Page 116 of Business Casual

Chapter 19

We stood there in stunned silence. A minute after his father left, Tre looked at me. I saw the hurt in his eyes and the anger in his hardened face.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, making my way over to him.

He swallowed hard. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about.” Grabbing me, he pulled my body into his. “Once he reads it, it’ll be fine.”

But what if it’s not?

Squeezing my eyes shut, I buried my face in his chest. I didn’t want him to see that I had doubts. I didn’t want him to see that I was scared for him. Because in that moment, the only thing I was sure of was my feelings for him. Everything else was up in the air.

“We should get back to work,” Tre said finally.

I lifted my head and nodded. “Okay.”

“Imani, we’re going to be fine.” He tipped my chin and placed a soft kiss against my lips. “No matter what.”

I wanted to believe him so bad.

“Okay,” I murmured, pushing myself on my toes to connect our lips again. “I know you have a busy day. I’ll let you get back to it.”

His hands framed my face as he searched it. “Come by before you leave for the day.”

“I don’t want to distract—”

Smothering my sentence, he kissed me passionately. His mouth covered mine with so much force that he took my breath away. When he pulled out of the kiss, he stared at me. “You’re not a distraction. You’re more.”

“What does that mean?”

“When I say you’re more, what I mean is”—he rested his forehead against mine— “you’re everything.”

A wave of emotion washed over my heated skin. I was so in love with that man.

I went back to my office and worked diligently until five o’clock. I didn’t want to run into Mr. Franklin on my way out, so I peeked out of my door before I left.

“Ms. Jones,” Mr. Franklin said my name and I almost jumped out of my skin.

Of course he’d be coming out of the kitchen area!

“Hi! Hey”—nervous giggle— “you scared me,” I told him. “How are you?”

Stone-faced, he ignored my question. “Are you available tomorrow evening at seven o’clock?”

“Um, yes sir.”

“I have meetings all day and won’t be available until evening and I’d like to speak with you regarding the matter that was brought up earlier. We’ll be reviewing the document I found and your contract.”

My stomach plummeted. “Oh, okay.”

“This is a business discussion and I’d like to speak with you privately because of the sensitive nature of this. Are you able to keep this meeting between me, the CEO of this company, and you, a contracted employee? Or are you unable to keep your personal life separate from the job you were hired to do?”

The subtext was clear; he didn’t want me to say anything to Tre.

“I won’t say anything about the meeting, sir,” I promised him.

He nodded. “After the meeting, I’d advise you to discuss things with your lawyer before signing if there’s anything you’re unsure about.”

“Yes sir.”

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