Page 111 of Plus Size Player

“What do you mean no?” I snapped. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

He glared at me. His mouth formed a tight line, which sharpened his expression. “The CEO of the company you work for,” he replied through clenched teeth.

I stepped toward him. “I don’t workforyou. I’m an independent contractor. I workwithyou.”

“And the work you do withmycompany doesn’t require us to have a private conversation.” The elevator dinged as we arrived on the RLF floor. He broke eye contact and focused his attention straight ahead. “After you.”

I stared at his profile for a moment and then exited the elevator.

“Everything okay?” Remedy asked as soon as I hit the intersection between the executive suites.

I forced a smile. “Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind. How are you?”

“I’m well, thank you.” Her eyes shifted behind me. “Russell, there’s an inventory issue…”

I continued my way to the showroom. I smiled and greeted everyone, ready to have a great photoshoot. But the opposite was happening on the inside.

A mixture of embarrassment and hurt swirled and filled the hollow space within me. By the end of the shoot, the rejection had fueled my anger, and I was fuming.

“And then he had the nerve to say that he didn’t want to talk to me,” I told Aaliyah as I prepared for bed hours later.

“Do you think he just meant he couldn’t talk to you right at that moment?” she countered.

“He said the work I do for his company doesn’t require us to speak,” I informed her as I pulled the covers over my body. “So, I blocked his ass.”

“Nina!”

“What? If he wants to keep things professional, we can keep it professional.”

“What if he needs to contact you?”

“He can email me like everyone else at RLF.”

“Ninaaaaaaaa…” She sighed loudly and I could almost hear her shaking her head. “Don’t do your man like that.”

I curled myself into a ball.He was only my man for a couple hours.

“He’s not my man,” I retorted petulantly.

“He should be.”

“Aaliyah, please.”

“Have you considered the possibility that the stuff your cousin was saying got to you because you feel like that about Russ?”

My heart pounded nervously. “What?”

“You have feelings for him.”

“I’ve never denied that but—”

“It’s not going to go away,” she interrupted. “Maybe you didn’t want to talk to him to clear the air for work. Maybe you wanted to talk to him about the two of you.”

“There is no two of us. There hasn’t been for the last couple of weeks. And there won’t be. I’m going to focus on my opportunity, and he’s going to continue doing his thing.”

“When are you going to admit you’re in love?”

“Oop! When you do,” I retorted.

---