Page 62 of Book Bae

He climbed off the bed and headed out of the bedroom. I was in one of the guest rooms because I didn’t want to become comfortable sleeping with him, and neither did I want to send the wrong message to Malachi.

My room was on the main floor to make it easier for me to get to the courtyard. Micaiah didn’t want me walking the stairs at all. He often slept in the guest room across from mine just in case I needed something during the night.

I grabbed the remote to turn on the TV, and I found myself flicking through it, not really wanting to watch anything. I loved reality shows, but I wasn’t in the mood for them at the moment.

Just when I found something that I did want to settle on, I heard Micaiah’s footsteps.

“Hey, babe. Some important people want to meet you.”

“Who?” I asked with wide eyes.

“You’ll see. Trust me when I say that you’ll like this surprise.”

“Okay, well, I need to get dressed.”

“I’ll help you.”

He was so patient and attentive while he helped me get dressed. By the time that we finished, he led me out of the bedroom and to the library. When we entered, I saw three fine men who were as equally handsome and sophisticated looking as Micaiah. Two of them wore suits, and one wore slacks and a button-down short-sleeved silk shirt. Of the two in suits, one looked like he was freshly dressed and heading to the office, and the other appeared to have already worked a full day, with his tie untied and shirtsleeves rolled up to the elbow. His jacket was tossed carelessly over the back of his chair.

“Babe, these are my good friends, Mason Baxter-Ames, owner and CEO of MBA Security.”

The freshly dressed man with gold eyes stood, walked to me, and kissed my hand. He stared into my eyes and declared, “My God, he said that you were beautiful, but you’re an exquisite beauty. Just stunning.”

“Ohh shit, here he goes,” the one whose tie was askew stated.

“Forgive my best friend. He’s an animal and doesn’t know how to keep his paws to himself.” Micaiah snarled and smacked the other man’s hand, taking him by surprise. Everyone laughed.

Mason winked at me with a sexy and daring smile.

“That’s Xavier Valentine, a prominent defense attorney with Valentine, Solace, and Loving.” Micaiah introduced the light-skinned man with the askew tie.

He waved and smiled a tired but beautiful smile.

“And finally, we have Lance Dawson, owner of SpecWare,” he introduced, tossing a hand in the direction of the dark-skinned man with the bald head wearing the silk short-sleeved shirt.

“It’s nice to meet all of you,” I replied after each man either kissed my hand, as in Mason’s case, or hugged me as in the case of the two other men. They all smelled good and warm, and Micaiah complained that all three of them took too long touching me.

“Now I see why you’ve been incognito,” Mason stated as Micaiah poured glasses of liquor for the three men and grabbed a soda for him and a bottled water for me.

“I thought you were writing another bestseller,” Xavier declared sleepily.

“I’m just glad that somehow you managed to declaw that witch who had her claws finally sunk in you,” Lance declared with a smirk.

I lifted my eyebrows at Micaiah who rolled his eyes.

“I told y’all Arabella and I were finished a while ago.”

“Not the first time we’ve heard that chorus,” Mason stated in a bored tone.

“I’ll take it that you’re not fans of his agent,” I spoke up.

“That’s putting it mildly,” Xavier stated.

“Hey, show my baby some respect. We’re not even giving Arabella space in this conversation. Y’all feel me?” Micaiah demanded.

“My bad.” Mason apologized.

Micaiah came to sit next to me with his arm draped over my shoulder. I leaned into him, and they moved from chatting about Arabella to stories about their childhood. Apparently, they had all known each other since middle school and were life-long friends. He and Mason had known each other the longest since their mothers were best friends and pregnant together, so basically, they had known each other all their lives. Their birthdays were even days apart.