“That’s our brother Torrence, Chief Counsel.” He gestured to the lighter chocolate brother who sat to my left; he had a bald fade, and his beard was cut so perfectly it looked like it was painted on. His black framed glasses fit his face wonderfully and magnified the fact he was the only one with hazel eyes.
“Pleasure to meet you.” He spoke softly like he was shy, but he still looked me directly in the eyes, and I smiled my professional smile again.
“I’m Trent,” the man sitting to my right spoke up before his brother could introduce him, “I’m President of Marketing, and the pleasure is all mine to be in the presence of such exquisite beauty.” I felt my cheeks blush a little from his overt flirting. “And if all goes well today, you and I will most definitely be seeing more of each other.” His southern drawl wasn’t as noticeable as his brother Travis, but his voice was deep and sounded almost as good as he looked.
I noticed that he was the only one who was not wearing a dark suit, which told me that he loved to stand out. He wore a burnt orange blazer and a crème-colored shirt with a few buttons opened that showed the outline of his defined chest, with a pair of brown dress pants. Trent was about to say more when someone pointedly cleared their throat to cut him off.
“And this is our fearless leader,” Travis said, and the brothers chuckled softly. I turned my head just in time to see chocolate Adonis’s left eye twitch, which gave me the impression that the greeting must be an inside joke that irritated him. “This is our oldest brother Titan.”
“Titan?” I squeaked out. Realization hit me. No wonder I thought he looked familiar last night. Titan Browning was very high profile because he was a Black man who amassed over a billion dollars in the tech industry. He was always on the cover of a magazine or website, regarded as the first Black man or the youngest person of color to do something in technology. No pun intended, but Titan was literally a Titan in his industry. His name by definition meant a person of very great strength, intellect, or importance, and from the research Marlow gathered on him for this meeting, his name fit him very well.
Seeing him today in a fully lit room instead of the dimly lit bar, it was easier to see why I kept referring to him as an Adonis because he was so damn handsome, and he was built like he could easily fuck me through any surface. Although I made great money and had my own company, I was not as high profile…yet. Therefore, I didn’t have to attend all the same social functions as Titan, so our paths didn’t cross until last night, and from the way my clit was thumping between my legs last night and right now, maybe that was for the best.
However, this meeting today was not for any of Titan’s tech businesses, it was for his water companyHydro. It was the only business he owned with his brothers that they built from the ground up, and it was the only business with his name attached to it that needed more work on making it a household name because it was fairly new.Hydrowas doing ok, but they needed to do better.
“Why you say my name like that? You have a problem with my name or something?” Titan asked, and I could have sworn I heard a little apprehension in his tone. I had to cross my legs because his voice was like a siren directly to my clitoris and it throbbed more. The deep timbre of his voice intertwined with his southern drawl was like a soft caress over my body and it made me feel warm.
“No, your name is fine, shall we get started?” I asked while shuffling my papers nervously, purposely avoiding Titan’s piercing gaze from across the table.
For the next two hours, I presented multiple ways forHydroto build its name by building relationships within the community.Hydrooffered various water such as sparkling and spring water, as well flavored water. So, when I suggested that they should meet with Giada Morretti to work out a deal to supply their water at her nightclubs and the grocery stores she was building, Trent interjected.
“I’ve been trying to meet with that broad for years, and she shut me down, even threatened to kill me, but I know she was joking about that.” Trent sounded a little hurt that a woman rejected him, but he covered it well behind his bravado.
“Well, I hope you didn’t refer to her as a ‘broad’ when you tried to set said meeting up,” Titan said, staring at his brother with a displeased look on his face.
“Does it look like I would call her a broad to her face?!” Trent looked offended as he asked the question to the table.
“Yes!” His brothers all yelled in unison, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
“Well, I just recently signed her as a client. I can help facilitate the meeting if you like,” I offered.
“I just read a great article about you and that record breaking signing for your company this morning on my way over here,” Titan said. His direct eye contact made me slightly uncomfortable, because it seemed like he was trying to gaze into my soul. I found it ironic that I wanted to hand him my panties last night and ride him like a bucking bronco, but now that my bravery wasn’t being influenced by the effects of alcohol, I wanted to quickly escape his magnetic pull.
“Congratulations.” His voice brought me out of my thoughts, and when I looked at him, I quickly looked away because damn his smile was beautiful. I felt in my heart that his praise was genuine, and the fact that it made me feel warm and fuzzy gave me more of a reason to wrap this meeting up because compliments and praise made me uncomfortable. Yeah, I know I was that girl, and I worked my ass off to get where I am, but compliments from men I had to work with took me to a bad place from my past.
“Thank you,” I said lamely, looking around the room at nothing in particular. But Titan’s presence was so strong that I instinctively looked back toward him and saw his left eye twitchagain and then noticed that his right hand that was lying flat on the table was balled into a fist.
“That would be awesome if you could make that meeting happen,Mrs. Henson,” Trent reiterated, once again overtly flirting. I knew he called me Mrs. on purpose just to see if I would correct him and tell him I wasMs.Henson so that he could know I was single, but I let it slide. Maybe he would back off a little if he thought I had a man.
“I will make some calls and get back to you all to see if we can work something out.” I gathered my items into a neat stack on the conference table.
“Even if you can’t make the meeting with Ms. Morretti happen, Ms. Henson, you still have our business,” Travis said while smiling at me, his smile was beautiful just like Titan’s, except the brightness of his smile of was enhanced by the glint of diamonds on the bottom row of his teeth. I loved seeing someone so professional with a bottom grill, and it momentarily distracted me, that’s why it took my brain a moment to process what he just said. When the good news finally sank in, my whole body lit up with excitement, and without thinking twice, I did a happy shimmy with my shoulders and wiggled my hips in my chair. It wasn’t until I heard deep chuckles and snorts that I stopped immediately, and my eyes widened in embarrassment. I was about to start apologizing profusely for my lapse in professionalism, but the look on Titan’s face made me keep my mouth shut because he looked mad.
Shit, you done fucked up now, Bailey. You already lost this account because you couldn’t hold it together.
“I know you not about to about apologize,” he said it like he was talking to himself as he shook his head. “Were you about to apologize?” He asked, narrowing his eyes at me. When I nodded my head, he rolled his eyes.
“Bailey.” As soon as he said my name, the flood gates between my legs opened. My name never sounded sexier. “Don’t you ever apologize for celebrating your success. You worked yo’ ass off in this meeting, answered every question, and went above and beyond with your marketing strategy. Shit, I know a few people I’m personally going to send your way that could use your expertise.” He shook his head and sighed. “It’s a damn shame women, especially Black women, feel like they can’t celebrate their wins without being judged. You do great work and I’m not just saying that.” I could almost cry from his words of encouragement. He didn’t say anything I didn’t know already, but sometimes things just sank in better when you heard it from someone else.
“Speaking of good work, your assistant is efficient as hell. She emailed me all the paperwork we would need without me having to ask for it,” Travis chuckled, and I thought the sound of it was lovely. “If she’s ever in the market for another job…” he let his sentence trail off and I frowned at him.
“Oh, hell nah! Don’t be poaching my assistant. I shudder at the thought of having to hire a new one. I just got Penny to the point where she could read my mind.” I literally shuddered at the thought of having to get a new assistant. “Gentlemen, it has truly been a pleasure meeting you all today, but I heard from my efficient assistant that Titan has a flight to catch, and I don’t want to be the reason he misses it.” My voice was overly cheerful now because I was moments away from being released from Titan and whatever magnetic pull he had over me while in his presence.
I heard a deep laugh and was surprised to see it came from Tyran, it was the first reaction from him after damn near three hours of being in here. “Ms. Henson, Titan flies private. His flight won’t leave until he’s there, and his meeting in Africa isn’t until the day after tomorrow.” Tyran chuckled again as thoughme being considerate about Titan’s flight schedule was the funniest thing he’s heard all day, but what Tyran said pissed me off because if he didn’t need to leave, then why did Titan move the meeting up? I could be taking a nap right now. Me and naps went together like peanut butter and jelly.
“Well, nonetheless, I still want him to make his flight no matter what time it leaves,” I responded with a fake smile, hiding my irritation as I packed up my laptop and stuffed it into my bag. When I stood up, so did they. “I’ll have my partner Marlow email you the contracts,” I said to Torrence then I turned to Trent, “and I’ll give your info to Brandy, Giada’s General Manager for her nightclubs. She’s currently overseeing the grocery store production for now.”
I slung my laptop bag over my shoulder and gathered the rest of the meeting information. I was in the front of the line to lead the line of gorgeous men out of the conference room, but as soon as I was about to step over the threshold, Titan grabbed my elbow and pulled me to the side before he slowly turned me to face him. His brothers continued out of the room, each of them glancing at us with similar expressions of curiosity and amusement on their faces. Trent was the last one out and I didn’t miss him winking at Titan before he softly closed the door behind him.
