Control yourself, Viv! I tell myself as I get my eyes back up to his face.
“You’re causing quite the stir in Washington,” I tell him, looking at him. “It brought me down here to see what we could do to resolve this.”
“Well, I’m sorry Senator, but I don’t usually take it well when a small town Mayor tells me to go fuck myself because his initiatives are going against laws that apply to the entire state,” Carter says, his steely eyes drilling into me.
“Those factories don’t belong in the state anyways,” another voice interrupts me and I turn around.
A slim, elegant looking Chinese woman is standing there with a martini in her hand. She’s got a smirk that I immediately dislike and I can tell she’s not a big fan of mine either. And it’s clear to me that she sees herself as the person whose going to be fucking Carter Andrews. “This state is past manufacturing jobs, if you ask me.”
“I wouldn’t know who you are to ask you that, Miss…” I say with a smile and as much polite condescension as I can afford.
She extends a hand. “I’m sorry, where are my manners? I’m Tina Ling, special representative from the People’s Republic of China on behalf of China First Bank,” she says to me. “I also head the Communist Party in Shanghai and planned this fundraiser.”
“So, you’re the equivalent of the Mayor of Shanghai?” I ask, filing away the fact that China First Bank is holding a fundraiser for American political leaders for later.
“I am,” Tina Ling says, with a puff of pride.
“Well, Mayor,” I say, smiling sweetly. “This is a conversation for just Senators and Governors. Would you mind giving us a moment, please?”
I know, hun. I know. I’m being a bitch.
But just looking at her tits hanging out from that black dress, with those slits showing her thigh. How elegant she is. How silky. And how entitled. It just has me feeling very bloated and angry. Like who the hell is she to come in here, have her fancy fundraiser, and walk away with this man?
Tina must realize this because she smiles at me in a superior fashion. “I’ll be at the bar, waiting, Carter,” she says, and turns to walk away.
“That could have gone better,” Carter says, a slight smile on his severe face as he looks at me.
“Be the bigger person and all, you mean?” I ask, taking his arm in mine and moving him toward a corner of the room.
Oh, my. Taking his arm? In mine? Drawing closer?
It’s a good thing at least that I wore panties tonight. Because I’d be dripping down my legs right now if I didn’t.
“Being gracious is something that’s usually smiled upon,” Carter says.
“So when a Mayor makes some news by saying the Governor can go fuck himself, maybe the best thing to do is ignore it and not make a mountain out of a mole hill, hm?” I ask him with a smile.
Carter’s face stiffens. “That’s different."
“How?” I ask, smiling. I know I’m not listening to my own advice I gave myself in the car. I was supposed to come in here and steamroll over him. But I’m having fun instead.
“Liam Jeffries is an undisciplined, arrogant, sonofabitch, and he’s never cared about authority or rules in his entire goddamn life,” Carter says matter-of-factly. “And I can’t sacrifice the future of this state just so he can be seen as the hero by his drinking buddies up in New Kingston.”
“You don’t mess with jobs,” I tell Carter.
“Jobs won’t be worth a damn when everyone has asthma and their drinking water is poisoned,” Carter shoots back at me.
“But you need to consider that maybe you just let him burn out then,” I reply back. “You’ll still be here, but let him
vent. And move on. Kill the factories with red tape.”
Carter pauses for a moment. “Have you ever met Liam Jeffries?” he asks me.
I shake my head. I’ve never even bothered. He’s a mayor of a small town that’s a suburb of New York City. The population of New Kingston is around 45,000. Fifty minutes from a city of 8 million. My office didn’t even have a file for him.
“I’ve never met him nor dealt with him,” I tell Carter.
“Well, then,” Carter says pointing behind me toward the wall. “This is who you’re dealing with.”