“What? That he’s lying? He’s a politician. He’s showing you his best face. But still, I think for a politician, even as my opponent, he’s pretty forthright.”
“I don’t know . . .”
“Well, I’ll keep my ears and eyes open.”
“Promise?”
She took the pillow out of his grip before he destroyed it, and tossed it aside. “Yes. I promise,” she said.
“Good.” Then he sat back, looking much more relaxed. “Now about that date.”
“Can I be honest with you?” she asked, tightening the collar of her robe around her neck. “I haven’t done this before.”
“Done what?”
“Dated. I mean, I’ve dated,” she said with a roll of her eyes, “But not since Neil died.”
“You already told me that. I figured that if you hadn’t kissed anyone in five years, you likely hadn’t dated anyone either.”
“Okay, so now you understand. This is all new to me. And I know that you think I’m just spitting out excuses, but my daughter—she can’t have a revolving door of men walking in and out of her mother’s life. What kind of example would that set for her?”
With a smirk he said, “Revolving door of men? You’re saying this in the same breath as ‘I haven’t dated anyone in five years?’ Darlin’, I think you’re setting a perfect example for your daughter. I don’t think you going on one date with me will skew her five-year-old opinion of men.”
“Joey, you know what I mean.”
“I do. I do know what you mean.” He put a hand on her shoulder and looked at her intensely. “After my father died, my mother never dated. Not once that I can remember.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to—”
He ignored her protest and continued. “She was a widow with four small children, and she dedicated her life to us. She was the best mother, always worried about us and made sure we were okay. But do you think that if she had dated, that seeing her happy, seeing her settled with a partner now that we are all out on her own, would have upset any of us? Listen, Livie, I’m not telling you to bring random men around your daughter. What I’m telling you is that you need to be happy and have a personal life. You’re still young and vibrant, and you shouldn’t settle for being alone. Pick smart, when you pick a man to date, and introduce him to her carefully, or hell, don’t introduce them to her. But don’t hide behind work and your daughter because you’re scared.”
Putting your heart out and then risking it being broken was hard. She’d already faced that with Neil, and to a certain extent, with Connor too. She wasn’t sure if she would ever want to take that risk again. And there was also her public image that she needed to protect. An image that as of today was all screwed up, thanks to whoever had leaked those photos.
“Maybe just one date.” What harm could it do at this point, right?
“Fine. I’ll take it.”
She sighed with relief.
“And we’ll keep things casual. Just fun.”
He winked and stood up, then reached for her hands and helped her to her feet. “I can absolutely do fun, darlin’. Hurry up and get dressed.”
And that was it.
He didn’t ask for more.
He didn’t argue about what “keeping it casual” meant.
He didn’t even seem bothered that she was nervous.
He winked and promised her a good time.
And she gladly accepted. But somewhere deep inside she knew that Joey wasn’t the kind of man who gave up easily. In fact, twice already he’d surprised her by showing up and making it clear he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
And in that same vein of thought she realized this was most likely the first of many dates she’d have with the sneaky Josef Clad.
CHAPTER FIVE
The race for Governor of Florida is getting tight. While the infamous “Harry’s Hacker” strikes again, candidate Russo’s image has also taken a nosedive after photos surfaced of the single-mother, wholesome, family-values candidate in a scorching lip-lock with a stranger in an elevator during an emergency situation . . .
“Ha! Ha! I won.” She had her hands up in victory. When she was worked up, she was sexy as fuck, but when she was relaxed she was absolutely adorable.
“You are a competitive little thing,” Joey said, taking off his helmet. Instead of going straight to dinner, he’d taken her to a new indoor go-cart racing track. It was a fun way to blow off some steam, and it wasn’t too intimate of a place where she’d be overthinking every little thing. He jumped out of the cart, placed the helmet on the seat, and hurried to help her out.
She pulled off her helmet and that thick long hair fell down in waves. It was the first time he’d seen her with her hair down and he absolutely loved it. His cock stirred when his thoughts went to burying his face in her hair as he slid his cock into her.
“And now I get to pick where we eat,” she sing-songed.
He shook his head, trying to clear the perverted little cobwebs roaming inside. He reached for her hand and helped her up and out of the cart. Her face was pink from the exertion and adrenaline, and just as quickly as the inappropriate thoughts left, they came flooding right back. He had to bite the inside of his cheek when she bent down to tie her sneakers. Her jeans were tight, and ripped at one knee. Her loose and flowy shirt was black with little cherries on it, and when she stood upright again and ran her fingers through her hair, the bottom of her shirt exposed a little strip of soft white skin, right by her belly button. And the fact that she’d beat him—fair and square, cutting corners, bumping his car, blocking his movements—made him want to know even more about her. She was intriguing and unique, and he found himself liking her a lot more than he should, considering they’d met less than a week ago.
“Do I have helmet hair?”
He shook his head, took her helmet, and went back to the front desk to return it, needing a moment to compose himself. He’d never noticed a woman’s hair before—not like this, at least. It was so lush and shiny . . . he needed to stop thinking or else he’d attack her like he had in the elevator. He needed to take things slow, that had been the plan for the date. He wanted her to feel comfortable and safe with him before he touched her again, otherwise she’d retreat.
He chuckled to himself when he thought about agreeing to go on just one date with her. Like he’d just let her walk away?
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. Nothing. So, where to?” he asked.
A big silly smile spread across her face. “The Greenery.”
“The Greenery?” He let out a big hearty laugh. “Of course.”
“Oh yeah. The best salad bar in all of Miami.” She was practically jumping from foot to foot in excitement. “I can’t ever eat there because Sophie hates it.”
He walked alongside her to his car, careful not to reach for her hand, although he really really wanted to. “So how does a military man afford a car like this?”
He opened the door to his Ferrari and helped her in. “I won it.”
She stopped and looked up at him. “You won it?”
He closed the door and jogged around, then once he was seated in the driver’s side he continued. “I entered a contest and won.”
“What kind of contest?”
“More like a tournament. It was sponsored by an anti-virus company. They wanted to see if anyone could bypass their security system.”
“And you did? You bypassed it? And they gave you a car?” He glanced over at her and she was smirking and looking skeptical and unimpressed.
“Yep. Took me seven minutes and nine seconds.”
He turned on the car and it purred underneath them as they took off for dinner.
“You’re being serious?”
“Yeah. Completely serious.”
“Well . . . wow. I’m impressed.”
“Then it was all worth it,” he said, genuinely.
“You know, I was just teasing you, we can go somewhere e
lse to eat.”
He turned his face and smiled. “No. We’re going there. I want you to have fun and if eating grass floats your boat . . .”
She laughed, settling back in her seat, and they drove the three miles in silence.
* * *
The Greenery was basically a no-frills salad bar. He’d wanted to take her somewhere nice. Woo her. The woman had picked a $9.99 all-you-can-eat salad bar. This was absolutely not what he’d had in mind, except that as she loaded two plates of food, she had a big delighted smile on her face. “So you’re a health nut.”
She sat down and slid one plate in front of him. “Health?” She looked down at her plate. “There’s bacon, ham, eggs, and ranch dressing on this. This probably has more calories than a burger.”
He picked up a crouton and popped it in his mouth. “Then why aren’t we eating a burger?” he mumbled under his breath.
“Try this. I promise you’ll like it. Then after, we can have a sundae. They have chocolate sauce and we can eat as much of it as we want.” She looked over at the self-serve ice cream bar.
“Are you trying to bribe me?”
She crinkled her nose. “Sorry. Habit.” She stabbed a big piece of bacon with her fork and popped it in her mouth. “We can go next door and get pizza. Seriously, it’s fine with me.”
He picked up his fork and moved things around. “I don’t think there’s anything green here.” He chuckled. “Basically, you like a shit ton of croutons, bacon, ham, and dressing.” He grabbed a forkful. “I can handle this.” The truth was, he didn’t hate vegetables. He just thought of this as an appetizer, not a meal. And it wouldn’t have been his meal of choice but he didn’t hate it.
“There’s salad in there. Look.” She pointed at him with a fork. “There’s carrots.”
“So, tell me more about yourself. Other than your weird obsession with salad.”
“It’s not weird. I’m just sick of mac and cheese and chicken nuggets.” She stuck out her tongue playfully. “Anyway, I’m sure you know everything about me already. I thought you broke into my e-diary.”
“Har har.”
“What do you want to know?” she asked between bites.
“Everything.”
“That’s a lot.” She looked up and then began to talk. “I moved to Miami when I was seventeen. Somehow I landed a job in a company that did cleaning for other companies, mostly at night while they were closed. I did that for about two years and one of the places I used to clean was the school board offices. I saw that they were hiring a temp for a secretary while another woman was on maternity leave and I applied. I don’t know how I got the job since I had no experience nor skills. But I did.”
“And you quit working at night.”
“No,” she said. “I worked both jobs. Nine to five during the day and from ten till three in the morning at night.”
“Wow.” He admired her work ethic and independence a lot. He’d always had his family’s help and encouragement—without it, he wasn’t sure where he’d be.
“Yeah. But I was young and had energy and I really wanted to make it on my own.” She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “Anyway, one thing led to another and they kept me on and eventually I quit my night job and went to work full time at the school board.”
“And Neil. How’d you meet him?”
“When I first noticed that Lawrence—”
“That was the superintendent? The one embezzling?” he interrupted. He’d read about it online. The guy had been a world-class dickhead.
“Yeah. Money went missing. A lot. Mostly reallocated. I wasn’t sure what to do. And as rumors started to spread, I was afraid I’d somehow get accused of knowing or . . . I don’t know, I just wasn’t sure what to do. So, I went to see an attorney.”
“Neil.”
“Nope. I saw three other attorneys before I met Neil. No one wanted to get involved or take the case. He encouraged me to go forward and we worked hard at getting all my ducks in a row before coming forward with the allegations. We had to go straight to the state attorney, who was likely already looking into the situation.”
“And you fell in love with your attorney.”
“Very Erin Brockovich, the entire thing,” she said, with a watery smile. This was too heavy, so he directed the conversation elsewhere.
“And you somehow became the fearless secretary that took down the big bad guy stealing from the less fortunate.”
“Something like that. I never thought I’d go into politics, but here I am. Running for governor.”
“And how did superintendent lead to Governor of Florida?”
“Not such a stretch, actually. The Miami-Dade school district is the fourth largest in the nation. I had a lot of responsibilities and people under me. Did you read how I ended up a candidate for governor?”
“Of course I did.” And he had. There was no one running against McGregor. He was expected to be a shoo-in. At a town hall meeting, Olivia had fought McGregor publicly over the need to increase school funding. She’d been very vocal and people started asking her to run against him. She refused. But when the primaries rolled around and there had still been no one running against him, people started writing her name in, and somehow she had become her party’s nominee.
“It’s kind of wild, right? I still can’t believe it sometimes. But what choice did I have, really? Once I saw how many people actually would vote for me, merely because of their unhappiness with McGregor, I decided to go for it. And now here I am. Giving speeches, having zero time for myself and my daughter, fundraising, breaking laptops . . .”
“For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing a great job. McGregor’s a dick and he needs a run for his money.”
“Yeah but now I’m in the same sleazy articles with him.” She took a final bite of her salad and sat back. “I was thinking, do you think it was Harry’s Hacker who took the photo in the elevator? You’ve heard about this, right? Someone keeps putting crap on the internet about McGregor. It’s actually quite funny when it isn’t you who’s the victim. I can’t help but wonder.”
He cleared his throat, almost telling her the truth, but decided against it. “No. I don’t think so. It just really doesn’t make sense. I think this person has a personal vendetta against McGregor.”
Taking a sip of her water, she nodded. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. The hacker is pretty vicious in his posts. They’re funny but they’re also damning. I hope to God I never get on the wrong side of this person.”
“But, it’s helping your campaign. You’re getting the benefit of the fallout. It’s not bad. You should thank this hacker, really.”
She put her glass down. “You know how hard it is to be a woman in a male-dominated profession? As it is, I’ve heard how I was likely sleeping with Lawrence, which is how I got the job at the school board. Then, when I married Neil—oh, no wonder she won the case. Now, she’s winning because McGregor’s an idiot who smoked pot? No. I want to win fair and square. Plus, if people suspect that I’m somehow involved with the hacker I can get in trouble for dirty campaigning. Hacking is still illegal, Joey. I want no part or connection to it.”
Shit. Maybe he needed to stop fucking with McGregor if he wanted to have a real chance with Olivia . . . not that he’d ever get caught.
After dinner, he drove her back to her house. It had been a great night. No reporters had bothered them and she seemed to be having a good time. But they’d kept a distance. Every time her arm brushed against his, he felt the zing of sparks between them and wondered what she was thinking and if she wanted him as much as he wanted her. When they arrived at her house he jogged out of the car and around to open her door. “I’m glad I wore jeans,” she said, reaching for his hand to help her out of the low-to-the-ground car. “I had a great time, Joey. Thank you.”
He reached for her hair and wrapped a lock of it around his fingers. “Invite me in, Livie.”
She looked over her shoulder toward the house. He wondered if her dau
ghter was home. Was that what she was contemplating?
He leaned forward, caging her in with his arms against the car. Her eyes fell to his mouth and she licked her lips and before she had a moment to think he captured her bottom lip with his teeth. She came up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. She smelled of vanilla and was warm around his body, and just like in the elevator, things quickly escalated from a kiss to a crazy opened mouth, nail clawing, moaning mauling. “Invite me inside, darlin’.” Again, he demanded, while his mouth moved down her neck.
“Winnie and Sophie will be here soon.”
It wasn’t a no, he noted.
“I only need ten minutes to make you feel good.”
She pulled away, her brows furrowed. “That’s a bit arrogant. Also, kind of a letdown. I thought you military men had more stamina than that.”
Let down? Without a second thought he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. “Oh, my God!” She laughed, then kicked her legs and slapped his ass. “I can’t believe you did that. Put me down before someone sees you.”
“You questioned my machoness, darlin’.”
“I need more than ten minutes to have sex, Joey. I didn’t question your manliness. I just assumed you’re selfish in bed.”
Selfish?
He’d never had such an overbearing desire to bend a woman over and spank her ass. He put her on her feet once they were in front of her door. He took the keys from out of her hand and opened it. “Who said anything about sex?” Then he closed the door behind them and without hesitation pushed her back against the door and began kissing her again.
“I’m a lot of things, Livie. A lot. But never selfish in bed.” He wanted to bring her to that point where she was wild with need. He loved that about her. He’d never kissed nor been kissed with such need or passion. It was as if she wanted—no, needed—to be touched.
With one hand he deftly unzipped her jeans and pushed them down her thighs. “Touch me, Joey,” she begged, which surprised him. But it shouldn’t have because she was the kind of woman who knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid of vocalizing it. And damn, wasn’t that just the biggest fucking turn-on?
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