Stubborn Hearts (Timid Souls #1)

by Melanie Munton

  When I’d been seconds away from castrating him with my heel after he’d made some comment about my mouth having better uses than delivering sarcastic, witty banter, I decided I’d better cut my losses before I got arrested for assault. I kissed Staci and Kevin goodbye and headed for the door.

  “I’ll walk you out,” David said from behind me as he stood up from his chair.

  What?

  No, he was not allowed to play the part of gentleman now. Not after the way he’d acted all night. Truth be told, gentleman was the last word that I’d ever use to describe David Edelman.

  “No, it’s fine. I’m okay,” I replied and turned back for the door, assuming that was it.

  Then, I felt a warm hand on my lower back and David’s voice near my ear. “Now, what kind of man would I be if I didn’t make sure that you left the bar safely? Especially since you were my date.”

  I stopped and faced him as soon as we stepped out onto the sidewalk outside the bar. “This was not a date. It was more like a group hang to which you showed up late. Trust me, I know what a date looks like and it certainly isn’t that,” I emphasized, waving my hand back at the bar.

  That same smirk came back. The one that had been driving me nuts all night. “And who took you on those dates? Some prep school, trust fund asshole, who wouldn’t know what to do with a real woman even if one came and sat on his face?” He leaned forward until his mouth was inches from mine. He was so close that I could practically inhale his breath as my own, and I had the overwhelming but crazy desire to kiss him. “Trust me, Claire. I’d know what to do if you sat on my face.”

  My next breath froze in my throat.

  Did he really just say that?

  It took me too many seconds to regain my senses because my mind was suddenly flooded with images of just that: me sitting on his face. Damn him. I was not allowed to be attracted to this guy. He was a pain in the ass and so not my type.

  My body was being such a traitorous bitch.

  “There is no way in hell that is ever going to happen,” I forced myself to say, attempting to maintain my infallible act, though I wasn’t sure how convincing it was coming across. “Sorry, but I don’t date cocky bastards such as yourself.”

  “Who said anything about dating?” he asked as his hand started lightly caressing my arm. I wanted to kick my ass for how much my body liked that. “I was thinking more of a one and done kind of thing. You know, scratch each other’s backs and release some of that tension.” He leaned in farther and pressed his body against mine in a way that was much too suggestive to be casual. His eyes briefly traveled my body from head to toe and came back up to settle on my lips. “You look like you could use it.”

  Wow.

  It wasn’t as if I hadn’t been propositioned for sex before. But I’d never had any man approach it in such a bold manner, discuss it in such a detached, crass way.

  A small part of me appreciated that at least he wasn’t promising love and romance and was honest about what he was after. But I was too irritated with him to listen to that part of my brain, especially since I think that last statement was meant to insult me. At least that was how I took it.

  Time to shut this down.

  “Look. Based on the events of tonight, I’m guessing that you don’t have much interaction with the opposite sex so let me help you out. If you want to get into a woman’s good graces, even just to get into her pants, try showing up to a date on time first. Then, maybe don’t insult her job, her hobbies, and her personality the entire night. Finally, it might be wise to restrain yourself from feeling her up in the middle of the street after she’s basically told you, in not so many words, to go to hell.”

  He silently studied me with his amused grin again, as if he were trying to figure me out. I didn’t want him to figure anything out. I just wanted to leave his presence before I had the opportunity to inhale the intoxicating scent of him that was being shoved in my face.

  His tongue slowly ran across his upper lip as he continued to stare down at me and against my better judgment, my eyes tracked the movement, sending sparks down to my nether regions. It had apparently been way too long since my last sexual encounter and it was starting to make me act completely insane.

  I should do something about that soon, for health reasons.

  But not with this guy.

  “I thought you said this wasn’t a date,” he responded slowly, his voice deep and admittedly, sexy. I didn’t miss the way his eyes darkened with lust as he said it and the way they still hadn’t left my lips.

  There was my ammunition. He’d been getting on my last nerve all night, so I figured the best way to get back at him was to tease him, work him up, and leave him there panting like the horny dog that he was.

  I smiled sweetly up at him, biting my lower lip in an innocent gesture that usually drew guys in. And when I felt movement against my leg from his lower half, I knew that it had the same effect with him.

  “It wasn’t a date. But now that you mention it, a little tension relief might be just what I need.”

  By this time, one of my hands was snaking its way up his arm while the other trailed over his chest, lightly tracing his pecs through his shirt, which made his whole body stiffen. His grin had faded and when I looked back up at him, there was no humor to be found on his face. There was simply desire sparkling in his eyes, his jaw clenching from the need I could tell he was forcing himself to control.

  And hell if I didn’t like affecting him this way, seeing what I could do to his body. There was no denying the fact that this little tête-à-tête was having an effect on me too, but I was absolutely not about to admit that aloud.

  I went up on my toes and brought my mouth to his ear. “I could really use someone to help me take my mind off things, you know,” I purred, pressing my breasts against his hard chest. I smiled when I heard a sharp inhale from him. I reached up to wrap my hand around the back of his neck, sliding my fingers through his hair. “To touch me with way I like, kiss me the way I want.” I licked the shell of his ear and couldn’t have been more pleased with the groan he released from deep inside his chest. He definitely wasn’t faking that.

  I lowered my voice even more, delivering the final blow, as it were. “To take me the way I need.”

  And to drive my point home, I bit down on his ear lobe, making him jump slightly and grab me around my waist, bringing me in closer to him. I smiled deviously, knowing I had him.

  Guys were too easy sometimes.

  “Yeah, I could definitely use that,” I whispered. I got a grunt in response as his hands began to stroke up and down, one headed for the underside of my breast and the other straight for my ass.

  Perfect.

  “But I think I’ll stick with my vibrator tonight,” I said in a louder, calm voice, all hints of seduction and sexual provocation completely absent.

  I abruptly stepped away from him while I still had the chance to, knowing that I’d caught him off-guard. His expression was priceless. He was equal parts shocked, confused, and no doubt, turned on.

  “At least he’s always on time.” I patted his cheek and almost laughed at the bewilderment on his face. “Good luck with,” I made my glance down at his tented pants obvious, “everything.”

  I gave him one last smirk and pivoted around on my heel, sauntering away and leaving him standing there with no words and a raging hard-on.

  I loved getting in the last word.

  ##

  Chapter Two

  Claire

  Nine months ago

  January

  “Dammit!” I screamed when my toe connected with the corner of my bed railing.

  I was trying to get dressed for my first day at my new job and things were not going well. Truthfully, they were so bad that I wanted to wake up from bed again and start this whole morning over.

  But unfortunately, there were no re-dos in real life.

  I had an internship at the campaign office of one Clay Masterson, a candidate in t
his year’s D.C. mayoral election. One of the requirements of my degree was an internship that would offer some real world experience in event management. And I just happened to land a gig that would allow me to be heavily involved in one of the city’s biggest events of the year.

  I know I said I hated politics, but I would have been stupid to pass up an opportunity like this.

  My degree didn’t require the internship to last more than six months, but I agreed that I would stay on staff until after the election in November. Apparently, they were going to need the help and the more opportunities I had to experience planning large-scale functions, all while forming as many connections as I could, the better.

  Annette, the woman who hired me, informed me that the first half of my internship would involve organizing some of the appearances Mr. Masterson would make, in addition to planning the events that his campaign sponsored. But for the second half of the internship, I would be acting as the personal assistant to Mr. Masterson’s campaign manager, whom I had yet to meet. He was supposed to assist in conducting my interview, but he’d gotten held up and wasn’t able to make it. According to Annette, the campaign manager was going to be so busy as the election drew closer that he would need someone by his side twenty-four seven.

  I knew what that meant.

  I would be his lackey.

  But hey, it was a requirement of the position and I needed this job, so I wasn’t going to complain. I would still get the experience I needed and it was going to look fantastic on a résumé.

  But I might get fired before I even started if I didn’t hurry my ass up and get to the office.

  Being the prepared and perhaps anal woman that I was, I’d had my outfit all laid out and ready to go for the morning. But, because I must have been paying penance for some misdeed I’d recently committed, I woke up to find that I had started my period.

  Which meant that I was going to be battling cramps all day long because the first day was always the worst for me. Which meant that I was going to be bloated all day. Which meant that there was no way in hell I was going to be able to wear the form-fitting pencil skirt and tucked-in blouse that I had picked out.

  And now I was dealing with a throbbing toe.

  Clearly, the universe hated me today.

  When I finally figured out what my inflated belly was going to be able to handle—a gray shift dress because it had absolutely no waistline—I ran to the kitchen to pour some coffee into my thermos, hopping along and trying to put on my heels while ignoring my toe. Thank the stars above that I always did my hair and makeup before I got dressed. Otherwise, I’d really be up shit creek right now.

  I heard a door open behind me and a groggy voice ask, “Did I miss the parade?”

  “What?” I heard Staci’s perplexing question but couldn’t really give her my full attention when I was concentrating on not spilling coffee on my dress.

  “Well, I assumed there had to be one going on out here with all the noise.” Her voice had risen during that sentence and she’d pretty much yelled the last word.

  Staci was a nurse at a hospital and often worked irregular hours, so she had to grab sleep whenever she could. I typically had pretty regular hours with my classes and now with this internship, so we usually didn’t get in each other’s way. The arrangement worked for us.

  Most days.

  When I eventually turned around and took in her disheveled appearance—sleep-mussed hair and half-closed eyes—I remembered that she had the graveyard shift the night before and I felt horrible for being so loud.

  “Sorry,” I muttered and rushed forward to kiss her head while snatching my bag off one of the kitchen chairs. “I’m running late and already had to change my outfit.”

  She was usually quick to forgive me.

  “Then, get going and have a better day,” she said, picking my cell phone up off the counter and holding it out to me.

  I grabbed it from her and mumbled a “thanks” as I went through my mental checklist, ensuring that I had everything I needed while I shoved myself into my coat.

  “You going to be home for dinner?” Staci asked as she poured coffee into the jumbo mug that said don’t talk to me until this thing is empty. It had been her birthday gift from me last year. Working the hours she did, she couldn’t live without caffeine. I’m pretty sure 75% of her body was made up of coffee instead of water.

  “Um, yeah. I should be home by seven.” We took turns cooking dinner whenever both of us planned to be home and tonight was her night. “You working another graveyard tonight?”

  She grumbled derisively into her mug. “Yes. For the rest of the week it looks like. Until Marie gets back from vacation. Who takes a vacation in the middle of January?”

  Knowing she didn’t expect a response to that, I smiled at her and grabbed a banana on my way out the door. “I’ll see you tonight, then,” I said over my shoulder.

  “Good luck!” was the last thing I heard before the door shut behind me.

  Luckily, our apartment was right next to the Metro, so I was on a train headed downtown in under four minutes. If I timed it right, the trip should take no longer than thirteen minutes, which gave me time to collect myself and get in the right frame of mind to go into that office, ready to kick ass.

  After this semester, I only had one more to go until graduation in December and then I’d finally have my degree. It hadn’t been an easy journey, either. I was twenty-six and should have already had my master’s by now if I had gone through college without stopping. Instead, I’d had to defer for a year right after I graduated high school to work and save up some more money for tuition. My mom had been a single mother for most of my life and she could only do so much for me by herself. Then, I’d waited another year to start graduate school to work and help my mom pay her medical bills. She had gotten into a car accident and had to have pins put in her knee. Thankfully, she’d been mostly okay other than that, but her insurance hadn’t covered all the bills. So, I had put off graduate school for a year while I helped her pay them off.

  I’d do anything for my mother because she had done everything for me my whole life. My father had never been in the picture and she refused to talk about him. All she’d say was that he hadn’t been mature enough to handle his responsibilities.

  That was as much as I knew about my father.

  It used to bother me more than it did now.

  I used to be bitter about it, wondering what it would be like to be a daddy’s girl. To have an overprotective father who scared the crap out of my dates in high school and intimidated them to the point that they were too afraid to touch me during the night.

  But I had hardened myself to all of that.

  I didn’t want a man in my life who didn’t truly want to be a part of it.

  And now I was about to graduate so I could get a well-paying job of my own, enough to not only support myself but my mother as well so she didn’t have to work as hard as she did. She could rest and let me take care of her for a change.

  That was why I busted my ass the way I always had. So that I could eventually re-pay my mother for all the years she sacrificed for us. Though it was true that I never could truly pay her back because she’d lost so many years of her youth and her happiness in order to provide for me.

  You can’t get time back.

  But I’d do whatever I could to let her know how much all of it meant to me, how much she meant to me.

  I was walking through the front doors to the campaign office—my job for the next eleven months—precisely seventeen minutes later.

  I immediately got good vibes from the place. The walls were brick and the floors were hardwood. It looked as if the building had been refurbished before the Masterson campaign moved in, and it had a sort of chilled, relaxed atmosphere to it. Not the nondescript, white walls, gray carpet, office environment that I was expecting.

  There were desks scattered and shoved up against each other all over the main floor. Posters, bulletin boards, and calend
ars decorated the walls and the air smelled of Febreeze air freshener and coffee. There were people in business casual dress filling the desk chairs, talking on phones, and darting to and from each other’s work spaces, everyone looking as if they had a million things to do.

  No one even looked up at my entrance.

  Okay, so they weren’t into welcome wagons. No problem.

  I would just find Annette and figure out what I should be doing. But I didn’t see her anywhere in the sea of employees fluttering about. I struck up some courage and decided to ask a guy sitting at the desk closest to me who was furiously typing on his keyboard.

  I cleared my throat. “Excuse me.” His head snapped up and I thought he looked about my age. He was cute, in a boyish kind of way. “Could you tell me where I could find Annette?”

  He studied me for a few seconds, interest clear in his gaze, and then pointed across the room. “Her office is in the back,” he said and gave me a small but friendly smile before going back to his typing.

  He hadn’t scowled at me so I considered it a win.

  I made my way to the back, dodging rolling desk chairs, flailing arms clutching documents and folders, and towers of stacked papers that sat precariously close to the edges of the desks they sat upon. There was a long hallway in the back that had multiple doors on either side, the first of which I found to be the break room with vending machines, a few tables, and a wall of cabinets where the microwave and coffee pot sat.

  Good to know because the coffee pot would be my first stop when I came in every morning. You would be shocked at how quickly people will come to love you if you can make great coffee. And I can. It was one of my plans to get people around here to like me. Because the more people like you, the easier they are to work with and the more likely they are to help you out when needed.

  Something my mother had taught me.

  Luckily, the first door I came to was Annette’s office. Her door was open so I knocked and smiled as she looked up from her computer. “Claire!” She came around her desk and shook my hand, her touch warm and gentle. “Good to see you! Glad you made it in okay.”