“I’m not worried about my safety in the slightest,” Zaid sighed, reaching over me to grab my phone that was left on the bed, and checking the time, “I should get back to my room though. Our flight is early.”
Okay, so at least that answered the question of if he was staying the night with me or not.
“I guess,” I shrugged.
Zaid tossed my phone back down and gave me one last kiss, this one calmer and lingering, not indicating at all that he still had a very noticeable erection in his sweatpants.
“I like you, Signe,” Zaid said as he brushed his thumb against my cheek after pulling away, “I know this was unexpected,” he stared into my eyes for a moment, before nodding his head once and saying, “I’m okay letting you take the reins here, to decide what makes you most comfortable.”
I just stared at him, my heart still racing for so many different reasons, “Okay.”
“I’ll see you in the morning?” Zaid asked, the tiniest hint of nerves sounding in his low voice.
I whispered, “Yes.” Before leaning up and kissing him back, something he met with enthusiasm before forcing himself to pull away.
“Sleep well,” Zaid whispered as he stood from the bed, adjusting the rod in his sweats attempting to conceal it, before giving me one last lingering look and letting himself out.
I just lay there, my head spinning.
In summation, I had just been happily and successfully finger-banged by the Chief Technology Officer of Sun Steer Technologies. I had just enthusiastically sucked face with the man who was the picture-perfect inspiration for the male lead in my romance novel.
And I wanted to do it all again.
ChapterEighteen
ZAID
I didn’t planto barge into Brandon’s office today, but after sitting at my desk and seeing the email he sent out to the entire company, I decided I needed to. I was fueled with irritation as I reread the email a few times, taking a moment to breathe through my nose before I decided to confront my old friend in person.
Brandon had hired a Chief Financial Officer. Something he figured we needed with how rapidly our company was growing every day. While I agreed that having a person in a position like that was probably a good move to make at this point, because we were in the process of receiving another round of funding for our tech, and dotting the Is and crossing the Ts with Boson Motors, I was annoyed that I was somehowstillthe CTO.
Brandon knew my position was supposed to be temporary.
If he was in the mindset to hire a CFO, which must have been the big announcement he mentioned during our texts before the Tennessee trip, he could probably be persuaded to take my request for a replacement more seriously.
I rapped my knuckles on his door before walking in.
He sat at his desk; his dark blonde brows furrowed as he thumbed away on his phone with both of his elbows resting on his desk. His office space screamed CEO of an up-and-coming tech company, with fancy plants, abstract paintings, and a hammock in the corner. While I wasn’t comfortable being in a managerial position this high up in the company, it was obvious that Brandon was living for it.
His blue eyes flicked up to me as I entered before he gave me a friendly grin and continued to look at his phone, “What’s up, Zaid?”
I cleared my throat, wondering how to toe the line of college friend vs. professional colleague during this conversation.
“I saw the email you sent this morning,” I decided to start with that, taking a seat on his leather couch and sitting back, trying to look relaxed, “You think she’s a good fit?”
“Oh yeah,” Brandon nodded his head before frowning once more at his phone and finally setting it down, giving me his attention, “She actually used to work at the same company that Jacqueline came from.” I raised my eyebrows at that. That was now two employees we had hired from Blix, a massive social media company that competed with others like Facebook or Instagram. They had millions of users worldwide, and younger generations were much bigger fans of Blix. I was positive they were going to change the entire social media game.
“Wow,” I replied, “What made her want to come here? We couldn’t possibly pay her as well as Blix could.”
“No,” Brandon lifted a shoulder, “But she isn’t exactly hurting financially either. I guess she had been with Blix since the start and got a pretty good stock investment. I think she’s cashed out and is interested in working at a smaller company now.”
“Huh, what was her name again?”
“Nicole Young,” Brandon replied, “She’s starting in the next few days, I believe.” He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms with a friendly expression on his features, “She’ll take the office next to mine that is currently being used for storage.”
“Alright,” I rubbed my hands on my thighs as I sat forward, trying to force the confidence in me to say the next thing, “So, have you considered it might be time for me to step down?”
Brandon’s eyes widened a little at me before he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his desk again, “You really don’t want to be CTO?”