Page 81 of The Don’s Virgin Obsession

I stepped back first. “Just leave, Sade, before I suspend you. I’ll see you Monday.”

She stared at me for another second before grabbing her things.

Neither one of us spoke while she packed up.

By the time she walked past me toward the door, I still couldn’t look directly at her.

She paused before leaving. “I never meant to disrespect you.”

The door closed.

I sat down on the same counter her body was just on and rubbed both hands over my face hard.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

Sade wasn’t mine, just my employee. So why the fuck did I feel like somebody took something from me?

My mind kept going back to the fuckin’ video. Her face. That nigga touching her. The way she looked after I walked in.

I sat there too long, looking around the unit she helped build.

Million-dollar project. Luxury, everything in the heart of Compton.

And somehow, I still felt close to losing my shit.

Sade

“I started missing him the moment he stopped bothering me.”

Vaughn and I had barely been speaking for five days. We still came to work every day and handled business as if nothing had happened, but the lunches stopped, the random conversations stopped, and even the little slick comments disappeared. Now it was just work.

“Morning.”

“Shipment came.”

“Sign this.”

That was it.

I pulled up to Crown Heights, trying not to think about it. Marcus had called me twice on the drive there, talking about dinner later, and I was trying to focus on that instead, but I told him I was too tired. I just couldn’t face him while Vaughn was mad.

Why the fuck was it bothering me so much?

I got out of the car and walked inside with my coffee in hand. Workers were already moving around. Denise was talking to one of the electricians while Laila stood near the front, arguing with somebody over paint samples.

“Sade,” Laila called out. “Tell this man this beige is ugly.”

I looked at the wall once. “It is. Go with the white that came in last night.”

The worker sighed dramatically. “Y’all women are impossible.”

“We saving you from bad decisions, and Mr. St. Clair tearing it down,” I replied, walking off. I was referring to Vaughn’s father.

Laila caught up beside me. “Okay… what happened between you and Vaughn? You've been having lunch with me all week, and y'all have been distant.”

“Nothing.”

“That’s not how ‘nothing’ people act.”