Page 30 of Our Promise
Baby, I Promise
Benny was set on showing Lorielle he was genuine and that he meant every word he said last week. If she could deny him after what he had planned, he would walk away. Though it would kill him seeing her often, he would still be cordial.
“Hello, how can I help you?” The security guard at the information area asked him as he approached the desk.
“Hey, I’m here to see Lorielle Dawson.”
“One second.” He picked up the phone, surely to call Lorielle. “Can I see your ID?”
“Sure.” Once he pulled it from his wallet, he handed it to the security guard.
“Yes, Ms. Dawson. I have a visitor here for you by the name of Bernard Collins Jr. Would you like for me to send him up?” He looked at him, then nodded before ending the call.
“She’ll see you.” He pulled out a pass and gave it to him with his ID. “Keep this on at all times and return it on your way out. Elevators are to your right. Third floor. She’ll meet you there.”
“Thank you.”
Benny wasn’t one to be nervous. He had been handling business since he graduated from college. Even before then he was calling the shots, but Lorielle wasn’t business. She was his lover, his potential wife. He didn’t want to mess up what only had just begun. With her, he had to make sure he was coming correctly, and it made him anxious checking to make sure he always said and did the right thing.
The elevator dinged, and the door slid open, revealing the woman who had captured his heart.
Her lips spread when she saw him. “What do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Bernard?”
She wore a simple light gray sweater and black, wide leg dress pants. He couldn’t see her shoes because her pants were so long, but he knew they were heeled because of the extra height she sported. Her hair was slightly curled, framing her beautiful face. She rocked silver bangles and rings, and around her neck was his necklace.
That gave him the green light to follow through with his plans.
“I told you I was coming for you,” Benny said as he stepped off the elevator.
“You did indeed.” She turned and he followed her to what looked to be a meeting room. He wouldn’t be allowed to go to her area, but he was glad she found somewhere for them to talk privately.
“I thought you were off?” he asked, closing the door behind them. He wanted to lock it, but he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. He came to talk. Mostly.
“I am, but I wanted to get ahead of a few things,” she said, pulling out a chair from the long table in the middle of the room. She turned in his direction, crossing one leg over the other. She interlocked her fingers and placed them on the table.
So formal.
He chuckled, following her lead, sitting at the table a few chairs down from her.
“What’s funny?” she asked.
“I don’t get to see this side of you often.”
“You used…”
He held back his laughter when she swallowed the rest of her sentence. “Why did you stop?”
“I guess I was going to make another assumption.”
A smile spread across his face. His baby was learning.
Benny walked over to her. Instead of sitting in the chair beside her, he leaned against the table, staring down at her. She looked up at him with those eyes that made him weak.
“I can take control of a room of a thousand people, but you, Lorielle… You make me nervous.”
“That makes two of us. There are bells going off in my head, but then you touch me, and everything goes silent. I don’t know how to take that.”
He pulled her out of her chair.
