He handed the iced tea to Simone and sat on the far end of the couch, draping his arm along its length. “Just more fuel for the fire, baby.” He took a long swallow of the Coke. “But I know you didn’t come all the way down here to ask me if I’d read the paper.”
Simone averted her gaze, giving him her striking profile. “No, I didn’t. Actually I came to talk to Justin. But he’s not in.” Liar, liar! Why don’t you tell him the real reason?
“Oh, yeah. He’ll be gone the rest of the day. Maybe I can help you with something.”
“No. Just father-daughter talk.” She forced out a laugh.
“How’s the campaign going?”
“I’m going to headquarters when I leave here, actually. My staff is out doing polling in various areas of our district, and I’ve been trying to concentrate on strategy and my platform. Now with this class action suit you want to pull together, I’ve been trying to see how best to incorporate it into my agenda, to make it pay dividends at the ballot box, while weighing what I can do to help.”
Chad reflected on Justin’s request: Keep them as far away from it as possible.
He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Listen, whatever you can do is fine with me. But I can handle it. I don’t want any of this to cloud your agenda or jeopardize your chances for election. This is going to be a very problematic call, Simone. It could cost you big-time. I’ll understand if you can’t give it one hundred percent. I want you to win. Having you in office is a greater asset than rallying the troops to storm the barricades.”
Simone stared at him, listening to the words beneath the words. Did she hear sincerity, the ring of truth, or simply that he’d prefer to work with Samantha, build something with Samantha, and leave her alone? It was getting muddled.
“I see,” she said finally. She flicked her brows. “So, I hear you and Sam are planning to hang out on Wednesday night.” His expression remained controlled, she noticed.
“Yes. It’s been a while since I’ve been on the D.C. scene. It should be fun.” His gaze rolled questioningly over her tight expression. “Problem?”
“No,” she said a bit too quickly, then rose. “Why should there be?”
“Just asking, Simone. Are you all right? You seem tense.”
“Not at all. I just have a lot on my mind. Listen, I’ve got to get going. I have a meeting at three.” She headed for the door.
Chad trailed her by several paces. “We never did get that chance to talk.”
“No, we didn’t.” She kept her back to him, refusing to allow him to see the hurt in her eyes. “But that’s old news and a long time ago.”
Chad flinched, but held his tongue.
“Take care, Chad.”
“You make it sound as if we won’t see each other again.”
She spun to face him. “You’ve obviously decided on what you want to do, Chad. And that’s cool with me. We’re both adults.”
He frowned. “Wait a minute. We’ve always been honest with each other, Simone. Why do I feel that’s not what’s happening now? If you have something on your mind, say it.”
Her mouth stretched into a tight, meaningless smile. “Have fun Wednesday.” She turned away, then stopped, looked at him over her shoulder. “Don’t hurt her, Chad. She’s nothing like me. She’ll want more than one night.” With that she left, leaving him with the sting of her parting words and unresolved feelings they had yet to share.
Chapter 9
Blue Light was packed and there was a line of people waiting for tables, most of whom would have to wait for the second set. Samantha and Chad had arrived early and secured great seats right up front.
Chad dipped a buffalo wing in the blue cheese dressing and savored the spicy flavor. “Hmmm,” he hummed in reverie. “I can’t remember the last time I had these.”
Samantha laughed. “I can tell,” she said, eyeing the half-empty bowl.
“That bad, huh?”
“Absolutely.”
He wiped his mouth with a pale green paper napkin. “Making up for lost time. What can I tell you?”
“Hey, enjoy yourself.”
He looked at her for a moment, took in the sparkle in her eyes and in her smile, the smoothness of her skin, the way her body fit so perfectly in her dress.
“You really look great,” he said as if truly seeing her for the first time.
Her face heated, but she didn’t look away. “Thanks.” She’d worried for hours about what she would wear. Nothing too provocative and nothing too conservative. Finally, she’d settled on a simple peach silk sheath with spaghetti straps and just enough material to cover her from the swell of her breasts to above her knees. Her only accessories were her thin gold watch and a mesh shawl that matched her dress and looked as if it was sprinkled with diamond dust.
“Did you…date at all while you were away?” she asked, raising the glass of water to her lips.
“No. I didn’t. I was too involved with my work.”
“All the time? Even at night? Didn’t you get lonely?”
“Sure I got lonely. And no, I wasn’t busy all the time, but enough to keep me occupied. Besides, I didn’t want to put myself in a position where I became involved with someone and knew I wouldn’t be around long enough to take it any further.”
Samantha thought about Mia’s observation: Afraid of being a woman. She took a breath. “What about now?”
“What are you asking me, Sam?”
“Are you planning on staying in D.C. long enough to see if your involvement with anyone will work?”
“I plan to stay in D.C. I don’t have any immediate plans for involvement, but things change—every day.”
The band, Magique, launched into their first song and further conversation was curtailed—at least for the moment.
“Thanks for tonight, Sam. I had a great time. It was good being out again,” Chad said as Samantha eased her car to a stop in front of her parents’ home.
“Maybe we can do it again sometime.”
“Whenever you’re ready. I’m game.”
They were quiet for a moment, caught in that questioning moment of “what next?”
“I, uh, would invite you in, but that’s kind of ridiculous since you have a key.”
They laughed.
“Thanks, but I’ll head home. Have a busy day tomorrow. When do you think you’ll be ready for us to
