Page 67 of Business Casual

He must have seen the quizzical look on my face before I had a chance to even it out.

“Entry to this event is…exclusive,” he explained. “It’s by invitation only and every year I invite two employees who are not on the executive team. This is the first year that I would be extending the invitation to a contracted employee. But when I was going over the impact people have made this year, nothing has generated a bigger wave than our increased social media presence. And it’s still early! So, if I extend the invitation to you, you wouldn’t be able to tell anyone—not even any of the executives. I know you’ve been working closely with Alex, but not even he can know.”

“Oh wow, okay.”

He eyed me for a moment. “That won’t be a problem, will it?”

“No sir.”

“Okay that settles it then…” He stood. “I’ll get Josephine to get you the information as soon as I finalize a few things. Thank you for meeting with me.”

“Thank you again, Mr. Franklin.”

I left that meeting with the biggest smile on my face. The networking opportunities alone at an event like that would be life changing for my career. It was hard to contain my excitement. I left the office for a long lunch and called my family, my best friend, and my godfather to tell them about the opportunity. Mr. Franklin wanted me to keep it under wraps, so I swore them all to secrecy.

And he was talking about people around the office, not my family and friends!

I wanted to call Tre, because we’d been sharing a little bit of everything with one another. But I needed to keep my word to Mr. Franklin.

It’s bad enough I slept with his son. I can’t break my promise too.

“Thank you all for meeting with me this afternoon,” Mr. Franklin greeted approximately twenty-five of us. “I want to talk big picture…”

Why am I here?

I was bored out of my mind and Tre never seemed to look at me when I was looking at him. I tried not to stare but the angles of his face, the flair of his nostrils, the shape of his eyes, the chiseled perfection that was his face kept drawing me in. But he didn’t ever look my way.

Almost two hours later, I was ready to go. It was a little after five o’clock and I was confused as to why I had to sit through the most boring meeting I’d ever been to in my life. The overview of the earnings report was the most interesting part, but even that couldn’t keep me from yawning behind my hand. When the meeting was over, I had no idea what my purpose for being there was, and I was ready to go home.

I have to find a dress to wear to the gala.

All of us scattered from the conference room.

“Imani?” Tre beckoned me.

I turned and smiled. “Hey,” I returned like I hadn’t been staring him down and hoping he’d talk to me the entire time we were in there.

“Are you leaving for the day?” he asked.

Our eyes locked and his lips spread into a smile.

A flashback of him kissing me hit me so hard, I sucked in a sharp breath.

“Are you okay?” His voice was huskier, almost like he was preoccupied with whatever thoughts were rolling around in his own mind.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” I murmured distractedly. “I just… I have to grab my stuff from my office and then I’m heading out.”

“Stop by my office before you leave.”

“Okay, I can do that.” I nodded

One of the fifth-floor managers looked over her shoulder as we spoke.

“I need you to create a quick fact sheet with your projections to the board,” he added.

My brows furrowed. “Okay,” I said slowly.

I gave him that last week.

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