He didn’t like leaving her alone for too long. She didn’t like being cooped up with nothing to do.
Gunderson’s assistants stood up at their desks. For once, the guy with the bowtie didn’t look out of place, but he’d chosen a red tie for the night. They were all wearing their monkey suits. Brody looked at Michelle. No…Maggie. She looked very nice, too, in a full-length gown and her hair down.
‘Keep the conversation on the Capitol restoration,’ Brody instructed. It was the reason for the night’s event. ‘Keep things light and upbeat. Don’t let the discussion go too far when it comes to the break-in or the senator’s personal relationship.’
They were saving that for the eleven o’clock news.
He received nods all around. Together, they headed out. Instead of taking the long trek by foot, they rode the underground trolley to the Capitol and made their way down to the Visitor Center. Only completed in 2008, it really was an architectural achievement. Not wanting to spoil the layout of the Capitol complex, the designers had found a way to build the Center underground. Skylights let in natural light during the day when the public swarmed the place for tours. Tonight, the event was by invitation only.
As they entered, Brody broke off from the group. One by one, he looked over the other guests. Kevin Murphy, the senator’s challenger, hadn’t been on the guest list that he’d seen, but late additions weren’t unheard of. The press was relegated to outside the event, but he didn’t want anyone throwing off the sequence they had planned for tonight.
He leaned against a massive marble support column and settled in. He was in full-on fixer mode tonight, and his mood followed suit. He wasn’t here to mess around. The event was a dime a dozen, and Gunderson should be able to play the heartbroken fool without much effort. For Brody, the most important task of the evening had already been accomplished.
Genieve was no longer the senator’s escort.
Which she never should have been in the first place.
The familiar rage bubbled up inside him, and he gritted his teeth. She was smart, outgoing and friendly. How had she fallen into such a profession? And why? She could be anything she wanted to be. He knew she wasn’t afraid to try new things or to work hard. Look at how she’d taken over his house. She’d been diving into projects all week. How long had she been doing this? And why, damn it?
He watched the senator move about the crowd. The man was easy to pick out with his silver hair and boisterous laugh. His assistants were close by. Still, Brody couldn’t shake the metallic taste in his mouth.
His Jenny could do so much better.
Suddenly, the senator raised his head. Brody straightened from the column. He knew that look.
He quickly swept the crowd, looking for the flash of red hair. Instead, he found a blonde in four-inch heels who was spinning heads around like a lighthouse beacon. Nina Lockwood had arrived. She meandered through the crowd, talking to people and networking. She was a petite woman and sexy as hell, but there was an air of power about her.
Frankly, she owned the room. As owner of Luxxor Limited, she probably had more dirt on the political players here than he did. Brody’s knuckles bumped against the marble column, and he realised he’d curled his hands into fists. The woman was the one who’d set Genieve up with the senator.
And Gunderson was drawn right back to the flame.
Brody swore as he started moving. What did Samuel think he was doing? Going to apologise? Ask for forgiveness? Beg for a second chance? Did he want to keep his senatorial seat or not? The female assistant reached to catch Gunderson’s arm, but he pulled away and kept going.
‘Shit,’ Brody muttered. He adjusted course and put himself directly between Samuel and the blonde powerbroker. Samuel was so intent on her, he didn’t see him.
‘Going somewhere?’ Brody asked.
Gunderson stopped short just as they were about to collide. ‘I thought I’d pay my respects. I’m sure I’m not on Nina’s good list.’
‘If you go over there, you won’t be on mine either. We’ve been doing our best to disavow any connection between you and Luxxor. Do you want to throw all that work into the trash?’
The senator ran his finger along his collar and glanced around self-consciously. ‘I was simply going to ask her if she received the flowers.’
Again with the flowers? Brody’s fists clenched all over again. Did the man not understand how connections between people were traced? They were going to have to have a refresher course on the basics, but first, they needed to get through the night. He pointed at a table of appetisers in the opposite direction. ‘The crackers with salami look tasty.’
A spark of stubbornness lit Gunderson’s eyes, but he knew he was pushing his luck. He turned and headed for the food table. With a jerk of his head, Brody sent his assistants after him. Only once he was sure disaster had been averted did he turn on Nina himself. She’d wandered over to the side of the room to look at the artwork.
He strode across the expansive room, blending in with all the other men in their black and white tuxedos. What was she even doing here tonight? The scandal had been rocking her world, too. Luxxor lived behind the scenes in the very public life of DC. Did she want to blow the doors wide open?
Her brown eyes flared when she spotted him, but then her gaze turned contemplative. She gave him a once-over as he approached and moved silently behind a pillar to await him. She wasn’t running, and Brody prepped himself for battle. He didn’t know what he wanted to say to her, but none of it was good.
She swept up two fresh glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and offered him one as he arrived. He glowered at her, but took the fragile glass. He downed half of the bubbly with one gulp. She let an eyebrow lift, and his shoulders dropped. She wasn’t his enemy here. If anything, they needed to work together to shut this whole fiasco down.
‘He’s not the brightest bulb in the pack,’ she murmured as she took a sip of champagne herself.
‘Dim,’ Brody agreed. He rolled his head on his shoulders and finally looked at her. She was beautiful, but he could see through the pretty exterior. The woman was tough and manipulative. She had to be, but from Genieve’s point of view her boss also had her people’s backs. Despite the line of work, he had to appreciate that.
He raked a hand through his hair. ‘He wanted to know if you received the flowers.’
‘He shouldn’t have sent them.’
‘I told him that.’
She circled her champagne flute and watched the gold liquid swirl. ‘How is Genieve?’
‘Bored.’ It was a simple summation for such a complicated creature. By turns, she was bored, nervous, hyperactive, sexy, helpful, insightful, funny and frustrating. So damn sexually frustrating. ‘She doesn’t do bored well.’
Nina held back a smile. ‘No, she doesn’t.’
‘She’s broken up with the senator,’ he said, matter-of-factly.
‘I’m aware. I’ve taken care of the paperwork.’
‘No, I mean that’s the story we’re going with.’ He drank more champagne. It was actually convenient to have her here. It was time to get down to business, and she was the one dealing with the detective on the case. ‘Genieve was a victim of the political limelight. She was mortified by the break-in and doesn’t want to deal with Gunderson’s world.’
He saw the gears in Nina’s head turning. It was a good plan, he knew. He’d mulled it over from every angle.
‘When’s it going to break?’ she asked.
‘Whenever the press notices she’s not accompanying him any more.’ He shrugged and looked around the room. ‘It could be tonight, maybe tomorrow…We’ll just let it play out.’
Brody was itching to be moving again. The press was relegated outside and probably few people here even knew his name. He was a low-key but influential background player. He pulled strings, but he didn’t want anyone connecting him with Luxxor, either. The less time he and Nina spent together in public, the better.
Nina watched
the senator walk over to shake the hand of one of the Capitol architects. She toyed with her earring. ‘I expect full payment on the contract,’ she warned.
‘You’ll get it,’ he promised.
She turned back to face him. ‘When will Genieve be returning to work?’
Brody sucked in his air so hard, it was like a punch to the chest. What the hell? She wanted to put her back into service? He shook his head fervently. ‘No. She can’t be seen with other men yet.’
‘She’s one of my best girls.’
His jaw set, and the muscle at his temple pulsed so hard, he could feel the tapping on his brain. Wow. And he thought he fought dirty.
Nina was calm as she sipped her champagne. ‘I have some administrative busywork I could send over, but I can’t keep paying her indefinitely.’
Brody’s fingers clamped around the stem of the flute. She was not sending Genieve back out on the front lines. He’d just gotten her out!
Nina signalled to a waiter and smiled appreciatively when he took the glass from Brody’s hand. Good thing, because it was about to shatter.
‘You know, this scandal affected more than the senator,’ she said, her voice smooth. ‘It impacted my company and Genieve’s livelihood. I’m grateful for all you’ve done to keep this under the radar, but Luxxor can’t stop doing business.’ She lowered her tone. ‘Genieve is an escort. She needs to be social.’
All the reasonableness and civility was scraping against Brody’s last nerve. She was talking about setting Genieve up with other men. It simply wasn’t going to happen. Not while this was going on…not while the senator was up for re-election…not while they were just getting to know one another. Just…not.
‘So assign her to me.’
Nina’s earrings jingled, she lifted her head so fast. ‘Excuse me?’
Brody was feeling a bit of whiplash himself. He hadn’t thought it through. His brain had simply gone into crisis-management mode. The answer had been instinctive, but, as he thought it through, it solved all their problems at once. ‘Put her on an exclusive contract with me.’
Nina’s eyes widened. ‘With you? Have you talked to her about this?’
‘No.’ And there was the glitch he hadn’t considered. How was he supposed to tell her? He dealt with impossible situations all the time, but his brain stalled when he tried to come up with the right approach. His fingers began tapping against his thigh. ‘Just draw up the paperwork.’
‘She has to agree to it.’
‘She will.’
Nina stopped abruptly, and Brody shifted under her steely look. That hadn’t come out right.
‘Help me talk to her. She doesn’t have to—’ He stopped and rubbed the back of his neck. ‘I have no stipulations other than she stay with me and lie low. I’ll pay your full fee, and that will fix the problem for everybody.’
That was all he was trying to do here. All that he’d admit to, at least.
Nina’s Amazon-warrior expression faded, to be replaced by a questioning look. ‘I’d be amenable to that if she is.’
He nodded tersely. ‘I’ll get back to you.’
‘You do that.’
Brody turned on his heel and left before he could get into any more trouble. He was a planner, a master strategist. He’d simply made a compromise, so why did he feel he’d just been bested?
And why was he sweating bullets at the thought of telling the redheaded dynamo at home?
Shit. His heart was pounding in his chest. He was distracted. It was time to make their move before any more mistakes could be made. He met Gunderson and his staff by the appetiser table. ‘Let’s take the long way back to the office and see who wants to talk to you, Senator.’
Somehow, facing a gauntlet of reporters seemed safer.
* * *
Genieve finally found a project she couldn’t conquer.
‘Ugh,’ she groaned as she looked down at the mess she’d made. The directions had sounded so easy. Just add the ingredients and let the machine do the rest. Talk about false advertising. Then again, she’d tried to get fancy with the cinnamon and blueberries.
She looked at the stains down her front. Darn it, she liked this dress.
She went to the laundry room to rummage through the cupboards for pre-treater. She almost thought she was out of luck, but then she found the spray bottle. ‘Oh, good.’
Maybe she could save it.
She crossed her arms and peeled the sundress over her head. She laid it out flat on the washing machine and sprayed the spots. She was just running water in the utility sink when she heard something. Turning off the faucet, she recognised the garage door opener.
‘What?’ She whirled around so quickly, her hair lifted from her shoulders. What was Brody doing home already? She hadn’t expected him for another hour or two at least. Those high-end fundraisers usually took longer than this.
She turned back to the sink and again to the door. She’d taken a step towards the kitchen when she stopped.
Why was she running?
She looked down at herself. She was wearing her good lingerie – and she’d packed it for a reason. Her pulse sped up and her toes curled against the linoleum floor. She did love to tweak him. A slow smile spread on her lips. Maybe she could salvage this project after all.
She turned the water back on and let the sink fill. Time slowed as she waited…and waited…She’d just begun to worry that it might not be Brody when the door to the garage opened.
Even knowing he was coming, she jumped in surprise. She’d meant to catch him off-guard, but she was the one left speechless when he walked in, all tall, dark and dangerous. Her breath whistled out between her lips. He was wearing a tux.
He only made it two steps inside the door before he jerked to a stop. Their stares locked, and the tiny room shrank to about half its size. Damn, the joke was on her. She liked to unsettle him, but she was the one whose world was suddenly rocking. ‘Wow,’ she said quietly. ‘You look good.’
And by good, she meant beddable.
He caught the door jamb as if to prop himself up. ‘This is what you wear to make bread?’ he said gruffly.
She shifted and pressed her hand against her belly. ‘The breadmaker won.’
‘I don’t think so.’ He stepped forward, and her pulse jumped. Reaching past her, he turned off the water before the sink could overflow. His gaze slid down over her curves, and she felt every inch of skin she’d left bare.
‘Purple again,’ he muttered.
She’d just realised it was the same colour as his eyes. ‘You like?’ she whispered.
The heat of his gaze nearly blistered her. ‘You’re beautiful, Genieve.’
Her heart collided with her lungs, forming a big knot right under her breastbone. She’d been told that before, many times, but never with such quiet intensity. She began to tremble. She’d meant to tease him, but things had just gotten much more serious.
The way he looked at her. The purple lace bra fitted her snugly, but the demi-cups weren’t designed to provide full coverage. Her nipples hardened against them, and the upper curves of her breasts felt swollen. Her thighs clenched. The matching lace thong was the only other thing that covered her. If he stared much longer, it was going to have to go into the sink with her dress to soak.
‘You look quite debonair yourself,’ she said. Unable to help herself, she reached out to touch the handkerchief poking out of his breast pocket. Her hand stilled against his chest when she felt how warm and hard he was. And how fast his breaths were coming.
‘Was it the event at the Capitol tonight?’ she asked.
‘Yes.’
She took a step forward and traced the lines of his lapels. ‘That’s one I was looking forward to.’
‘You like those wing-dings?’
‘No,’ she said breathlessly. Although she was sure she’d like them much more if she was on his arm. ‘I was interested in the tour of the Dome restoration.’
His hand slid into her hair, and he
cupped the back of her neck. ‘I’ll take you sometime.’
She heard what he didn’t say. Sometime when this was all over…sometime when she could go out in public again…sometime when the gossip had stopped…
She inched closer. She could wait for sometime.
Her heart began pounding in big, steady thuds. ‘Did Samuel accept that our contract is over?’ she asked.
‘Grudgingly.’
She slowly wrapped her arms around Brody’s waist, and their bodies came into contact. Warm against cool. Strength against softness. His hand tightened in her hair, and desire swam through her veins. ‘So I’m a free woman now?’
His reaction wasn’t what she expected.
The expression on his face went guarded. It was subtle – but this was Brody – and she stiffened. She felt the rejection, but she didn’t understand it. She knew he was attracted to her. She was a professional escort; she knew how to read the physical signs.
‘About that…’ he said.
The hurt made her start to blink fast. Was that why he’d been holding back all this time – because she was a professional escort? Had it been some kind of twisted loyalty to the senator? Or could he not get past it?
She jumped when his phone rang, the sound beeping as if she’d gotten the answer right.
‘Damn it,’ he muttered. He frowned when her gaze broke from his, and his hand stroked her hair softly. But the phone didn’t stop. He pulled it out of his breast pocket, and Genieve stepped away, breathing hard.
She folded her arms across her stomach. The chill running through her was sharp. She felt naked now, bare and exposed.
He noticed and took off his jacket as he spoke to whoever had provided the interruption. She pulled the black material close, and his heat tried to seep again into her pores. She pushed her dress into the sink and watched it soak up the water and slowly go under.
She knew how it felt. She couldn’t breathe.
Brody disconnected from the call. He was watching her closely. ‘That was a source of mine. The latest interview with Gunderson has hit the internet.’
She couldn’t have cared less.
Brody caught her fingers that were barely poking out the end of his jacket sleeve. ‘Let’s go watch and then we’ll talk.’
Courting Gossip Page 10