Page 43 of Business Casual

Chapter 8

I stared at my phone for a solid thirty seconds before I answered the call.

“Hello?” I dragged the greeting out as if I were confused by who was on the other end.

“What’s up, Imani?” Tre replied in his deep, sexy tone. “I didn’t catch you at a bad time, did I?”

I couldn’t help it.

The way that man said my name did something to me.

“No, it’s a good time,” I answered with a grin.

“Good. I’m surprised you’re not out on a Friday night.”

I propped myself up with pillows and got in a more comfortable position. “Why are you surprised?”

“You and your girl were enjoying yourselves on Monday. I figured Friday might be more of the same.”

“Sir, I’m going to be thirty-four in three weeks. Monday I still had the energy from the weekend, and it was a celebratory occasion. By Friday, I have to keep it lowkey because I’mtired!”

“I hear that,” he agreed with amusement. “So, is this a typical Friday night for you?”

“Unless I have specific plans, this is my Friday night. I just got in the bed a few minutes ago. Thinking about watching a movie before calling it a night. What about you?”

“If I get off early enough, I might hit the gym. But for the most part, work, gym, and dinner is how my week ends. Since I just got home from the office, tonight might be an even earlier night than usual.”

I glanced at the clock on my nightstand. “You were there for twelve hours?”

“Fourteen.”

“Wow. I hope this call isn’t to reprimand me for not giving fourteen hours to Franklin Financial today.”

He chuckled. “Nah. Not at all.” He cleared his throat. “But I did want to know what you thought of the meeting. I saw you over there taking notes. But then you ran out of there so fast I didn’t get a chance to talk to you.”

I pursed my lips and screwed my face up skeptically.You called me on a Friday night to ask me about something you could’ve asked me about on Monday? Lies!

“It was a little…”—I considered how to phrase my truth— “hot in there.”

“What do you mean?”

I laughed. “Do you want my honest answer?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Okay but that means you have to be honest with me, too.”

“Imani, I’ve always been honest with you.”

“Okay,” I conceded. “Did you really just call me at almost nine o’clock on a Friday night to ask me about the notes I took at that meeting? That’s a Monday morning question.”

“I never said that was the reason I called you,” he responded with a slight chuckle. “I did want to know why you left and what you thought. But that wasn’t thereasonI called.”

“So why did you call?” I implored.

“Truthfully…” He paused. “Because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”

I inhaled sharply. “Oh!”

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