The pair stood there for another second, glancing back and forth at each other and Gladice. This had to be about the marshmallows. Ethan pulled out a five-dollar bill from his wallet and placed it on the counter.
“For the inconvenience.” He smiled softly and shoved his wallet back in his pocket.
“No, thank you.” Gladice slid the bill back toward Ethan, the scowl still plastered on her face. Her eyes dared him to argue with her. With a tip of an invisible hat, Ethan smiled and led Adelaide out of the store, who fidgeted in her Ugg boots and lost the beauty queen grin. The bill still sat on the counter.
Ethan’s feet quickened to catch Audrey, who’d already opened the door to her Acura.
“What the heck was that?” Ethan called as Adelaide followed. “Why didn’t you say something?”
Audrey plopped herself inside and shut the door, turning on the engine. She gave Ethan a confused glance and waited for Adelaide to slip in the backseat.
“Where was the legendary debating skills of Audrey Allen in there?” The door slammed on his last few words. When Audrey placed her hand on the shifter, Ethan stopped her by covering it with his own hand. Her hands were burning and sweaty. “Answer me first.”
“There was no point. She had her mind made up already,” Audrey replied with a polite voice and blank face. But a muscle tightened in that soft jaw line of hers.
“That’s never stopped you before,” Ethan shot back. “And don’t use that Peacemaker tone with me. You should have used it in there, where it would have done some good.”
Silence filled the car. Only the humming of the engine broke through.
Why wouldn’t she fight back? Where’s the Audrey every politician knows?
The warmth from Audrey’s hand filtered into Ethan’s fingers as he held it in place over the shifter. He felt her pulse racing, blood rushing through her veins like water through a hydrant. Something was alive inside her, but she refused to use it.
“I’ve seen you turn the most difficult room of bulldogs to eat out of your hands like puppies. It’s what you’re known best for. How is it you can’t turn a single person in a small town who’ve known you their whole lives?”
The windshield somehow became the most interesting focal point and Audrey refused to look away from it. And it started to bug him. He wanted her to look at him. Show him what was really going on inside that beautiful mind of hers.
Audrey swallowed. “It’s easy to turn a difficult room if they disagree with my ideas or opinions. It’s impossible to turn a single person if their problem is with my very existence.”
The confession hung between them like acidic smog. For the first time, Ethan was speechless. He should be drooling. But his mouth was dry.
Has to be the sugar.
“What’s going on?” Adelaide’s innocent voice broke the silence. “Why did Gladice treat you like that?”
Audrey ignored her sister and looked at Ethan with expectant eyes. “You finished?”
Ethan couldn’t take his eyes off of hers, but let go of her hand. The fight lived in her eyes. “Not even close.”
“Aud?” Adelaide asked again.
“Leave it alone, Addy,” Audrey snapped and thrust the car into gear.
Chapter Ten
Small towns never changed. The same narrow-minded atmosphere mixed with the independent stubbornness ingrained in Southern blood. Along with the unique trait of unending memory. Not that she would admit that in a campaign speech or press conference. They were still voters.
Audrey tried to keep her smile intact when she dropped off the grocery bags in the kitchen, but her mother saw the break in her lips as she walked off. No doubt Adelaide filled her mother in on the gossip she just suffered. But she needed quiet, to be alone, if only for a few minutes.
The wood planks creaked as she rolled her suitcase through the upstairs hallway and pushed through her bedroom door. The same room in which she survived adolescence. Barely.
It felt smaller than she remembered. The white bedroom furniture with pink and green flowered bedspread clashed with the memory of her black and white sketches she had pinned on the pistachio colored walls. Now redone as a guest room, her illustrations didn’t match her mother’s palette for the décor.
She lifted her suitcase onto the bed and started unpacking, wondering if her mother had thrown out all of her sketches or stashed them somewhere secret. As if her daughter hadn’t existed. Hadn’t annoyed the town with her “unusual behavior,” and hadn’t disgraced the family’s name ten years ago.
The small bag of toiletries was the last item unpacked, which she set on the dresser. Not
her
dresser. Not anymore. The only thing in this room that felt like
hers
was the window. More specifically, the rooftop outside that she’d made into her own personal balcony. Late at night when she couldn’t sleep, she’d hide out there in the darkness, dreaming up her next sketches. The branches of the large oak tree spread under the roof, forming the perfect ladder to the grass below, where she’d escaped countless times.
Half of those countless times were hand in hand with
him
. The happiest times of her life, short lived and the memories now full of heartache. Audrey pulled the brush out of her purse and combed through her hair, as if each stroke pulled the tension from her mind. Then her cell phone rang.
Caller ID showed it was Miranda, and Audrey let out a relieved sigh. “Did you make it to Houston?”
“Nope.” Miranda’s annoyed voice bit through the phone. “Flight delayed due to mechanical problems. I could drive to Houston faster than these yahoos can fix a plane. How’s it going with you? Ethan behaving himself?”
“Not exactly, but I was expecting it.”
“Bombarding your family already?”
“Let’s just say it’s not as smooth sailing as I’d hoped, but I’m handling it.”
The pause on Miranda’s end would have sent nervous shocks through anyone else. But not Audrey.
“Anything I need to be aware of before he publishes his article?”
“No, Mandy. He has the ground rules and so far he’s sticking to them. Begrudgingly.”
“What ground rules?”
“I don’t want to talk about that. Have you heard back from the investors?”
The sigh Audrey heard didn’t make her feel better.
“Would I let you down, Aud? Two of the three came back and said yes. Checks will be in the mail tomorrow.”
“Seriously?” Audrey’s voice jumped an octave and she felt like bouncing on the mattress. The Crisis Center could actually make it. “You’re not playing with me, are you?”
“Not only that,” Miranda continued with just as much excitement. “They’re donating two season tickets to both the Stars and Mavericks for the auction on Saturday.”
Now Audrey started to jump up and down on the wood floor, not caring that her family below probably thought she was moving furniture around.
“Mandy, I love you! You’re brilliant! This Crisis Center can finally get off the ground, all because of you.”
“Nuh-uh, sweetie. Because of you! They said they weren’t donating to the campaign or the cause, but to you. They believed in
you
and what you can accomplish.
You,
Audrey!”
“You’ve made my weekend, Mandy!”
“Let’s just hope it makes our week! We’re on our way, Aud. With a little luck, this is just the beginning. Keep that sexy journalist in line and we’ll have the whole thing clinched.”
“News like this can make me keep the devil in line.” Audrey kept the thought of the
sexy journalist
in the back of her mind. Miranda was right, Ethan was chocolate-covered sex in a cup, but he was also the devil she had to keep under control. While she was at it, she’d have to keep her heartbeat under control whenever he walked in the room.
“Tell me, have you snuck a peek yet?”
“What?” Audrey blanched.
Did I say those things out loud?
“A peek at his package. His baggy cargo pants aren’t so baggy in a certain spot and I wondered if you’d verified it yet.”
“How exactly would you want me to verify that, Mandy? He’s the journalist you claimed could make or break the election for us. I can’t feel up his crotch to satisfy your curiosity and risk a sexual harassment claim.”
The hearty chuckle on the other end took Audrey by surprise. “I bet that one would welcome any sexual harassment from you. His sexuality is just dripping.”
Audrey’s cheeks flushed with heat. “Well, when the election is over,
you
ask him out.”
Another laugh. “I think you’ve already claimed him.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Sweetie, I saw the way he looked at you at the studio and at the meeting. Like his favorite gift from Santa Claus. And it was also the first time I saw you blush in years.”
“That was the look of a player trying to aim in on another target. You’re screwing up your metaphors.” A sliver of Miranda’s words stuck in the back of her mind, and a flicker of warmth grew in its place.
“I’ve never seen you or heard of you going on a date with anyone since I’ve met you. Don’t you think ten years of single life is enough?”
Yes. And not nearly enough either.
“I hardly think the middle of an election is the best time for a politician to start dating. Particularly not with a member of the media.”
“You’ve always loved a challenge.”
Audrey pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “Stick to harassing airline executives. It’s what you’re good at.”
“You didn’t see the news at noon, did you?” Her tone switched to serious with a click of a button.
“No, why?”
“Never mind.”
“Mandy?”
“They showed Wyatt Williams’ interview with NBC5. And he was…typical Wyatt.”
“Great,” Audrey groaned.
Yet another fire I’ll have to put out.
“We knew ahead of time that Mr. Williams doesn’t keep the gloves up.”
“Well, Wyatt forgets that unlike most of his competition, my jewels are above the waist.”
“Ooh, good one! I’ll tell Canyon to include that in your acceptance speech.”
“Leave him alone. He has enough speeches to write for the fundraiser this weekend.”
“Audrey, that is what Canyon Wilde lives for! Oh, and he wants to talk to you about a few lines in Saturday’s speech when you have a free minute. Also, let him pick out your dress for the event.”
“He’s my speech writer, Mandy. Not my stylist.”
“But he should be. He’s got a hell of a lot more sense than you. If you don’t let him primp you up, I know you’ll show up in one of those boring suits covered from head to toe like an Amish nun.”
Audrey rolled her eyes. “I’ll call him tomorrow.”
“Well, cry out, Moses, they’re finally boarding! I might just get to Houston before Hanukah.”
“Be nice to the flight attendants.”
With a quick laugh, Miranda hung up.
A cold spell swept down Audrey’s spine as she stood in the middle of her former bedroom and realized Miranda was right. She had blushed in the news studio. Which was why Ethan took the signal to flirt and use his playboy ways to get answers out of her. Why else would he come on so strong with his sexy stares and charming smiles? She’d have to be dead not to react to the heat meandering through her veins when Ethan brushed up against her shoulder or touched her hand.
Or held that damn marshmallow up to her mouth. She was a heartbeat away from licking it from his fingers and finding out exactly what he tasted like. Ethan Tanner knew he could pulverize a woman’s senses into submission. And it
had
been a long time since…
She wasn’t dead. Sure, a lot of people in this town wished she was, but there were a lot of breaths left in her lungs, and plenty of beats in her heart. But she was determined to do something good with every one of them. And love wasn’t part of it. Or sex. Sex had no place in her life while she was busy making up for her mistakes.
Especially not with Ethan. Even if it was clear he wanted it.
A soft knock on the door pulled her from her internal determination speech. Ethan leaned against the doorframe, a sly grin on his face and his hand shoved in his jeans pocket. The fabric pulled tightly across his hips revealing a bulge larger than—
Shit!
Audrey forced her eyes to Ethan’s chest, feeling the heat rise on her cheeks.
I really need to stop listening to Mandy’s ideas.
“See something you like?” Ethan asked smoothly, like warm silk tenderizing the air. And her thighs.
Yes, now stop rubbing it in.
“Did you lock my car after you grabbed your suitcase?”
“Are there a lot of burglars out here where the paved roads end?”
Pressing her lips together wasn’t a successful deterrent to Ethan’s probing stares. Conversely, it seemed to reignite his attentions.
“We’re right across the hall from each other. That should make my nights here very pleasant.”
Audrey couldn’t hold back her smile. “Every door has a lock on it, and East Texas practically requires a dozen guns in the house.”
Ethan placed his hand over his feigned hurt chest. “You think so little of me. Besides, I’d have a hard time seducing you in this room. This is clearly your childhood furniture.” He moved across the room like a teasing breeze and grabbed one of the white four posters of her bed, leaning a knee on the mattress. “Kinda dampens the mood.”
The way his hip leaned onto her bed jerked the breath from her throat. The fabric pulled tighter across his crotch, accentuating the bulge.
“Oh, so you’re more used to a raggedy mattress on the floor surrounded by smelly heaps of dirty laundry and empty whiskey bottles?” Audrey needed any kind of grotesque image to snuff the flames ignited by her imagination.
His eyebrows almost met his hairline. “That’s what you think of me?” Half a smirk grew on his lips. “I’m hardly a whiskey drinker.”
“Why don’t you freshen up before dinner? You can use the bathroom first,” Audrey deflected with a deep breath. He was getting way too attached, and an arm’s distance was the best place for a journalist, if a metal cage wasn’t close by. “But please remember to leave the toilet seat down.”
“We’re
sharing
a bathroom? Now’s there an image I can get in the mood with.”