Once the presentation was done, the Leyland Group team members received the accolades they deserved for a job well done. After a significant amount of backslapping and congratulatory fist bumps, everyone began to file out of the conference room. Samiah lingered behind. So did Daniel.

Once they were alone, she walked up to him and held her hand out. “Brilliant move there, Mr. Collins.”

He huffed out a laugh as he shook her hand.

“She had it coming,” he said. “How is she going to stand up there and present your part, knowing that we all know she didn’t have anything to do with devising that implementation plan?”

“Because she’s gotten away with doing things like that from the moment she started here,” Samiah said. “Keighleigh has ridden that ‘everyone is on the same team’ horse into the ground, and no one has called her on it.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll be accused of not being a team player, or of being a show-off.”

“Yet that’s exactly what she did.” He hooked his thumb toward the smart board. “That was all about showing off. Someone needed to call her out.”

Samiah shrugged. She couldn’t argue with him. She was just as culpable when it came to allowing Keighleigh to get away with the shenanigans she’d been pulling since she first started at Trendsetters. They’d all allowed it. But not Daniel. He’d spoken up on her behalf.

Samiah glanced over both shoulders, making sure they were alone and that the windows of the conference room were still opaque. Then she tilted her face up and placed a quick kiss on his lips.

“Thank you for having my back,” she said. “It’s not easy to find people I can trust around here. It means a lot.”

The muscles in his jaw flinched and he averted his eyes.

Samiah frowned. “Is something wrong?”

He blinked hard then shook his head. “No. Not at all.” His smile returned. “Congratulations on that presentation. You think we’ll get a pizza party out of this?”

“A pizza party? I won’t settle for anything less than steak and lobster,” Samiah said. “And considering the money the Leyland Group paid for this rush job, I may demand that steak and lobster be served on the deck of a cruise ship in the middle of the Caribbean.”

His eyes bugged. “Would they actually do that?”

Samiah burst out laughing. “Don’t get too excited. They don’t treat us that well here. But you should expect a nice dinner, at the very least. And maybe some premium Trendsetters’ swag.”

“That works for me.”

“Oh, shoot!” Samiah snapped her fingers. “I meant to talk to Justin before he left. We need to discuss my security access.”

“What about it?”