you on any level. Have a good day, Councilwoman.” He turned away from her and hit the Uber app on his phone so that he could get back to his office building.
When Richmond arrived at his office, his anger had subsided somewhat. But he wasn’t going to forget Dionne’s betrayal. Maybe he should’ve listened to Alicia about Dionne. Richmond knew it wouldn’t be long before Savannah started digging around into the real reason he was in Atlanta. She’d be too happy to cover all of the controversy surrounding his family, from his messy divorce to his paternity.
What if she wasn’t over her hate for the Crawfords and was just setting him up to be humiliated later? He knew that Vivian would be happy to share all the negative stories she could come up with to anyone who would listen. Savannah would be happy to lend an ear.
How in the hell was he going to fix this issue?
“Well, well,” Alicia said as Richmond walked into the office complex. “I guess you changed your mind about the media attention. Would’ve been nice to know what you had planned today.”
“I didn’t have anything planned today except a tour with Dionne. She set me up,” he said as he unlocked his office door. Richmond noticed the note Alicia had left for him. “Coleslaw, huh?”
“That’s not important. We have to talk about this CNN buzz and the fact that you haven’t started any construction on the hotel. Why didn’t you let Dionne do her thing and just smile like a pretty boy?” She folded her arms across her chest. “How am I going to help you market what you’re doing if I don’t know what you’re doing? I thought this was one of the reasons that you needed me to work with you.”
“Calm down. I made a mistake, but I won’t do that again.”
“And how does Dionne feel about that?”
“Want a drink?” He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of scotch. “This has been a hell of a Monday.”
“I told you to watch her, but most men don’t listen when it comes to a big butt and a smile.”
He pushed a shot glass of scotch toward Alicia. She glanced at the glass but didn’t pick it up immediately. “The whole damn world saw you. What do you think Solomon is going to think?”
Richmond downed his shot of scotch. “Who cares? This is my project. And maybe I started a buzz that we can ride.” Why did he say ride? Giving Alicia a slow once-over, he wondered how it would feel to have Alicia riding him and making him call out her name. Those thighs wrapped around him would give him pleasure beyond belief. Would he ever be about to find out?
“Hello?” she snapped.
“What?”
“I said, we should start a social media campaign to capitalize on what you’ve started today. We can create an Instagram account to show the city guy in Atlanta. And we can chronicle the building of the hotel.”
“That sounds like a great idea. I just want to make sure that we’re not going to get a lot of comments on pictures that don’t have anything to do with the hotel and—”
“You can’t control what people post on social media. But we have to make sure that people are interactive with what we post and are ready to come and see as well as stay in our hotel.” Alicia picked up her glass of scotch and took a sip.
“You said our hotel.”
“Well, if I’m working in marketing with you, it is ours. And this scotch is amazingly smooth.”
“I keep good liquor for situations just like this,” he said, then offered her a seat. “How did your day go?”
“Let’s just say that the best thing that happened to me today was having lox and bagels for breakfast.”
“Then we should have a great dinner to make up for the day we’ve had.”
Alicia smiled and nodded. “I know the perfect place. We can—”
“Go to my place. I don’t want to see another person for at least eighteen hours.”
She nodded. “That sounds like a great plan. How about we raid your wine cellar too?”
“I still have a bottle of merlot that we need to share. Just no coleslaw.”
* * *
Vivian gritted her teeth as she watched Richmond grinning on the TV screen. Who in the hell did he think he was? I guess he’s in Atlanta trying to pretend that he’s important. And that must be his new woman. Who does he think he is—Solomon?
She shut the TV off and decided that she wasn’t going to let this stand. If he thought he was going to be this new and improved man while she struggled in New York, he had another think coming. Pulling out her iPad, she opened her airline app and booked a flight to Atlanta. She needed to let Richmond know that she wasn’t going to sit by while he made a new life and left her penniless.
Granted, Vivian could’ve lived comfortably off her divorce settlement. But what about the trips and all the shopping that she had grown accustomed to? Maybe Gisselle was right, she should’ve given Richmond that baby that he’d always whined about.
She couldn’t imagine being a mother. Especially a mother to Richmond’s child, and he probably would’ve fought her on the divorce and tried to make them work things out. That last night she’d been with Richmond, Vivian knew that she couldn’t live the lie of being his wife anymore.
She’d married him because when they met in college, he was from an elite family. While Vivian was smart, she was lazy and didn’t want to work for riches. She was too short to be a supermodel and couldn’t sing to save her life. When her mother had told her not to leave college without her MRS, she’d taken that statement to heart.
And Richmond had been a boring but rich man she knew she could hook with a baby story. Her plan had worked, but she had no idea that she’d waste so much of her life as a fake Crawford wife. The moment she met Solomon and saw how much he and Richmond didn’t get along, she’d hoped to have an affair with her brother-in-law and use it to hold over Solomon’s head. But Solomon hadn’t liked her from the first day that they’d met. For a while, that worked in her favor because Richmond and Solomon didn’t get along. But after the truth about Elliot and his other son came out, Richmond acted as if he wanted a real marriage—something they never had. Vivian figured that he had a little something on the side, as she did.
How could he love her when she hadn’t shown him any love since they were college students? Vivian found out that Richmond was crazy enough to believe that they could revive a marriage that was never real, and have a future.
She wanted a check. Not a husband. And if Richmond wanted to be a hot shot in Atlanta, he would give her the money she wanted so that she could walk away.
* * *
Monday was starting to turn around for Alicia. She had two new clients call her before the end of the day to sign on to her company. It was a win for her, and just as she was about to get up and do her happy dance, there was a knock at her door.
“Come in,” she said.
Richmond walked in with a smile on his face. “Are you ready to put a period on this day and get out of here?”
She glanced at her watch. “You might want to wait about forty-five minutes before you leave. Traffic is going to be hell right now.”
Richmond looked around her office suite. “It looks nice in here,” he said.
“It should. I worked hard to make this happen.”
“Those guys didn’t put your furniture together?”
Alicia shook her head. “It’s a good thing that I’m handy with a screwdriver.”
“Had I been here, I would’ve been happy to help you. There’s no way that you should’ve worked in here with just a screwdriver.”
Alicia rose to her feet and crossed over to the refrigerator in the corner. Pulling out two bottles of water, she passed one to Richmond. “You know what they say, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself.”
“Is that so?” he asked as he closed the space between them and wrapped his arms around her waist. “There’s something I want to do.”
Before she could ask what, Richmond captured her mouth in a slow kiss. Her body melted against his and he hardened instantly. In that moment, he’d never wanted anyone more than he wanted Alicia Michaels. He wanted to bury himself deep inside her and let the world disappear.
She pressed her hand against his chest, breaking their kiss. “I-I thought we had an understanding.”
“I thought that was only during office hours.”
“Richmond,” she breathed.
He pulled her closer. “What?”
“We’re playing with fire and I don’t like to get burned.”
He nodded. “Trust me, we’re not going to get burned and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
“I’m not trying to mix business and pleasure,” she said as she took a step back. “You made it pretty obvious today that you don’t pay attention to my suggestions.”
“Let me make it up to you,” he said, then scooped her up in his arms. He set her on the edge of her desk, then lifted the hem of her dress up to her waist. She didn’t get a chance to protest or tell him that they should be focused on business. In a quick motion, he was down on his knees with his face buried between her thighs. The heat of his breath against the crotch of her panties made her weak.
Pulling her panties to the side, Richmond licked her wetness as if it was the most delectable treat he’d ever tasted. Alicia’s moans filled the air like the notes of Miles Davis’s trumpet. Loud. Passionate. Thrilling. She urged him to go deeper as she arched her hips into his lips.
Her desire poured down on him like rain as he licked, sucked and kissed her most sensitive spot. “Yes,” she cried as his tongue dove deeper into her wetness. “Richmond! Richmond!”
As her body began to shake, he pulled back and admired the look of bliss on her face. “Delicious,” he said, then licked his lips.
Alicia shook her head as she sat up. “We really shouldn’t have done that.”
He placed a finger to her lips. “Don’t do that. We enjoyed what just happened and recognize that you needed it.” She raised her right eyebrow at him. Richmond continued. “Oh, yeah, and I needed to know that you’re just as sweet as I dreamed that you were.” Removing his finger from her lips, he gave her a slow kiss.
Alicia wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Richmond felt good, and had made her feel even better with his magical mouth. She was glad that she had put her desk together properly, because the way he had her bucking and dancing could’ve toppled the ebony desk.
“What happens next?” she asked when they broke the kiss. “We still have to—”
“Have dinner, though I know what I’d like to eat more of,” he said with a saucy wink.
She shook her head as she adjusted her clothes. “Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter 11
Following Richmond to his house, all Alicia could think about were the waves of pleasure that had rippled through her body while he’d been buried between her legs. How was she going to sit in his house, eat dinner, and keep her thighs together?
I got this, she thought as they pulled into the driveway. Getting out of the car, she looked up at the house and smiled.
“This traffic is something else, morning and afternoon,” Richmond said as they headed up the front steps.
“You’ll get used to it, eventually.”
“Or I will start taking MARTA.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Did you take public transportation in New York?”
“Nope, but I had a driver.”
“So spoiled. How are you ever going to survive down here without a driver?”
“As long as I got you around, I guess I will survive. What do you have a taste for?” Richmond unlocked the door and ushered Alicia inside.
Giving him a slow once-over, she had so many ideas. She wanted his hands all over her body as she tasted his lips again. Wanted him deep inside her, thrusting back and forth until she screa
med his name.
“Alicia?” he asked.
“What were you planning on ordering?”
He snorted and shook his head. “We’re cooking. I mean, you own a restaurant, you have to be amazing in the kitchen.”
Alicia laughed, nearly buckling over. “Absolutely not. Now, I can probably help with some prep work. None of us can cook. That’s why we had Devon in our lives for so long. As much as we wanted to hate him because of what he did to Kandace, the brother could cook. And she even forgave him over a slice of chocolate cake.”
“I wonder if Solomon knows the way to his wife’s heart is chocolate cake? What’s your must-have meal?”
She shrugged. “I just like savory things. Which is why the lox was delicious to me this morning. But let’s see what you do with this dinner tonight before I answer that.”
“Don’t expect any hot dogs and coleslaw.”
“Good thing I had that for lunch.” Alicia was surprised to see that Richmond had gotten furniture in the house. “That was quick.”
“Well, I couldn’t just hang out in the bedroom. And someone told me I needed to get ready to show off my home in a magazine.”
Alicia sucked her teeth. “Well, you’ve already shown off on TV.”
Richmond groaned as he walked into the kitchen. “Your girl set me up. Dionne’s a slick politician who wants a bigger stage.”
“And I thought she was just a . . .” Alicia let her crude comment drop. “So, what happened?”
Richmond told her how Dionne had called him and asked him to go to the ribbon cutting for the restaurant. He had no idea that it was part of her plan to let the media know that she was working with Crawford Hotels to revive her district.
“And to make things even worse, the CNN reporter who was there doesn’t really like my family too much, so I get the feeling that there’s going to be some fallout from this that won’t look good for me.”
“That snake,” Alicia said. “She would try to use someone else’s good deeds to make herself look better. I thought she would’ve outgrown that by now. Don’t worry about her, I have another friend who can help you with zoning and property in the city of Atlanta and Fulton County. Dionne knows better.”
Strategic Seduction Page 10
