𝐀𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐲𝐚
I'd sworn off of love and men after the fiasco that was my last relationship. Until I spent one steamy and passionate night with a dark haired stranger. A man that I thought I'd never see again. Until I found out that he was my new boss...
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The months since I'd first joined Dellite Inc had flown by quickly. I had slowly fallen into a routine and built a rapport with most of my team and colleagues, save for a few exceptions obviously. I hadn't gotten the chance to meet with Mira much despite working in the same office since I'd been so busy and she'd been occupied with writing. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen hide nor hair of Oli even though Mira had assured me that they'd made up.
"And that's the final budget that we've allocated...
I was only half listening to the man - he was a part of my team - that was currently presenting in front of us. Neil had called the entire finance team so that we could go over our budgets and break even for the year end. Neil and I were facing each other, though our faces were turned in the direction of the speaker. I could see him tapping his pen on the mahogany table. The rhythm was slightly distracting as I tried like hell to divert my focus from my boss to my colleague. It wasn't working. No matter what I did, my attention always seemed to hone in on Neil - especially when he was in the same room.
"That looks great to me." Neil commented once the guy had stopped speaking. I suddenly felt a nudge under the table as I jolted in my seat. Mac, who was sitting opposite me and beside Neil, gave me a weird look as I smiled abashedly at him, pretending that his boss and friend wasn't just playing footsie with me. Thank god the rectangular table wasn't made of glass. "Though I think we could ah!"
My foot connected with Neil's shin as he cursed, righting himself in his chair. I watched Mac's lips thin, as if he was fighting a smile. Well, that's what you get when you try to distract me.
"Everything okay, Neil?" The guy he was speaking to - Josh, I think - asked with concern.
"Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I just stubbed my toe in my chair."
"Oh. Alright. So..."
I zoned out again as Neil asked another question, knowing that he was just trying to stall us because the budget that we'd set was perfect. I'd made sure of it. I knew he was just butting in and asking questions to prolong the meeting.
"Well, that pretty much wraps it up." Neil said, steepling his fingers as everybody shuffled, gathering their things. "The finance team has done a great job. Keep up the good work, guys!"
I stood up to follow my team outside, wanting to brief them about the Madden account that I was supposed to be handling.
"Aaliya, could you hang in there a second?" Came Mac's voice as I turned around to face the two of them. I pointedly avoided any contact with Neil as I sat back down, pretending that everything was nothing but professional between us when in reality, it was the furthest thing from that. Like we hadn't spent almost every night together at Neil's place since after the convention.
"Sure."
"I wanted to talk to you about Keith Madden. He's actually sent me all the necessary documents and a contract as well stating some basic guidelines." Mac spoke as he slid a bunch of papers towards me. "Now, I've taken the liberty to go through it and make sure that there's nothing that would put our company in danger. But I think you should go through it as well since you're the one who'll be personally handling his accounts. You know, in case of any mishaps."
