Page 26 of XOXO

Mr. Lowell assured me she would hand deliver it once I approved the draft.

“Hey, I thought your meetings were done last week,” Tango said as I went to fill my coffee mug.

Putting the carafe back on the warmer, I turned and sipped the hot black coffee. “They were.”

He raised a brow and crossed his arms. “Okay. Then why are you all dressed up?”

Looking down at my dress shirt, my cut over it today, I shrugged. “No reason.”

Sweetie, Tango’s mom, opened the break room door and popped her head in. “Hey, someone’s here to see you.”

Tango turned to walk toward the door, but she put her hand up. “Not you, hon. Stone.”

My heart sped up, but I tried to keep my cool. “Show them to my office, please.” I gave her a toothy grin. Sweetie had battled cancer for a while but was in remission and was tired of hanging out at her house alone, so she started coming to work for us as an admin and greeted clients and guests. With Tango’s dad being gone for a few years, it was no wonder she needed something to do with her time. We had all envied the relationship they had and were torn up when he passed. We all made a pact to always take care of Sweetie as she was once the prez’s old lady, now the prez’s mom. Her hair finally started growing back in, but it was still a pixie cut which suited her heart shaped face just fine. It was a darker shade of blonde now, too, but she was a striking woman. Although, I had known her too long to see her as anything other than Tango’s mom.

“Meeting? Did I miss something?” Tango asked as I strolled past him.

“No. Just the contract for the buildout. I got it. You have plenty to do here.”

Tango followed me out and walked with me back to my office. The door was ajar, and Adi was sitting across from my seat at the desk. Her hair was again pulled back with unruly curls flowing from a ponytail. Her back was straight, and she was dressed to the nines in a black suit.

My chest swelled at the sight of her. Thoughts of that ponytail in my hand as my other gripped her hip and–

“Well, hello, again,” Tango said as he pushed past me, pulling me from my daydream.

Shit.

Adi stood, gripping a leatherbound notebook. She put her hand out as she took a few steps to meet Tango. “Hello, sir.”

He shook her hand then crossed his arms as he looked over at me with a smirk. “What can we do for you?”

I cleared my throat and walked toward her then motioned to the chair. “She is leading the rebuild for the offices.” I looked back at Tango. “Would you like to see the plans?”

He relaxed his arms then took the other seat next to Adi. She tipped her head then opened the notebook. “Here is the contract. I can notarize that for you, and you have perfect timing since we need a witness,” she said as she gave a professional smile in Tango’s direction.

He leaned back in his chair and grinned, folding his hands in his lap. I rolled my eyes. “He is the COO. I’ll get one of the girls,” I said, but Tango cut in.

“How about Bash? I don’t think it’s appropriate for Mom. But Bash isn’t technically related to me, yet.”

Adi straightened in her seat. “My apologies, sir.”

Tango waved her off as I pinged Bash to come in. “He’s running this show. This asshole is my right-hand man. And he has a great business sense, so I trust he chose the right person for the job.”

I didn’t miss his slight eyebrow raise as he said that, but I had my poker face on. I was going to keep this strictly professional and needed her to feel confident in that.

A knock came quickly since Bash’s office wasn’t far from mine. She pushed the door and poked her head in. “Need me to sign something?”

Tango’s face lit up and he stood, motioning for her to take his seat. “Here, we need a witness for this contract. Meet Adi. She’s going to be here leading the buildout.”

Bash’s green eyes shined behind her glasses as she ran her fingers through her red hair. “Good to meet you. It’ll be nice having some more estrogen around.”

Adi pulled a pen from her bag that was resting next to her chair. “I look forward to it.” She put the contract on the desk. “Who should sign?”

Tango pointed to me. “That fucker is fine.”

Bash turned enough to swat Tango in the gut and rolled her eyes. “Stone is the CFO. He has permissions. Tango probably doesn’t even know what he would be signing.”

Adi’s cognac eyes looked back at me. She pushed the paper over and leaned, pointing with her pen and showing me where to sign. Her warm vanilla scent wafted to my nose, but I did as I was told then pushed the forms to Bash so she could put her signature where the witness was. Adi then signed several places and stamped it.

---