“She was your only Little?”
“My only serious relationship. I have played with Littles at BDSM clubs. There was never anything serious between them and me. Then I met you. I told myself that you couldn’t be as perfect as you appeared. I was wrong.”
“I’m not perfect,” she laughed.
“You are perfectly you. I don’t want you to be anyone else. Now, you…”
The beeping of her alarm sounded faintly from her room. “Sorry. I have to go. Maybe I’ll see you at work.”
Belinda fled into her apartment and flipped the lock on the balcony door. Running to her bathroom, she splashed her face with water and tried to pull herself together. Twenty minutes later, she let herself out the door and closed it quietly. Dashing to the elevator, she mentally pleaded with it to open fast. When the metal doors closed behind her, there was no sign of Pedro.
Once in her office, Belinda logged into her computer and checked her schedule. She had a variety of meetings and conferences. In her previous position, Belinda had worked with almost all the division leaders. Now, she was holding a series of meetings with each department to assess their technology needs. The first session scheduled for today was in forty minutes in Tower C. She blinked and looked back at the computer. Pedro Morales was listed as an attendee.
Glancing down the rest of her daily schedule, she noted his name at every single meeting. This was too much. Had he done this before or after assuring her that he wasn’t going to challenge her authority? She pulled up the ABC Towers employee list to locate Pedro’s phone number. It wasn’t listed. Belinda rolled her eyes in aggravation.
She called HR. They had done the hiring. They had to have his number or his office location. In a minute, she had both pieces of information.
His office was down the hall from her on the sixth floor of Tower C. Grabbing her tablet and phone, Belinda headed for the elevator. She stewed as she waited. How dare he waltz into her schedule without asking! The thought that he might undermine her authority as the head of technology rebounded into her thoughts. She’d worked too hard at Edgewater Industries. Belinda didn’t care how world famous he was.
Plastering a friendly smile on her face when the elevator opened, Belinda hid her emotions from her colleagues as they greeted her. She maintained her congenial demeanor as she waved and bypassed his admin to rap on his door.
“Belinda! Hi!” Pedro stood and rounded his desk to greet her.
“I’m going to shut this door if that’s okay?” she spit through her teeth.
“Of course.” He led the way to a small conversation area at the side of his large office.
Belinda closed the door with a deliberately quiet click. She stalked forward and stood an arm’s distance from him. “Why are you at every meeting I have today? Was everything that happened last night a complete lie?”
“Nothing that happens between us is a lie. I looked at that schedule this morning and was surprised as well. I don’t know how this happened without your knowledge.” Pedro spoke precisely and gently.
“No one called, messaged, or emailed. I watched it appear on my schedule this morning,” she answered, hearing the clipped tone marking her words. She was pissed.
Pulling out his phone, Pedro selected a number just as a knock sounded on the door. They both could hear the ringtone on the other side of the barrier.
“Hello? Pedro? I’m at your door. Could I talk to you?” Sharon’s voice was easily recognizable.
He looked at Belinda and answered, “Please come join us, Sharon.”
“Crap! I didn’t get to you fast enough.”
“Belinda came to speak with me when she noticed my name appearing on the schedule for each of her meetings today,” Pedro explained.
“I should have taken care of it myself,” Sharon quickly shared. “I put Pedro’s schedule for the next week together myself, Belinda. When I spoke to the head of accounting, he mentioned you were coming in today to speak to him. He asked if he could meet with both of you for a longer time since he felt there was a connection between technology and cybersecurity needs.”
Belinda nodded as the new corporate headhunter paused. She glanced over at Pedro.
“I emailed asking you to let me know if you could see any negative aspects of a joint meeting. I didn’t hear anything back, so I figured that you agreed,” Sharon added quickly.
“I did not receive a message, Sharon.” Belinda’s tone was professional, but curt.
“I know. It’s my fault. Instead of emailing last week, I included it with the scheduling addition. I expected it to be effective days ago so you could react. When I logged in this morning, I discovered a notification that the system had delivered the email today and updated Pedro’s schedule in one vast sweep—also today twenty minutes ago,” Sharon explained.
“The scheduling system has a section to send prior notification, but that is only possible on the advanced settings screen,” Belinda provided. “I’ve had others complain messages sent through the scheduling system are not received until the last moment.”
“Email is best sent through the email system,” Belinda added.
“I’ve learned my lesson,” Sharon said, raising her hand as if swearing an oath. “I am so sorry for any confusion. Do you want me to remove them and schedule Pedro separately?”