"This way." Bennette leads us to the conference room ignoring any awkwardness that might be in the air.

Does he know?I keep wondering to myself.

We enter the meeting room and everyone's heads turn to face us. I take my seat at the head of the table and Maya takes hers next to me. I can feel her eyes on me as Bennette explains the technicalities of the meeting.

"I'll give you the floor first. You can pitch everything and then we can discuss it further." As he talks, I'm overcome by guilt for what I just let happen between us in the elevator.

How could you lose control like that?

You fucking idiot.

She's your employee... your new employee.

What if she tells Kaitlyn?

Oh fuck... What if she tells Kaitlyn?

I can feel my palms starting to sweat and I force myself to focus on Bennette's voice.

Maya clears her throat and I feel her gaze on me again.

"Understood," she replies to Bennett.

I can't bring myself to meet her eyes yet. She looks confident as Bennette continues to talk. She takes her fingertips and pushes her hair behind her ear, revealing a small tattoo on the back of her neck. I hadn't noticed that before.

"Hunter?" Bennette looks at me, his expression expectant. "Do you agree?"

I can feel my cheeks getting hot as I nod without looking up from the table.

"Great. Let's start going over the proposal then."

I take a deep breath and make myself focus. We go through the presentation, discussing each point in detail until we finish. Everything has been discussed and all questions answered. It's Bennett's turn to come back with what he likes and doesn't like with the proposal.

He takes a deep breath and looks around the table before speaking. "Well, it’s clear that this proposal is strong. It has all the elements I was looking for and more." He pauses to take a sip of water before continuing, "I have one minor suggestion though. There needs to be an additional section focusing on security and how WeWork can help with that."

"Great idea," I reply. "We can add that in, no problem."

He turns towards Maya. "Your team should focus on integrating state-of-the-art security measures that blend easily with our existing framework. Maintain the balance between security and convenience."

Maya nods, jotting down the key points. "Understood. We'll focus on the integration of security measures that won't disrupt the cost-efficiency or the existing framework of WeWork." She looks up at Bennett with a confident smile. "We'll ensure that your requests are our highest priority."

I regain my composure and say, “We’ll also ensure that the clients see the value in this. It’s not just about implementing security measures but explaining the benefits they bring to our clients. This way, we can justify any potential increase in pricing.”

Bennett nods, satisfied with the insights, “Excellent. Let’s keep the lines of communication open throughout this project. I want to be sure we do it right."

As Bennett continues to talk, my mind starts drifting again. My thoughts spinning in circles.

How do I act around Maya now?

Do I ignore what happened?

Pretend like it never happened?

Yes. I'll pretend like it never happened.

It was a mistake.

It needs to stay a secret.