Page 37 of Business Casual

“No ma’am, it won’t be.”

Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, but she nodded. “Very well.”

I made my way to the small room that they converted into my office to calm my nerves for a few minutes. But the walls felt like they were closing in on me. Anxiety sat in the pit of my stomach like a ball of lead and I was burning up. I removed my jacket and adjusted my sleeveless white top. After giving myself a pep talk, I decided to head to the conference room to prepare early. I sauntered through the door with confidence. I was expecting the room to be empty so I could set up in peace. But when I entered, the good-looking man at the head of the table looked up from his laptop and took me by surprise.

“Oh!” I reacted in surprise, slowing my pace.

When our eyes met, my heart stopped. Just for a second, it stopped. And then it pounded. We stared at one another, and the seconds ticked by. He slowly rose to his feet.

“Imani…” Tre’s deep voice wrapped around my name and pulled me further into the room. “Good morning.”

I cleared my throat lightly. “Good morning.”

“I wasn’t expecting anyone in here for another”—he checked his watch— “forty-five minutes.”

“Oh sorry, I was just going to get prepared, but I can come back. I—”

“No.” He shook his head as he rose to his feet. “No, come on in.”

I took a hesitant step toward the table. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He gestured to the chair nearest him. “Come. Sit. I was hoping to get a chance to talk to you today anyway.”

Leaving a chair between us, I placed my stuff on the table. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” He walked around the table until he was next to me. “I’m sorry I haven’t reached out this week. With my father’s injury, there was a lot of stuff I needed to take care of in preparation for a big meeting taking place this afternoon.”

Catching a whiff of his cologne, I nodded slowly. He was intoxicating and it was becoming hard to focus. I cleared my throat. “How is your father?”

“He has a broken arm and a bruised ego, but he’s fine. He’ll be out of the office for the next couple of weeks so I’m taking over all of his meetings in addition to keeping my own schedule in regards to this new initiative.”

My head tilted as I studied his expression. “That’s a lot on your plate.”

“Yeah, but nothing I can’t handle.” He blinked away the worry that clouded his eyes and furrowed his brow. “Anyway, I just wanted to say I’m sorry I haven’t called especially after our lunch got cut short.”

“Speaking of that…” I widened my eyes hoping he’d fill in the blanks on his own. When he didn’t, I continued. “How did our impromptu lunch go over with the company?”

“It’s fine. Nothing for you to worry about.”

I made a face. “Well, I am worried about it because of how it may look and how it looks may impact my contract.”

He reached out, wrapping his hand around my arm, just above my elbow. “You have nothing to worry about. I took care of it.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. The heat of his touch against my bare skin was disarming.

“It’s all good,” he assured me.

“But Josephine—”

“As far asanyoneis concerned, it was a lunch between colleagues,” he interrupted. His hand moved up my arm and he squeezed my shoulder. “I got you.”

The ball of nerves and anxiety in my belly turned into a fluttering in my gut as his fingers skated across my skin. I stared at him for a moment before I nodded. “Okay.”

“Mr. Franklin?” Josephine called out as she entered.

The two of us sprang apart as if we were doing something wrong.

“Yes?” Tre replied, speed walking toward her.

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