“Miss Underwood.”
“Hi.” I smiled.
He didn’t return the gesture. In fact, he looked pissed. Pins pricked along my forearms and the hair on the nape of my neck stood up. He didn’t say anything. Merely kept that unnerving gaze on me until a waiter poured us wine and shuffled off.
“It’s nice to see you again,” I stated, not sounding convincing even to myself. The tremble in my voice was apparent.
All weekend I had been thinking about this man. About the heat he made me feel and the intensity of his presence. I didn’t know how tonight would go, but so far, that intense presence had shifted to suffocating.
“Is it?” he asked. “I suppose it must be, considering you didn’t get to pitch yourself to me the last time we interacted.” He said the last word like he’d tasted something foul, and embarrassment instantly flooded through me. Heat inched across my face and I could hear every pulse of my heart thumping in my temples. “I know who you are, Amy. You work for New Beginnings and are apparently quite ambitious.”
I swallowed hard. He didn’t stop his assertions.
“For the past three years, your federally funded—” he over-enunciated the words, “organization has begged m
e for special consideration and state funding on top of what it already receives.” He folded his hands on top of the table. “But I see that my rejection has only spurred the notion of more direct tactics.”
His hot, black gaze skated over my breasts, and I couldn’t get my lungs to function right.
“I…I didn’t…”
“You didn’t sneak into a private gala, violate security measures, and trespass with the intent to harass and sway political leaders, myself included?”
“No!” I shot out. “I mean…yes. I went to the party to talk to some people. To show them why this rehab center would be a good thing and deserves funding.”
“You have federal funding.”
“That’s to keep the programs we already have going. This is for building and staffing a brand-new facility.”
His jaw clenched and I bit my lip because, damn it, this wasn’t the reason I’d come tonight. I’d wanted to see him. To have a nice dinner, and maybe get a glimpse of the first man who’d made me feel real in a very big world that didn’t seem to have space for me.
“I know who snuck you in, Miss Underwood.” My eyes shot to his. “It’s a shame. Bill really liked Paige. She was a good assistant. Rising fast, I’m told.”
“Was?” I choked out.
“Once I inform Bill of Paige’s indiscretion, he’ll obviously have to let her go. She disregarded policy and went against security measures.”
“Wait, please don’t fire Paige. This is my fault, not hers.”
He sat back in his chair. “Those big, blue eyes are so wide that I could almost believe you.”
His smile was so guarded I could feel it like a physical force, weighing me down. I remembered how just a week ago, that mouth had looked very different. Felt different. Hot and gentle. Hard and consuming. The man before me was all power and politics and I couldn’t win. Didn’t even have a chance.
“Perhaps we can come to an arrangement,” he said. “You came here tonight, like last week, because you want something from me.”
What I wanted was to argue, to tell him that wasn’t the case, but the look in his eyes told me it wouldn’t do any good. He’d made up his mind about me. While I couldn’t entirely blame him, it stung that whatever emotions could have grown from that kiss were long gone.
“I want something from you too, Miss Underwood.”
“What could you possibly need from me?”
He grinned, and didn’t bother hiding his insistent gaze as it dropped from my mouth to my cleavage, then back up.
“Several things,” he said. “But I’ll start with the blue-collar vote.”
“You want me to vote for you?”
He scoffed like I was a moron, and I wanted to slap him right in his way too handsome face. The entitled asshole attitude I hated so much was gushing from him like he was a busted faucet. Reminding me again that this was not the man I’d met last week.