Page 10 of You Make Me Feel

Her smile never faded as she extended her hand. I shook it and could feel sparks from her touch. Pulling away, I tried to keep my professional demeanor at all costs. While Devin seemed cool, I couldn’t get too relaxed and fuck up.

“Y’all know each other?” he asked.

“We go to church together.”

“Really? My wife and I go to Antioch. My whole family, actually. Corey too.”

“The world just got even smaller,” I responded and chuckled.

“Why you had to say Corey too, like I’m not part of the family? Keep on, nigga. You gon’ get fucked up.”

I chuckled as they clowned around. I was happy that they felt comfortable enough around me to be themselves. They were both in the elite of Beaumont.

“My wife consulted with Kinisha’s brother-in-law a couple of years ago, I believe. She’s an attorney. Sidney Taylor,” Devin added.

“Oh yeah, I know who she is. I remember seeing her at church when she was speaking about being registered to vote.”

Even more prestige.

“Yeah. She likes telling people what to do.”

“Especiallyhisass,” Corey added.

They laughed, and Devin playfully punched Corey in the arm. “Shut up, fool. Oliver, let me show you around the office.”

I nodded as I glanced at Kinisha. She wasn’t paying me the slightest bit of attention. She was at the front desk, seeming to be looking for something. When she found it, she stood up, and her eyes met mine. She gave me a soft smile and then went to her office. As I followed Devin around, and he showed me all the offices, along with their systems closet, he said, “She’s single.”

I frowned slightly. He looked back at me with a smirk on his lips. I supposed I was being more obvious than I thought. “Yeah, I know. I see her every Sunday.”

“So when you gon’ shoot your shot?”

“I don’t know. Soon, though.”

“I wouldn’t wait too long. She’s a beautiful woman.” He glanced around me, looking to see if anyone was listening. I did the same. “She has a date this weekend. I overheard her on the phone. Apparently, it isn’t their first date either. So you better get a move on before that shit turns serious.”

I nodded repeatedly. “I’ll say something before I leave, if that’s okay.”

He frowned slightly. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I’m working, and so is she.”

“Loosen up, man,” he responded with a chuckle.

I let out one as well, then began looking at their network and how everything was set up. They seemed to have a great system. “Who did this?”

“Umm . . .” he said in a singsong manner as his gaze went up and to the right. “Galaxy upgraded everything about five years ago, and I’ve been maintaining it myself.”

“You’ve done well.”

I closed the closet door, and he led me to an empty office to look at their software. After he logged me in, I created myself a personal login, giving me full control to maintain their systems as he watched. “Damn,” he voiced.

I glanced up at him as he watched me work. I was very familiar with their setup because I had the same thing at my offices.How convenient is that?They had more accounting software I wasn’t as familiar with, but I knew I could figure it out quickly. After I adjusted some things to my liking, I looked up at him. “Are there any ongoing issues I should know about?”

“Kinisha has been having a few glitches in her system where it’s not adding numbers like it should, but that should be an easy fix. I’m unsure why it keeps deprogramming itself.”

I nodded and logged out. Although I could have sent a remote access code to her computer from the computer I was on, I wanted to be in her space. Standing from my seat, I made my way to her office. Devin’s smirk didn’t get by me. He went back up front with Corey. I was more than sure Kinisha and I would be a topic of conversation.

When I got to her office, I knocked on her door frame since the door was open. She looked up at me and smiled. “Come in.”

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