“Trina, this is Brooke Campbell, a new assistant. Brooke, this is Trina Lados, senior administrative assistant,” I said.
Trina looked at me and then Sinclair with surprise in her eyes. I could see the wheels turning, wondering how I had a new hire when we hadn’t gone through the regular procedures. I was an idiot to not have Brooke go through a normal hiring process. But Frank was a good friend, and perhaps my own guilt at what I’d done to her came into play. Clearly, I hadn’t thought it through, though, because having her in my office was a bad idea.
“Hi. Welcome,” Trina said, managing a smile. “I didn’t realize we had a new person coming on.” She had a smile for Brooke, but I heard the annoyance in her tone.
“I know you’ve been swamped, so I took the liberty,” I said, inwardly kicking myself once the words were out. Trina took great pride in her abilities. She wouldn’t like my characterizing her as being overwhelmed with work.
“Ms. Campbell is a friend of the family, and I know you’ll take good care of her, getting her settled and showing her the ropes,” I said. “Brooke, why don’t you take the office next to mine?”
Trina’s eyes widened again, but there was that hint of anger in them, too. I never got the feeling she wanted an office, and as the admin for the office, she needed to be here to greet and announce visitors. But I could see she didn’t think it was right that I was giving Brooke an office. Technically, it was Sinclair’s office, but she’d opted to take the smaller one down the hall.
To be honest, I wanted Brooke locked away from me because looking at her, standing next to her, was doing crazy things to my body. My heart rate was up. My dick wanted to go up. I needed her in a place where I’d see her the least. I might have broken protocol in hiring her, but I wasn’t going to break the rules by fucking her. She was my assistant. Being with her would be even more inappropriate than being with Sinclair would have been.
“This way,” I said, guiding her to the office. “Trina will be in with necessary paperwork and onboarding. Then we’ll get you to work.” I smiled, hoping I was looking mayoral.
She looked up at me with those big, blue eyes. I thought that was what had taken me in all those years ago. Her eyes, and of course, when she kissed me. Fuck, I couldn’t think about that.
“Thank you for giving me a chance to prove myself,” she said. “I won’t let you down.”
She didn’t sound like the college coed that seduced me years ago. Perhaps she was over it. Thank God, I thought, even though a part of me was annoyed that she’d forgotten that night. Or didn’t care. Of course she didn’t. How many men had gone down on her since that night? She’d spent the last three and a half years in Chicago. Hell, she probably had a boyfriend.
I shook my head to get rid of all the chaotic thoughts. “I know I won’t regret hiring you. If you excuse me, I have work to do.” The truth was, I was already regretting hiring her. Not because there was anything wrong with her work. She hadn’t done any yet. But seeing her made my body yearn to have more of her. What the fuck was wrong with me?
I hurried to my office, shutting the door, and I sank into my chair and closed my eyes, wondering how I’d survive this. I was still lusting for my friend’s daughter. And I was her boss. Jesus fucking Christ.
It was all just residual lust left over from that winter years ago, I told myself. I’d left that night sexually frustrated, unfulfilled. That was what I was feeling. She didn’t really turn me on now. Before long, we’d settle into a professional work relationship, and that winter would be a distant memory.
Who was I kidding? Even sitting here, I had a flash of an image of me lifting that sexy skirt up and fucking her on my desk. There was something seriously wrong with me.
Somehow, I made it through the day and headed home. I planned to change into jeans and go out to check with my foreman about the day’s work on the ranch. But of course, after a day with Brooke around and that memory of going down on her all those years ago, I ended up grabbing my dick, imagining Brooke’s sweet pink cupid lips wrapped around it, and came like a fucking pervert.
Wallowing in my own self-loathing, I changed into jeans, checked on the business of the ranch, and then headed back to my house to microwave a frozen dinner.
As I sat at the dining table, I pulled out my tablet and reviewed my emails. Most were for work or ranch-related, but I stopped on one from someone named Quinn Thompson. Opening it, I read his introduction. He was a representative of a political party and wanted to meet with me about my political future.
I scoffed. I had no political future. If anyone found out I’d nearly fucked my best friend’s daughter and still fantasized about her now that she was my assistant, I’d be run out of town. I’d made progress on the issues that had me running for mayor in the first place, but I was ready to go back to being a simple ranch owner.
I was going to pass on the invitation, but then I thought that while I didn’t have any political aspirations, if he was making his way to a tiny town like Salvation, it must mean small-town politics made a difference in the state. I could use the opportunity to talk up Sinclair. She and I had some differences about how to do things, but she was smart, competent, and had the town’s needs forefront in her mind. Plus, I wasn’t sure Simon Stark was done with Salvation, and if he was the type to hold a grudge, he might put his significant financial resources to use in trying to defeat Sinclair. The guy had shown up at her second wedding to accuse her and Wyatt of being fake married. Of course, they had been initially, but by their second wedding, there was no doubt about their love or Wyatt’s devotion to her and their daughter, Alyssa.
I responded to the email, agreeing to meet with Thompson. I finished dinner and then headed to my office to deal with some paperwork. The nice thing about being a rancher and the mayor was that there was always something that needed to be done. I didn’t have time to watch TV, read, or lament on how my life was a wasteland.
As a younger man, when I thought about being married, I’d imagined being the type of husband that doted on his wife. We’d have a houseful of kids and make love every night. I thought Shelley was the woman I’d do all that with. I should have known that wasn’t going to be the case. Even before we married, she’d complain about life on the ranch. She kept putting off having kids, saying it wasn’t a good time for whatever she was involved with. I never understood that. She didn’t work. She was involved in civic and community groups. Most of the women in those were mothers, so surely, she could be, too.
When I talked about running for mayor, she seemed to perk up a bit. But I planned to keep and work the ranch, and she didn’t like that.
“You need to think bigger, Maurice,” she’d said to me a day before she left.
“Bigger than what?” I asked. I wasn’t one to brag, but I had the most successful ranch in the area, and I had been the richest man in town, mostly due to good investing by my father and later me when I inherited his estate. Today, Stark had that honor. I wondered if he’d been around then if Shelley would have left me for him. As it was, she’d taken off, heading somewhere else. She tried to take some of my money, but I’d been able to get out of the marriage with one lump settlement. I suspect she didn’t really know how much I had, as she didn’t seem to try very hard to get more.
Pushing my thoughts of Shelley out of my head, I went over paperwork. When I finished, I had my single nightly glass of whiskey. Since that night that I’d fucked Brooke—yes, going down on her constituted fucking, as far as I was concerned—I hadn’t drunk in social situations. I blamed my tipsy state on not having the ability to stop the minute she held that mistletoe over my head.
Trina and I had different temperaments, but like her, I liked control. So, no drinking for me, except alone in my home. I downed my two fingers of whiskey and headed to bed, knowing that no matter how much I didn’t want it to happen, Brooke was going to show up in my dreams, giving me a hard-on I’d have to stroke off in the morning. No amount of booze would prevent that.
4
Brooke
After a week working in the mayor’s office, I’d learned two important things. One, I wasn’t just infatuated with Mo. I was falling for him. He was smart, decisive, and fair. He surrounded himself with and took advice from smart, strong women, respecting them, and yet, making his own decisions in the end. He didn’t coddle me or treat me differently. He gave me work with little direction, trusting I’d figure it out. Then, there was the fact that he was sexy as hell.
The second thing was that the admin, Trina, didn’t like me. I wasn’t sure why. I couldn’t tell if it was something about me specifically, or more about how I came to be working here. A part of me wondered if she felt threatened by me, which was silly. I didn’t want her job. I respected and valued what she did, but I had my sights set higher than being an assistant. Eventually, I’d be running a department. This job was just to get my foot in the door.
As I entered my second week of work, I had a better sense of my job as well as the dynamics of the office. If I could get Trina to not look at me like a mean girl in high school, I’d feel really good about my job. It would be nice to be able to spend more time with the mayor, too. I wondered if he was purposefully busy to avoid me, or if that’s how he always was.
It seemed like we should discuss what had happened all those years ago so it didn’t linger between us, and yet, it wouldn’t matter, because, given the opportunity, I’d do it again now. He’d probably freak out if he knew I had a fantasy of him taking me on his desk.
Midweek, after a busy day at work and then spending an evening with my dad at home, I was getting ready for bed when my phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, I saw it was Tucker. He’d graduated two years before me but had stuck around Chicago, finding a teaching job in one of the at-risk neighborhoods. We’d remained close friends, and I’d often been his confidant in his many relationships.
“Tucker. How are you?”
“Broke and lonely. How about you?”
“Oh, no. Did Karen leave you, after all?” I asked about his on-again-off-again relationship with another teacher.
“Yeah. She ran off to Florida with vice-principal Kipler.”
“Ouch.” I winced, feeling his pain. “You okay?”
“Actually, I am. But I’m not calling about me. Spill the beans. Are you bored out of your gourd back in Podunk, Nebraska?”
I snickered. “No. It’s nice to be home.”
“And your job. You still feel some sort of way about Mayor McHottie?”
I paused.
“Oh shit, you do? Really? I thought you grew out of that.”
“I thought I did, too.” I sighed.
“That bad, huh?”
I flopped back on my bed. “He’s everything I remembered and more. But he’s still my dad’s friend—”
“And old enough to be your father. What is he, forty?”
“Not quite, and that doesn’t matter.”
“So, what is it about him?”
“I don’t know since he tries to avoid me.”
He laughed. “You could walk in with mistletoe.” I’d told Tucker about my encounter with Mo four years ago, partly for advice on what I should do, and partly because I had to tell someone.
“He’d run for the hills for sure.” I was still a silly schoolgirl, apparently.
“Maybe it’s time I come get you, and you finally give me a go.”
I knew he was joking. While he’d shown interest in me when we met during my freshman year of college, it was clear early on that we’d be friends and nothing more.
“When I see him, all my neurons start firing,” I said.
“Lust. It’s a bitch when it’s one-sided.”
“It’s more than that. He’s smart and a good leader. And yet, I get a sense that he’s lonely or sad or something.”
“I’m not sure it’s good to fall for a guy who needs saving,” Tucker said.
“It doesn’t stop women from falling for you.”
He laughed. “Thank God for women who want to save a man.” He paused. “Seriously, are you okay with working in a place where your feelings are being rebuffed?”
“They’re not rebuffed. He doesn’t know.”
“The guy went down on you. He knows.”
I shrugged. “That was a long time ago. Let’s talk about you and your sucky life.”
He sighed. “I just finished summer school. My students are smart, but I don’t have the right resources to teach them, and they don’t have the support to encourage them to learn. I’m paid shit, and I can hardly afford to live here. How’s that for sucky?”
“You should move here. Our schools lack resources,” I said, having learned it by sitting in on a meeting with Sinclair and a teacher and librarian about raising money for library books. “But families support education, and it’s way less expensive to live here.”
“It’s flat.”
I laughed. “There’s clean air that will wash away that gunk in your brain.”
“Are they hiring?”
I was surprised by his question. I wondered if he was serious. “I know a teacher. I can ask. If you’re serious.”
He was quiet for a minute. “I wasn’t, but all of a sudden, I think a change of pace might be nice. I saw a rat fighting with a pigeon over a piece of pizza the other day.”
“You won’t see that here. Even if you don’t move here, you should come to visit me and check it out.”
“You’re sure? I don’t want to get in the way of you seducing the mayor.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure.”
It was like kismet when I saw Holly St. James in Sinclair’s office the next day. They were planning to raise money during the upcoming Harvest Festival. It didn’t seem right that schools had to raise money for books, but not for boys’ sports. Of course, football was one of the main forms of entertainment during the fall.
When the meeting was over, I walked Holly back to the lobby area of the mayor’s office. “Would it be possible for me to take you to lunch? I wanted to pick your brain about teaching in Salvation.”
She smiled. “I never turn down a free meal.”
“Great.” I grabbed my purse, and then she and I walked down to Salvation Station for lunch. Ryder Simms greeted us from the bar as we walked in. The rumor was he and Trina were living together in some sort of experiment. It didn’t seem like the sort of thing she’d do, so I questioned whether the rumor was true. If it was, I couldn’t understand how or why Ryder put up with her. She was so negative all the time.
We took a seat in the restaurant and ordered lunch.
“So, what’s up?” she asked.
“I have a teacher friend in Chicago who’s looking for a change.”
“What does she teach?”
“It’s a he, and currently, he just finished summer school at an elementary school.”
“We do have an opening. I think the middle school has one, too, for this upcoming year. The district has a website that he can check and apply through.”
“Great. Do you have any tips that can help him? He’s a great guy. He’s fantastic with kids.”
She cocked her head. “Are you and he…”
“Oh, no. He’s just a friend. But a good friend.”
“Right.” She had a strange expression on her face that didn’t make sense. “Well, experience helps, and it sounds like he has that.”
“He does. I’ll tell him to focus on his experience. Thank you.”
“I do have another tip for you. It’s unsolicited.”
“Oh?” I arched a brow. Her tone sounded like I was going to hear something I wouldn’t like.
“It hasn’t escaped my no
tice the way you look at the mayor.”
Both my brows shot up. Was it obvious?
“I’m sure it hasn’t with Sinclair and Trina, either.”
Why did Holly care? Did she have a thing for the mayor? And why would Sinclair care? She was married. And Trina? Well, who knew what made that woman tick?
“Listen, it’s not my business, but having a crush on the mayor, your boss, isn’t healthy. You’re a smart woman with a bright future. Sinclair raves about your work. But you should find someone your own age.”
I was surprised that she was so forward with me. “I’ve known Mo for a long time.”
“He’s friends with your father. Another reason to let go of any thoughts of him as more than your boss.” She smiled. “Look, I know I’m overstepping here, but having a thing with an older man is a recipe for disaster, especially with the added part that the mayor and your father are friends, and he’s your boss.”
I couldn’t help but wonder if she was talking from experience. But since I wasn’t interested in her advice when it came to Mo, I also wasn’t interested in knowing why she thought a relationship with an older man was wrong. Plus, Mo wasn’t an older man. Yes, there was a significant age difference, but he didn’t seem older. He didn’t feel like a father figure. He was a man, and I was a woman. That’s all that mattered to me.
5
Maurice
I enjoyed being mayor, for the most part. I liked making decisions that helped Salvation and its people. I enjoyed participating in local events, although I’d been sending Sinclair out to more of them lately. I wanted her to not only have the experience but also be seen as a town leader for when she ran for mayor.
Today, though, I was pulling community service duty by attending the opening of a new storefront in the oldest section of town. The renovated building held several little shops, all opening today. After giving a speech, the stores opened, and, fortunately, a good number of people showed up to shop. While small, the mini-mall did create a handful of new jobs, but it was still far from what I’d wanted to create for the town. The shops in this location were proof that my small business initiative was working, though, so I felt good about that.
Fake Marriage (Contemporary Romance Box Set) Page 44
