Red Hot Rose Boxed Set (24 page)

“
And
you have a campaign going on right now.”

“May I remind you, I’m single.
 
So having a girlfriend and having her move in is not a scandal.”

My voice came out as a squeak.
 
“Girlfriend?”

“Yeah.
 
What do you say?
 
Wanna be my girlfriend?”
 
He sounded like he was trying to be casual, but I could have sworn I detected a hint of vulnerability there.
 
Could that be true?

I tried not to smile.
 
I really did.
 
But it was impossible to stay serious and angry over someone asking me to go steady.
 
Especially when it was someone like Alex.

“Well?
 
I’m waiting,” he said.
 
“Cut me loose if you’re going to cut me loose … but remember … I have the good oar, and we’re in the middle of the lake.”
 
He held it up for my inspection, a challenge in his eye.

“I’m not going to cut you loose,” I said with almost no volume to my voice.

“What was that?
 
I couldn’t hear you.”

“I
said
, I’m not going to cut you loose.”
 
No matter how stupid it was for this to continue, I didn’t have the strength to stop it from happening.
 
Besides, he was a grown man.
 
If he wanted to do something stupid like ask some girl he hardly knows to be his girlfriend, I wasn’t going to complain.
 
Jessica was right.
 
I needed more adventure in my life.

“I still didn’t hear that.
 
Could you say it one more time?”

I laughed.
 
“I know you heard me.
 
Yes
, I’ll be your girlfriend!”

He grinned hugely.
 
“Seriously?”

“Yes.
 
Seriously.”

“And you’ll move in with me?”

“Maybe.”

“No, maybe’s no good.
 
I want a real answer.
 
Yes or no.”

I took a deep breath.
 
“My answer is no, then.
 
For now.
 
I just need more time on that, okay?
 
Just a little more.”
 
I needed to wrap my head around the idea that we’d be committing on a level I’d never been to before except with my best friend, and she didn’t really count.

He put his oar down in the bottom of the boat.
 
“I’m coming over there to kiss you.
 
Maybe I’ll be able to change your mind with a little tongue action.”

I put my hand out.
 
“No!
 
This is a no touching date!
 
Keep your kiss
and
your tongue over there and away from me.”
 
I withheld the giggle that would have taken all the seriousness out of my rebuffing.

He raised an eyebrow at me but halted his forward progress.
 
“Okaaaay,” he said, taking the oar in hand again.
 
“If you say so.
 
But don’t forget, that rule cuts both ways.”

I shrugged nonchalantly, all full of my sexual power now.
 
“I can handle it.”

Alex nodded but said nothing.
 
He rowed us back to the dock, and we both got out.
 
Only one of my feet got soaked with an unexpected dip in the water, so I limped back to the blanket with one shoe on and one off.

By the time I’d gotten it dried, Alex had set out our late lunch.
 
We ate the cold gourmet sandwiches, kettle chips, and strawberries in silence, but the undercurrents of unanswered questions and sexual tension were enough to make the evening feel positively electrified.
 
I was almost glad to be done and headed back to the car.

“Did you have a good time?” Alex asked, shutting the trunk on the picnic basket and blanket.

“Yes, I did.” I walked past him and got into the car, waiting for him to join me.

He got in and started the engine, backing up in the courtyard and leaving down the driveway.
 
“I’d love to keep you out later, but we need to get up early and get ready for our first day.”

“First day?”

“Yeah.
 
Tomorrow’s our first day at work together, remember?
 
You ready to take the reins and get the team in line?”
 
He glanced over at me as he shifted gears.

I swallowed hard, finally getting my brain to understand that this was real.
 
That I was really going to be a political campaign manager tomorrow, working with a group of people who may or may not be disciples of Samuel just waiting for me to fall flat on my face.

“Yeah.
 
As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said in a not very impressive tone.

He patted my leg before putting his hand back on the wheel.
 
“Don’t worry about it.
 
You’ll be great.
 
Don’t be nervous.
 
I’m behind you one hundred percent.
 
And besides, even if you do screw up, it won’t matter.
 
You’re my girlfriend now.”
 
He grinned madly at me, which I figured was probably designed to get me to laugh, but all it did was make me sick.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his smile turning into a frown of concern.

“I’m doubly worried now.
 
I don’t want to let you down as an employee or a girlfriend.”

“Not possible,” he said, reaching over and squeezing my cold hand.

I wanted him to keep it there, but he pulled it away, probably obeying that stupid no touching rule.
 
Why did I agree to that?
 
I needed to feel him on me right now, wrapped around me completely.
 
Something about his heavy warm body and the way he focused on giving me pleasure, making sure I always enjoyed myself when I was with him - it gave me confidence in myself.
 
Is that good or bad?
 
I don’t even know which way is up anymore
.
 
Alex had turned my world upside down.

I rested my head against the window all the way home, accepting a stupid handshake as my goodbye.
 
I stepped into my apartment a very sexually frustrated girl, after watching my very sexy boyfriend whip off his shirt and walk backwards away from me, flexing a little.
 
“Maybe next time,” he shouted, playfully stroking his abs up to his chest once before turning around and jogging to his car.

“Jesus, what happened to you?” asked Jessica from the entrance to the kitchen.

I leaned back against the door.
 
“I’m not sure, but I think I agreed to be his girlfriend, possibly move in with him, start managing his campaign tomorrow, and not have sex with him for a while.”

Jessica smiled.
 
“I believe all of that but the last one.”

I smiled back.
 
“Me too.”

I walked into my first day at campaign headquarters ready for anything.
 
I’d dressed carefully for the part, making sure I would feel confident and in control no matter what happened and no matter who showed up to challenge me.

Several hours later I wondered why I’d gotten myself so worked up.
 
Everyone on the team was excited about having new blood in charge, and not one of them was shy about telling me exactly how they felt about their old manager.

“Samuel had his head so far up his butt, he could see the light of day through his nostrils,” said one of the more outspoken workers.

“Seriously, agreed her cubicle partner.
 
He spent more time making weekend plans than discussing anything that would help what we were trying to do here.”

I nodded at everything they said, taking mental notes sometimes but most of the time writing things in the notebook I’d brought.

“Want to join us for lunch?” asked a girl named Melissa.
 
She was one of the volunteers for the campaign.
 
A little on the frumpy side, she was nevertheless a tireless worker, in charge of managing the television and radio marketing projects.

“I’d love to,” I responded, looking around at the fifteen or so people in the room.
 
“What about if we have a group lunch here … order in?
 
Do you think everyone would go for something like that?”

She shrugged.
 
“You’re the boss.
 
You tell us what to do, and we’ll do it.”

I couldn’t help but smile.
 
“I’m not a slave driver, though.
 
If you’d rather have lunch elsewhere, I don’t want to make you stay.”

Melissa stepped in closer and spoke in a quieter voice.
 
“Listen, we just want Mr. Blackstone to win this election.
 
That’s it.
 
With Samuel gone, we have a chance.
 
Everyone knows that.”
 
She nodded to a group talking animatedly in the corner.
 
“See those people?”

I nodded.

“They were just about to walk off the job, protesting Samuel being the manager.
 
Now they’re staying.
 
They’re hungry to do the job.
 
If I were you, I’d take advantage of it.
 
But that’s just me.”
 
She shrugged and moved away.

I thought about it for less than a second and cleared my throat.
 
“Hello!
 
Everybody?
 
I just wanted to get a show of hands … who’s staying with me here to work through lunch?
 
My treat.”

Every hand in the room shot up, and one of the girls from the Down-With-Samuel group detached herself and walked over.
 
“Want me to order pizza or sandwiches for you?”

“Sure, thanks.
 
You guys decide which.
 
I’m good with anything.
 
I’m going to be in my office.”
 
I stepped out of the main room and into the glassed-off area that used to be Samuel’s private office.
 
Firing up the computer for the first time, I got ready to do a little bit of research into the campaign finances when a weird message came up on the screen.

I squinted, leaning forward to read it.

All data on the physical device will be erased completely and data recovery will not be possible!
 
Are you sure you want to destroy data on the device? [YN]?

“What the hell …?” I said aloud.
 
I looked up, searching for the resident computer guru.
 
I saw him standing in the corner of the room, fiddling with a computer on a rack.
 
“Jason!
 
Can you come over here for a minute?”

He spun around in surprise, but then jogged over, bumping into the door jam on his way in.
 
He rubbed his shoulder as he stood behind me.
 
“What’s up?” he asked, out of breath.

“You tell me,” I said, gesturing towards the screen.

He bent over to read it.
 
“Oh, shiiiiii … zle,” he said in horrified awe, glancing at me nervously before leaning over again and re-reading the message in the red box.
 
“Did you do this?”

“Of course not.
 
I just turned the thing on.”

He leaned over and pressed the N key.

“What did you just do?” I asked, a panic settling in my chest.

“I just told it not to erase your hard drive.”
 
He frowned at me.
 
“That’s what you wanted me to do, right?”

“Yes,” I said, sweat breaking out under my arms.
 
“I think so.
 
Why did it do this, though?
 
Why did that message come up?
 
Is that normal?”

“No, it’s most definitely not normal.
 
Can I sit there?” he asked, pointing at my seat.

I jumped up.
 
“Go for it.”
 
I sat down across the desk from him, watching as he tapped away at lightning speed on the keyboard.
 
He mumbled while he worked.
 
“Went in and … well you sneaky little bas … terdly mother fudger.”
 
He scratched his head, still staring at the screen.
 
“What in the sam hill … no.
 
No, no, no, no, noooo you didn’t …”
 
He sat back, looking a little surprised.
 
Then he jumped back on the keyboard and typed again furiously for about two minutes before he stopped on a screen that had a jumble of letters and numbers on it.

“Well?” I prompted.

Jason spun around in his seat.
 
“I’ll tell you exactly what happened in here.
 
That ass-munch Samuel, may he rot in four levels of hell, tried right before he left to erase your entire hard drive.
 
But the dipshit didn’t finish the job.
 
All he had to do was press the Y key, and it would have been completely wiped clean.
 
Unrecoverable.
 
Blotto.
 
Deadski.
 
Busted.
 
Finished.
 
Lost forever …”