Page 22 of Terms of the Flight

Before I could respond, Myheir interrupted.

“Aye, Dom, don’t make me put my foot in yo’ ass,” he warned.

I covered my mouth to hold back my laughter. Something was seriously wrong with this man. I turned toward the window, determined to give him anything but my attention.

“Sorry, sir,” Dom replied as he pulled away from the curb.

“Flirting and shit like he don’t have a job to do,” Myheir mumbled.

The rest of the thirty-minute ride passed in silence. When Dom finally pulled in front of my hotel, a bellman approached to open my door, but Myheir lifted a hand to stop him.

He glanced down at his watch before looking back at me.

“I’ll be back at seven to take you to dinner. Wear a dress. This place calls for one.”

I held his stare for a moment before bursting into laughter and shaking my head.

“For a man who runs multiple businesses, listening clearly isn’t one of your strong suits. Have a good day, Mr. Blackwell.” I reached for the door handle. “Oh, and enjoy your dinner.”

I opened the door and grabbed my bag from the floor. The moment I stepped out, the bellman took it from me.

I followed him toward the entrance without sparing Myheir another glance, even when he called my name.

“Khaleya.”

I stopped and looked over my shoulder.

A slow smile spread across his face.

“Oh, we will.”

I rolled my eyes and continued into the hotel.

I guessed tonight would be Mr. Blackwell’s first lesson in not always getting his way.

I couldn’t pullmy eyes away from her as the truck slowly pulled away from the curb. This woman was going to drive me crazy as hell, but the sad part about it was that I was looking forward to it.

When I first thought of this idea, I didn’t think it would work. But the more time I spent with her, it further showed me this was probably my best decision yet. After that shit with my ex, I locked into my work. I couldn’t worry about dating or relationships.

But Ms. Khaleya planned to make this arrangement a good time.

“Dom, head over to my headquarters. Oh, and next time keep all that flirting shit to a minimum. She’s spoken for.”

“I understand, sir.”

I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes for a moment. It had been a minute since I’d been jealous of the attention anotherman gave to a woman around me. This arrangement hadn’t even started, and it was bringing out qualities in me that I hadn’t seen in a while.

Thirty minutes went by before the truck slowed in front of my secondary jewelry store. We’d just opened this location, and it had been doing crazy numbers. I waited a minute until Dom opened the door. I stepped out and straightened out my suit before heading inside.

Two guards stood on each side of the entrance. I even had a few who weren’t dressed as guards who would pop in the store every now and again. I didn’t want anyone thinking they could steal from me, whether it be employees or customers.

I ran a tight muthafucking ship. When my pops first got wind that this was going to be my business venture, he wasn’t sure it was a good idea. The insurance was high as hell to have all these fine jewels here. But I knew I had to take the risk.

Shit, if I wasn’t willing to risk it all, why do it? Folks always wanted to choose the safe shit, and that was cool sometimes. But you’d forever be in that same spot with that mindset.

“Mr. Blackwell, it’s nice to see you. Everyone is already here for the meeting,” Mr. Brown said the moment I made it to the private elevators in the back.

“Thanks. Make sure no one else comes up here. I don’t give a damn if they say they’re here for the meeting. At this point, they’re late and didn’t give a fuck to be on time.”