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I initially didn’t have a real understanding about what he did for a living until I spent the weekend with him at his house during one of his working weekends. It was all so interesting. By the end of the weekend, I had invested my own ten thousand dollars.

I wasn’t sure how long it took me to shower and get dressed, but it must have been a while. A part of me was disappointed that he didn’t come in and tear my ass up in the shower. When I walked back into his office, I understood why he hadn’t.

“Good afternoon, Miss Memoree Layne. It’s nice to meet you.” His mother stood from her seat on the couch.

I knew exactly who she was from the photos that he had of her in his home and office. “Oh, hi, Miss Johnson. Wow, you are even more beautiful in person.”

She gave me a beautiful smile before she glanced at Ledger. I was sure that nervousness showed in mine. This was not how I envisioned that I would meet his mother. Ledger and I literally finished fucking in this very place less than an hour ago.

“Thank you so much, baby. You are absolutely gorgeous as well. Your sweet compliment will give me a pause in asking why your panties are on the floor over there. I’ll give you a chance to pick them up while I close my eyes,” she said before she closed her eyes.

My gasp was hard, loud, and deep. Ledger’s head snapped in the direction that his mother pointed in a second ago. Sure enough, there were my panties in the corner. I wanted to kick Ledger’s ass because he liked to throw my damn panties. His mother met my panties before she met me.

There were multiple ways that I imagined I’d meet Miss Johnson. One of us could have invited the other to dinner, brunch, or coffee. She could have stopped by Kryptonite Reserve while I was there, and Ledger introduced us. I would have taken just a simple run-in at a gas station or grocery store. Now, at my future bridal shower and wedding reception, she would have a story about how we met that included my fucking panties.

Ledger rushed over to the wall, grabbed the panties, then stuffed them into his slack pockets. When Miss Johnson’s eyes opened, I still stood there, frozen. What the fuck could you say after all of that? His mother grabbed my hand into hers. “There’s no need to be embarrassed. We all are adults. I’ve done plenty adulting in my time, if you know what I mean.”

“Mama, really! That’s so inappropriate,” he said. His jaw was tight.

His mother sat back on the couch. “Ledger, please don’t make me open a window to my salvation to let a curse word in. How do you think you got here? Adulting, boy.”

When he asked his mother why she came to grace him with her presence today, her attention came to me. “I wanted see how the lighting design meeting went.”

Right! This was supposed to be a meeting about the lights around here. “We were actually just about to get into that, so you are right on time. Let me get what I need, and I’ll go over it with you both.”

My nervousness led the way as I moved around the room so that I could get my laptop set up to project on Ledger’s big screen in his office. Okay, Memoree Layne, be professional, no matter what just happened. This is what you do. You have all the degrees, certifications, clients, referrals, and all the business shit needed to do this shit.

Once everything was set up, I cleared my throat. “Ledger, when you asked me to evaluate the lighting here, you told me that it seemed like your associates were stressed and fatigued. From that moment, I knew that would be my main goal. I wanted to design a layout that would reduce visual fatigue and create a more natural regulated work environment.”

“Okay, sounds like you’re off to a good start,” Miss Johnson said before she took a sip from her coffee cup. I could tell that she took joy in this whole thing. The professional girlfriend that had a job to do, but instead, she was frazzled after getting her back blown out by her son. Jesus, lessen my shame.

I clicked the button on the remote in my hand to bring up the first image. On the image, there were several areas that were highlighted. “Um, this is the current lighting layout in this office. Ledger, the lighting that you have in here, technically, is sufficient for the space and what you would see in most spaces like yours. The issue is that you’re dependent on the overhead illumination more than you should be. Just because the lighting is what I call sufficient doesn’t mean that it’s the best for what you need it for.”

Ledger nodded with that sexy smirk that had me bent over his desk a little earlier. He leaned back in his seat. My eyes cut from him to his mother. If I looked at him too long, I would lose focus. That would not be a good thing, especially in front of the woman that gave birth to him.

“So, my lighting is stressing my people out? Is that what you’re saying?” he asked. He wanted me to smack him because he was the one who said that shit when he asked me to look at his lights.

I shifted on my feet for a second. “I believe that unnecessary physiological stress is being caused by your lighting layout. That is what I am saying.”

“Now you’re using different words for the same shit, Mem. Throwing in a big word doesn’t make it different,” he jokingly taunted.

Miss Johnson’s head snapped in his direction. “Ledger, stop cursing in front of me before I ball up a big word in my fist and throw it in your face. Stop testing my Jesus today, Son.”

I giggled under my breath. Let me continue. “A lot of people don’t realize that our bodies react to lighting in different ways. Lighting can influence mood, eye strain, concentration, headaches, even how fast someone is mentally over it or fatigued. Think about it. What is the first thing that someone does when they start to get a bad headache?” I asked.

Miss Johnson shifted in her seat. “They turn the lights off. I know that’s one of the first things that I do.”

“Exactly, Miss Johnson. When contractors come into workspaces, they lay out the lights with one goal. They want to simply make sure people can see good enough to work. My job as a certified lighting designer is to support the people that work in the lighting space. I want to create a lighting layout that will prove most efficient for them to maximize their productivity.” My words came out smoothly.

My finger clicked the button on my remote again. The previous digital model of Kryptonite Digital Assets Firm transformed into what I envisioned it should be. There were softer layers of lighting around areas that mattered. “This is my proposed lighting design.”

Miss Johnson sat up a little in her seat. “Oh, wow! That actually looks completely different. Who would have thought?”

“Thank you. I can promise you that it will feel different for the associates as well. The simple change of replacing the current fixed-temperature LEDs with tunable fixtures could make a world of difference. In the earlier parts of the day, I want to support alertness but not be harsh about it. These lights will be cooler and brighter during that time. As the day goes on, the lights will warm gradually to support the change of the needs of your associates,” I told them.

Ledger stood from his seat then walked to the screen. He stared at my digital model. “So you’re, in essence, lowering the sun on them?”

I clapped my hands once with excitement. He got it! “That’s exactly what I want to do. The plan is to mimic the natural progression of daylight while still inside. God didn’t make our bodies to sit under the same lighting from umpteen hours a day. Lighting has a bigger purpose than just being able to see.”