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“Little Saadiq had a half day at his summer program, and she didn’t arrange transportation.”
“She called you for that?”
She pursed her pretty lips and stared at me. “She called me because you forgot, and she couldn’t get you.”
I reached for my phone on the desk and saw some missed calls and messages. Zoë, Bria, and my father had called. I had three texts from Yoli, in the time since her worrisome ass had left the room, all disrespectful as fuck. I exhaled hard, holding back my anger at my second baby mama.
“I’ll handle Zoë.”
“No, you won’t. Demi is already getting him.”
That stopped me. “You arranged it?”
“Yes.”
“And what were you about to say about Sanaa?”
“She’s coming to my house tonight.”
I stared at her. “What?”
“Bria called before Zoë. She was upset about your canceling because she had plans. I told her to bring Sanaa to me.”
“You were off today.”
She rolled her eyes. “Apparently, that was just my opinion and not a real fact.”
The irritation in her voice should have made me check her. Instead, guilt snaked through me. I had a whole firm full of people paid to keep my life functioning, and still, somehow, Topaz was the one who kept everything together. My meetings, my clients, my calendar, my children’s schedules, my moods, my mistakes—she had a hand in managing it all. I didn’t like needing anybody, but I didn’t mind how much I needed her. I sat with that realization for a minute.
“You should’ve told Bria no,” I said after a minute.
She shrugged. “She didn’t ask, to be fair. I offered.”
“She didn’t need to call you.”
“She trusts me.”
“So do I.”
The words came out before I could stop them. It wasn't like it was a secret, but I didn’t regularly voice it, either. Topaz blinked, surprised. For once, she didn’t have anything slick to say right away. I watched her inhale sharply, and my eyes dropped before I caught myself, catching the delectable, full curve of her breasts as they rose. I looked back up, but not fast enough. She noticed. Of course, she noticed. Topaz noticed everything.
“Saadiq,” she said carefully.
I knew that tone. She was about to give me her boundaries speech. I hated that fucking boundaries speech,
“Don’t,” I said.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t say whatever you about to say like I don’t know.”
Her face softened. That was worse than the damn speech.
“Saadiq, you know I love working with you,” she began.
I looked away from her again, my jaw tense, hands balling inside my pockets like I could crush my frustration. I didn’t need the rest of what she was about to say. There were a lot of things I wanted from Topaz Waters that I had no business wanting. I was greedy for her mind, her heart, her body, that plush little mouth—when it wasn’t fussing at me. I wanted her hair spread across my pillows and her thick thighs wrapped around me. I wanted her falling asleep in my arms and waking up in my bed because she belonged there.
She had a man, though. A sorry one, but still. And she had workplace boundaries based on our HR department’s warnings. I got it, I really did. I’d seen how people talked down on women who got involved with their bosses. No matter how competent they were, someone was always whispering about them fucking their way to the top. Topaz worked too fucking hard for that. So, I understood.
