“Nick. Her last name is Wright. You may see it written as K. Wright. You really need to start going to the management meetings, Big Brother.”
“Shit. Shit. Shit! K. Wright as in Interim Executive Vice President K. Wright?”
“Yes, as in she technically out ranks you K. Wright. It’s not like you’re gonna get in trouble; you just may have seriously killed…no, murdered any possibility of dating her.”
“Don’t rub it in. How do I fix it?” Nick half pleaded.
“As a woman, if someone told me what you told her. I would be furious and hurt because not only did you insult my work ethic, you chauvinistically assumed that the only way I could get ahead was on my back. This is a doozy.”
Nick impatiently rubbed his fingers through is hair. “How. Do. I. Fix. It?” he asked through gritted teeth.
DD giggled. “There’s only one way. One word. GROVEL.”
Kalilah was busy all morning and had a lunch meeting. Now that she was back in her office and had a little time to breathe, she decided to allow herself fifteen minutes to sulk in her office before she continued her day. She still had a lot of work to accomplish and could not afford too much time to dwell on Nick and his attitude. She thought his rudeness was a sign that they weren’t meant to get to know each other, and it was for the best anyway. Kalilah was extremely busy and didn’t have time for a relationship.
She scoffed, “Relationship? Where did that come from?”
She whispered to herself. She decided that she had to ask herself the tough questions. Did she like him? Would she date him? Could she see herself getting naked with him? The last question gave her butterflies, and the rest of her body responded to the idea of Nick wanting her in that way. Kalilah thought back to when she’d first started working at Sinclair Enterprises and how she was intrigued by Nick.
She couldn’t shake the feeling, however, that he went out of his way to avoid her. She’d referred to him as the “Mysterious Sinclair.” Nick’s dad was very straightforward and what you saw was what you got. His mother seemed nice, and she’d only heard of his siblings, though the people that had met them confirmed that Nick was the only anti-social Sinclair.
Kalilah had always felt drawn to him, and she didn’t know if it was because of her love for puzzles, or if it was something deeper. Kalilah tapped her pen on her desk while she stared out of her window. The thing that bothered her the most is that he obviously didn’t have any idea who she was; if he did, he would know she didn’t need him to get ahead.
Kalilah wondered how she was so unimpressionable that they could work for the same company, in the same building for two years, and he did not know who she was. Kalilah was surprised that his oversight had the power to make her feel like the wallflower in a high school movie. She felt as if she was at an impasse; he was rude and didn’t know her. She was hurt, mad, and intrigued.
Kalilah heard a soft, almost hesitant knock on her door. She unlocked her computer and turned to face it. She needed to look busy. Then she deactivated the frost on her windows and was surprised to see Nick standing outside. He looked…. sheepish? Now she was really intrigued.
Her heart started to beat faster. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She wasn’t sure if her body was preparing for another confrontation or if it was reacting to the sight of him. Kalilah rubbed her palms on her dress. She resisted the urge to check her hair and waved him in while trying to look bored and uninterested.
Nick tentatively entered the office and stood just inside the door. Kalilah watched as he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around the office. His eyes landed everywhere but her. Nick shifted his weight from the right to the left and inched a little closer to her desk. She could feel the tension his body was emitting. It was starting to make her feel restless. He was looking at the ground and mouthing words to himself as if he was trying to determine what to say.
Kalilah was about to ask him what he wanted, but she bit back the words instead. Her dad always said, “The first one who speaks loses.” She was sure that he’d gotten it from somewhere and there was more to the saying, but that little bit of information had helped her in the past, so she opted to stick with it. However, she did sigh because the suspense was killing her.
Her sigh pulled him out of his thoughts because he straightened his shoulders and looked her in the eyes. He’d changed his shirt, and the stark contrast of his white polo made the gray of his eyes seem more intense. Kalilah didn’t know him well enough to describe the look in his eyes, but she could tell he had something on his mind.
“I see my dad sprung for the frosted glass in here.” Nick grinned, but his mouth was the only part of his face that conveyed humor. Was he trying to have small talk?
Kalilah gave him a blank look and sat back in her chair. She folded her arms across her chest and continued to wait for him to get to the point. He cleared his throat and tried again.
“So, you are K. Wright.”
Kalilah rolled her eyes. “The one and only, but you would have known that if you bothered to show up to any of our meetings.” Nick shuffled his feet and resumed looking at the ground. “I’ve been in this position a little under a year,” she continued. “In case you are wondering. And no, I didn’t trip on any cocks on my way up.”
Nick flinched and moved to sit in the leather guest chair facing her desk. Kalilah tried not to fidget, but the scent of his cologne and his nearness was starting break her cool façade.
Apparently, Nick decided to go for humor, “Ya know they say that we men have our own version of PMS. Maybe I had an episode this morning….” He looked off into the distance.
Kalilah lost her patience.
“Look. It is a KNOWN fact the women go through hormonal changes monthly, but I’ve never spoken to any of my co-workers the way you spoke to me.” Nick blushed, but she continued. “Is there a point to this visit? I have a meeting with the other Sinclair in twenty minutes, and I’m putting the finishing touches on my presentation...”
As if on cue, her computer picks that exact moment to do something weird. She taps the keyboard frantically to bring back her presentation. Her asshole of a computer chose that moment to freeze and shut down. SHIT! She hated technology. Kalilah hit her desk and flicked off her computer with both hands while ranting.
“I fucking hate you! You asshole. If you weren’t company property, I swear I would go to the roof and chunk your ass as far as I could across the fucking city!”
If she was the type to feel embarrassment, now would be one of those moments because she true-to-life forgot about Nick being in her office when she started to admonish her computer. Kalilah glanced in his direction only to find him looking conflicted as if he wasn’t sure to laugh or run. The least he could do was make himself useful.
“Nick. Get your talkie thingy. I need Karl. STAT!”