“You don’t seem like the type that can’t take a compliment, Bailey,” Titan remarked once the room was empty, and again my body shivered when he said my name. I quickly noticed throughout the meeting that he was the only one out of his brothers who called me Bailey, like I was his. If I were to listen to the way my heart was racing right now or acknowledge how my body was tingling just from looking into his eyes, there was already a part of me that knew that I was. I quickly stomped those feelings down and locked it behind the steel walls that were created after I learned the hard way not to trust handsomemen who worked with you. Although I didn’t have to work with Titan every day, I now worked forhim, which meant at some point I would have to work with him, so it was all the same to me.
“Why did you move the meeting up if you didn’t need to leave today?” I asked, purposely ignoring his statement.
“I didn’t know you would be at that bar last night but as soon as I saw you, I knew who you were because I look into everyone I have business meetings with. As soon as I left, I moved the meeting up because I needed to see if you had the same effect on me today as you did last night.” Titan’s eyes never left mine and his directness left me speechless.
“Now, tell me why you looked so uncomfortable when I congratulated you about signing Giada Morretti’s business to your company?” Titan asked, “You are a brilliant businesswoman, I know you’re passionate about your work, and you’re great to your clients, which were some of the reasons I wanted to do business with you.”
I raised my brow, surprised by the last thing he said.
“Like I said, I look into everyone I have business meetings with, and you were no different. I made some calls to some of your clients a couple days before this meeting and asked how they liked doing business with you, and everyone had nothing but great things to say,” he said, answering my unasked question then he finally let my elbow go. I didn’t realize he was still holding it, and I was surprised that I missed the contact. “My second time asking you, don’t make me ask a third; why do compliments make you uncomfortable?”
“They don’t,” I said, holding my head high, hoping I didn’t sound as defensive as I felt, and he smirked.
“Ah ok, so just compliments frommemake you uncomfortable,” he said, and I tensed because he hit the nail on the head, but instead of showing him he was right, I schooled my features into my best poker face and wished for the interactionto be over. Again, he stared into my eyes and narrowed them before he leaned down toward my ear.
“I can tell from how stiff your shoulders got that I’m right or very close to it, so you’re just going to have to get used to hearing me praise you, no matter what, starting now.” I held in the moan that was close to leaving from my mouth from hearing his deep voice whispering in my ear. And the scent of his cologne was intoxicating. He stood back up to his full height.
“You look beautiful. Brains and beauty, you are perfection, Bailey.” My body warmed as his eyes slowly looked over my power suit; when he saw my heels, he bit his bottom lip before he slowly ran his tongue over it. I tried not to, but I shifted uncomfortably from his compliment. That little motion of him licking his lip was almost my undoing. I never wanted to kiss someone as strongly as I wanted to kiss him.
When his eyes returned to mine, I quickly looked down and pretended to pick some imaginary lint off my blazer. I heard him softly chuckle just as he slowly walked around me to open the door and gestured for me to walk ahead of him.
As soon as I walked past him, he placed his hand on my lower back to guide me over the threshold. The moment his palm touched me, my already sexually charged body suddenly felt like it was suddenly on fire. Sexual desire like I never felt before had hit me so hard between my thighs that my knees buckled mid stride, and I stumbled. Just as I was about to fall on my face, Titan’s strong arms wrapped around me from behind.
“You ok?” He said near my ear, not letting me go until I was steady on my feet.
“Y—yeah,” I stammered and then I cleared my throat awkwardly. “These heels,” I said as an excuse.
“Yeah…the heels.” He smiled staring into my eyes until I gently extracted myself out of his embrace. I readjusted mylaptop bag and when Titan was about to grab it to carry it for me, I side stepped him so I could stay in front of him.
To my surprise, Titan kept his hand on my lower back as he walked beside me toward the lobby where his brothers were gathered by the elevator. I was so lost in my thoughts about how much his touch affected me that I didn’t see my brother standing in the doorway of my office. Which is why I went full white woman and screamed like I was in a horror movie when I felt my feet leaving the ground as soon as I turned my head to the right to say bye to Titan. When I heard my brother Dante’s deep laugh and him mumble that I’ve always been so dramatic, that's when my brain sped up and I calmed down. I was now laughing as I threw my arms wide and hugged him with all the strength I could muster as he spun me around like he used to do when I was younger.
“I was waiting in your office to surprise you,” he said after he put me down. The papers in my hand were now wrinkled and my laptop bag was now on the floor, but I didn’t care. I was about to respond when I heard Titan clear his throat loudly from behind me like he did in the conference room.
“Friend of yours?” Titan’s voice sounded too controlled, and his posture looked too stiff. I saw his eye twitch and he blinked like he was doing his best not to let his anger show.
“Mr. Browning.” I began, trying to maintain professionalism, but Titan screwed his face up like someone farted and kept walking before he cut me off.
“Bailey, call me Titan,” he said, stepping closer to me and I didn’t miss the amusement on my brother’s face when he raised his eyebrow because Titan was definitely giving off “she mine” energy.
“Oh…ok. This is my oldest brother, Dante. Dante, I just signed Titan’s family business,Hydroto the company,” I said a little too excitedly in hopes of breaking the testosterone fueledtension coming from Titan but when I said that Dante was my brother, I saw his stance visibly relax.
“Congratulations, sis; and nice meeting you, Titan. You’re in good hands with my sister,” Dante stated, giving Titan’s hand a firm shake.
“I can’t wait to see how capable Bailey’s hands are,” Titan said, making sure he made direct eye contact with me. Titan’s ass wasn’t slick; I didn’t miss the double entendre behind his statement and the sensation between my thighs told me my pussy was ready to give him what he wanted. I shook off the sexual tension building between us yet again, because I did not want to feel like a dog in heat all day.
“I have to get going but I’ll have my assistant call you to set up a time to meet again,” Titan said and before I knew what he was doing, he grabbed my hand and lifted it to his mouth. When I felt his soft lips on the back of my hand, I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stifle the moan that was close to escaping my mouth.
“Ok.” My throat suddenly felt dry, so my voice cracked slightly.
“It was nice meeting you, Dante,” Titan said, this time he dapped my brother up like they were friends before he walked away to join his brothers on the elevator.
I turned around to face my brother as soon as I heard the elevator doors open, but I could feel Titan’s heated stare on my back until the doors closed.
“Sis, it seems we have a lot to catch up on, let’s order some lunch,” my brother suggested, walking into my office. Luckily, my schedule was free for another two hours since Titan took it upon himself to move our meeting up. But because my brother just popped up here unannounced, he didn’t care if my schedule was open or not.
“Penny, can you please call in an order from that restaurant down the street? I’ll have my usual, and my brother will have a double cheeseburger, fries?—”
“And adietCoke, make sure it’s diet because my body is a temple, and I have to watch my figure,” Dante said, cutting me off and I rolled my eyes because my brother was in amazing shape due to years of running track. My brother has been a track star since junior high; he was so good he got a full scholarship to college but took a break so he could train for the Olympics, and he would have made it, but he had to withdraw due to medical reasons. So, he went back to school and now he’s a board-certified Neurologist with the highest patient rating in the state.
