“Oh, hi. Yeah, sorry about that. We went skiing and then I came back and took a nap. Didn’t know the slopes could be so exhausting.” That was a lie. After all her tumbles and the emotional upheaval of too many trips down memory lane, she’d gone straight to her room when they were done and taken a hot shower. She’d felt better after that, and she’d checked and answered emails until it was time to get ready for tonight’s festivities. She gave Kelli a tentative smile. The woman returned it with a beaming one of her own.
“I’ll just bet you were exhausted.” With a wink and a chuckle Kelli glanced over Desta’s shoulder. “Guess your match is working out?”
“Yes. Yes, we’re...working out just fine.” For the weekend, she wanted to say for clarification. One more day and they’d be back in the city working on something other than turning each other on. “Um, Maurice, this is Kelli. Kelli, this is Maurice.”
“Oh, you don’t have to tell me who he is.” Kelli stared at Maurice, accepting the hand he’d already extended for a shake. “I know exactly who Maurice Gold is. The elusive fashion mogul who loves the ladies but not enough to settle down with one. I recognized him as soon as I saw you in his arms yesterday.”
If Maurice felt as uncomfortable with what Kelli just said as Desta did, he didn’t show it. In fact, his most dashing smile was in place as he shook and released Kelli’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kelli. Did you have a chance to link up with your match this weekend, or are you just hanging out solo?”
Desta had wondered that, too, since Kelli had not only sent her a text this morning but had also sent one late last night. Desta had responded to that one after she’d left Maurice’s room this morning.
“Oh no, I found my guy. He’s right over there getting us a table. Hey, why don’t you two join us? We can have a double date.” Kelli didn’t wait for their response but immediately turned and fast-walked over to the restaurant entrance, where a guy wearing gray sweatpants and a matching T-shirt was speaking to the host.
“We should get out of this,” she said to Maurice the moment they were alone.
“Nah, then we look like we’ve got something to hide. And we don’t, so let’s just go.”
“We don’t? Are you sure?” She couldn’t help but question him here. “How’s it going to look that two RGF employees were caught spending the weekend at a sex retreat?” Because when it came right down to it, regardless of any of the names they slapped on it, that’s exactly what this weekend was turning out to be.
Maurice easily took her hand in his and said, “It looks like two consenting adults decided to do some adult things.”
Unable to hide her exasperation with his unbothered attitude where the media was concerned, she sighed. “Look, I know you like to believe that you’ve got everybody eating out of the palm of your hand all the time, especially the media. But this time I’m attached, too. My career’s on the line, and unlike you I’m not related to the bosses. I could lose my job.”
He stopped, dropped her hand and turned so that they were now face-to-face. “I’m damn good at my job, Desta. No matter what the media prints or says about me, RGF is always at the forefront of my mind. So don’t throw my family in my face as if I can afford to be reckless because of them.”
She wanted to snap back, but creating a scene wasn’t going to help make her point. Besides that, she’d never seen Maurice look as serious as he did right now.
“I’m just saying we should think about this.”
“You can think about it. I’m going to have dinner.” With that, he left her standing there.
She felt like an idiot as that itchy sensation rippled over her skin again. She closed her eyes, intending to start her breathing exercises to calm herself down, but stopped. She opened her eyes again. Maurice was right: now was not the place to fall apart. If Kelli was going to run to the media with this tidbit of information, Desta’s reaction to it would just add fuel to the fire.
Pasting on a smile, she pulled out her phone as she began to walk after Maurice. If it looked like she was reading a message or something, maybe it wouldn’t seem like they’d had a disagreement and he’d just walked away from her—something she wasn’t going to forget he’d done.
Kelli was waving wildly from a table that was thankfully toward the back of the restaurant. Maurice hadn’t turned back to see if Desta was behind him, but when he arrived at the table, he pulled out the chair closest to the wall and waited until she took a seat. Offering him one of her practiced smiles, she sat across from Kelli and glanced at Kelli’s guy as Maurice sat down.
Kelli’s match had cocoa-brown hair that was long and curling on top but close-shaved on the sides. Glasses, gray eyes and a full goatee filled out the rest of his face. She’d already noted he was tall and built like a basketball player, and when he smiled as she stared at him, she got the impression he was friendly.
“Hi, I’m Travis.” Because she’d been caught staring and she really needed to get herself together if she was going to make it through this meal, she accepted his hand for a quick shake.
“Hi, Travis, I’m Desta. And this is Maurice.” She prayed Kelli wouldn’t mention his last name.
“Maurice’s family founded the largest Black-owned fashion house in the world. I know you’ve heard of RGFashions,” Kelli announced amiably, and Desta’s hopes were quickly dashed.
“And Desta’s head of our marketing department,” Maurice
