“Titan Browning, ma’am,” he answered with pride, as though he idolized him.
“Oh really? Well, thank you for delivering this, and tell your boss I said thank you,” I said, waving at him as he started backing away.
“Have a nice day!” Royce said before turning and going toward the elevator. I watched as he stepped on, and when the doors closed, I turned to go back to my office.
When I returned to my office, I put the bag on my desk, and my brother grabbed it.
“What’s this?” He asked, pulling the champagne out of the bag and let out a low whistle. “Armand de Brignac, good shit; who’s it from?” He asked and just as he was about to take the card from the bag, I quickly snatched it.
“I think that belongs to me nosy ass,” I said, opening the envelope and saw the card was written on Titan’s company stationary. When I unfolded the paper, I loved that he had gorgeous handwriting; the cursive was bold and elegant, just like Titan.
Bailey,
Since you can’t accept my compliments, I hope you will accept my gift for a job well done. However, this gift does come with the condition that I hope you will wait to enjoy it with me when my business is finished in Africa. I’m not sorry if that seems too forward. I’ll be back stateside in one week, so keep the champagne on ice. I’ve included my business card with my email, office, and cell numbers listed on it; don’t hesitate to use them. Talk soon.
Your Titan
When I finished reading the note, I took the card with all of Titan’s information on it and put it inside the top drawer of my desk and quickly slammed it shut. I didn’t like the way my heart swooned from reading “Your Titan,” like he was already declaring himself mine. Maybe I was reading too deep into this. I really didn’t know what to make of my emotions at the moment and I couldn’t process them like I wanted to because my brother was here staring me in the face. But the one thing I did know was that I would not be getting involved with Titan Browning. When he was just a stranger in the bar, it was no big deal, but now that I worked for his company, I had warning bells ringing through my body.
I knew from experience the damage your reputation could take when stupid people thought you were involved with someone you worked with and slept your way to the top. So, for now, my mind was made up that I would only deal with Titan on a professional level, no matter how my body and heart was feeling right now. I continued lunch with my brother until Penny came into my office with her tablet, ready to take notes for a conference call I had with a local celebrity I represented.
Before my brother left, he and I made plans to take the girls out somewhere this weekend, and when he left, I got on my conference call.
Titan
“Why the hell hasn’t she called me?” I paced the aisle of my private jet as it headed back to the States. I been on the phone with my brother Torrence for the last hour trying to figure out why I hadn’t heard from Bailey, not even a thank you call for the champagne. Maybe I did come on too strong. I originally wanted to send her flowers, but Torrence said flowers might have been too intimate, so I opted for champagne. Of all my brothers, Torrence was the best one to talk to if you needed a sounding board because his patience was limitless, and you didn’t have to worry about him running his mouth. Although he teased me for fifteen minutes straight when I admitted to him my attraction to Bailey, I knew whatever I said would stay between us.
I tried to ignore the immediate response I had when I saw Bailey at that bar a week ago. I tried telling myself that my intense attraction was due to the alcohol I consumed that night, but I couldn’t blame the alcohol when I saw her at our business meeting the next day. When she entered the room, it was like time stood still, and her presence commanded my undivided attention. I couldn’t recall the last time a woman made me feel like this. The way my body jolted as soon as Bailey walked herfine ass into that conference room felt like I was a dead battery getting a jumpstart. I was man enough to admit that since my divorce, my heart had been frozen solid, but seeing her that day made me feel hopeful that my heart was ready to thaw, and she would be the woman to do it. I don’t know how I knew, but my gut told me Bailey Henson was mine.
But what if she didn’t feel the same? The thought of Bailey not feeling the same way about me had me all the way fucked up. I didn’t miss the way her breath caught when I leaned down to whisper in her ear when we were in her conference room or how she inhaled my scent when my neck was near her mouth, and how my touch on her lower back made her so weak in the knees that she almost fell. Those were signs that she was definitely feeling me, but something was holding her back, and I intended to find out what.
“Maybe she is married like Trent said.” The words tasted like acid on my tongue, and the thought felt like I got kicked in the nuts.
“Ty don’t listen to Trent; you know that’s his corny ass way of seeing if a woman is single.”
“You right, maybe she’s not married but what if she has a boyfriend? Fine as she is, I wouldn’t doubt it.” I sighed deep into the phone. I didn’t like the thought of her having a boyfriend either, but it would be less complicated to break up a relationship with a boyfriend than to divorce a husband.
“Why don’t you just call her and do this thing called… ask her?” Torrence suggested sarcastically.
“I don’t have her number.” I sighed again.
“Call her office. She seems like the workaholic type. She might be at work on a Saturday,” Torrence said.
“Yeah, I’ll stop by there,” I said, and suddenly, my sullen mood was replaced with determination.
“What? Negro, I saidcall, not go over there like some fuckin’ stalker.” From the sound of his voice, I knew my brother was shaking his head in disapproval.
“Nah, I don’t think she’ll think that. I’m going to stop over there because if I call, she can screen my call and pretend not to be there. If I come in person, she can’t hide.” I smiled as my plan came together; nothing was going to deter me.
Torrence and I talked for a few more minutes before I had to hang up because my plane was landing. I looked at my watch and noticed it was a quarter past four in the afternoon. I hoped Bailey was in her office because I was going straight there.
Bailey
Ihad to stop by my office to review some paperwork, and since it was Saturday, I had my nieces with me. We just came from the park and had ice cream and after chasing around a seven and a five-year-old, I felt every bit of my thirty years of age. I knew I wasn’t old, but playing hide and seek with two children who were full of energy was not easy with all this wagon I was draggin’. My ass needed more cardio because my ass was out of “bref” at that park, yeah you read that right, bref. My nieces were great, though, because they enjoyed coming into my office. They knew I kept great snacks in my desk drawer, and I kept the mini fridge in my office stocked with juices. Since no one was in the office today, they could run free.
I was in the middle of editing a press release Marlow sent me regarding an incident at a club involving one of our clients when I heard the elevator ding. I frowned in confusion because no one besides me ever came in on the weekend. I could hear my nieces running around in the conference room down the hall, my brother Anthony was still out of town, and Dante got called into work at the hospital today, so I knew it wasn’t them.
My office was closest to the elevator, so I got up to see who was here unannounced. As I walked down the short hallwaytoward the elevator, I thought through who could be here. Maybe Marlow forgot something and came in or maybe it was my assistant Penny coming in to get a jump start on our jam-packed Monday. When I reached the elevator, I almost passed out from shock because the last person I expected to see was Titan’s sexy ass. I cleared my throat and tried to play it cool, but on the inside, I was a nervous wreck.
