Page 25 of The Thorne at My Side
"What is, that I can engage in a professional discussion while thinking about slipping those pants off your hips and confirming that our kiss did the same things to you as it did to me?"
I stare at him. It was hard enough to concentrate around him but now it seems like he’s going to keep throwing these kisses in my face. And while I’m infuriated by his comment the lust train is also leaving the station and if he did what he promised he’d find a pair of ruined panties. But I can’t let him win that easily. "I knew when we met that you're all talk but I never expected you to be a frat-boy idiot too."
"Well, considering I was the president of my business fraternity, I'm the most frat-boy idiot of them all."
He laughs at himself and I just stare back at him wide eyed. Even when I’m mustering all my professionalism I’m unable to get through a conversation with him.
He drives me insane with frustration.
With annoyance.
With desire.
The man pushesallof my buttons.
"Maggie?"
"What?" I ask as I blink up from where my eyes were fixed on his hands. The image of them all over me disappearing in a cloud of smoke. He smirks because he caught me looking.
"What are your plans tonight?" He asks doing a complete 180 from what we were just discussing.
"I've got a date." I lie.
In fact, my plans are to head home, drink a gallon of ginger turmeric tea to calm my nervous system, and take a bath with my favorite vibrator to give those nerves an outlet.
"That's fun, with who?" Austin asks as he leans back in his chair.
"You don't know him," I say as I lift my chin to muster as much truth to this lie as I can.
Those mesmerizing, gray-brown eyes, that I've pictured with alarming frequency since we met, twinkle with amusement. He's looking at me like I'm the prey he's toying with before going in for the kill.
"Try me, I know everybody in this town," he adds a wink at the end to really grind my gears.
"Ehrlich Gramblespock," I say slowly, basically chewing each syllable, before smiling because, holy crap, that's a gem of a name to pull out of nowhere.
"Uptight Ehrlich?" Austin repeats like we just discovered that his first cousin was my younger sister's college roommate.
I can't help myself. I laugh.
"Yes, Uptight Eurlich, I'm looking forward to it," I say as I bring the straw of my iced coffee to my lips. I take a sip to mask my smile. I like playing with him.
"Austin?"
"Mhmm?" he says while staring at my lips. I know what he’s thinking and I like it. Is it okay that I like it?I should be focusedcompletely on the campaign. And the work ahead of me in the next three weeks. The debate, the final campaign stops, Election Night itself.
So much of my job happens in my own head. I figure out what words to string together. I research; I revise. I debate internally if the speech is ready before handing it in.
I don’t know if I can trust Austin but he’s here and the question bouncing around in my head spills out. "Is this a good idea for the senator?"
He looks at me and tilts his head to the side slightly, like he's considering my question. It’s endearing, like a puppy.
"You and I might disagree but I think it is. It'll get results, that's for damn sure."
"And you think results are everything?"
"I think there are a lot of people in this town who talk big and deliver small."
Somehow that sounds like an insult.
