MMF BISEXUAL ROMANCE: Phoenix Running (3 page)

“Don’t do anything I would do,” Josey teased in a whisper when she got down to the front door.

Cee-Cee rolled her eyes. “There will be none of that. Kiss Baby Joe goodnight for me. I might be in late.”

Winny and Marty shared a look, which she ignored. This was strictly business. Never mind that Mayor Phoenix Briton, the most eligible bachelor in town, was even more of a hottie in person than he was on television. Cee-Cee squeezed her sweaty hands together and took a deep breath before she walked out the door.

As she approached his car, waves of uncertainty assailed her. After the chat with her mother about the mayor having ulterior motives for specifically choosing a dinner date for the meeting, she vaguely wondered if Briton had the same idea Gina had had—that Cee-Cee was trying to sleep her way to the top. He was probably used to women throwing themselves at him, but if that was his expectation, he’d be disappointed. She crossed her fingers and hoped they were on the same page.

When the driver opened the door of the Rolls, Phoenix Briton smiled up at her from inside. Cee-Cee leapt a step back. “I thought you’d be meeting me at the restaurant!” She laughed self-deprecatingly for being startled at his presence.

“Don’t you look ravishing! I thought it would be cold and standoffish to send a car instead of showing up personally. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do. Hop in.” He made room for her to sit, and she stepped a shiny shoe into the vehicle. His eyes traveled the length of her leg. She blushed, climbed in and pulled the dress down some. “I hope you don’t mind. I got you flowers. Call me old-fashioned. I just think a woman deserves a treat every now and then.”

She bubbled with appreciation and surprise when he handed her a small bouquet of pink peonies. “They’re beautiful. How thoughtful of you!”
He’s turning up the charm
, Cee-Cee noted. The door was shut behind her, leaving her alone with a man she couldn’t deny she was attracted to but wouldn’t dare try to get. Her career goals wouldn’t allow it.

And one thing Cee-Cee had was superb self-control.

“
N
ow
, let’s get started,” she confidently commandeered things.

Cora-Lynn Carson took out her tablet soon as the pair was seated in the swanky restaurant he had chosen. The Coach House was hushed and dim, with soft leather booths, white tablecloths and servers in black pulling corks out of bottles. He had chosen it not only for the food but the privacy; the tables were set far apart and he’d been looking forward to the feeling of being alone with this very interesting young woman.

Until she pulled out her tablet, that is. Phoenix’s eyes skimmed the cold plastic rectangle, and he reached across the table to push it away. “What would you like to drink?” He looked her over.

Young, beautiful and reserved. Her lustrous black hair feathered around her face in a layered cut that was longer at the front. Her face was all wide-set exotic eyes. They were electric blue, and her lips were colored with a bronze tint. She had a look a man would be hard-pressed to forget.

Her mouth rounded in a surprised O. She stammered soundlessly until she found her voice. “I thought this was a business dinner.” Dove-like white hands fluttered restlessly to the tabletop to unfold her napkin, and she locked her fingers together on the table between them when she was finished. He leaned closer, a habit. She leaned away.

Phoenix smiled and felt the tension between them tighten. He murmured, “It is, but I’m not the best at talking around a mouthful.” His dark brown eyes were shaded by his heavy eyelids as he watched her, noting the way she blushed and squirmed at his comment. Phoenix was a flirt, but she was fighting the magic.

“Not the best at something? You don’t seem like a man with a lot of limitations.” Her lilting voice had a teasing quality. He chuckled in surprise at the veiled compliment. She was loosening up to him. He liked that.

Her blousy black frock was belted at the waist, simultaneously hiding her curves and exposing her legs. She was his type, but it was clear she wasn’t interested in hanky-panky, and Phoenix wasn’t in the mood for a dinner filled with shoptalk—not with
this
woman—so they were even.

He waited for the vein beating nervously at the side of her milky neck to slow its racing before he asked her again what she’d like to drink. She was visibly calmer when she scanned the wine list and gave her selection. Cee-Cee settled back in her dining chair to study him the way he had looked her over.

He was making this more intimate than it needed to be. Phoenix Briton’s cerulean blue suit was a pop of color in the sea of safe black, charcoal and navy blue menswear sported by the other male patrons of the restaurant. His muscular physique filled out the coat, and his dark hair was combed rakishly to the side, parted on the right.

“Mayor Briton, I want to make sure that we’re on the same page. I don’t want to take up too much of your time tonight. I just want to show you what NowIn can do for you and your campaign.”

“I want…steak. What about you?” Phoenix peered at his menu and back at her when she didn’t reply. He sighed. “Ms. Carson, I am a busy man. Busy all day and all night, except for those times when I—for sanity’s sake—make the business wait. Now, I want to have a pleasant dinner with you where we touch base on some of the elements of your app but mostly just pretend we’re two young people enjoying a night on the town. Is that doable?”

He was used to being in charge, used to people following his lead, not used to beautiful women trying to tell him how the night was going to go. He had offered to listen to her sales pitch, hadn’t he? They’d get to that in due time. But right now, dinner. Phoenix had already made up his mind on the app anyway.

The server sidled closer and accepted their order in the hushed ambiance of the dinner hall. Cee-Cee-Cee asked for steak as well—she was too nervous to put any real thought into her food order. When the server left, Phoenix turned his eyes to Cee-Cee, who sat uncomfortably at the other side of the table. She looked ready to bolt.

“How old are you?” he asked when the server left.

She jumped. “Oh, um, twenty-two. You’re twenty-seven, I know. I read your file. How on earth did you begin a political career so young?”

“You read my file?” He blew out an amused breath. “You should know, then. I was in college by age fifteen and excelled at everything I put a hand to. I get the feeling you have a similar backstory. Am I right?”

She modestly smiled. “I didn’t start college so young. I just double majored. Uncle Bryan invited me to begin interning at his firm this year, and I have to admit it’s been an enlightening experience.”

“Ah, I see. You’re related. Makes sense. So, you’re in IT?”

“Computer programming.” She sipped from her wineglass, studiously watching bubbles float to the surface of the sparkling wine. He could tell his mention of her relation to the CEO of PR-ISM was a sore point. Phoenix cleared his throat to make her look at him. He couldn’t get enough of her eyes.

“Can I tell you a secret?” he asked. “I am relatively good at reading people, and I get the feeling you don’t want to be here. Did your uncle make you play nice with me? I don’t want you to feel you have to entertain me for his sake.”

She appraised him with skittish eyes. “That’s not the case. I genuinely appreciate the offer to meet. This is an honor. I just want to be able to talk to you about my—”

“Tenacious of you.”

“—App…”

Right on cue, their dinner was served and the conversation was left at a stalemate as Phoenix deliberately went silent and focused on cutting his steak. He felt her watching him. She didn’t touch her plate for a full minute, her attention fixed on him.

There were a lot of things on his mind, none of which Phoenix felt pressed to discuss with anyone. For starters, he had read the specs on her app, and there were problems. It wasn’t the program; it was him. Phoenix had never been a fan of social media because he viewed the various sites as nothing more than temptations to disclose an excessive amount of personal information that would likely float around the Internet for all eternity.

Why would anyone be interested in what some random person was eating, reading, watching or doing? He understood the allure on a basic level. People were nosy. That was the thing.

Phoenix had seen firsthand how one social mishap could flush years of hard work down the drain. His eyes went distant as he drifted off, remembering the look on his mother’s face when she had found out what his hounddog of a father had been doing behind closed doors. Secrets always came out.

They just came out faster and easier when people used social media. Phoenix knew drunken text messages could haunt a person for a lifetime. Harmless jokes could be taken out of context. When it came to politics, anything on the Internet could be either a tool for good or ammunition to kill his campaign, and he wasn’t interested in being a guinea pig with his career on the line.

His answer on the use of her app was no. Bryan Friedman had talked it up. Phoenix was sure Cora-Lynn had more shining speeches about the app’s grandeur, but he wasn’t interested. So why had he invited her out?

Because he wanted to get out of the house. It was Friday night, and it was damned difficult getting dates as the mayor (unless one counted vapid socialites and high-priced hookers). He chewed thoughtfully and swallowed slowly, finally lifting his eyes to hers. Her smile was planted in place, but it was beginning to waver. Phoenix surreptitiously snuck a glance at the time on his phone. She was on the edge of her seat. Better to get the business end of things out of the way before this poor girl burst with anticipation.

“About NowIn…”

“Right,” she beamed. “NowIn is a social media app that allows you to post across every major platform out there, fully customizable, to deliver content with minimal work on your part. It’s the branding iron of the future.” She spit the words out rapid-fire, and Phoenix was taken aback by her enthusiasm. She was passionate about this. It made her light up like a firework, and her already extraordinary face took on a new intensity.

He had intended to give her only a moment to talk before politely explaining that NowIn wasn’t something he felt comfortable using. However, at the sight of her glowing so enchantingly, he didn’t feel inclined to stop her. He finished the excellent filet as she chattered, her fork hardly touching her food.

“Picture this. You wake up in the morning, snap a photo and shoot it out to tens of thousands of followers on Twitter. At the same time, your blog is updated with the funny picture and doodled text that says, ‘He wakes up like this.’ Add some quirky stickers, maybe the constitution in one hand and a toothbrush in the other. There you have it—a mayor the people of town can feel they know intimately.

“No more Wizard behind the green curtain, pulling levers and blowing smoke. The real man is far more interesting than the illusion.” She blushed as she heard herself, and Phoenix didn’t miss the high color in her cheeks. His charming smile manifested.

“You think I’m interesting,” he murmured matter-of-factly, touching his napkin to his lips. She glossed over the comment.

“I think NowIn will show the town, the world even, that you’re not just interesting. You’re worth their time. They’ll race back to check what you post next. In a meeting? No problem! Whisper into your device ‘I’m in a meeting,’ and the app will select from your preset photos to find something suitable—say, a photo of you giving two thumbs up. Suddenly, government isn’t something that only happens behind closed doors. It’s something that happens in classrooms, living rooms, at work, anywhere!”

“I see the appeal. What’s in it for you? What’s in it for PR-ISM? I mean, your company already has the contract to cover public relations for me during my second mayoral run. Why do I need this app?”

“Sir, PR is about crafting a certain image. Our team at PR-ISM, we’re masters of that craft, but this app? This app puts the clay in your hands. You help sculpt the right image for you. Clearly, we wouldn’t put you out there and tell you to go crazy with it. I mean, the wake up in the morning thing was just an example. Ideally, you’d use it specifically when you want to get a message out to the people yourself.”

“Sir?”

She blushed again. He loved watching the pink suffuse her face. “It just seemed—.”

“I’m only a few years older than you, you know.”

She blinked rapidly, unable to speak, and he felt sorry for teasing her. “So I’d make my own personal statements, rather than have a third party read them in front of a press conference. Is that it?”

She grinned, tongue tucked between her teeth, happy again. “Precisely.”

Phoenix nodded. He still wasn't sold on it. He was a private man. There was his business/political life, and then there was his personal life. An app like this one would make it too easy to make the mistake of mixing the two. “I’ll think more about it,” he murmured.

Ms. Carson deflated right before his eyes. It would have been comical if she didn’t look so down. Phoenix reached across the table to hand her back her tablet. “Hey, I said I’d think about it,” he repeated, his tone lighter this time.

She nodded bravely, cut a bite of steak and attacked it, chewing furiously. “Thank you.”

He shifted uneasily, hoping she wouldn’t start crying or some shit. She looked so small and waifish. “So, uh, tell me more about you,” he said, deftly changing the subject.

“Friends call me Cee-Cee,” she said, looking up at him. He noticed the faint film of meat grease on her lips but didn’t let her see him notice. “You can call me that since we’ll be working together so closely.”

“Thank you for that. Ms. Cora-Lynn Carson is a bit of a mouthful.” As she would be. “Cee-Cee it is. Call me Phoenix.” She shook his proffered hand but her heart wasn’t in it. She knew he was going to say no.

Phoenix hid his ire at the date gone wrong. Was he so unappealing? He had hoped they could pretend a little longer to be two people enjoying each other’s company rather than trying desperately to get something from each other. He sighed. What he wanted from her—distraction, a little grace, perhaps more—was not her problem. What she wanted, however, was his problem. It seemed like everything was these days.

An awkward silence descended over the table broken only by his question of whether or not she wanted dessert. She softly said no, and that was that. Dinner was over.

T
he awkwardness transferred
from the restaurant to Phoenix’s car, and he realized this business dinner had hit Pitsville. Cee-Cee tugged at the hem of her dress and crossed her legs, then uncrossed them. Her eyes slid to his face and moved over his firmly set lips before dancing away, lured by the city lights beyond the glass.

“Did you have fun tonight?” he chanced the question.

She nodded too quickly. “I feel lucky just to have had the opportunity to meet with you one on one.”

He playfully nudged her foot with his. Whispering conspiratorially, he asked, “Bryan’s not going to get upset about me not giving a firm answer tonight, is he?”

“Oh, no! No! Bryan and the PR team and I agreed showing off the NowIn App would be a perk of being hired by your council, but we also understand we’re not here to sell you a product. This is just one of the many services we offer.”

“Glad to know. So, my dear tech girl genius, any other questions for me? You’re my social media liaison. I imagine you’ll have to get to know me better in order to handle my limited Internet presence. Anything you need to know to make your job easier?”

“Well, my head is buzzing with questions, but they’re more for me than you.” She looked down self-consciously, tucking her hair behind her ear. The pearl caught the light. Her bronze lips made him think of topaz. Pearls and topaz. “I mean, I’m sure I somehow blew the presentation. Maybe I should have played up the analytics, talked more about the thousands of positive reviews. A-admittedly, the NowIn App is the only thing of merit I’ve ever created.”

“Stop that,” he shook his head. “Let me give you a bit of business advice, one young successful person to another. You don’t apologize for someone else turning down something you have to offer. If your product is good, you stand behind that. It’s their loss, not yours.” She blinked. He chuckled, understanding he was talking against himself, but he hadn’t actually told her no yet, either.