Page 15 of Business Casual

Chapter 4

Damn.

My heart thumped in my chest as I took him in. In his office, he was undeniably sexy, but he was still professional. It was hard to resist, but there was a professional boundary that I could respect. Standing in Comida Sabrosa in his white button-down with the sleeves rolled up and dark denim jeans, his sexiness was raw and uncut. I was no longer able to see the boundary.

Holding my gaze, he extended his hand to me. “I thought I saw you earlier, but I didn’t want to interrupt your meal,” he said as we shook hands. “It’s good to see you, Imani.”

I licked my lips. “It’s good to see you as well, Tre.”

I got lost in the intensity of his gaze. He wasn’t just staring at me; he was staring into me. And I couldn’t look away.

Seconds ticked by and everything else faded away.

It was just him…and me…and…

“Soooooo… you two know each other?” Keisha asked.

And Keisha.

Her voice pulled us from the trance we were in. Removing his hand from mine, he reached over to shake hers.

I swallowed hard as I tried to collect myself.

Holy shit.

The sheer sex appeal that Tre possessed was unreal.

“We actually met today,” he answered before looking at me.

“You were meeting all the fine ass men today! First your sexy new boss, then you met this Tre guy too,” my best friend blabbed. “Today has been a very good day!”

I felt my face get hot immediately.

I didn’t embarrass easily, but I was lowkey embarrassed to have him know I was talking about him. He was about to be my supervisor!

“Keisha…” I said slowly, cursing her out with my eyes. “This is Alexander Franklin III… as in Franklin Financial. Mr. Franklin is one of the men I interviewed with today to secure the contract.”

Looking between the two of us, it took a moment for it to hit her. She lowered her voice even though Tre was right there and could hear every word she said. “I thought his name was Tre.”

“It is.” I waved it off. “I’ll explain later, but the point it, his last name is Franklin. And that makes Mr. Franklin my boss.”

She squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry, Mr. Franklin. I should’ve never invited you over here. I didn’t realize you were Imani’s boss. I’m so sorry. We came out to celebrate her getting the contract. Please don’t judge her based on anything I said.” Her words tumbled out of her mouth so quickly that I felt bad for her.

“You didn’t say anything,” I assured her, leaning over and patting her knee. I glanced up at him. “He knows he’s an attractive man, so you didn’t say anything too bad. It’s all good. Hopefully we can put this behind us and move forward.”

When my eyes reconnected with my best friend’s, I noticed her pained expression had not changed.

My eyes widened. “What?”

“Nothing you said makes me look at Imani any differently,” Tre spoke up. “My thoughts about her have never changed.”

I looked between the two of them. The look on her face was starting to make me feel uneasy. “What did you say, Keisha?”

“I said he was your type and for him to come have a drink with us because you could settle the debate he was having with his friend and ummm…”

“Um what?”

With a sheepish look, she lowered her voice again even though he could still hear her. “I told him that the tequila has been hitting so don’t be surprised if we were wildly inappropriate.”

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