Never Have A Baller's Baby

He shouldn’t be ashamed of you! He should be proud of you! He should be out there showing you off, not hiding you behind closed doors and just using you for a piece of ass! What kind of a bastard is he? I wouldn’t put up with that kind of crap for a minute. You absolutely did the right thing leaving. I’m glad that you did it. I’m glad that you put an end to your relationship with him.

I wouldn’t even finish the job, but I understand your professional integrity. So! You finish the job and you get out of there and never talk to him again!” she grumbled and lifted her cup of coffee to her mouth, swallowing some of it with a bitter look on her face.

Naomi knew that Eva meant every word of what she said. “You know, that’s exactly how I feel too. I agree a hundred percent with you. I just couldn’t stand to stay there and listen to him tell me that he wants me behind closed doors but not out in public. It’s horrible! I can’t believe I even wondered for a minute if he had a point about it. I’m worth more than that and he should either recognize that or be gone.” Naomi took a drink of her coffee and set her mug down firmly.

Eva took a deep breath and let it out slowly, giving Naomi a little smile and tilting her head slightly. “So how is the business going?”

Naomi slumped a little and shook her head with a frown. “It’s getting tight. The job I have with the guy we were talking about is my biggest job right now, and that’s about to go up in flames because I didn’t keep it strictly business. That’s my own fault, but the firm is really having a hard time. There’s a lot of competition out there, and we do good work, but we just can’t seem to get to a place where the phone is ringing consistently enough to make things successful.

On top of that, I just found out that the owner’s son will be taking over the management of the building, because the owner died. I haven’t talked to him yet, so I don’t know what he’s going to do with our lease. I know we have about six more months on it before it’s up, but after that, who knows what will happen.”

“That’s no good. I hope he lets you stay there and things work out well. Is he anything like Mr. Davis?” Eva asked doubtfully.

“I don’t know. I’ve never met his son. We’re just going to have to wait and see, I guess.” Naomi waved at the waitress and asked her for another cup of coffee. Then she turned to Eva again and decided to change the direction of the conversation toward her friend, to get her mind off of her own troubles, and to find out what was going on in Eva’s life.

They talked for a while longer, bid each other goodbye, and Naomi headed back to her office, determined to find a way to get some new business into the door of the design firm.

Chapter2

A couple of weeks had gone by since Naomi had last seen Scott, the afternoon they’d had their tryst in the guest bedroom. She hadn’t seen him or spoken to him, and every time that he crossed her mind she tried to push him out by thinking of anything else. It hadn’t been easy, and she had struggled with it. She tried instead to focus on her work with so much intensity that she was either too tired or too busy to think of him. It hadn’t worked too well.

Scott had also tried to keep his mind off her, but being in his home, surrounded by so much of the work that she had done, and going in and out of rooms where they had made such hot and passionate love, kept her near the forefront of his mind.

He told himself over and over to let her go, but it just didn’t seem possible. He had even dreamed about her. It was so difficult that he decided to give her a call and try to talk to her again.

Finding the courage from some mysterious place, he picked up his phone and called her cell. She ignored the call. Not one to give up on what he wanted, he called the office, and a young woman answered.

“Good morning, Summit Interior Design; this is Keisha, how can I help you?” Keisha asked with her bright, chipper smile.

“I’d like to speak with Naomi, please.” He made himself sound more confident than he felt.

“Certainly. May I ask who is calling?” Keisha looked over at Naomi, who was sitting at her desk, working. Naomi looked back at her.

“This is Scott Thompson,” he answered with less courage.

“Scott Thompson…” Keisha trailed off for a moment. “Let me see if she’s in.” Keisha muted the call and Naomi shook her head adamantly.

“I’m not taking that call,” Naomi told Keisha firmly.

Keisha frowned. “Why not? His is our biggest and most important account right now! What if this is important?”

Naomi hated that she couldn’t tell her staff exactly why she didn’t want to speak to Scott. “I can’t take the call! I have things here that I have to work on. Just… just take a message please.”

Keisha pursed her lips a moment and shrugged, unmuting the phone. “I’m sorry, she isn’t able to take your call at the moment. Could I take a message please?”

Scott closed his eyes and shook his head. “Please… I can hold. Whatever it takes, I just need to talk to her now. This is important.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” she told him. Then muted the phone and turned to look back at Naomi. “He’s not going away. He said he’ll wait for you until you can talk. I think you should take this.”

Naomi knew that there was no way out of it. She sighed and gave Keisha a curt nod, and Keisha transferred the call to Naomi’s desk.

“Hello?” she asked coolly. Her breath was frozen in her chest as she spoke.

“Naomi! Thank god… it’s been weeks! I just… I wanted to talk to you. We have to talk about what happened and try to work it out. I miss you, and… the house isn’t finished… and I just… I just want to get this worked out with you. Please!” he sounded as sincere as he felt, and he was glad about it.

She narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw, trying to sound professional, since Keisha and Malaika were both in earshot of her just then.

“I’m afraid that won’t work,” she answered in a level tone. “I can come by to finish the job there when you aren’t home, but that’s the best I can do for you, Mr. Thompson.”