After reapplying lipstick to my puckered lips, I fixed my face and stepped out into the cool morning. I was glad the Atlanta sun wasn’t beaming down yet. In April, it could go either way. One year, we would be subject to snow in the spring, and the following year be victim to the smoldering sun. I walked into a tidy, modernly decorated lobby, greeted by a receptionist sitting behind an oversized marble desk.
“Hello, my name is Shalonda. How may I help you?” she asked in an upbeat tone.
“Hi Shalonda. We’ve been chatting on the phone. I’m Lissa Daniels. Here for my appointment with Mr. Montie Brown,” I said, holding a folder firmly under my arm as I extended an arm out to shake her hand.
“Yes, we have! Nice to meet you. Mr. Brown is expecting you,” the woman rose to her feet revealing her tall stature. She shook my hand. “Please follow me.”
I followed the gorgeous, slender woman down a short, glossy blue hallway that had splashes of color on the walls. The hall led to an office with the name Montie Brown on a plaque on the door. Shalonda knocked on the door and entered after hearing a smooth voice say, “Come in.”
When I entered the room, uniquely decorated like the rest of the building, the first thing I noticed was a prominent, dark skinned man unfolding from his seat. My eyes blinked carefully, as to clear my vision for the site before me. Montie Brown flashed a mouthful of pearly whites and whatever I had cleared went blurry.
This man would get it…if I wasn’t starting my Year of No to Yes…or is it Yes to No? Oh heavens, trouble loomed and I could feel it all over.
“Thanks for showing Ms. McDaniels in, Shalonda,” he said nodding at his receptionist who returned the gesture and left out closing the door behind her.
With all the colors of the rainbow on his logo and splashed over his walls, I just imagined he would be a little more, I don’t know…he was probably undercover anyway. That’s what I told myself to ward off any feelings from surfacing. But when he spoke so smooth yet powerful, I was once again swept up into his sweet, honey, molasses tone.
“How are you this morning, Ms. McDaniels?” he asked, extending noticeably lickable fingers in my direction.
Oh shit. Time for a pep talk. Lissa McDaniels, if you don’t get your act together, I internally scolded like Shayla would if she were in the room. The ready to play naughty girl that lived inside of me needed a swift kick in the backside. Year of Yes to No…year of yes to no, I internally chided.
“Lissa, you can call me Lissa.” I finally extended my hand to shake his.
“Please, have a seat. I’m glad you could make the meeting on such short notice,” he said, cordial and all business. Following his lead would keep me out of the fantasy I kept drifting off into and in the business at hand.
“When a company like yours calls, we listen. So glad to be able to meet with you to talk about the great things Naytek will be able to do for you.”
“Well, let’s get started then,” he said.
“I understand that you are looking for the right software that will include a coding and billing module, as well as a medical transcription and medical archives link. You want it colorful and easy for the end user to maneuver. Plus, you want something unique to the holistic industry."
Mr. Brown’s eyes roamed over my face. He appeared impressed that I understood the product he intended to create. "Yes, that's exactly what I need, Ms. McDaniels."
"Since we specialize in the medical transcription and archives piece, we’ll work closely with you to incorporate the coding and billing modules so your customer will be happy. What we can do is add some funky fonts and color schemes into our final coding and I'm sure they will be happy with the high technological side as well. The most important thing is to make sure it’s functional and cutting edge,” I said.
“Yes, the look is important, but it should be highly functional and better than anything else on the market,” he sat back in his seat, his eyes roaming over my face as if he were thinking about something that was not apparent.
I slid the whitepaper I prepared specifically for him and waited for him to thumb through it. Yet, he still sat there and stared at me.
“I think you’ll find sufficient information in this documentation,” I said, and he extended his arm to accept the paper.
He skimmed through the papers. “Whoa, I’ve never had anyone come into my office for a meeting and in the first five minutes already have everything mapped out that I need. This is damn impressive.”
“Thank you, Mr. Brown, I—”
“You can call me Montie. I have a feeling we’re going to be getting to know one another on a first name basis,” he said, still browsing through the whitepaper.
“Excuse me?”
“Yes, call me Montie. You asked me to call you Lissa, right? We’re about the same age, so there’s no reason for you to call by my surname. I want you to call me Montie.”
“Okay, Montie.” I giggled when I said his name. For no reason, I fucking giggled. “So, when do we sign the contracts?” I asked, easing back into business mode.
“You kid, but I’m seriously ready after seeing how prepared you are. You have remarkable references and everything you laid out here shows an in depth understanding of my company and the client I asked you to build the software for. I value providing our clients with vibrant and colorful applications, and I believe you are capable of carrying out the tasks we need down to the letter.”
“I’m glad you can see the value in what I do.”
“I definitely do.”
“Thank you.” I smiled. “I’ll bring over a mockup disk for you to see if we’re headed in the right direction. If it meets your satisfaction, we can sign the contract and complete the entire project.”
“That works well for me. If it’s a go, I’d like to work closely with you until it’s complete. This is worth millions to me because this clinic is a part of a huge network of holistic clinics that are popping up around the country. The national director of computer systems is looking for something better than what they currently have and they chose us, which is a big deal.”
“Wow, that is a big deal.”
He nodded and continued. “They’ll try this out on a new clinic, but this could be tapped for the entire network, and could end up bringing in a couple hundred thousand for you.”
“That sounds very doable.”
“It has to be perfect, though. If we’re able to get unique software developed and farm it out to hospitals and medical clinics nationwide, we’ll license it and see revenue for years to come.”
“Say no more,” I said; liking the feeling of making a deal with who I was sure would soon be a satisfied customer.
For the next hour, we discussed details, down to the things we both thought were eye catching and unique. When we finished, I had enough information to take back to my implementation team for a bang-up software. I felt extremely successful as I walked to my car. Not because of the impending business deal, but because I looked into the honey brown eyes of the sexiest chocolate man alive and resisted the urge to make him mine. I allowed the new me to enter the room and smash a business deal. I successfully said No to the possibility of another failed relationship, and Yes to my future in business. Reading good books matter. I chuckled at my small win.
CHAPTER NINE
Montie
A Shift in Me
I stared at the chair she’d sat in long after she left. A cosmic glow still illuminating the space she occupied. Those thick, brown sugar thighs crossing and uncrossing seamlessly as she pushed her glasses back on her nose and talked intricate details, industry standards, and software encryption. The navy dress she wore had fought gallantly to cover all the goodness that God saw fit to bestow upon her thick legs, but the brave material failed miserably. Her voluptuous beauty burst through the seams of the fabric, leaving me to ruminate over every inch of buried sweetness that couldn’t find the light of day.
Then, visions of Destiny cut in. Lissa was about the same height
and stature; her soft and velvety voice reminded me of the only woman ever to hold my heart. Not the Destiny that’s Jacob’s fiancée, but the young girl I met and fell in love with back in college. The one I worked my ass off for, so I could give her the world. The same woman who thought that hard work was a threat to my love for her. The same one that Jacob Turner's probably plying into right now. That thought alone threatened to make the woman whose essence hung in the room like a painting less palatable.
Lissa had been unaware of my time travel as she sat in front of me sharing her endless intellect. She also appeared unaware of just how much her presence had affected me, taking me back to a time when my life had no drama and I knew love in its purest form.
Lissa didn’t need to know that I was drawn to her, or that I had to adjust my slacks as the thought of pulling her up unto my desk and becoming one flesh with hers came to mind. Thankfully, she didn’t notice my burning desire to take her into my arms and own her, if only for a short while.
Memories of the last woman I plowed into oblivion while trying to release myself of the hold Destiny had on me flooded my mind. The Tracye a.k.a. Justine fling had ended in disaster and her name alone was an anti-erection. I shook away my conflicted thoughts and snapped back into my work day. Thinking of Justine did the trick. The last thing I needed was another distraction.
I had a tremendous workload and clients were crawling up my ass. I picked up Lissa's contract and inattentively scanned the document. “She’s a beast in the way she handles her business. She’s probably a beast at everything she does," my tongue slid across the length of my lips. “She’s probably hard to satisfy too,” I added to ward off any thoughts of crossing the line that we’d just established as business partners. I had no plan to revisit love and end up with a woman who, no matter what I did, didn’t see that it was all for her. Love would have to wait for me, probably forever.
More importantly, I had to figure out how to stay relevant in my children’s lives while being so many miles away. I had to get Mr. Bromage’s software completed in a week. I didn’t have to rush, but I wanted to satisfy his request. Everything else, including whatever sparks I felt flow between Lissa and me; I didn’t have time for. I pushed back from my desk, stood and walked to the front of my office building.
“Montie, did your meeting go well with Ms. McDaniels?” Shalonda asked when I stood in front of her desk.
“It did. Working with Lissa is going to help a lot. She’s really impressive.”
“Uh huh,” Shalonda said and sat for a second staring at me. “Well, we know she’s qualified, because we checked her out. You wouldn’t have had her here if she wasn’t the best.”
“Yeah.” I paused and looked at Shalonda. “Why are you looking at me like that, though?”
“Like what?” she asked.
“Like that,” I said, causing her to gaze back at her computer screen.
“Oh, I was just agreeing with you, boss man,” she said as she tapped away on her keyboard.
“Sure.” I patted my pockets to feel for my car keys and took them out. “I have to make a few runs. I’ll be back in about an hour, maybe two,” I said.
“Got you covered boss,” I heard Shalonda say behind me as I walked out into the midday sun.
Spring was quickly fading away into summer, and the sun’s mean glare was proof of that. The heat immediately reminded me that I had donned a full Brook Brother’s suit that morning. I slid off my jacket and held it until I got into the car. I drove straight to the gym. I slept so terribly last night I didn’t feel like going when I woke up, but I needed to get some good energy working inside of my body before finishing off my day. It seemed like everything that could happened had happened to me in the past year. The gym had become my only source of energy to pull through.
When I pulled up, I was glad to see that the parking lot wasn’t full. Tuesdays weren’t usually that busy and definitely not in the middle of the day. I grabbed my gym bag from the trunk and strolled in. “Hey Mario. What’s up man?” I dapped up my friend and trainer. He had sweat running down the front of his T-shirt, so I knew he was getting it in already.
We ended our handshake with a snap.
“Man, just in here putting some work on these young boys. It’s good seeing you, Mont. I wasn’t expecting you since you ain’t been in in a while. You slacking today or are you ready to sweat blood?”
“I know I haven’t been in a while, but I have a lot of built up tension that I need to work off, so let’s get to it," I said, adding, "I need to relieve some stress."
"Did something new go down?" Mario asked.
“I don’t even want to talk about it.”
“Something else since last night?”
“Yeah, ole girl called me this morning playing games.”
“Who Justine?”
“Yeah man.”
“What did she want?”
“For me to tell Destiny about her and Jacob.” I shook my head. “But I’m not getting in the middle of that. I’m only concerned about my kids being in another state. I've been trying to be the bigger man, but it’s been working on me ever since I took them to Miami.”
“What you did for Destiny during your marriage and your divorce is more than most men would have the balls to do. Hell, going to the rehearsal dinner to see them practice for the wedding is more than I could handle,” Mario said, offering me a sincere look. “Don’t beat yourself up about the way things ended up. You did your best,” he added.
“I’m not beating myself up. It’s just getting used to the idea of having to visit my kids in another state. What if there’s an emergency?”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?”
“That’s the only thing that’s bothering me.”
“First thing you have to do is be honest with yourself, man. It’ll help you move past it much quicker. I’m telling you. I’ve been there.”
"I am honest with myself," I growled.
“But last night you said—”
“Damn man, I should’ve never talked to you about that. You just keep throwing the shit up in my face. What do you know about love when you’re always chasing the next big booty? You ain’t ever been in a committed relationship, as far back as I can remember. Now, you have all this advice for me.”
“I know more than you think,” Mario said defensively. “And, you’re the one that’s always asking my advice.”
"Look man, I might as well go run the block or something. It’s obvious I won’t be able to relieve any stress in here," I said looking around at the people looking content pumping iron and on the cardio machines.
Mario threw his hands up in the air in surrender. "Aight. I was just trying to look out for you, bro. I didn’t mean any harm at all. But since you’re throwing shots and can’t take them back, I know you need your space right now. I need to get back to these youngstas anyway.”
“Look at them,” he said, and I glanced toward the weights. A scrawny kid standing over the weight bench that was supposed to be spotting a slightly overweight guy could barely pick the bar up off the other dude’s chest. “I’m thirty-two years old and I pump that steel better than him. They don’t have nothing on me. How these lil youngstas who used to be football stars in college come in here and can’t lift two twenty?”
“That’s ridiculous. You better get over there and spot them before they both end up in the ER,” I laughed, glad to finally release good energy with my friend and trainer.
“Nah, they’ll be fine,” Mario said as the spotter mustered enough strength to put the bar back on the bench.
"You're right, Mario.”
“I knew he could do it,” Mario said and laughed.
“No, I mean you’re right about how I feel about Destiny. I’m still in love with her. I’m still fuming that she moved on so fast. I thought I wasn’t, but seeing them together, in their home, the life they’re building…it was more than any ex should have to sit through. I hate I didn’t get a chance to claim
what was mine before another man did—a man who I now know isn’t deserving of her.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Montie. I want you to keep telling yourself that.”
“I kept waiting for my business to hit this mark and that mark, and never once did I stop and go after what was really important to me. In that sense, I failed.”
“So, what? Now you know what not to do the next time you find the right one.”
“I told you there will be no other right one. She was it, Mario. There will be no second time around for me. I’m done with even trying. From now on, it’s smash and dash for me.” I pumped my arm slowly, motioning how I planned to hit it and quit it from that day forward. “That’s just how it has to be.”
“Man, you’re just saying that mess right now. I’m telling you, the right one hasn’t come along yet. When she does, she’ll have your ass pussy whipped too and pining over her too. You won’t even be able to think about Destiny, because you’ll be wrapped around her finger. And because I know you have good judgment, and have learned from your past mistakes, she’s going to be a good woman who feels the same way about you.”
“Nah, and she ain’t coming. If she does, I’m not cuffing her. Trust that.” We both laughed at my choice of words.
"You saying that now, but when you see her she's going to leave you wondering if Destiny was ever worth the trouble, Mont. I’m telling you."
"Bruh, you ain’t no Dr. Phil," I pretended to throw a blow at him and walked toward the dressing room. Mario was a player, so there was no way in hell he knew when or if I’d ever find love. He hadn’t even found it for himself. I turned to face him when I got close to the locker room. "I didn’t come to whine about women. I came to pump this iron. We gon’ do this or not?” I asked.
Breathless 4: Loving Montie Page 6
