Caught Between a Lie and True Love (Caught Between series Book 1) (16 page)

Another more shocked gasp came from the small crowd.

“We can’t ignore what’s coming. We have to embrace the future and the changes.” He hesitated, taking a minute to make eye contact with each one of them. “And if you vote me in as your new Mayor, I’ll ensure that the island’s beauty and integrity are what’s most important to any business we allow in.”

A murmur went up from the crowd, and then they started clapping.

The Judge relaxed his hold on Brody’s shoulder.

Delores let out the breath she’d been holding.

Several of the island’s residents moved closer to shake his hand before they moved off down the street. He was happy with his choice because he knew it was the right one. He even had a brief moment to wonder if it would make a difference to Hope’s future, and if Matilda would think more of him for his stand.

On both accounts, he hoped so.

Delores gave him a sideways hug. “They loved you. Congratulations.”

The Judge pounded him on the back again. “Good job, son. Couldn’t have said it better mysel—”

The sound of clapping from behind interrupted the Judge.

Brody turned around and came face-to-face with Jeb, Matilda, Starr, and Paige.

As Jeb grabbed his hand and shook it, Matilda grabbed Delores by the elbow, dragging her off a few feet to have a whispered conversation.

There was a challenging glint in the older man’s eyes. “I see I underestimated you. I’ll need to step up my game.”

The Judge shouldered his way between them. “Don’t talk to my candidate.”

Jeb shrugged easily. “Last I checked, it’s a free country.”

It was as though the two men were in a standoff. Brody's instincts told him it had nothing to do with the Mayor’s race, and everything to do with the woman who had made it her mission in life to drive him nuts.

Was it possible Matilda had a boyfriend war going on?

Starr sidled up beside him. “Great speech, Brody.”

“Thanks kid. How’s it going?”

“Boring.” She grinned up at him. “Can Hope show me around more of the island today?”

He liked this kid. As he spotted Paige, he acknowledged that he liked her mother a lot, too. “Sure. Tell her I said it was okay.”

“Thanks. Will you tell my mom where I’m going?”

“You bet.” As she dashed off, he headed toward Paige and stopped at her side so he could watch the dynamics of the group around them. “Your kid is off exploring the island with my kid. I hope I didn’t overstep my boundaries by telling her it was okay.”

“It’s nice to see the girls hanging out together.” She slanted a look at him. “I liked your speech.”

“Surprised the heck out of me, too.” He smiled down into her eyes and tuned out everyone but the woman standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him. “And it was one hundred percent from the heart. Take that, Matilda Hannibal, and shove it where the sun won’t shine.”

She smiled back at him. “I hear they’re taking a poll. This should put you into the forefront running.”

“Let’s hope so.” He bumped her shoulder with his, lowered his voice, and kept his gaze on everyone so that they wouldn’t be interrupted. “Tell Starr she can sneak over and keep Hope company tonight. I’ll pretend not to hear them.”

Paige laughed, and the husky sound of it did funny things to his insides. “That’s the way to teach them how to be obedient.”

“It’s called manipulating them into being good when they really think they’re being bad.” He lowered his voice further. “I miss you. I wish it didn’t have to be like this, you on one side of the campaign, me on the other.”

Her lush gaze settled on him and there was something there he wanted to explore further. “Maybe when this campaign is over and you’re sitting in the Mayor’s chair—”

“Buttercup?” Jeb stood a few feet away, his even gaze fixed on his daughter as though Brody wasn’t standing right next to her. “Ready to go and bend a few more ears?”

As Brody watched Paige wander off, Delores sidled up to him. “What was that all about?”

His gaze landed on Hope’s grandma. “Maybe I should ask you the same thing. What were you and Matilda talking about so secretively? Have you turned into a traitor, Del?”

And when he turned his head toward Delores, she was stomping off in the opposite direction.

Brody’s gaze returned to Paige.

After today’s little speech, he might start to believe the Mayor’s chair was a no lose situation.

But what would he have to give up to make it all worthwhile?

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

By nine o’clock that night, Gram was nodding off in front of the TV, and Starr was beating her grandpa at another round of chess. Lisa had vanished up to her room to do whatever she did when she was alone.

Paige stopped in the doorway of the living room and yawned. “I’m heading up to bed now.”

“Night, Mom.”

“Don’t let the bed bugs bite, Buttercup.”

Starr screwed up her face. “Uggg, Grandpa, that’s gross.”

From the chair, Gram stirred long enough to say, “Not as gross as you.”

Paige left them all behind, knowing full well that Starr could hold her own among this family. As she entered her room, she left the light off and peered out the window at Brody’s house.

What was he up to tonight? She was worried about him.

After supper, Starr had slipped out to visit with Hope, then returned a few minutes later, only saying that the other girl wasn’t home and Brody didn’t have a clue where she’d gone.

Maybe they should have made plans to get together tonight, find something to do that didn’t involve…well, didn’t involve the two of them doing the naughty. She could have taken his mind off his problems with his daughter.

Just then, his bedroom door swung open, the light came on, and Brody strode into the room and slammed the door shut.

He stood there, glaring at the wall to his left, his shoulders tense and square, his hands clutched into fists, looking like the ultimate frustrated and annoyed male species.

And then music blared from elsewhere in the house and Paige grimaced.

Hope
.

They’d probably had another argument. Would Brody ever learn that there were times to pick his battles and times to walk away?

On impulse, she climbed out the window, slid down the roof tiles on her butt and shimmied down the Mahogany tree. Glancing around to make sure no one else was around, she sprinted across the driveway, slipped through the gate separating the two properties, and shimmied up the tree next to the rooftop.

By the time she reached the bedroom window, Brody was still in the same position, frozen and glaring at the wall.

She tapped on the window, but the music was so loud, he obviously couldn’t hear her.

Paige tried the window to see if it was unlocked.

Jackpot. It slid up and she climbed inside.

She closed it behind her—better to keep the majority of the racket inside—and when she turned around to face him, he was staring at her.

Well, glaring was more like it.

His mouth moved. She couldn’t hear him, but it looked like he said,
What are you doing here
?

As the music thumped in her head, she moved toward him, smiling at the frustrated look on his face.

When she was close enough that he might hear her, she yelled, “What did you do to make her mad?”

He shook his head, his upper lip curling into a snarl as the volume turned up another notch. And then with his large hands, he cupped his head, and showed her that his head was exploding.

The song screamed to an end, and Brody's head swiveled so he could glare at the wall again. Another more familiar song took its place, a tune that rocked in a much more pleasant manner.

Paige grabbed the front of Brody's t-shirt to get his attention and yelled, “Let’s dance.”

She let go of his t-shirt and began to move to the music. At first, he just stood there and glared, and finally in desperation, she resorted to silly dance moves like the Chicken Dance, the Monkey, the Hully Gully, and finally the Twist with hopes of getting a smile out of him.

Only when she did a slinky shimmer against his body did his anger and frustration begin to fade.

Heat pooled in his gaze. He grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her back a couple of steps so there was space between them.

As they stared at each other, frozen by whatever was between them, the music crashed to a stop, and silence contracted the air around them.

A moment later, a door crashed open, and footsteps pounded across the hallway, down the staircase, and out the front door.

Brody made a move and Paige grabbed him by the biceps. “Leave her be.”

He gritted his teeth. “She’s supposed to be grounded.”

Releasing him, she raised her arms above her head, let her gaze sweep down his body, and swayed her hips to the rhythm of the music in her head. “You need to learn to pick your battles.”

Jaw working, he eyed her, and she turned her back on him and shimmied around him in a circle. When she finally faced him again, all the fury was gone from his gaze, and there was only heat there.

“What are you doing?”

She shimmied again and gave him her most winsome smile. “Distracting you. Cheering you up. Is it working?”

The frown between his brows deepened along with the tone of his voice. “Be careful, little girl.”

Her eyes opened wide.
Little girl
? Is that how he thought of her? Or was it his way of keeping his distance?

Well, she’d show him once and for all that she wasn’t a little girl any longer.

She grabbed him by the t-shirt, and gave a yank so they stood belly to belly, thigh to thigh. “I like to live dangerously. Don’t you?”

Unafraid of the ferocious expression on his face, not breaking eye contact, she shimmered down his body again, then back up. When she stopped, she was pressed flush against him, and his hands were on her butt holding her firmly there.

She could feel his hard body against hers, leashed power in all that masculine glory, and her body reacted in a rush of heat and dampness.

“I’m not marriage material.”

“Neither am I,” she whispered against his mouth.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Brody had never reacted to anyone’s kiss like he did Paige’s. Everything in his body stood up at attention.

It scared the hell right out of him.

As she grabbed a fistful of his hair, she deepened the kiss, and every thought but one evaporated.

He wanted her like he’d never wanted anyone before.

She teased him, and fascinated him, and made him want more from a relationship than a one night stand.

He shifted his hands from her awesome butt to the indentation of her waist, and gently eased back. Eyeing her kiss-swollen lips, he asked, “What are you doing, little girl?”

She growled deep in her throat. “Proving to you I’m not a little girl anymore, so stop calling me one.”

“Fact duly noted.” He backed up a step and she stayed with him without hesitation. He set his hands on her shoulders to keep her put while he backed up another step. “If we do this, we can’t go back.”

She scowled up at him and stuck her hands on her hips. “Back to what? You thinking I’m a little girl. Well, hurrah for that.”

“You’re leaving in less than a week. I’m not.”

“So?”

“I have a reputation—”

Setting one hand against his chest, she smiled, all sexy kittenish evil, and shoved him backward. “Stop trying to protect me. I’m a big girl. I have been for a long time now.”

The back of his hips hit the dresser and his escape route was closed off. Relaxing back against it, he let his gaze drift down her body. “Yeah, there’s no doubt in my mind that you’re all grown up.”

She leaned into him, letting her body relax fully against his so they were all but joined hip to hip, thigh to thigh. Then she grabbed his wrist and set his hand on her breast.

Through the soft material of her t-shirt, he could feel the hard nub of her nipple, the roundness as it fit perfectly into the palm of his hand.

Brody went harder than he’d ever gone before.

Maybe it had something to do with being abstinent for the last four months.

More than likely, it was all due to his inability to ignore one very sexy and very irresistible woman. “Fine, but don’t say that I didn’t warn you away.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, just shut up and kiss me again.” Then she grabbed him by the back of the head and applied pressure.

This time Brody dove right in.

He’d deal with the fallout tomorrow.

Same way that he’d deal with Hope.

No more running and hiding.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Delores smiled.

Everything was going according to plan. Brody was in the lead and he was sooooo very thankful for her support and assistance. He was hers and the Mayor’s job was theirs.

And Paige and her dad were out of the picture.

To boot, the senior’s poll between her and Paige was definitely in Delores’s favor.

As she headed off to bed for the night, she peeked out the dining room window and saw a shadowy figure slip out of Olivia’s house to the house next door.

Delores yanked the drapes shut, and leaned back against the nearest wall.

No, it couldn’t be. Brody had promised to stay away from Paige and her family. He’d promised to do it for Hope…and for her.

He would never ever cheat on her.

And that’s when she realized that all the blame for Brody’s wandering eye was on Paige’s shoulders.

With a mad dash, she raced to her bedroom, and yanked on black tights, a black sweatshirt, and a black hoodie. She tucked her blonde hair inside so it wouldn’t give her away under the moonlight, then slipped on black sneakers. In the drawer by the front entrance, she found black makeup leftover from the previous Halloween, and smeared it on her face.

Then she ran outside, raced across the alley under the cover of darkness, and slipped into Brody's back yard.

Heading around to the side of the house, Delores grabbed on to the trellis. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do if she caught them in there, but surely she’d come up with some bright idea to make them stop. Like a house fire. Brody could come live with her, and Hope could go live with that old bat Matilda.