4. Amias
FOUR
AMIAS
I admired the ass of the woman who was talking to a large black man.
She had a rocking body that was for all to see in her skintight workout leggings and molded to the skin tank top, which she hid when she put on a waist-length jacket.
Her hair was in a messy bun. She looked so fucking good from the back that I wanted to see her face.
Ann was holding onto my arm as she chattered away about something. We'd just had lunch since we slept in after the party last night.
The woman turned, and I almost swallowed my tongue. I wasn't sure who was more surprised, her or me.
"Naya." Ann looked her up and down.
"Hi, Ann. Hello, Amias." She smiled politely.
I nodded and looked at the building she'd stepped out of. Krav Maga Institute. Holy fuck, Naya did Krav Maga? Was this the body she was hiding under her drab clothes?
"Imagine running into you here," Ann muttered. I knew she was probably seething, seeing that under her ugly clothes, Naya Donovan had a banging body.
"I work out here." She pointed to the building. She pulled out a scarf from her backpack hanging in front of her bicycle and wrapped it around her neck.
"Ah well," Ann sneered at the building.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it wasn't a fancy gym and looked more like the YMCA. But Krav Maga? What else did I not know about Naya? And why the hell did I care?
Naya pulled out a woolen cap from her jacket pocket and secured it on top of her head. "Nice to see you both. Have a good rest of your day."
She hopped on her bicycle, and I watched that fine ass go up and down over the saddle and wondered how it would look riding me.
Ann punched my shoulder, and I turned to face her. "What?"
"You could at least say hello to her."
I hadn't realized that I hadn't greeted Naya. I'd been too fucking shell-shocked.
"I…." I had no PG-13 explanation suited for a girlfriend, so I just let it go.
"Do you dislike her that much?" Ann asked, and I could see the flicker of sadistic joy in her eyes. She liked it that I'd ignored Naya.
"Nothing like that…I don't have an opinion about her one way or the other."
She smirked. "Kara told me that she never goes out. I mean, no surprise. Who'd date her, right?"
"Why? What's wrong with her?" I demanded, suddenly feeling the need to defend Naya. She'd done nothing to Ann; she didn't deserve this vitriol.
"I thought she wasn't your type," she flung back at me.
"That doesn't mean she's nobody's type, Ann."
"Anyway, Kara thinks her head is not screwed on right."
"If she thinks that why does she leave her son with her to babysit?" I snapped, a little annoyed at how the people in Naya's life treated her.
And that includes you, jackass.
Naya stayed on my mind for the rest of the day to the point that I told Ann that I'd rather she went to her place for the night as I needed to get through some work.
She pouted prettily, but she knew it was wasted effort to change my mind.
We didn't spend every night together—I liked my space and my privacy.
"But we'll be together tomorrow night, right? I don't sleep well without you, Amias."
Christ! I needed to break it off with her.
Her neediness was driving me up the wall.
She used to not be like this. There was a time when she was fun and easygoing.
We made up and broke up and made up and broke up.
This time around, she'd said she didn't want to ever break up and wanted it to be forever.
She never said that before, and she was trying very hard to accommodate my mood and temperament.
I knew I wasn't the easiest man to be with—because I continued to live my life the way I always did regardless of who and if I was dating.
The only concession I made was that I didn't have sex outside of a relationship—but then I didn't do relationships often, so it wasn't a problem.
With Ann, there was a history and…a kind of unhealthy dependency. According to Hayes, it was easy for me to be with Ann because I knew exactly what I was getting, and I was not emotionally invested. I scoffed at that. I loved Ann. I was emotionally attached.
If so, I wouldn't be thinking about breaking it off with her every ten minutes, I chastised myself.
The next morning, as I looked through my calendar while I drank coffee I felt a buzz of excitement that I had a meeting with Naya scheduled for ten in the morning. I looked at the meeting invite and felt a pinch of regret that there would be three other people joining us.
Why the hell do you care whether you're alone with her or not?
I didn't.
But Naya continued to fill my morning, because Ethan, her boss, called me after my eight o'clock meeting.
"You're on paternity leave, why the fuck are you calling me?" I demanded jokingly.
"What the hell is your problem, Amias?" he barked.
"Hello to you, too."
"Did you ream Naya's ass because of the project timeline?"
I thought back to our meeting on Friday. "You would as well. The buffer was too short."
"A decision you made."
"I did?"
"Yes." Ethan then proceeded to remind me when, how, and why I'd made that decision. "What's your problem with Naya? She's great. She works hard. She takes care of fucking everyone around her. The team loves her. She picks up everyone's slack, including mine."
"Ethan, she presents to the CEO; she needs to know there can be no errors. You know that," I shot back. "What, she called you crying about big bad Amias?"
"No, jackass, I just talked to Mila; she called me and told me about it.
Naya would never do that. Look, I don't know what your problem is with her, but you need to get the hell over it and fast. You do know she was headhunted right out of university by Google?
She worked on a project with them, and they were so impressed with her that they hired her. "
I didn't know that. Nolan made it sound like his sister was barely competent.
I had believed him, and when Ethan kept talking her up, I wondered if he was fucking her or trying to.
But when I saw them together it was clear that their relationship was professional, and no way was Ethan cheating on his wife.
I also saw Naya's work and knew she was good.
This was just me being stubborn and unreasonable—I wish I knew why she evoked such feelings in me.
"What do you want from me?" I asked.
"Treat her well. If she quits because you're being an asshole to her, I'll fucking resign, got it?"
Ethan had been with me from the start of the company; in fact, he had been my third hire, which is why he now had a senior role in the company and a good amount of stock to go with it. I respected and trusted him, and he did me, except he didn't sound respectful right now.
"I treat her fine," I muttered.
"No, Amias, you don't. You're the fairest leader I know, but when it comes to Naya, you turn into a raging asshole.
You don't like her, we all get it, but she's good at what she does.
She's running Project Phoenix for me and since I'm with my baby, I can't play buffer between the two of you.
You need to put on your big boy pants and get an attitude adjustment. "
"Hell, Ethan?—"
"Just do it, Amias. That's an employee of yours; treat her with respect. I know you know how to do that."
And then he hung up on me, making me feel small and petty.