LITMIR.BIZ

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normal attire was business casual with an emphasis on below the knee or calf-length skirts or loose-fitting navy blue, black or brown pants.

      Her face was devoid of makeup. In fact, Danetta rarely wore anything more than her favorite Crème d’ Nude lipstick from M.A.C. and a little mascara. She’d never understood how or why women took the time to put all that war paint on their faces, when they would just have to wash it all off later that evening.

      The longer she checked out her image in the mirror, the more confused she became. Danetta had no clue what men were looking for in a woman. It had simply been too long since her last date. She needed help from an expert.

      Her phone rang. She saw that it was Marshall so she picked it up. “Hey, whatcha doing?” he asked.

      Danetta grabbed the remote and hurriedly turned on her television. “Nothing much, just watching TV.”

      “Whatcha watching?”

      She hit the guide to see what channel her TV was on. “The Hallmark Channel.”

      “One of those love movies, huh?”

      “What if it is?” Rolling her eyes, even though Marshall had watched these movies with her on more than one occasion, he thought the whole thing was a joke and that the kind of love they showed on television didn’t really exist. Although she could swear that she heard him sniffling during An Affair to Remember.

      “Don’t get testy. I was just asking. Which one is on today?”

      “It’s called Love Begins. I read the book. It was written by Janette Oke.”

      “So, why watch the movie if you know how it ends?” Marshall asked.

      Irritated by the question, especially since she was only pretending to watch the movie, she said, “Was there a reason for your call?”

      “I always call you when I’m out of town...well, unless I’m having a real good time.”

      “Yeah, I know all about your real good times. Look, I’ve got to go.”

      “All right... I was just checking on you.”

      Danetta wanted desperately to ask him how a woman would go about finding a man, but she was too embarrassed to let Marshall know that she had lost her groove on the dating tip, so she just hung up and called Ryla.

      Her best friend was not only beautiful and savvy when it came to business matters, but she knew how to handle men. Lately, all Ryla did was turn men down, but she even did that with panache. Danetta picked up the phone and dialed her friend’s number. When Ryla answered, she said, “I need your help.”

      “What’s up, girl? I was just about to take Jaylen to her ballet class.”

      Danetta took a deep breath and rushed out her request. “I need to know how to get men interested in me.”

      “What... What did you say?”

      “You heard me. I told you last night that I was going to adjust my plans. And my new strategy is to go on as many dates as possible. But I have to get someone to ask me out first, and I need help with that.”

      “It sounds like you need Surry; she’s the serial dater.”

      “Yeah, but I’d never get away with wearing some of the outfits she puts on. And besides, I need help finding a man to settle down with. Surry isn’t interested in that.”

      “Wow,” was all Ryla could say.

      “Stop acting as if this is some big deal. I just need to figure out how to get men interested in me.”

      “I’ve known you for five years, and you’ve never gone after men. I mean, you’ve seen Marshall naked, and you can’t even look him in the eye and tell him how you feel.”

      “I’ve only seen Marshall’s bare chest, and that’s it. And anyway, this has nothing to do with Marshall.” Danetta nearly screamed those words at the top of her lungs.

      “Don’t kid yourself, Danetta. Everything you do has something to do with that mongrel boy.”

      “Okay, well let’s just say that what I’m doing now is about moving on with my life and finding someone who wants to be a part of it.”

      “I’ve never seen you bat one eyelash in another man’s direction. So, are you really telling me that you are now ready to go find you a man?”

      Ryla had a point. Danetta was definitely stepping outside of her comfort zone. She’d always been shy when it came to the opposite sex. Especially after being shot down by Marshall, Danetta made sure to never approach a man...every date she’d been on, the man had asked her out. And that was the problem, because no man had asked in quite some time. “That’s why I need you, girl. You know how to flirt. You know how to attract a man’s attention. I haven’t tried to do anything like that in so long that if I started winking and blinking, the guy would probably think I had a nervous tick or something.”

      Ryla laughed. “Girl, shut up. Okay, if this is what you really want to do, I’ll help you. Matter of fact, meet me at Adorable Hair and Nails at one o’clock this afternoon.”

      “What’s going on there?”

      “I have a hair appointment, but I’m going to reschedule with Marlene and ask her to do you up instead.” Ryla sounded excited.

      Danetta frowned. “I don’t know if I need to spend all that time in a hair salon. I was thinking that you could help me put a few outfits together. I have tons of clothes, but I don’t think I’m wearing them in a manner that will attract men.”

      “You can say that again, Ms. Baggy Pants. And just the fact that you don’t understand the value of pampering yourself at a hair salon lets me know that I need to be charging for my services ’cause this is going to take a while.”

      Chapter 3

      Marshall ran into another scorned woman during the retreat. He’d been having lunch with a couple of Fortune 500 CEOs, regaling them with tales of his college misdeeds, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned in his seat and immediately plastered a smile on his face as he stared at the mocha-chocolate beauty in front of him. “Well hello,” Marshall said, thinking that his weekend retreat just got a bit more interesting.

      “Hello, Marshall, it’s been quite a while,” the woman said.

      Her voice was so sexy that all conversation stopped at his table as the other men turned and stared. Marshall was flattered that out of all the powerful men in the room, this chocolate goddess chose him. But she spoke his name with familiarity, and he honestly didn’t remember her.

      At his silence, she continued to speak. “You don’t know who I am, do you?”

      “I’d like to know.” He turned back to the men at the table and said, “Would you all excuse me for a minute?” He stood up, placed his hand on the woman’s back and walked toward the lobby with her. “So, would you like to tell me where we met?”

      She sat down on the couch in the lobby, ran her hands through her long coal-black hair and waited for Marshall to sit down next to her. “You really don’t remember, do you?”

      He wished that he could tell this woman that he not only remembered their meeting, but he’d kept the memory of her close to his heart. But he got nothing when he looked into her face. He met beautiful women all the time. He shook his head in defeat.

      “Five years ago I met you at a conference just like this one. You took me out to dinner, whispered in my ear and then we went to your hotel room and you made love to me. I wouldn’t normally consider a one-night affair to be lovemaking, but I honestly thought we had connected in a special way.”

      Marshall wanted to rub his hands together in sweet anticipation. He was about to get his freak on. He was about to ask if she wanted to go to his hotel room now and share a little afternoon delight with him,

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