Page 16 of Not the Plan

“Yes.”

“You aren’t discreet?”

His reaction nudged her back to herself.

“If I need to be, of course. Depends on the situation, what sort of risk might be worth taking a chance.”

—

Isadora and Christina had planned on minor changes to the bill draft. Karim made several impressive suggestions. There were afew points Isadora needed to clarify with RJ, due to his appropriations experience. She called him from the landline beside the meeting table. As she angled away from Karim, she caught his glance at her chest.

It’s about time.

RJ picked up.

“Hey, it’s me,” Isadora said. “You busy?”

“No, what’s up?”

“Julian’s new director and I are working on a bill Julian and Daniel are co-sponsoring. We’ve got a couple appropriations questions.”

“Julian’s got a new director?”

“Yup.”

“And she’s there now?”

“Yes, he is.” Isadora smiled at Karim. He smiled back.

“A ‘he’? Julian couldn’t find another woman willing to work for him I guess,” RJ said. Isadora inched closer to the phone, pretending to focus on RJ.

“Now would be great,” she said. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Karim’s gaze caressing her shoulder and down to her waist. She wondered what it would be like if it was his hand instead. Another rush of heat blossomed, and she swallowed to keep her voice from fluttering. “To get you in the right frame of mind, remember that case study we did as part of our final?”

“You’re asking me about some school shit from five years ago?”

“No,” she said, laughing. “The other one. With the conflict about zoning laws.”

“Seriously, what is the matter with you right now?”

“If I remember correctly, you werereallyinto it. You spent a lot of time on it. It was like aphaseyou went through back then. We might come up on some similar issues with this bill.”

“Isa. What the hell?” RJ asked. “Theonlything I was into back then was hot guys with dark hair and light eyes. That was my southern Mediterranean pha— Are you trying to tell me something?”

“Yep.”

“Is he hot?”

“That doesn’t quite cover it. I’d say more than that.”

“For real? I’ll be there in five seconds.” He hung up.

She put the phone down. “RJ has to make a quick call and he’ll be right over,” she said to Karim.

“Okay.”

“While we’re waiting, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself? You have some good ideas. Is this your first spin in a legislature?”

“No. I was an aide in Virginia, then legal counsel for several years on committees in Pennsylvania. Christina mentioned it when she introduced us,” he said.

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