rel="nofollow" href="#ud47dcafb-48ef-50cb-b137-ef03a605204a">Chapter 16
Chapter 1
“This cannot seriously be happening,” Imani mumbled as she tried to keep what was left of her patience. The speedometer in her gold Lexus hadn’t gone over five miles per hour since she got stuck in this bumper-to-bumper traffic. Morning traffic in downtown Chicago was something she had never gotten used to. Her meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Sims was scheduled to begin any minute. She had thought she would make it in time if she left her condo two hours prior, but clearly she’d thought wrong.
The Simses owned several luxurious estates in Illinois and were founders of one of the best job-resource agencies in the country. Imani was meeting with them to discuss buying one of their top estates—the one that had the gorgeous view of Lake Michigan. She had promised her grandmother she would act fast when the Simses were ready to sell.
Imani’s family and the Simses were close friends, and although many people were trying to get their hands on the estate, the couple had narrowed down the list of prospects to Imani and one other buyer. Unfortunately, the other buyer was willing to beat her price.
“Come on, move out of the way!”
Yelling alone didn’t seem to get her point across, so she honked her horn for good measure. She didn’t care what the other drivers thought of her. Her morning had begun badly when she’d realized her flat iron was broken, resulting in her having to straighten half her hair with a curling iron. The day became progressively worse after she spilled coffee on her favorite black business suit, and had to settle for a suit that fit her backside a tad tighter than she’d liked. The awful traffic wasn’t helping matters. But just as she’d almost given up hope of ever making it off Lake Shore Drive, traffic finally started moving, and she reached her destination.
She entered the corporate building ten minutes late. “Hello. My name is Imani Rayne, and I have a 10:00 meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Sims.”
The French receptionist waved her manicured hands toward two grand doors. “Mr. and Mrs. Sims are waiting for you. Please go right in.”
Imani stepped into the conference room. “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Sims. I’m so sorry I’m late.” Imani gave a soft smile.
“No problem, sweetie.” Mrs. Sims took Imani’s hands in hers, stepped back and appraised her from head to toe. “Just look at you. It seems like just yesterday, you were a little baby girl holding your grandmother’s pinkie finger. My, how you’ve grown.”
As a teen, Imani felt like she’d never mature out of her awkward phase. She no longer had the look of an adolescent girl unaware of how to accentuate her curves and master her feminine walk. Now, she embraced her beauty and had confidence in her stride.
“We haven’t seen you in so long, Imani. You seem to be doing fine, just a little sad in the eyes,” Mr. Sims said.
“I’m fine. It gets a little easier every year. I still miss Gamine, but everything is going well.”
It had been five years since her grandmother, Faith “Gamine” Burrstone, passed away. At times, she still felt the same gut-wrenching ache she felt that fateful day she’d gotten the news of her passing.
Mrs. Sims softly squeezed Imani’s hand. “It takes time, and she wouldn’t want you to be sad.”
She gently stroked Mrs. Sims’s hand. “I know.”
“Let’s get down to business,” Mr. Sims suggested. He stepped aside to escort Imani to a nearby chair. Until that moment, Imani hadn’t noticed the handsome gentleman with smooth chocolate skin sitting at the end of the conference table.
“Imani Rayne, I’d like to introduce you to Daman Barker, the other buyer vying for the estate.”
Daman stood and walked toward her. “Ms. Rayne, it’s a pleasure.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Barker, but please call me Imani.” She was surprised at how low and sexy her voice had gotten.
“It’s nice to meet you, too, and you can call me Daman.”
She grasped his hand a little longer than she should have, surprised by the electric spark. The way his masculine hands encased hers shot shivers through every part of her body.
Daman Barker is your competition. Pull yourself together, girl. You got this!
Easier said than done. Daman was tall and muscular. And God bless the tailor who draped his body in that stylish, blue, pin-striped suit. The man had swagger. She’d noticed that much in his short stride from his seat to her side of the conference table. But that wasn’t all she’d noticed. He was arrogant; she could tell by the way he carried himself. But goodness, he made arrogance look sexy.
She scanned her memory, trying to recall why his name seemed so familiar, but she came up short. He was observing her so closely that it was hard for her to keep her breathing under control. It felt like he could see right through her business suit. Is he attracted to me, or is he just assessing his competition? As if he knew her thought process, he winked and gave her a sexy smile, catching her off guard.
Yes, it was definitely attraction.
“Shall we get started?” Mr. Sims asked, interrupting the silent exchange between Imani and Daman.
“Yes,” she and Daman both replied.
Mr. Sims tapped a small, disorderly bundle of paper on the desk until it lined up into a neat stack. “Okay, we have called you both here today because of your interest in our estate. We’re having a difficult time making a decision. Therefore, we have a proposal for you both.”
Imani sat and calmly glanced from Mr. Sims to Mrs. Sims. “And what would that be?”
“Well, you both are aware of the leading Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference and Expo that takes place every year, allowing African-American entrepreneurs and business owners a chance to network and receive recognition for their work. I believe you both have members in your families that have been honored at previous conferences. This year, Black Enterprise is throwing the First Annual Performance and Achievement Awards Gala that will honor business owners and entrepreneurs on a much larger scale. Are you both aware of the gala?”
“Yes,” Imani replied. Daman nodded his head in agreement.
Mr. Sims pushed back from the table just a bit, placing one long leg across the other and laying his hand over his ankle. “My wife and I are on the Black Enterprise executive board, and we were asked to choose event planners to organize the gala. We expect this event to be the premier destination
