Page 7

Bailey

“ S o, who was your boyfriend?” Dante asked before taking a large bite of his burger and I damn near choked on my water at his sudden question.

“What makes you say that?” I asked in between coughs.

“So, he’s not your boyfriend, but he wants to be,” he responded thoughtfully before he put his food down and laced his hands together in front of him on my desk.

I instantly became nervous from the serious look on his face, and I imagined this was how he looked before he delivered bad news to his patients.

“Bailey…it’s time for me and you discuss the birds and the bees,” he said, and for a moment, my mind went blank, then it sputtered back to life before it processed what his silly ass just said.

“What?!” I burst out laughing. “The birds and the bees? What am I? Six? You late as hell for that conversation Tae-Tae.” I now had tears coming from my eyes as I laughed harder, and he joined in.

“Ugh, I don’t want to hear that. I still think you’re seven.

But from the way that man was looking at me when I picked you up, I thought I was going to have to beat the hell out of his big ass before the rest of his big ass brothers jumped in.

Why the hell they so big anyway? They grow up tossing baby bulls on a farm for a living or some shit?

” I shook my head and just laughed. Dante may come off as playful, but he was very overprotective, so I had no doubt he was serious about fighting Titan and his brothers if he needed to.

“You know if Anthony were in town, he would’ve kicked his ass just for having his hand on you when y’all were walking toward the lobby. ” He chuckled.

Our brother Anthony was a former Captain in the Marines special forces, and he had a short temper.

After leaving the military, he became a trained MMA fighter and now he owned a private security business.

Dante may have been overprotective, but it was nothing compared to Anthony.

When our father passed away when we were younger, Anthony thought it was his responsibility to take on that role when it came to me, and it used to pissed me off.

Now I was used to it. Anthony was intimidating, but he really had a heart of gold.

That is if you could get past the barb wire, steel doors, rabid dogs, and electrical fence he kept around it.

The only people he showed that side to was his family.

Which was me, Dante, my mom, and his daughters, Hailey and Rylee, who had him wrapped around their fingers.

With Anthony’s busy work schedule, the girls split their time between me and our mother’s house when he was out of town.

“Speaking of Anthony, have you gone by mom’s house to see the girls yet?” I asked before inhaling a bite of my grilled chicken salad, which was more chicken than lettuce, just the way I liked it.

“Hell no! You know I rather see my niecey poos when they’re with you, so I can avoid the ‘when you gone give me some grandbabies?’ inquisition from mom.

” Dante rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I’ve only been in town for a little over three hours now.

I dropped my luggage off at home, took a shower, then came straight here.

But when I leave, I’ll drop by to see them because I got some things for them from my trip to Brazil,” he said as he finished the rest of his diet Coke and then he let out a loud burp.

“Really?! Nasty ass!” I yelled, throwing a napkin at him, which he blocked and laughed.

“I know you ain’t calling nobody nasty, with the tear gas that comes out of your ass.

” Dante started laughing, “I’ll never forget on Hailey’s sixth birthday how our niece almost passed out from the toxic fumes you let out after eating ice cream.

” I tried to hold back my laughter but failed.

Tears were coming out of my eyes from the memory, and I could barely speak when Penny’s voice came through the intercom on my desk.

“Ms. Henson, you have a delivery at my desk. I would have signed for it, but the sender requested that only you receive it,” Penny finished.

Getting my bearings together after laughing so hard, I stood up and walked to Penny’s desk while wondering who was sending me something.

When I got across the hall, there was a handsome dark skin man with an average build standing at Penny’s desk holding a gift bag in his hand, making Penny blush crimson as he smiled and flirted with her.

He looked like he was around his early twenties, and he looked very dapper in his navy-blue suit.

When he heard my heels clicking against the marble floor, he turned his megawatt smile in my direction.

“Ms. Henson?” He looked happy and sounded upbeat; when I nodded, he came forward. “My name is Royce, and I was asked by my boss to personally deliver this gift of congratulations to you for a job well done,” he said, holding out the bottle shaped gift bag.

“Oh, thanks, who is your boss?” I asked, taking the bag from his outstretched hand.

“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

W hen 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.