“What can I do for you?” She asked, tapping her foot, clearly annoyed that I was keeping her from terrorizing someone else in the office.
“Look, I’m going to say this one time, and then we’re going to be done with this,” I said, getting up from my desk and coming around to the side where she stood before continuing. “I get that you don’t like me, and that’s fine. We’re co-workers, and we don’t have to be friends. However, since we do have to work together, you’re going to respect me. I give you respect, and I want it in return.”
“I don’t—,” she started, but I put my hand up.
“Aht-aht, this isn’t where you speak. That was all that needed to be said. Treat me the same way you treat everyone else around here, and we won’t have any issues. Now, thank you for the files. That will be all for now.”
I didn’t feel the need to say anything else. As she turned on her heels and left my office, I went back to my side of the desk. Hopefully, she took heed of the warning I’d given her without saying too much. I wasn’t going to work in a hostileenvironment, nor was I going to let her run me out of here. She was going to get her shit together, or her ass was going to have to go.
“I’m surprised it took you so long to say something,” Sincere said, coming into my office. I wasn’t sure how long he’d been standing out there, but I was glad that he let me handle it on my own.
“Yeah, it had to be said. Hopefully, now we can be on the same page, and she’ll change her attitude toward me.”
“Hopefully, if not, her ass has to go. She’s good at her job, but I won’t deal with the unwarranted bullshit. Now, I came in to ask about the deal with Kru and Lyric,” he said, taking a seat across from me. He looked good as hell, and everything in me wanted to jump in his lap and connect our lips again. I knew that I couldn’t, shouldn’t, and wouldn’t, but that didn’t stop me from daydreaming about doing it.
“Hey, girl, so we have a problem,” Zaveah said, coming into my office. “Oh, I’m sorry. The lady at the desk said that you weren’t busy and I could come in.”
“It’s fine. Uh, Sincere, this is my best friend, Zaveah. I think y’all met at the bar already.”
“Yeah, we did. What’s up?” He asked, holding out his fist for her to bump.
“Nothing much. I just stopped by to let Kenedi know that I can’t make it to the show tonight. I’m sorry, friend, but something came up at work. Here’s my ticket, find someone to take with you, and I’ll send you money for the first round of drinks.”
“I’ll just go by myself,” I said, grabbing the ticket from her.
I wasn’t sure what was being spoken without any words being exchanged, but the way Zaveah and Sincere were staring at each other, you would’ve thought they were speaking a language that only the two of them could understand.
“How about you go with her? From what I hear, you never take off from work much like her. Besides, if you offer to go with her, I know she’ll actually go,” Zaveah said, snatching the ticket back and handing it to Sincere.
Turning to me, he asked, “Would you like some company tonight? I think I can take a break.”
“Uh, sure. If you want to. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, though. I know she kind of just put you on the spot,” I said, glaring up at Zaveah.
“It’s no problem,” he said, putting the ticket into his pocket.
The way Zaveah ran her ass out of my office was smart on her part. I was definitely going to curse her ass out the second I got a chance to. She could’ve easily just sent me a text that she couldn’t make it. I knew inviting Sincere to go with me was probably her entire plan for coming up here. Ever since I’d told her about the kiss, she had become convinced that there was more there than either he or I were willing to admit to each other.
“Thankyou for coming with me, I had a good time tonight,” I said, smiling as we pulled up to Sincere’s house. He had insisted on picking me up from my parents’ house, but I wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t want my parents grilling him or thinking there was something more than us going to the show together.
“No problem,” he said, turning to face me as he put the car in park. “I enjoyed getting a break from work with good company.”
As he got out of the car and came around to my side to open the door for me, I let out a huge breath of relief. All night, I’d been fighting the urges that flowed freely through my body for him. If he weren’t my boss, I would’ve already been kissing allover him. But he was my boss, and this wasn’t a date. I wouldn’t lie and say that it wasn’t hard to control myself, though. Sincere just did something to me, and the attraction between the two of us was evident.
“Are you good to get home?” He asked, opening the door for me as I stepped out.
Grabbing his hand, I smiled up at him, “I’m good. I didn’t have that much to drink tonight.”
The last time he’d seen me have a drink, or five, I could barely walk straight. Thankfully, I controlled myself tonight and only had one drink. He hadn’t had any, though. He said that he needed to be alert at all times, and I couldn’t do anything but respect that.
“Do you want to go home?” He asked, lifting my chin and kissing my lips.
“No,” I mumbled against his lips.
I wasn’t sure what the fuck we were doing, but I was going along with it. I wanted him, and he wanted me. I couldn’t deny the feelings I felt anymore, and neither could he, obviously. I wasn’t sure how this would change everything between the two of us, but I was willing to take that chance with him. I just prayed that neither of us had any regrets by the time we finished whatever we were about to get into.
“Then don’t,” he said, grabbing my hand and leading me through his open garage.
Once we stepped inside, I took in how beautiful his home was. I would’ve thought he had a basic home since he never spent that much time here. But now seeing his home, I had no idea how he didn’t spend every moment that he could inside of it. Hell, I would probably never leave home if I lived here.