Can't Stop the Feeling (Whispering Bay Romance 6)

And that was with the truth.

“I…” A great big knot formed in her throat, making the words difficult to spit out. Her reputation stood on the shoulders of her professionalism. She’d never once let her personal life interfere with work. Until now. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to recuse myself from today’s vote.”

“Recuse yourself?” Denise said. “Whatever for?”

“I have a conflict of interest.”

“What kind of conflict?” demanded Larry. “If you’re going to recuse yourself from the most important vote this city has ever seen then you better have a damn good reason. And what the hell does that have to do with the tape?”

“Language!” Denise hissed.

It felt like she was stabbing her career in the back. But what choice did she have? She couldn’t allow them to play the video. She just couldn’t.

“I have a personal relationship with the attorney representing Nora and Vince Palermo.”

“Personal as in…you know him, or personal as in, you know know him?” Denise asked.

Jenna winced. “Um, the second one.”

“Okay,” Mimi said slowly. “These things happen.”

Pilar addressed the rest of the board. “In an effort for complete disclosure here, both the mayor and I were aware that Mr. Harrison and Ms. Pantini had known each other previously. They met in college and so when this suit came about, there was already an established relationship between the two parties. Neither of them sought each other out.”

“Let me get this straight,” Gus said. “You don’t think you can vote objectively because of the relationship between you and Ben Harrison. Is that it?”

“Yes, that’s it exactly.”

Everyone took a few seconds to absorb what they’d just heard. No one seemed overly shocked and so far no one was threatening to lynch her. Maybe everything would work out after all.

“I don’t understand,” said Denise, “what does this have to do with the security footage?”

“Yeah,” Gus said innocently. “Am I the only one who’s still confused here?”

“I still say we need to see that film,” Larry insisted.

“If it will stop you from harping about it, then fine.” Mimi pulled out her laptop. “Zeke, go ahead and send me the attachment.”

“Please don’t,” Jenna said quietly. “I really can’t let anyone look at that footage. At least not here. Not now.”

“Why not?” Denise pressed.

Seven pairs of eyes looked at her, waiting for her to answer. The truth and nothing but the truth was the only way she could stop this. “The reason I don’t want you to see the video footage isn’t because there’s any evidence of vandalism or anything else illegal—it’s because I wasn’t alone at the rec center.”

“Come to think of it, the report said there were two cars in the parking lot,” said Zeke.

“So who was there with you?” asked Denise.

“Mr. Harrison,” she admitted. “And although we didn’t do anything illegal, we did…um, have an encounter that would be horribly embarrassing if it were ever to be made public.”

“Okay,” Gus said. “So what’s that got to with—oh.”

Everyone looked at her in shock. Except Denise, who looked more confused than ever.

Jenna’s face was on fire. This was worse than the time she’d tripped in front of the entire school during the fourth-grade spelling bee. Worse than the time she’d spilled the smuggled beer all over her prom date senior year and gotten everyone in trouble with the chaperones. And even worse than having her mosquito bite outed in front of the entire town. It was the humiliation to beat out all the other humiliations of her life.

Larry threw down his pen in disgust. “Well, at least now we know who gave her the hickey.”

* * *