Page 73 of Written By a Woman

By the way his eyes drifted over to me while he gnawed on that plump lip, how his hooded gaze dropped the slightest degree towards where my mouth was, I was moments away from convincing myself that he was just as into this as I was. That he was right there with me, experiencing this chemistry between us.

How he and I would be so, so good together.

“The line moved,” someone said behind Zaid, shattering the heated moment I could have sworn we were both experiencing just then.

My heart was still racing, and I used the excuse of being surrounded by dozens of people also desperate enough to wait in this line for pizza to fan myself with the collar of my t-shirt. I turned to study the menu, deciding that saying something would be the best way to move on from whatever that was a few seconds ago.

“…I’m getting a cheese slice, I think,” I finally added.

I heard Zaid chuckle next to me before he replied, “Sounds like a plan.”

ChapterSixteen

SIGNE

We flew in latethat night since Tennessee was three hours ahead of us. All of us immediately checked into our hotel rooms before the next morning, when we officially visited the manufacturer for Boson Tractors, a company that competed with well-known brands like John Deer.

Their manufacturer was located in the small town of Newport, Tennessee. The population was barely seven thousand people.

Why I was tagging along again was beyond me, but I did my due diligence and snapped photos of the property and all the pretty tractors as Brandon instructed.

As the four of us toured the large warehouse of Boson Tractors, and I actively tried to ignore how freaking humid it was, I realized how good at his job Brandon was.

He was a schmoozer, which was wild to see.

He easily built a rapport with the representative from Boson, shaking hands and throwing cheap dad jokes to crack a smile.

Even Zaid smirked a little at the performance Brandon was putting on, as the two men discussed what a possible collaboration with a company of this size could look like.

It was clear that Zaid was much more comfortable with a behind-the-scenes situation. Brandon took charge for most of the conversation, whereas Mary and Zaid were clearly only present to answer questions that Brandon might not have been able to on the spot.

Sure, Zaid was professional and seemed succinct when the Boson representative had a question about the specific technology Sun Steer built, but he was clearly here under duress like I was.

Mary also seemed to be struggling with the humidity, some stray strands of her dark hair that came out of her ponytail stuck to her neck. We smiled at each other in comradery a number of times throughout the hours-long meeting that actually ended up taking two whole days.

I got my ten thousand steps in each day, that was for sure.

All while taking notes of the meetings, even though my notes only really made sense to me at the moment. I would have to spend the rest of the evening in the hotel room rewriting the notes so that when I forwarded the run-down to the others, they would be able to make sense of it.

Typing notes on my phone, while keeping up with two businessmen who didn’t bother to notice that Mary’s shorter legs were probably sore or that I loathed cardio and was sweating through my blouse, was more difficult than I thought.

If it wasn’t for Zaid checking over his shoulder, letting Brandon and the Boson rep walk ahead of him before asking loud enough for everyone to hear if Mary and I, “needed a minute,” we would have been left in the dust multiple times.

The rep from Boson was just as excited to show off their new machines and models as Brandon was excited to tell them all the ways Sun Steer’s technology could help take their business to the next level.

Cool, good for them.

At the end of the second day, after standing in the shower for about an hour to hopefully wash the humidity off of me, I collapsed onto my back on my hotel bed and appreciated not standing on my feet.

And then my phone buzzed, making me curse as I patted my hand aimlessly on the comforter in search of it.

If it was from Brandon, I was pretty sure I was going to type a very inappropriate and rude message back to him.

But it wasn’t Brandon, it was Zaid.

I felt my smile tug at my cheeks as if it were a reflex to do so now.

Zaid: Have you eaten?

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