Page 19 of Devoted Love: A BWWM Romance

“It’s time for round two already.” He licks his lips.

"Food, man!"

Chapter 7

I'm managing my time by the minute. Erik is pushing forward, and it's been a couple of months of working days at the firm and nights at the campaign office. Tonight, everyone's pulling a late night.

The primary agenda items are finalizing the branding, fundraising, and our digital platforms. While half of the team work on the branding, I walk over to the table. Erik is zoned out.

“Man, you don’t have all night. We need this logo finalized and out to the printer tomorrow.”

“It all looks the same to me.” Erik scrubs a hand over his face.

I sit next to him. The color schemes are close but different enough to send mixed messages. "I advise you to let Mark and Harold narrow it down to two. Then we'll pick from them."

“I like the sound of that.”

Harold is another friend from law school. He steps in to help, and I take Erik to the side.

"What's the status of your speech for the fundraiser and the list of fifty people?" I ask, guiding him to another table.

“I’m on it.” He sits off to the side to complete his task.

I notice the flow chart on the wipe board. Jordan is an unofficial member of the staff since we've contracted her originally for the app. But it worked out that Platinum Prestige is handling all of our major technical requirements to fuel this campaign—the website, the app, the contact database, and establishing our social media channels.

Jordan stands at the board with Taylor. I sit on the edge of the table keeping my ears on the conversations around the room but my eyes on her.

We are going strong. Our greatest challenge is time. I'm stretched in two places at once, and she'll fly out tomorrow to start a new gig.

“I can’t say I pegged her as your type.” Erik sits next to me. “She’s the total opposite of Krystal, she hardly speaks, and the age difference. A woman her age isn’t ready for the things we’re looking for.”

“And what’s that?”

“To get married—”

“Done that.”

“To have kids.”

"You're stuck on the surface, Erik. When you take the time to get to know Jordan, you'll see she's exactly my type. Our relationship is based on us, not other people, not bank accounts, not being seen. She's intelligent and beautiful and fucking hot."

“Can I please get the PG-13 version?”

I laugh. “We don’t need a shitload of words to explain why we work, we just do.”

“Would you get married again?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead. But to her? Hell, yes.”

“She’d get you to walk down the aisle again. She has it like that?”

"Yeah, man, she has me like that."

I never told Erik the details about the incident with my glucose levels. The way Jordan jumped into action. I have people around me—employees, partners, clients. However, I've never had someone in tune with my wants and my needs. Not even my own parents since I spent more time in boarding schools than at home.

Jordan is more than her appearance, which I've learned is a ploy. The all-black attire keeps people at an arms distance, but it's their loss.

“How’s Sarah taking it?” He passes me the draft of his speech.

---