fairly popular? Check the latest polls, bud.”
“Polls don’t mean anything,” he said with a wave. “Up, down, whatever. The only thing that matters is election night.”
She sighed. “I’m going to ask once more—what are we doing here? It’s late, and I’m too tired for this.”
“Why do you do it? Is it the money? Councillors make a decent salary.”
The waitress reappeared with her tea and Rafael’s coffee. When she shuffled off again, they both sipped from their cups until Jessica spoke again. “It’s fun, it’s empowering and I’m good at it. And it isn’t a side gig. For a long time, stripping was my full-time job. I know I won’t be able to do it for much longer without being found out, especially not when I’m mayor.”
“You are good at it. One of the best I’ve seen.” He nodded and looked her over. His heated gaze made her breath halt. “You’re still so confident that you’re going to win? I’m also curious what the more conservative Las Vegans would think about your job when they find out?”
She said nothing, bristling at the implication, still unsure of what his plans were. “When they find out? I thought you weren’t going to tell.”
He chuckled, and the sound resonated deep within her, and she realized that she’d never heard him laugh before. Hell, she’d barely even had a conversation with him. And damn him, she was starting to like it. He took a sip of coffee and leaned closer. “Why don’t we get out of here?” he asked, his deep and dark tone told her exactly where he wanted to go with her.
She stilled. And that was it. Angry words bubbled to her mouth. She leaned across the table and pointed her finger in his face. “I’m not going to sleep with you to keep your mouth shut. You can forget that.”
He blinked quickly, and paused, as if he were trying to choose the right words. “Trust me, sweetheart, I’ve never had to resort to blackmail to get a woman into my bed. I’m not about to start now.” His eyes searched her upper body, and she felt the burn from them. “No matter how good of an idea it might be.” She remained unconvinced, and tried to stop herself from thinking about him getting her into his bed. He kept going, and she had to focus her attention to hear what he was saying. “You clearly have the wrong idea about me,” he started. “You don’t seem to like me very much.”
A shocked laugh made its way past her lips. “How fragile are you? Is that what you’re worried about? People not liking you? So what if I don’t? You’re everything I don’t like, everything that’s standing in the way of real change.”
“No, not quite.” He held up his hand, cutting her off. “I know that there are quite a few people around town who don’t like me, and I don’t care. But for some reason, I’m just concerned about you not liking me.” He paused to let it sink in. “I’m not a bad guy, Jessica, really. And even though you think you know a lot about my life and my upbringing, you really don’t. And that’s unfortunate. And seeing as how we’re spending so much time together lately, going to the same events, I think we should get to know each other.”
She rolled her eyes, used to having men propose that they get to know each other. “I’m sure you do.”
“Come on.” He smiled. “My closest friends, at least four people who aren’t blood-related, agree that I’m actually a pretty great guy.”
“And what if I already feel like I know enough about you?”
He yawned. “You know, it is pretty late. We should probably go. My flight leaves in a couple of hours.”
“Wait. We aren’t done discussing what you’re going to do with the information you plan to hold over my head.” His constant switching of gears, changing the conversation, had her experiencing whiplash.
He shrugged. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with it yet. Maybe I’ll give you the opportunity to plead your case. Spend some time with me when we get back to Vegas. I’m sure we can talk through this.”
“I don’t have time to spend with you. I have to work.”
“Stripping or campaigning?”
She seethed. “Campaigning. I don’t strip in Vegas.”
“That’s unfortunate for Vegas.” He frowned, looking her up and down. She was grateful for the table, as it stopped his gaze from lighting the rest of her on fire.
Jessica looked across the table at him. His dark brown eyes were warm, disarming and held the slightest bit of humor. Part of her knew all she needed to know about Rafael Martinez—that he was a self-interested businessman. It wasn’t common knowledge just how deeply lined his pockets were, or just how well connected he was in the local business scene, but she’d learned enough in her time working with him to know he wasn’t what Las Vegas needed right now. But she was attracted to him, there was no denying that. Just looking at him stirred the interest between her thighs. Maybe the other part of her wanted to get to know him in a physical way. Either way, she was too exhausted to put up much of a fight. She wanted to sleep, and she would let her brain and her loins fight it out tomorrow. She blew out an impatient breath. “Fine. What do you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. How about dinner tomorrow night? A drink or two. We’ll talk.”
“We can talk now.”
He looked around the restaurant. “Nah,” he told her, shaking his head. “Let’s do it when we get back to Vegas.”
“I get it. You want the hometown advantage, hey?”
He grinned again. “Maybe you know me better than I thought.”
Her energy was flagging, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to stand up to him much longer. “Okay, fine, I’ll have dinner with you.” She could spare at least an hour, to talk to him and keep her secret life exactly that. She paused. “This sounds an awful lot like blackmail, though.” He was sipping his coffee, but his eyes smiled at her from behind the mug. “So, how did you find out I was here?”
“I don’t know how that matters.” He shrugged. “I found you, either way.”
Unbelievable. His reluctance to tell her made her angry. “Are you not going to tell me anything? How dare you just waltz into my personal life and completely turn it upside down by holding this over my head, and then not even explain how you found out?” She watched him, noting how sure and confident he was, sitting in the booth. She rolled her eyes, put down her mug of tea and stood. She threw a twenty-dollar bill on the table for the tab—she didn’t want to owe him anything. “I don’t have time for your mind games, Rafael. I’m tired, and I just want to go back to my hotel.”
He stood after her. “Jessica, wait. I’m not letting you leave alone in a neighborhood like this.”
Feeling the rage rise from her core, she huffed out a breath. “You know, I feel safer in a neighborhood like this, than I do in your world,” she sneered, then turned away from him and headed for the door. “Where a man can just steamroll over another person, with no warning, no reason. You know what? I’m done with you. Tell people whatever you’d like.” She just wanted to get away from him.
“Jessica, wait,” he called again, and she turned in time to see him also
