Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 22709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
If I weren’t so pissed off, I might respect his forwardness. Most people I’d encountered were backhanded with their racism. Geo let his prejudice flag fly. “I think we need to march right back down to Human Resources and talk to Jennifer. This is unacceptable.”
Instead of arguing with me as I imagined he would, Geo hung his head with a guilty look on his face. I almost felt badly for him. Almost. “You’re right,” he said quietly. “That was unacceptable, and I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. Just because I find you attractive doesn’t mean I should act like some slack-jawed high schooler. I should be more professional and-”
“Wait, what?” I snapped too loudly when I processed his words. Geo opened and closed his mouth a few times, appearing as confused as I felt. “You find me attractive?”
His cheeks flushed the cutest shade of pink. “Isn’t…that why you wanted to take me to HR?”
He wasn’t judging the color of my skin; he was drooling over it. “I thought you had a problem with a man of my race being in this office.”
Geo lurched backwards as if my words had physically smacked him. “Of course not! I just think you’re hot!” His eyes widened and his hand covered his mouth as he muttered, “For fuck’s sake,” under his breath. At the curse word, he winced and his hand moved up to rub his temple. “Just take me to Jennifer.”
I gave a loud belly laugh. I didn’t mean to poke fun at his plight, but I couldn’t help it; the man was adorably awkward in the best way. Geo peeked up at me from under his pinched brows. “You aren’t mad?”
“Trust me, there are much worse things than being called hot,” I chuckled, though Geo wasn’t laughing. His hurt expression suggested he knew exactly what I meant.
“Has it happened to you a lot?”
I usually didn’t divulge much when it came to the prejudices I’d faced. I didn’t like to think about it, and most people didn’t want to hear about it either. But something in Geo’s soft gaze and the hitch in his voice told me he actually cared about my answer.
“I grew up on the wrong side of town, and it seems that gave everyone certain ideas about me, even if we’d never met. Shop owners would watch me carefully when I walked through the aisles, and women would clutch their purses when we passed on the sidewalk. Hell, some still do, though it happens less.” I ran a hand down the lapel of my suit jacket. People in public seemed to be more at ease when I was in my professional attire.
“I’m sorry it happens to you at all,” Geo offered quietly, and I gave him a tight smile. His face turned intense when he added, “If anyone here tries to give you shit, you come and tell me.” I had to bite my lip to keep my smile from spreading. The man was smaller and objectively weaker than I, but he was ready to protect me, and it was so damn cute.
I wasn’t sure how to answer, so instead, I held out my hand and suggested, “Let’s start over. My name is Jamal. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Geo,” he replied, gently wrapping his fingers around mine. “It’s nice to meet you too.”
“I’ve never heard that name before. I like it.”
Geo beamed and explained, “Technically, my name is George, but I hate it, so I started going by Geo. My parents hate that, so it made it even better.”
I was instantly curious about his story, but considering our less than stellar meeting, I wanted to tread lightly, so I ignored my burning questions and changed the subject. “How long have you been with the company?”
“A couple of years,” he replied, bouncing his head back and forth.
“I’m impressed. Training people after only a short time? Most people don’t move up within a company so quickly.”
“Oh, I don’t train people,” he replied with a chuckle. “That would be a disaster. I don’t know a spreadsheet from a bedsheet. I’m more of a ‘transfer phones, brew coffee, make sure there is paper in the copier’ kind of guy. I leave all the important work to you brainiacs.”
“Hey, you do important work too,” I insisted. “A company needs every last one of its employees. My mom worked in a hospital for over half her life. She always said that each position was as important as the next; that if there weren’t people working in environmental services to clean the operating rooms, surgeons couldn't perform procedures.”
“I’ve never thought of it like that,” Geo beamed. “She sounds like a very smart lady.”
“She was,” I answered with a grin, though his faded away.
“I’m sorry.” I’m not sure what he saw in my expression, but he gathered, “Recently?”