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I cut my eyes his way, catching a quick glance of that handsome face. “So you’re tight with the city to the point where they’re considering creating a transit line because you asked?”
He shrugged, stepping into my personal space. “I have resources so I use them. What’s the point of having favors if you don’t occasionally call them in? It’s counterproductive, wouldn’t you agree?”
“I would. I’m just not used to that type of privilege.”
“You will be with time.”
“I don’t see how.”
“You and I will be joined at the hip, Ms. Abraham. My favor becomes yours since there will be times where you’ll be the voice representing BWB and the Omari Corporation as well as others when we’ll be negotiating together. Whatever privilege I have will be used at your leisure.”
“That sounds dangerously tempting. Does that mean I get the keys to the private jet and vacation spots on the private island?”
He chuckled. “We’ll see about that. Come on, I’ll give you a tour.”
I followed Ezekiel through the building where we toured two gyms, one on each end of the building. In the center were dance studios, a gymnasium with brand new gymnastics equipment, and the last area we entered was a boxing training facility. There were two rings set up, one on each side of the room. Down the center were heavy bags with weight stations along the perimeter.
“Wow, I’m impressed.”
“You don’t appear to be a woman easily impressed, so I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“I would be offended but you’re not wrong. Everything in this place is brand new and very expensive. The programs at Loyd were free. Back then that was the only way I was able to enjoy dance classes…”
“You danced?” His eyes moved introspectively over my body and the smugness of his smile expressed how much he enjoyed the view and possibly some memories.
“Yes, why?”
“Makes sense.”
“Okay, nowI’moffended.”
He chuckled and anchored his eyes on me. “You shouldn’t be. I was referring to how flexible I recall you being that night. Dance would explain that flexibility.”
A wave of heat flooded my core then shot up, spewing out over my cheeks. “I thought we agreed not to discuss that night.”
“I was revisiting memories. You asked, I shared.”
“I danced when I was eleven. My flexibility comes from years of weekly yoga and Pilates I’ve recently been skipping, but can we please get back on track? I recall those activities being free and most of the staff at Loyd were volunteers. How do you plan on recouping the cost to run this place and receive a return on what you’ve invested? The families certainly won’t be able to help.”
I stared at him, waiting. His eyes were on one of the boxing rings elevated above the floor.
“When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time at Loyd.” He spoke in a low rasp with his focus trained on the other side of the room.
Okay… Not the response I was looking for but I decided to indulge.
“Did you?”
Those intense eyes slowly rolled over to me. “I did. My father believed in turning boys into men while teaching us the value of a dollar so we would appreciate our wealth.”
“Is this a good or bad memory?”
He chuckled. “Both. My brothers and I were at Loyd twice a week. Thursdays for training and Saturdays for matches.”
“Matches?” I arched a brow and he pointed to the ring.
“Boxing.”
“Ahh, turning boys into men.”
