ROMANCING THE BULLDOG (9 page)

she asked. When she remembered that Dexter was in the room, she rephrased. “Why would

you have dealings with such a person?” she asked Jason instead.

“I didn’t have dealings with her,” he said with a hint of irritation.

“But you took her home?” DeeDee asked accusatorily.

Jason looked at her. “Yes, I took her home. To her home,” he added. “And?”

“And that almost blew up in our faces,” Carl said, fast tiring of the rivalry for Jason’s

attention that existed between DeeDee and Stephen, a rivalry that was played out, at varying

degrees, every single day. “We want our campaign to be flawless this time. We want a

cakewalk back into office, with no surprises, especially since the Democrats will probably be

united.”

“Whomever they put up against Jace will lose by a landslide,” Dexter said.

“I agree,” Carl said. “He should lose and we should win by that same landslide, which is

what we have got to win by if we have any hopes of getting the attention of those big wigs in

Tallahassee who’ll finally see our boss for what he is: the future governor of this fine state.

Now is that clear enough, Jace? No more picking up ‘hood rats, and especially not Hamp

Morgan’s daughter, no more talking down the Norris Amendment, no more taking this

upcoming election for granted.”

Jason sat down and leaned back in his chair. There was an interminable wait as his staff

stared at him. Finally he spoke. “She’s not a ‘hood rat,” he said, and DeeDee fumed.

FIVE

The door to Liz’s office flew open and Shameika entered with a stunned look on her face.

Liz, who was at the file cabinet rummaging through a stack of thick files, standing bare feet,

didn’t look back at her assistant.

“Boss,” Shameika said as soon as she entered, but Liz, without looking back, interrupted

her.

“I can’t find the Hemming file,” Liz said, her reading glasses perched on her nose. “Milo

wants a spreadsheet on all of our counseling clients, but Hemming’s is missing. I’ve searched

all of our outlay---”

“Boss,” Shameika said again, and she said it so heartfelt that Liz was forced to turn away

from the file cabinet and look at her.

What she saw caused her to immediately show concern. “What’s the matter with you?” she

asked her secretary.

“You have a visitor.”

Liz frowned. “So I have a visitor. So what?”

“Your visitor,” Shameika said and then had to pause before continuing, “is the mayor.”

A pause came over Liz too, but for very different reasons. “The mayor?” she finally said.

“The mayor!” Shameika shouted out. “Why in this wide world would Jason Rascone want

to see you?”

Why indeed, Liz thought to say. “I won’t find out if you don’t send him in,” she said

instead, as calmly as she could.

“But the mayor, Boss? And he said your name like he knows you like that. ‘I’m here to

see Elizabeth,’ he said. Elizabeth. Not Miss Morgan. Not the lady who runs this joint. But

Elizabeth.”

Liz looked at Shameika. “And?”

“I can’t stand him, don’t get me wrong, he’s Mr. Conservative, after all. And a

Republican
! But the man is good looking, girl. That man is fine!”

“Meika,” Liz said.”

Shameika began leaving. “I know, I know. Go get him. All right already.”

After Shameika left, Liz just stood there feeling a little shaken. She didn’t know if she could

face him again. Not after yesterday. Not after the way she allowed him to be so intimate with

her. What was wrong with her anyway, letting him touch all on her and feel her up the same

way she let him ten years ago? It didn’t go as far as it went a decade ago, but that was only

because she was so sore. But twice they were together and twice she allowed him to see every

inch of her body. And she still didn’t understand why. What was it about him that made her

so . . . so . . . comfortable?

But instead of letting it be, instead of going his way and forgetting that he’d ever laid eyes on

her again, he decided to come to her office. Was it because some reporter had found out that

he’d been in a house in the
hood
, as his aide called it, and he wanted to make sure she wasn’t

the one who spilled the beans? He was wasting his time if he would even think that.

Yet, a part of Liz had fond memories of yesterday. She couldn’t stop thinking about how

wonderful it felt to lean against him, to relax in the warmth of his arms. It had been so long for

her, so agonizingly long, that she had almost forgotten what that unbridled human contact felt

like.

But even that feeling wasn’t enough for her to let her guard down, she thought as she

walked toward her desk. Jason had been kind to her, and she appreciated it. But every man

she’d ever fell for had been kind. They all were nice and kind in the beginning. Scotty, her

ex, was super-nice and super-kind. But they always broke her heart in the end. She was

grateful to Jason Rascone, he provided a shoulder to cry on yesterday when she needed one

badly, but that was as far as it was going to go. Her days of broken hearts, of blind love and

trails of tears, were over.

She had just taken a seat behind her desk and was slipping on her shoes when Shameika

escorted Jason into her office. She looked up over her half-moon reading glasses, and was

about to stand, but his look caught her short. He walked in, not as that concerned, overly-

helpful man of yesterday, but as the person she suddenly realized he was: the very stern, very

conservatively dressed, very powerful mayor of an American city. A man undoubtedly

accustomed to every human being in his path jumping at his every command. She decided to

remain seated.

“I present to you, Mayor Rascone, ” Shameika said, attempting to sound formal and

professional. Liz almost laughed.

“Thank-you, Shameika, that’ll be all,” Liz said instead.

Shameika, obviously disappointed that her boss weren’t willing to let her hang around for

the show, nonetheless took her leave.

After the door closed, Jason seemed to relax somewhat. He placed his hands into the pant

pockets of his expensive suit. He remembered yesterday, and how it felt to touch her again, to

hold her. When he left her, sleeping like an angel, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. That

was why he had to come. He had tons of work to do, tons of problems on his desk, but he

had to see her again.

“Hello, Elizabeth,” he said, his blue eyes staring deep into her brown ones.

“Mayor Rascone, hi,” Liz replied.

“Oh, come now. It’s Jason. Jace. Whatever. But not
Mayor Rascone
,” he said this as if

he were marking her, causing her to smile. “You look very studious this bright day.”

Liz suddenly became self-conscious when he said that, but she didn’t remove her glasses.

“I had some files to review, but how may I help you?”

“You can start by offering me a seat.”

Liz blushed with embarrassment. “Oh, I’m sorry, of course. Have a seat. Please.”

Liz had one shoe on and one shoe off, but she wasn’t about to bend down to complete the

task, not with this man staring at her so profusely.

When he sat down, he crossed his legs and began to peruse the office itself. “This is a small

space,” he said, looking around at the paneled walls and the tiny window. He wondered how

she could breathe, let alone work, in such a cramped room. Liz, however, took offense, as if

he could somehow sense, by the size of her office alone, that she was a failure.

“It may not be up to city hall standards,” she said, “or your standards. But it suits me.”

“I didn’t mean,” Jason started, stunned that she would be offended by his innocent

comment, but she cut him off.

“I’m sure you didn’t take time out of your busy schedule to come here to talk about the size

of my office.”

Jason eyed her with a mixture of sympathy and suspicion. When he decided to drop by,

mainly because he couldn’t stay away, he never dreamed she’d still be carrying that chip on

her shoulder. He had assumed she was just having a very bad day. He apparently had

assumed wrong.

“I came by to see how you were doing,” he said truthfully.

This truth, however, surprised Liz. “What do you mean?” she asked him. The idea that

some man would be concerned enough about her to inquire as to her well being was so far in

her past, so foreign to her now, that she couldn’t remember the last time it had happened. Or

how to respond to it.

“I meant what I said,” Jason said. Then he stared at her with a look of concern in his eyes.

“How are you, Liz?”

“I’m . . . fine. I mean, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Why wouldn’t you be? Well, let’s see: you were covered in mud when last we met, thanks

to that driver of mine. You looked as if you’d lost your best friend, your dog, and everything

else of meaning in your life. You were almost mugged and dragged nearly to your death. And

all of this after only one month in town. I’m no expert, Elizabeth, but I would say yup, you

have plenty reasons to not necessarily be on top of your game.”

Liz realized she was being unfairly insensitive and attempted to smile. Her string of bad

luck, a string she had been growing too familiar with, was turning her into the kind of bitter,

defensive female she hated. “I guess you have a point,” she said airily. “But no, I’m good.

Everything’s okay. And thanks again for all your help. Really.”

“How’s that side of yours? Better?”

“Yes, much better. In fact all. Sorry about falling asleep on you.”

“No need whatsoever to apologize. I’m just glad I could help. I’m not your enemy, Liz.

You’ll realize that one of these days.”

Liz didn’t know how to respond to that. She never saw him as an enemy. Nor as a friend,

either, come to that. Yet she’d been so intimate with him the two times they had been together

that he had to be more to her than a mere acquaintance.

“Well,” he said when time passed without her responding at all, and he stood up. “I have a

meeting across town, so I’d better get going. I just thought I’d drop in and say hello.”

Liz started to stand to, but, realizing that she had one shoe on and one shoe off, opted to

stay put.

Jason stood there, his hands in his pockets, jingling his change and staring at her. Liz

wondered why he didn’t just leave, but then wondered if he was waiting for her to at least

stand in a show of common courtesy. She stood.

“Thanks for coming by,” she said, meaning it. She knew he probably had to sneak away

from his handlers and aides to come in this neighborhood again, and she appreciated the

gesture.

“No reason to thank me,” Jason said. “I needed to make sure you were okay.”

He
needed
to make sure, Liz thought. Why would he
need
to make sure?

“Well, I appreciate it anyway,” she said and then leaned over her desk and extended her

hand. Jason quickly moved up to the desk and shook her hand, his entire body suddenly

warmed by her touch. Their eyes met, his blue ones staring into her brown ones, and it was

then and there that he knew why he had come. He wasn’t sure about it when he’d first saw

her again yesterday, but looking up close into those sad, heartfelt eyes of hers, renewed his

faith. There was something about that look in her eyes, that almost doleful look, that drew him

to her.

Liz felt something too. Something strong and something sensual when he shook her hand.

It was the same odd feeling she’d felt yesterday in her tub. She dismissed it at the time as an

accumulation of bare emotions after a day filled with too many emotions, but what was her

excuse today? She was still disappointed and still having an unbelievably rough go of it

(nothing about her life yesterday had changed for the better today), but those odd feelings for

this man, still overtook her.

They continued to stare at the other as they both began to realize that they were no longer

shaking hands but, given the lack of movement, were actually holding hands. As soon as Liz

realized this blunder she eased her hand out of his grip.

“Have dinner with me tonight,” Jason said before he had a moment to even think about

saying it. The way he blurted it out seemed impulsive to Liz.

“Dinner?” she said.

“If you’d like,” he said, a little less bombastic this time. If she backed out, he would

probably be grateful. Why he even asked her when he knew he was in the middle of a

campaign launch and had little time for anything, let alone a dinner date that didn’t involve