by Devin Nishea
I snickered a little.
“Well, maybe you’ll make it to church this Sunday and we’ll get lunch afterwards,” she said.
My mom was funny, that was not her asking and her tone was one where she dared you to say no.
“Yes ma’am.” I responded.
“Speaking of church, I hadn’t seen that handsome young man I saw you talking to the other week,” she said.
“Ma, why are looking for him again, did I miss something?” I asked.
“Girl, hush I’m trying to get you married,” she said.
Little did she know I was trying to avoid him because he was already married.
“Okay, mom, but I’m not trying to rush marriage. Isn’t that what you’re always telling me?” I asked.
“Yes, chile, but it’s good to have some coals in the fire getting ready,” she said.
I laughed and said, “Okay, Ma, I hear you. I’m pulling into work. I’ll call you guys later.”
“Okay, baby, have a good day,” she said as we disconnected.
I was gathering my things and my phone rang. I thought it was my mom again having forgotten to tell me something. I glanced at my phone before answering and saw it was Mr. Handsome. Really? Oh my God, this guy was not letting up. I sent him to voicemail this time and rushed into the building to get ready for my meeting with the legal team.
“Good morning Sarah,” I said as I rushed by her desk into my office.
I looked up and saw she brought in a cup of coffee from Black Bean.
“Oh, my God! Thank you! You are a God-send!” I said.
“No problem. Okay, your meeting is at 10 AM and Isaiah called you a few minutes ago,” she said.
I looked at her and simply said, “Okay. No disturbances. Due to this big meeting with our legal team, I’ll need your hands helping me with copying this report. Just in case, make ten copies for me and place it in a report binder for me with the clear cover.”
“Okay, anything else?” she asked.
“No, that’s it. I have to double-check one page and I’ll get this to you in a bit,” I said.
I got right to work, so I’d have everything ready by 9:30 AM. As I was looking over my last report, my cell phone started to vibrate. I looked over at it and saw it was Isaiah.
“Isaiah, I definitely cannot talk to you right now,” I said out loud.
I sent the report to Sarah so she could work her magic. This gave me a chance to relax a little before the meeting started. I sat on the couch and leaned back and whispered a prayer.
As I finished my prayer Sarah came in with ten perfect copies ready for the legal team. I was nervous and excited. Excited to get this over with and nervous due to this being my first project and I wanted to make a good impression. Sarah sat the reports on the table in front of me.
“Sarah, sit with me. I’m a nervous wreck,” I admitted. We don’t have to talk, just sit with me for a few minutes.” I said.
“Hmmm ok.” she said looking at me strangely.
I’m sure I was freaking her out right now, but I wanted to be calm before going into this meeting. So, I sat there with my eyes closed. Sarah interrupted the quietness of the room.
“Xenia, it’s time for you make your way to the conference room,” she said at a whisper. And don’t worry, you got this,” she assured me.
“You’re right, I worked my butt off. I got this,” I said pumping myself up.
I grabbed my things and headed to the conference room walking confidently. When I got there, I saw I was first to arrive. I scattered my positive vibes into the atmosphere.
While looking out over the city, I heard the door open and a male voice said, “There she is, the woman of the hour.”
As I turned around to greet the team, I had to quickly gain my composure. I knew I’d be working with lawyers from this point forward, but what I wasn’t expecting was for Isaiah to be one of those lawyers.
I smiled as I was being introduced.
“Xenia, this Isaiah. He’ll be heading the legal side of things. You two will be working closely together going forward,” my boss said.
“Nice to meet you, Xenia,” Isaiah said as he shook my hand.
This man was too fine!
“Likewise,” I said as I grabbed my seat.
I passed out the reports and noticed it would only be three of us working on the project. Thank God because working one-on-one wasn’t going to fly.
I breezed through my presentation with no problems; everyone seemed pleased, especially with the numbers.
“Are there any questions?” I asked the group.
I looked around the room with a smile on my face, waiting for any questions they may have had. Surprisingly, no one had questions.
“Great!” I exclaimed.
Isaiah looked across the table at me with his beautiful smile.
“Well, Xenia, I look forward to working with you.”
I nodded in agreement.
“I understand the goal is to have this acquisition completed in the next few weeks?” Isaiah’s associate asked the team.
We all said in unison, “Yes!”
“Okay, well, it looks as though we have our work cut out for us. I propose we get started working right away,” his associate said.
I glanced over at Isaiah and said, “I have no objections to that. Feel free to stop by my office before leaving, so we can sync calendars with tentative dates to meet.”
I was trying my hardest not to let on that Isaiah and I knew each other already. I started to feel sweat on my upper lip. This was just awesome; beads of sweat on my lip. I already knew underneath my suit jacket the sweat was showing through my shirt. Yuck!
We were in the conference room making sure all goals were communicated for this acquisition. After the meeting was over I invited Isaiah and his associate to my office to look over our calendars. When we reached Sarah’s desk, I introduced everyone.
When I said Isaiah’s name, Sarah quickly glanced at me. When she caught my eye I immediately shook my head and smiled.
“Sarah, hold my calls for about 15 minutes,” I told her while walking into my office.
I sat at my desk to looked at my calendar.
“Would either of you like a bottle of water?” I asked.
They both declined. We began to compare calendars.
“I think we should meet more on the front end, then as we near our deadline, we can possibly taper off,” I said.
Isaiah’s associate excused himself from the room to take a call. I started sweating again.
“Okay, so, what does your next week look like?” I asked Isaiah.
“You look so beautiful today,” he said.
“I don’t think that’s a day on the calendar. Come on Isaiah. Please let’s be professional here. What does your next week look like? This way it’ll give you time to look over the report again and you can begin drafting this week,” I said.
“It pays to answer my calls. When I heard I would be working with your firm, I called to let you know, to no avail,” he said.
“So, you couldn’t leave that on voicemail?” I asked.
“I wanted to personally deliver the news,” he said smiling.
“Well, I apologize. Now you see why I didn’t answer. I’ve been working my butt off for weeks on this,” I said.
“And it shows—you gave an awesome presentation back there.”
“Thanks, Isaiah,” I said relaxing a bit.
“We don’t have to wait for Glen. I’ll give him the dates so he can adjust,” Isaiah said.
“Ok, great!” I replied.
We agreed on tentative dates for the next few weeks. By the time we were finished Glen came back in the office with a huge grin on his face.
Isaiah and I both looked at each other, then back at Glen.
“Okay, did someone you know win the lottery? You look beyond excited,” I said.
“Oh God! Yes, my girlfriend’s contractions are getting closer!” he exclaimed.
&nb
sp; When he said that I zoned out and thought to myself…Great, I’m going to have to work with Isaiah alone after all.
“That’s wonderful.” trying to sound excited. Go, be with her!” I told him.
“I hate to do this on such a big project,” Glen said.
“Glen, we understand. Family first. Now, get your things and go be with your woman. Congrats man,” Isaiah said.
Glen gathered his things and quickly walked out of the office.
Isaiah turned and looked at me.
“Okay, we have our dates penciled in, so I guess we’re done here for the day?” he asked.
“Yes, I’ll have Sarah to email both you and Glen calendar invites later today,” I told him.
“I knew I’d get you to myself sooner or later,” he said.
“Isaiah…” I said.
He interrupted me, “It doesn’t matter if this is business or not. I told you I wanted to get to know you better, Xenia.”
I looked up and saw Sarah at the door.
“Thank you, Isaiah, we shall see each other next week,” I said as I extended my hand for him to shake.
He grabbed my hand and kissed it lightly. I wanted to melt.
“Until we meet again…” he said. He walked out of my office, passing by Sarah. “Sarah, it was nice to have met you. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other over the next few weeks.”
“Nice to have met you as well,” Sarah said, shaking his hand.
When he disappeared behind the door I collapsed in my seat. Sarah walked over to my desk and sat down and stared at me. I knew what she was dying to say.
“Go ahead…” I said.
“You wouldn’t take HIS phone calls!? OH EM GEE!!!! I mean this with all due respect. Are you crazy!?” she asked.
All I could do was shake my head.
“I mean, Xenia, he’s beyond handsome. That smile melted my heart. He has the prettiest teeth!” she said.
“Yes, Sarah, I know.”
“Wait, did you know he was going to be working with you?” she asked.
“Yep, found out at 10 AM this morning. Totally caught me off guard,” I said.
Okay, now, we must get back to work.”
This conversation needed to end. NOW!
“Here are the dates for our meetings. Make sure you send meeting invites to both Isaiah and Glen and copy the Management Team as well,” I told her.
“Okay, will do. But, Xenia, we’re not done,” she said pointing at me.
“Oh…but we are,” I said laughing.
“Xenia, you’re no fun,” Sarah said.
“Awe, I know,” I said playfully.
Chapter 16
Our first meeting came quickly and I was so nervous, I couldn’t sleep the night before. This meeting was a working lunch, so, I ordered Thai for us and had it delivered to the office.
I asked Sarah to sit in with us in case Isaiah decided he wanted to try something. I didn’t know if Glen was going to be at the meeting or not due to the baby.
“Sarah, if Glen is here, you won’t need to sit in on the meeting,” I told her.
“You just don’t want to be with him alone. You’re not fooling me,” she said smiling. “It’s okay, I probably wouldn’t trust myself around him either.”
“Hush!” I said laughing. “I just need to be sure everything is on the up and up during our meetings, that’s all. We, well…he, needs to stay focused.”
“Okay. All jokes aside, I do understand,” she said.
She went back out to her desk and reappeared twenty minutes later with Isaiah and Glen. I looked up from my work and smiled.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” I said. We all shook hands. “Glen, it’s nice to see you, I didn’t know if I were going to see you today or not. How’s the baby?”
“Beautiful baby boy…” he said gushing. “Head full of hair.”
“He got the hair from mom, I assume?” I asked jokingly.
Everyone laughed.
“Yeah, I am lacking in the hair department,” he said.
Sarah came back into the office with lunch and she set it up on the table in front of the couch for us.
“Sarah, don’t forget to fix yourself a plate as well before you go,” I said.
“Xenia, you are in a wonderful mood, I see” Isaiah said.
He hadn’t called me since last week.
“Yes, today’s a good day,” I said. Well, let’s dig in. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
We decided to eat first then got to work. I realized this was going to be a long afternoon.
After going over legal briefs all afternoon my brain was fried…literally. By this time, it was 4 PM and we had gone way over our 2 hour meeting block. But that only meant we were ahead of schedule and would require less at our next meeting. Hopefully.
“Okay, guys, we’ve been working nonstop this afternoon, how about we call it a day and come back together at our next scheduled time?” Glen said.
I was relieved when he spoke up. Glen read my facial expression on how happy I was about him speaking up.
“Oh my God, Glen, thank you!” I said laughing. I’m hungry again and my brain is toast. I think I’m an intelligent human being but these legal briefs, my goodness.” They both laughed at me.
“I’m serious, guys. Legal-eeze, I definitely do not speak,” I said.
Isaiah spoke in agreeance, “Okay, we’ll organize what was done today and come back together next week.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said while I was cleaning up from lunch.
“Xenia, let me help you with that,” Isaiah said.
“Oh, I got it and what I don’t get, I’m sure Sarah can get it,” I said.
“Okay, Ms. Xenia,” Isaiah said.
We were staring at each other for a moment until Glen broke the silence by clearing his throat.
“Alright, well, if we’re done here I’m going to head out and start on revisions tonight,” Glen said.
“Glen, kiss the baby for me,” I said.
I didn’t know what else to say since he obviously caught Isaiah and I staring each other down.
“Yeah, I can’t wait to get home and play with him. Although he’s still keeping us up at night, he’s just so adorable. I can’t wait until he gets bigger,” he said gushing.
“Awe, yeah, they say enjoy this stage,” I said.
“Okay, you guys have a good night,” Glen said disappearing behind the door.
What I didn’t want to happen happened. Myself and Isaiah in the same room alone and he didn’t look as if he was in a hurry to leave. I saw he sat back down on the couch looking over some notes.
“You can stop pretending now,” I said.
“Pretending? What are you talking about?” Isaiah said.
I gave him a quick side eye.
“You can stop pretending to read over your notes,” I said still cleaning my office.
He laughed, “Okay, you got me.”
“Why don’t you want to be alone with me, Xenia?” he asked.
“And what makes you think I don’t want to be?” I asked.
“Your body language. It changed as soon as Glen left. Look, I’m not going to bite you. Xenia, I like your company and all I want to do is get to know you better.”
I’ve heard that line plenty of times before and even fell for it a few times. I kept cleaning and I heard him get up from the couch. I turned around. By this time we were standing face to face. I took a step back.
“Isaiah, please, this is my place of work,” I said.
I turned to clean up the last of the plates and food. My heart was racing and I could feel my upper lip moist from sweat. I hate he made me feel like this.
“You’re right,” he said. “I apologize, but there’s something about you I just can’t get enough of. I know whatever this is between us, you feel it too.”
He was right, I did feel it, but I was not going to let him know. At least not right now. And if I did let him know, this was not th
e time. And it was time for him to leave my office.
“Isaiah, I’m flattered, I really am, but this will not happen. It’s unprofessional,” I said. “I don’t appreciate being put in this position.”
Isaiah stood there, staring at me. He didn’t say a word. I walked to my desk so there would be a barrier between us.
He walked over and stood opposite of me. He looked me in my eyes and smiled and said, “You win…today.”
Inside I breathed a sigh of relief. I looked away from him quickly tidying up my office.
I was saved when Sarah walked back into the office.
“You two okay in here?” she inquired smiling.
“Yes, Sarah, I’m actually getting ready to head out so I can go over what all was done here today,” Isaiah replied.
“Oh, leaving so soon?” I asked sarcastically.
I was hoping not to let on to Sarah any of our mini-confrontation before she stepped into the office.
Isaiah shook his head at me and smiled, “Yes ma’am, there’s no need for me to stick around. I actually have a long night ahead of me.”
“Okay, sounds good to me. I’ll walk you out,” I said.
I waited for Isaiah to gather the last of his things and we began to walk towards the door.
“It was a pleasure, Xenia,” Isaiah smirked.
“Likewise.”
That’s actually all I could muster up to say at the moment. I cleared my throat as I gazed at him deeply, like I was in a trance or something. My trance was then broken by Sarah clearing her throat.
“Okay, well, you have a good evening and have fun going over what was done today,” I said sarcastically.
“Yes ma’am, I sure will. You guys have a wonderful evening,” he said.
I quickly walked back into my office and closed the door. I sat at my desk and swiveled around in my chair facing the view of the city.
As I sat there, I thought this was way too much pressure for one person to handle. Yes, the man was attractive. But, could I really go there with him while we’re working on this project together? I thought I was playing it cool, but now he knew for sure I was feeling him and wanted him as bad as he wanted me.
“DANG IT,” I said out loud.
Sarah came back in the office.
“Zen, you okay?” she asked.
“What, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine Sarah. Why do you ask?” I inquired.