I looked from Ray to Kareem because they were clearly having a conversation I wasn’t in on. Ray was still smiling from ear to ear, shaking my hand. Kareem walked over and knocked his hand from mine.
“Karina put this together last night. It’s an overview of how she plans to capture the company in each major hub. Maybe you want to look over that in your office.”
“Sure. I can look over this in my office, boss, but at some point, I will need to speak with Karina about it. So, that means I’ll be back.” Ray walked away chuckling while Kareem kept the same stern look on his face. “I shouldn’t be long at all.” Ray threw back over his shoulder, and I knew he was messing with his friend.
“That’s Rayla’s brother she’s always talking about?” I questioned as soon as Kareem took his seat back at his desk.
I shifted myself in the chair so that I was facing him. Kareem hadn’t fully turned to face me yet, but I was admiring his side profile.
His short curly hair was pushed back out of his face. His faded sides were perfectly edged, making his skin shine more than usual. Even his eyebrows were perfect. Kareem was probably the most beautiful man I had ever seen. The only problem was that he knew it too.
“That’s him in the flesh.”
Since Kareem had given my physical plan to Ray, I spent the next thirty minutes giving him a verbal rundown of my vision for each city. If Kareem gave me the power to execute this the way I wanted, I knew for sure his four-page spread would blow up all over social media. I had the vision. I just needed the perfect time to execute. This was it.
Chapter
Eight
Kareem
Iwasn’t trying to grill Karina. I was just asking questions that had been on my mind since the first time I saw her again. She hadn’t aged at all. Her skin was still as radiant as I remembered it, and her body was still tight in all the right places.
I watched as she shifted in her seat, which was directly across from me. This time, she crossed one of her legs over the other, and the act immediately made me lose my train of thought. Instead of continuing my line of questioning, my eyes moved from Karina’s face to her sexy ass thighs. I enjoyed the way her pencil skirt opened to reveal just enough to pique the imagination.
“Maybe we should focus on the work.”
Karina gave me a different variation of the same line she’d been saying since she showed up in my office yesterday morning. The lowness of her sweet voice brought my attention back to where it should have been… to that pretty face of hers and those lips.
I had questions that needed answering. The most important one was why she’d disappeared on me all those years ago, but I would take my time getting around to that one. Right now, I was just enjoying being in her presence, and I knew if I pushed too hard, she would pull away even harder.
“The work I’m trying to do here"—I pointed between he two of us—"is more important. It’s probably the most important thing I’ve ever done.”
“And why is my personal life important to you?”
“Because you are important to me, Karina. I didn’t come up to your apartment last night because I don’t want you to think this is some jump-off situation for me. I want you to know I’m pursuing you, and I’m not going to stop until you tell me why I can’t have you.”
The revelation in my words caused us both to pause. Karina stared at me with those gorgeous brown eyes, and I stared right back at her. There was no way I was going into the next three days of this four-city tour without her knowing exactly what I wanted to get out of it.
My company had already made millions and was on track to sign the biggest deal we’d ever seen, but the moment Karina popped back up in my life was the same moment all that shit took a back seat. Yes, I was hoping she snapped some great pictures and even got a good story out of all of this, but if the only thing I walked away with was her, I would be completely satisfied.
“Kareem, you don’t know what you are saying. You haven’t seen me since high school. How could you possibly want to be with me?”
“I know exactly what I am saying. What I don’t understand is why you’re so against it, against us.”
“Us?”
Karina laughed as if I had made a joke, but I was dead serious. I didn’t see shit funny. In my mind, Karina Stevens was already mine. She would always be mine.
“Yes.Us. You never married. You don’t have any kids. You’ve barely dated in the last ten years, and you’ve been at Rayla’s magazine since before you even graduated college. Your life is perfectly solitary and predictable. You can’t tell me all of that is a coincidence. I’m not the only one who’s been waiting, so tell me why you are pretending.”
“I’m not pretending, Kareem. And I have dated in the last ten years.”
“Yeah? Any of them make you feel like this?”
I moved from my chair and kneeled in front of Karina. I could hear her breathing speed up as I took the heels off her pretty little feet one at a time. I could feel her body tense against my touch, and my hand traveled from the bottom of her feet, moving up her thighs. I knew I was exploring territories that hadn’t been touched in years.
“Kareem.”
