Beautiful Surrender

Malik laughed. Nice try. “That’s where you’re wrong, Mya.”

“How so?” she asked as she scrunched her forehead.

Malik spun in his chair and reached for the red folder he’d placed aside before Mya arrived. He quickly glanced at her before removing a sheet of paper from the folder and handing it to her.

“What’s this?” Mya asked, not even bothering to look down at the paper.

Malik crossed his hands in front of him on the table. “If you take a look at that document, you will notice that I need to be involved with every step of the process.”

Mya yanked the paper off the table and skimmed the contents stated. “A contract? You drafted a contract? For what? You’re just a cohost, so all you really need to do is support, promote and be present for any rehearsals and of course the day of the auction.”

He smirked and ignored the hitch in her voice. He knew she wouldn’t like the idea of working with him more than she’d planned. But she’d just have to deal with it.

“It’s not a draft,” he stated in a calm voice. “If you pay close attention, it’s an actual contract that Lex, Imani and Cyd signed when I left your office the other day.”

Mya stood from her chair and slammed the paper on the table in front of him. “I don’t know what bullshit you’re trying to pull, but I never signed this contract and since I’m the lead planner of the event, this isn’t valid.”

He shot her a sly smirk, knowing the action would make her even more upset, but he couldn’t help it. He enjoyed seeing her all hot and bothered. “Quite the contrary, Mya. It clearly states in the fine print that only two members from Elite Events need to sign off on a contract.”

He watched the rise and fall of her chest as she came to the realization that he had her pinned in a corner. “If you look closely,” he continued as he pointed to the document, “I have three signatures, so your signature isn’t needed.”

She squinted her eyes at him. “Why are you doing this?” she asked him softly.

Malik studied her expression, hoping that he hadn’t made a mistake by pushing her to work more closely with him. “Before I even talked to you about the charity date auction, Lex had filled me in on the efforts Elite Events were trying to make. I believe in giving back to the community and I wanted to help.”

He slid an envelope to her that had Elite Events written on it. “Here, open this.”

Mya looked hesitant at first, but she took the envelope and opened it. Her eyes grew big in surprise before she responded. “Is this for our after-school program?” she asked as she glanced back down at the check.

“Yes, I decided to help sponsor the date auction and I have a few more checks coming from a few business friends of mine who also want to help your cause. As you stated before, you need help if you’re going to achieve this goal.”

Malik watched some of her frustration subside, but he knew she still had a lot of fight left concerning his close involvement. Mya wasn’t the type of woman who liked being strong-armed into anything, but he could also tell that she really cared for the Chicago students and wouldn’t let her pride get in the way of helping them out.

“I need to make a call,” she said as she stood up from the conference table and smoothed out her blouse. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back,” she said before walking out of the conference room and firmly shutting the door behind her.

Malik leaned back in his seat and titled his head to the ceiling. I wonderhow long it will take her to process everything. The food was due to arrive any minute, but he wasn’t sure if he could even talk her into staying after the news he’d just dropped on her. A part of him felt wrong for putting her in this situation, but little did she know, if they didn’t seem to work well together, he would back off and let her continue preparing for the date auction alone. He truly did admire her determination to start a new after-school program and he didn’t want anything standing in the way of her achieving that...not even him.

Chapter 4 (#ulink_021d292e-c30d-535d-aa70-d067f1a12e4d)

“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.