Authors: Shana Burton

Catt Chasing (5 page)

BOOK: Catt Chasing

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Chapter 7

The next few weeks of working with Jamal mirrored the day he rushed by her to catch the elevator. Their interactions consisted mostly of seeing each other in spurts as he raced from one meeting to another with Oni or some other executive within the company. His name was barely even mentioned in office gossip anymore as most of the women at Telegenic had concluded that either he was all business or was sleeping with Oni.

“Where's your shadow?” asked Catt, looking up from her test tube. “You and Oni have been joined at the hip lately.”

“We've been collaborating with the other departments trying to finalize everything for the meeting tomorrow. You do intend to be there, don't you?”

“Oni's memo didn't give me the impression that it was optional.”

“It's not, but I really want you there. With so much going on and so many changes being made, we need your input.”

Catt threw him a side-eyed glance accompanied by a sarcastic, “Yeah, right.”

“Pardon?”

“You don't want my opinion, Jamal. If that were the case, perhaps I would have been included in some of these secret strategy sessions with you and Oni. No, you just want me to smile, say yes, and do as I'm told like some kind of mindless waif.”

He frowned. “Why do you always act like there's some kind of conspiracy going on? Respect the chain of command like everyone else.” He swiped the test tube away from her.

“Hey!” She snatched it back.

Jamal retrieved it again. “I want to see what you've been working on. Gotta make sure you haven't been slackin' off in my absence.”

“Slacking off? In case you haven't noticed, I've been chained to this lab for the past two weeks.”

He took a whiff of the product. “Did you create this by yourself?”

“It's just something I've been playing around with. I'm not asking for a critique yet,” clarified Catt in an attempt to squash his latest round of rejections before he fired them off.

Jamal smelled it again. “Is it for the men's line?”

“It could be. I think it's too rugged for women.” She revealed the truth. “Actually, my dad's birthday is coming up, and I thought it would be nice to give him his own signature fragrance. Don't worryâI haven't been wasting company time working on this. I do it before or after work.”

“I'm not as worried about you wasting the company's time as I am you wasting company resources,” he grumbled. “But I like it. I want Oni to take a look at it.”

She beamed with pride. “So I've finally created something you like?”

“Two things, actually. I've been doing a little work on one of the fragrances you started on that I thought you had some potential. Here, check this out.”

She inhaled the invigorating scent. “I love it. It's clean, not too flowery or overwhelming.” She sniffed it again. “Very feminine.”

“Let's try a little bit on you.” He dabbed a few drops on her wrists. “How's that?”

She stretched out her arm to him. “You smell it, and tell me what you think.”

He took her hand and lifted her wrist to his nose. “It's sexy and seductive.” He flashed her a smile. “Or maybe it just smells that way on you.” He daubed some on her neck and leaned into it. “I especially like it right here.”

Catt's head was starting to swoon with his being so close to her. “Maybe we should call Oni and tell her the good news,” she suggested in a futile effort to distract him or herself.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him, burying his face in her neck.

She was taken unawares, paralyzed into submission. “Jamal, what are you doing?” she squalled.

He lifted his head. “Research.”

“Research?”

“Yeah, this is how I conduct my analysis.”

Catt pushed him away. “Your methods are very unconventional . . . and extremely inappropriate!”

“Don't get your dandruff up. It's not anything personal. I'm just trying to determine how this fragrance affects men when it is worn by a beautiful woman.”

She was still flushed. It was undeniable: Jamal Ford
definitely
had a way with women. “And what was your conclusion, Mr. Ford?”

He arrested her with his gaze. “Once again, the data was inconclusive.”

Catt composed herself and slipped a lock of hair behind her ear. “For future reference, please don't mistake me for one of these lovesick women throwing themselves at you around here. Your charm is wasted on me.”

Jamal jotted something down on his clipboard and laughed a little. “Whatever, Catt . . . you know you liked it.”

Catt rolled her eyes. “You're so smug. It's infuriating.”

He turned and addressed her head-on. “Not smug, just sure of myself.”

“I believe the phrase you're looking for is
full
of yourself.”

“But that's what you love about me, isn't it?” asked Jamal with a wink.

“Try
loathe
about you.”

“You know what I love about you?” he went on. “I like it when you squint your eyes and your lips get all pouty like that. It's kind of sexy.”

She could feel heat rising to her face. “I don't think this conversation is appropriate for the workplace. Besides, I'm a Christian. I don't like engaging in conversations and acts that compromise or contradict my faith.”

“Chill out, Catt. It was a joke.” Turning his back to her, Jamal began shuffling papers attached to his clipboard. “Dang, don't they do that where you come from?”

Catt put her hands on her hips and looked at him squarely in the face. “Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“I mean, one minute, you're acting like my drill sergeant and the next . . .”

He set the clipboard down. “The next what?”

“I don't know. It's like you're messing with my head or something,” she blurted out. “Just forget it,” she huffed.

“I believe the word you're looking for is
flirting
,” filled in Jamal. “Does it bother youâthe flirting, I mean? Do you like it?” He pressed against her. “Do you want me to stop?”

Her head started spinning again. “Jamal, we can't . . .”

“Can't what . . . this?” He leaned down and set his lips above hers as if he were going to kiss her. Fumes from an overheated beaker caught his attention, and he immediately broke away from Catt to attend to the overflowing beaker behind them.

A thin cloud of smoke hovered above him. He smiled back at Catt. “You see what you do to me? That was a close one,” he said, pouring the scorched mixture down the drain.

In more ways than one,
thought Catt.

She wondered if he was just joking around again or if he was really going to kiss her. “Now you see why I don't approve of all this playing around in the lab.”

“I was just trying to get you to loosen up. You're wound way too tight. This is an office, not a military base. Even Christians are allowed to have some fun every now and then.”

She didn't really like that he thought she was a prude nor did she like the emotions he managed to stir up inside of her when he looked at her the way he was right then. “It's getting late. Maybe we should call it a day.”

“Are you sure? Things were just starting to heat up.” Jamal locked eyes with her and moved to touch her face.

Suddenly a bell chimed, and the elevator slid open.

A leggy, saucy-eyed woman stepped off and strutted past Catt and over to Jamal. “They said I could find you down here.” She tossed her long ringlets back and held up a gold watch. “You left this on the nightstand.”

“Thanks,” he replied warily and clasped it onto his wrist. “I was looking for it this morning.”

“I was looking for a lot of things this morning too. You'll never guess where I found my panties.” She giggled and clamped her arms around his neck. “Will I see you again tonight?”

He licked his lips. “I'll call you.”

“I'll be waiting.” She kissed him and departed.

Jamal approached Catt, who pretended not to pay the whole scene any attention. She silently prayed, asking God to forgive her for the moment of weakness she had with Jamal and thanked Him for bringing back to her remembrance of the kind of operator he really was.

She began readjusting her formula. “Don't!” barked Catt when he tried to assist her.

“I thought that we were working on this together.”

“You thought wrong. Excuse me.” She swept by him and moved to another station.

“I want to finish our conversation.”

“Yeah, well, I want to finish this up so I can go home before dawn.” She looked up at him. “You don't have to hover over me. I'm sure you have skirts to chase or something else important like that.”

“At least let me apologize for what just happened. Even I have to admit that wasn't very professional. It won't happen again.”

“Yes, it will, Jamal, because that's just who you are. You have no respect for the workplace and, obviously, no respect for women. You may be a whiz in the laboratory, but you're a complete dud when it comes to having integrity and character.”

“And you're a real killjoy when it comes to anything even closely resembling fun or having a life. Even the Lord Himself took Sundays off!”

“You don't need to speak about things you clearly have no concept of, such as righteous living. If you're going to give in to every lust and temptation that crosses your path, at least have the decency to keep it behind closed doors.”

“So you're so holier-than-thou that you never get tempted? Don't you have the same sexual urges as everyone else?”

“The Bible tells us to flee fornication and to resist temptation,” she admonished. “You should try it sometime.”

“I suppose it's very easy to resist temptation when there's no one out there trying to tempt you. I'm no expert on the subject, but isn't it just as big a sin to have the desire? The only difference between you and me is that I act on it instead of denying it.”

“You're not going to make me feel bad for trying to live right.”

“Unlike you, I don't judge the way you live your life. I just think you need to get one outside of the church and the lab . . . and the kitchen.”

It wasn't anything she hadn't heard before, but that last comment was a kick in the gut. She was quiet a moment to recover. “Say what you want, but I live a life that I'm not ashamed to bring before the Lord. You, on the other hand, seem to live a life that would make the devil blush. Don't think you won't have to account for that on the Day of Judgment.”

Jamal conceded. “Well, Catt, I'll make a deal with you. Why don't you keep your Bible-totin', scripture-quotin' observations to yourself, and I'll keep my hedonistic desires to myself. Deal?”

She threw up her hand in capitulation. “Fine.”

“And don't think I don't know the truth either,” tossed in Jamal. “I saw the way you were looking at me when you thought I was about to kiss you. I wasn't going to, by the way, but it's painfully obvious that you need to be kissed by a real man, very badly, I might add. Of course, we won't even get into what else you need to have a real man do for you. Maybe then you could chill out some.”

She made a face and returned to her work. Catt didn't know if she was more bothered by the fact that he'd said it or the fact that there could be some truth to it.

Chapter 8

“He tried to pull rank on me today. Can you believe that?” recounted Catt to Toria over the rush of the water being sprayed down her scalp. “Does he
really
think I'm intimidated by him because he has that little title and a bigger paycheck?
Please!
”

Toria lathered shampoo into Catt's thick mane. “It's been a long time since I've seen a guy get to you like this.”

“And talk about attitude!” ranted Catt. “He acts like he's God's gift to Telegenic, like there's no way the company could function without him. What does he think we've been doing for the past five years?”

Toria shrugged. “Waiting for him to show up, I suppose.”

“Just to show you how unprofessional he is, he had the nerve to have some hoochie up in there today slobbering all over him, talking about how she couldn't find her panties this morning. And for the record, she wasn't all that cute, and her outfitâcan we sayâtotal skank?”

Toria thought for a few seconds. “So how long do you think it'll be?”

“How long before whatâhe gets fired or gets an STD?” asked Catt.

Toria waited until she finished rinsing Catt's hair again to reply. “No, before you're letting him light your fire in and out of the lab.”

“Tori, are you
still
on that? How many times must I tell you that the mere thought of him touching me makes me want to get tested for rabies? And you know what? That son of a gun tried to kiss me! Can you believe that?” exclaimed Catt. “Just out of the blue, right there in the middle of the lab!”

“Were you disappointed that it wasn't successfully executed?”

Catt gagged. “God, no! I have done nothing but try to stay as far away from him as I possibly can. And out of nowhere, he just ups and tries to kiss me, saying I looked like I needed to be kissed. If I do, I certainly don't need to be kissed by him.”

Toria laughed. “Did you slap him when he tried?”

Catt hesitated in responding. “Well . . . no,” she finally admitted.

“Why not?”

“With someone like Jamal, a slap would have just turned him on even more.”

Toria gathered Catt's wet hair in a towel. “Did the almost-kiss turn
you
on?”

“What kind of question is that, Tori? That man repulses me. Why would I want him to kiss me?”

“That's not what I asked you.”

There was no way that she could lie to the person who knew her best, but Catt wasn't ready to reveal the truth to herself, much less to anyone else. “I am turned on by kisses from men I actually like,” she replied, dodging a direct response.

Toria sat Catt down in an empty styling chair. “You just need to be honest with yourself, Catt. Every single thing he does causes some kind of reaction in you. What else could it mean?”

“It could mean any number of things, but what it
doesn't
mean is that I am in any way attracted to him, especially given the way he runs through women and lives any ol' kind of raggedy life.”

Toria began combing out Catt's hair. “You know what they say about that thin lineâ”

“It's
not
a thin line. More like a large ream of yellow police tape with â
do not cross'
stamped all over it!”

Toria laughed out loud. “Point taken! But he does seem to spark more of an interest for you than the minister.”

“You mean Eldon?” Catt smacked her teeth. “Girl, my dad already has us married with three or four buns in the oven, a cat, a white picket fence,
and
a dog!”

“Is that your vision too?”

“I don't know. I mean, Eldon's a good dude and all, but something's missing. He doesn't have that
umph
factor, you know what I'm saying?”

“I know, but too much
umph
can get you into trouble. Need I mention Greg?” asked Toria in reference to Catt's last boyfriend.

“No, you need not! But I will say that Greg could capture and keep my attention. I can't say the same for the minister.”

“Can you say the same for Jamal?”

“Jamal is not my type, and I'm almost positive I'm not his. He seems to go more for the beautiful airhead model chicks, and that's not me.”

Toria broached her with caution. “So we're back to the weight issue?”

“The weight is not an issue for me. I'm comfortable in my own skin, but for guys like Jamal, it's
the
issue. Do you know he had the nerve to tell me that I need to get a life outside of the kitchen?”

Toria winced. “Ouch!”

Catt shook her head. “I'd never waste my time on a man like that. Plus, our lifestyles are just too different. Can you imagine what it would be like if I brought him home to meet my father? Daddy would be casting out demons left and right!”

“What are you going to do if he tries to kiss you again?”

“He won't,” guaranteed Catt. “I made sure of that.”

Toria stopped combing. “But what if he does?”

Catt pursed her lips together, unable to answer.

BOOK: Catt Chasing

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