Tuesday had been hectic. Global Press had to deliver thousands of government programmes at three different local governments, so Ben had totally forgotten about the crazy woman he'd met that morning.
Or so he'd thought until he'd woken up from a weird dream where she'd been pressed up against his arse, moaning like she was in the throes of passion, while he battled to hide a monstrous erection from Kate and his uncle, the owner of Global Press.
It was a disconcerting dream and he hated that he'd had it. He'd woken up feeling anxiety knots in his stomach and though it'd receded while he'd prepared and went to work, it returned every time he recalled the dream.
Ben was also reminded that he hadn't spoken to Kate to find out if the crazy woman – Rita, had called her. That he even recalled her name was cause for worry. And he wished it was just her name he recalled or the fact that he'd been staring at her curvy behind as she walked to the door; he was a man for crying out loud. But he also recalled what she'd said to him before he'd slammed the door in her face.
Women had flirted with him before. He wasn't a green horn. He'd also flirted with women and more than a few of them had graced his bed. He was also sure his mind blanked out the coy words of those flirty women two days later because they meant nothing.
The problem was, he didn't think she'd been trying to be coy. Maybe, at the beginning, with her greeting, but her last words seemed...desperate; kind of – true?
Ben shook his head, leaning back in his swivelling leather chair with a sigh, he needed to eat. A quick glance at his wristwatch confirmed that lunch time had passed.
His office door opened after a single knock, revealing James Eso, the assistant branch manager and sort of, friend as he'd been responsible for showing him around town without his asking. Ben had been born and bred at Lagos, so even though he was from Akwa Ibom, could speak the language enough to do business, he didn't really know places and James had been a huge help.
"You had lunch?"
James grinned in his usual ready-to-have-fun manner, "You're a mind reader, Ben, boss of mine."
"I've asked you to cut that out," he told him with mild exasperation.
"You're buying lunch."
"I'll give you extra meat to stop that boss shit."
"Make it a week."
Ben rolled his eyes, "Deal," he agreed, towering over James as they shook on it.
At 6'1, he towered over everybody, especially, Rita. No, he hadn't just thought that. Why had he thought that?
"I really need to eat," he grumbled to James as he shoved the assistant manager out of his office.
"Okay, okay, calm down," James said chuckling as he led the way out of the firm.
They came face to face with Kate in the stairs. She was going up while they descended. Usually, he wouldn't have noticed anything. Back at Lagos, he'd been so focused on work that he'd seemed aloof to his colleagues. But, it appeared that he was on some sort of cosmic mood that revealed the tension between Kate and James as they passed themselves on the stairs, barely civil to eachother.
Then Kate smiled at him. She was beautiful and any man, even him, would be lucky to have her.
"Hey, Kate. How's your day going?" Ben smiled back, then he dimmed the smile when his peripheral vision caught James' thunderous frown.
"Good. Yours?"
"I can't complain." He replied, standing aside so that she could pass to the landing and continue up to her floor. She did just that but then he remembered the crazy lady...again.
"Hey, Kate, did anybody by name Rita Ukara call you on Tuesday morning? I forgot to inform you there was such a person, she was here pretty early, and she looked like she'd rolled off her bed and appeared here."
Mentally replaying what he'd just said, Ben struggled to curb the need to cringe. Why the hell had he said that? Thankfully, Kate didn't think his words were weird, not while she glanced at James, looked away and whispered the name in a bid to recall.
"No. Nobody like that called me."
"Oh." What the hell?
"Maybe, she called the office?"
"I don't...have your office lines."
Kate glanced at James again, a nervous look. "Well, let's hope she calls. But thank you, for giving her my number. I appreciate."
"It was no hassle." Uh-huh, no hassle at all, except, she likes my arse.
"Later, Ben," Kate waved and continued up the stairs.
"Later," he replied and followed James down in a silence that was choking.
"My car?" James snapped. It was the perfect choice since he'd parked at the periphery, close to the gate.
"Oh, he speaks. How many times did you growl like an animal in that staircase?" Ben was smiling at a frowning James instead of opening the car the assistant manager had unlocked.
"You have her number?" James seemed to be controlling his anger, perhaps, because he was his superior.
"Hey, she's beautiful. I was new in town and she'd been nice to me when we met." Ben shrugged in a don't-blame-me manner. "I'd thought to approach her...
"Approach her? I've introduced you to several beautiful women that you barely look at."
"That's not the point. But now that I know she's yours..."
"I didn't say she's mine." James slid into the driver's seat.
"You didn't have to," Ben countered after he'd settled beside him.
The silence settled again like a wet cloak in the moving car.
Ben cleared his throat, "Well, we chatted a few times and..." the growl came again, James' hands squeezed the steering and Ben smirked at him. "She's yours, James. But I won't make it easy for you if you eat my extra meat for a whole week."
James said nothing in the midst of Ben's chuckle.