“Drinking and womanizing,” I correct her with a wide grin. “Look around, Vivian. Do you see all the people in this bar? To them, I’m not the fucking Mayor. I’m the guy they trust to look after them. And I won’t let them down, com
e hell or high water. Carter might try and turn the Senate, the Supreme Court, the President, or the fucking Pope against me… It’s all the fucking same to me. I won’t quit on New Kingston because of my political career.”
She raises one eyebrow in surprise, taken aback by my words; holding her drink, she swirls the whisky before taking a sip.
“That’s refreshing… To hear a politician talk that,” she confesses, her eyes staring into mine. Smiling, I reach for her and take the drink out of her hands, putting it down on the counter. I can already feel the fucking atmosphere around us growing heavy. Maybe it’s the booze, but there’s something in her that’s just pulling me in.
“I’m no ordinary politician. I talk different and I… do everything different. Better.” Unblinking, she swallows in dry; she knows exactly what I’m talking about.
“Everything?”
“Everything,” I say, and with that, I go for it. I just can’t fucking help it. I lean in, her eyelids drooping as I cross the distance between us. The moment our lips touch, my mind tunes out everything else. I no longer hear the noise in the bar, or the loud sound of the game on TV. No, my brain is focused on one single thing right now: Vivian’s lips.
“No,” she says, suddenly pulling back. She looks around the bar, looking hesitant. “I can’t be seen with you like this… I came here as a senator.” Without saying one more word, she gets up from her stool and turns her back to me, walking out of the bar in a hurried step. I remain sitting there, dumbfounded as I stare at her. What the fuck was all that about? It’s not like we were fucking on top of the counter. Sure, it might not be a good thing for me to be kissing a Senator while a shit storm is looming on the horizon, but still...
I turn to the counter again, sighing as I reach for my beer. But then I see her unfinished drink; there’s a lipstick mark on her glass, and I close my eyes for a full second, reliving our kiss as I feel my cock hardening. I never became so entranced with a woman after just one kiss… Fuck, I don’t care if it’s the booze pulling my strings, but I can’t let her go like this.
Jumping up to my feet, I grab my helmet from the counter and head out the door into the cold air of the night. I look around, my heart tightening inside my chest as I see no sign from her. But God seems to be on my side tonight. I see a taxi at the end of the street turning around the corner, and my eyes catch a glimpse of Vivian in the backseat.
I run toward my motorcycle, get on it, and rev the engine up. I put my helmet on, turn my hand over the accelerator, and in a matter of seconds, I’m racing down the street, the engine roaring out loud as I push it to the limits.
Swerving in and out of traffic, I quickly catch up with the taxi, following it until it stops in front of the Courtyard, a hotel just outside of New Kingston’s downtown. I park my bike as she gets out of the taxi, but she doesn’t even acknowledge me as I approach her.
“Stay away from me,” she tells me harshly, looking back over her shoulder. I stop dead in my tracks, wondering if I read her wrong. But no… The way we kissed, the way she’s running away… She wants this as much as I do.
I follow after her, her heels clicking in the distance as she walks past the hotel’s reception. Not wanting to run after her like some fucking psycho, I stop and turn toward the young receptionist, gifting her with a smile. She looks at me with wide eyes, surprised to see the mayor standing in front of her.
“The woman who just walked in… What’s her room number?” I ask her, hoping that she won’t give me some bullshit about the guest’s privacy and whatnot.
“Uh… It’s… Uh, room 17,” she manages to mutter, typing something on her computer. The moment I know where to go, I turn on my heels and start walking down the hallway. The receptionist calls after me, but I don’t bother looking back. Vivian Hawthorne’s perfect body has taken over my mind, and there’s no stopping me now.
My eyes scan every door as I walk past them, and I finally find the one with a golden 17 engraved on it. Balling my right hand into a fist, I rap my knuckles against the door, my heart beating like a motherfucker. What the fuck am I doing here? Minutes ago I was just drinking a beer and watching the game, and now here I am, my cock hard inside of my pants as I wait for the hottest woman I have ever seen to invite me inside her room.
The rational part of me is trying to convince me to turn around and leave. This isn’t a good idea, not at all. If she has already met with Carter and now she’s seen checking in with me at a hotel… Well, if the press finds out about it, we’re all going to have a field day. But before I can come to my senses and leave, the door swings open.
71
Vivian
I know I shouldn’t open the door; I shouldn’t let trouble in ... But my body is moving by itself, and the moment the door swings open and my eyes find Liam’s, all doubts and fears are gone.
“Invite me in, or send me away,” he says, flames dancing in his eyes. “This is it; last chance.” By now, there’s only one possible answer: I reach for his shirt, and hooking my fingers on his collar, pull him in. He comes easily, slamming the door shut after him; the sound of it makes my heart race even faster, and I just know there’s no stopping now. Not that I want it to stop, whatever it is we have started.
“Yes,” I merely say, unconsciously licking my lips. Wordlessly, he rests his hands on my hips and leans in, my eyelids drooping as he presses his mouth against mine. Lips on lips, I feel sparks of pleasure jumping from his body into mine, and before I even realize it, he has me pinned against the wall, his body pressed against mine.
His hands go around my waist and down to my ass, his long fingers cupping my ass over the tight fabric of my dress. Pulling me into him, I let him lift me up and lace my legs around his lower back. He bites on my lower lip, his teeth pulling on it gently, and I feel a soft moan climbing up my throat.
I throw my head back, running my hands through his curls as his lips go down to my neck, his pearly white teeth nibbling at my skin. Holding me close, he takes one step back and ambles deeper inside the room, placing me down on the soft mattress. I open my eyes and look into his, uncontrollable desire flickering there.
Judging by the hardness in the corner of his eyes I half-expect him to simply rip the dress off of me, but that’s not what he does: standing up tall, he simply looks down at my eager body, his eyes wandering over my curves as if he were reading a map. I stare back, the way his shirt delineates the contour of his muscles pulling me deeper into a trance of desire.
“I had to come,” he says, towering over me as if he weren’t a man but a God. “From the moment I saw you, I knew I had to have you. And now here you are.”
“Here I am,” I repeat after him, the way the words roll off of my lips making my heart feel tight against my chest. I came to New Kingston on work, and he just threw everything into disarray… What we’re doing is as wrong as wrong could ever be, and I couldn’t be any happier. I’m not one to shrug off my responsibilities, but something in him choked the rational part of me, forcing the primal desires I hold in chains to come up to the surface.
He leans into me as if he were to kiss me, but he stops before his lips touch mine. His fingers slide up the nape of my neck and he tangles them in my hair, yanking and forcing me to throw my head back, his eyes locked on mine.
“How bad do you want it, Vivian? How bad do you want to feel my cock inside of you?” he murmurs, my heart beating so fast I’m afraid it might burst.