EPISODE 6

She had kissed men before. She had wanted men before. But she had never had a man text her at eleven-thirty at night with nothing but her name and felt it land somewhere below her stomach.

Amara.

That was all. No question. No context. Just her name from his number, which she had not saved yet but had already memorized.

She stared at the screen for two full minutes. Tola was asleep. The apartment was quiet. Outside her window Yaba was doing its late-night thing, generators humming, someone’s music coming faint from three floors down.

She typed: Still awake.

He replied: I know. You seem like someone who stays up thinking.

She smiled at her phone in the dark like a twenty-seven-year-old who had not learned anything. What are you doing up.

Thinking about the dinner.

What about it.

You. Specifically.

Amara put the phone face down on her chest and looked at her ceiling. Her heart was doing the stupid thing again. She picked the phone back up.

This is not a good idea, she typed.

No, he replied. It is not.

You are my boss.

I am aware.

So we should stop.

Three minutes passed. She watched the screen. Then: Do you want to stop.

She should have said yes. She had every reason lined up, practical and sensible and correct. Her career. The office. The way women got talked about. Her mother, who had not raised her to be someone’s secret.

She typed: No.

He replied: Then come to my office tomorrow at six. After everyone has gone.

She put the phone down. Picked it up. Put it down again.

She did not sleep until almost two. When she finally closed her eyes, she was thinking about the way he had said her name across a quiet dinner table and the small thing that had moved behind his eyes when she said his back.

Tomorrow at six. She was already counting the hours and hating herself a little for it.

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THE CEO’S INTERN. A Lagos Adult Romance Series 5