Page 765 of One More Kiss

“Morning everyone!” Naomi bellows from the door as she struts in, looking flawless.

Morning grumbles erupt around the room, no one particularly happy about seeing Naomi. Nicholas’ attention goes back to the paper in front of him. I know instantly Naomi isn’t pleased.

“Mr. Brooks, have you decided on my offer?” she asks, sitting her ass on the edge of the table next to him.

Her leg brushes against his arm. The air grows tense. I try my hardest to stay seated. I don’t need a repeat of what happened yesterday.

He glares at her and looks down to where she’s touching him. The look is so chilling, even I get embarrassed for her, but Naomi is oblivious. She’s too full of herself to even think he’d reject her.

“Kindly remove yourself from the table. It isn’t a chair,” Nicholas says, moving his arm back, waiting for her to take a seat in a chair like a normal person.

“Excuse me, sir,” she purrs, making sure she’s as close to him as possible as she moves off the table.

Ignoring Naomi all together, Nicholas clears his throat. “I want to make this plain to everyone, especially with the fundraiser coming up. There’s to be no dating or otherwise between employees at Brooks Enterprises. We do not like to mix business and pleasure,” he says the words while staring directly at me, as if I’m the one that needs to be reminded of his own rules.

Prick.

You can basically see Naomi deflate after the statement. Her face blushes an angry shade of red, and she moves to her seat before plopping down. She scowls at me and crosses her arms over her chest. But this time it isn’t to be seductive. She’s pissed, and I don’t want to know what that means for the rest of us.

We finish up the meeting without any further seductive interruptions from Naomi and disperse for the day. From the corner of my eye, I see Nicholas… I mean, Mr. Brooks, watching me. His stare is intense, and I gather my belongings and rush out of the conference room, afraid that I may combust if I linger any longer. I’m afraid of what may transpire this evening. Nicholas is the one saying he doesn’t allow dating between colleagues, but what about fucking?

I almost laugh at my own thoughts.

* * *

The night isoff to a wonderful start. I’m pacing the floor in my living room. Ross is late getting to my house, as per usual. If Ross has a flaw, it’s being late and not bothering to text or call to let you know. Just as I pick up my phone to send out an APB, the doorbell rings.

I run to the door with my bathrobe on and curlers in my hair. “What took so long?” I ask, leaving the door open and walking back into my bedroom.

“I had to rent a suit. I’m told that straight men don’t wear their suits fitted.”

I hear rustling and a zipper opening. He strolls into my room with the suit in one hand and shoes in the other, with a smile plastered on his face, as if he did such a good job.

“What do you think?” he asks.

The suit is black, a white dress shirt peeks out from underneath, which he has paired with a green tie. There’s nothing fancy about it, but he’s right, it looks like something a straight guy would wear.

“It’ll do. Now get dressed or we’ll be late. You know how much I detest bad punctuality.”

“Who pissed in your cheerio’s?”

The suit lands on the bed beside my dress as he gets undressed. Part of me still does a double-take when Ross takes off his shirt, but then I remember the one kiss we shared when we were twelve. It was the most horrible first kiss either of us had.

“Something Nicholas said earlier in the daily meeting. He reprimanded a co-worker, but the words seemed to be for me and me alone.”

“And?”

“He said, and I quote ‘There’s no dating or otherwise between employees at Brooks Enterprises. We do not like to mix business and pleasure.’” I mean, it’s not like I haven’t been avoiding him. I’ve never expressed interest in more after that one mistake. Okay, two times, two mistakes. It felt personal, though.”

Ross rolls his eyes. “You’re taking it too literal. If he was giving the statement to everyone, then leave it at that. It has nothing to do with you.”

But it felt like it did.

“You’re right, it just put me in a bad mood. I’m sorry. I’ll try to be bubblier.”

He laughs and drops his pants, revealing very tight black briefs. I avert my gaze. It’s one thing to look at his naked chest, but a total other to get a face full of his package.

“You could warn a girl. Jesus.”

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