Rumor Has It

by Cheris Hodges

  “Come on, let go,” he whispered as he spread her legs with his free hand. “I’ve got this.” His fingers brushed against her mound of femininity.

  “Yes, yes you do.”

  He slipped his finger inside her wet folds of flesh as he kissed her neck. Liza writhed under his touch. Those lips and that finger sent her into sensory overload. She felt as if she exploded from the inside out.

  “That was a good one,” Jackson said, pulling his lips from her neck.

  “I don’t know how much more I can take,” she breathed.

  “Oh, you can take a lot,” he said. “Where’s the bathroom?”

  Liza furrowed her brows. “The bathroom?”

  “Yes. And what kind of tub do you have?”

  “What are you about to do now?” she asked as he rose to his feet and held his hand out to her. Liza took his hand and pointed him toward the stairs. Liza led him into her bathroom and watched as he filled the garden tub with water.

  “Don’t you think it’s time to take off your clothes, Mr. Franklin?” Liza asked as she stepped into the half-filled tub. He licked his lips while watching Liza lather up a bath sponge.

  “I think you’re right,” he said as he stripped. Jackson joined Liza in the tub and took the soapy sponge from her hand. Gently, he rubbed the sponge across her breasts and she shivered. Jackson dipped the sponge between her thighs, stroking them gently as she reached back and shut the faucet off.

  Liza wrapped her arms around his neck as he lifted her leg around his waist. As much as he wanted to thrust deep into her wetness, he knew they had to be protected. Pressing his luck and willpower, he pulled her closer, feeling the heat of her desire teasing his erection. He kissed her slowly, their tongues dancing a slow tango. She moaned as his hands stroked her back. His touch made her wetter, hotter, and ready for him to give her every inch of his throbbing erection. She took the sponge from his hand and stroked it across his chest. His nipples stood on end and Liza circled them with her fingertips. A low groan escaped his throat as she pressed against him and kissed his neck. Yes. He had to let her go and grab a condom or he would simply bury himself inside her.

  “Condom,” he said. She nodded and Jackson set her on the edge of the tub. He reached into his pants pocket, pulled out the prophylactic, and made quick work of opening the package and sliding the condom in place. He returned to the tub, where Liza had already slipped into the water. Joining her in the large garden tub, he backed her against the wall and spread Liza’s thighs apart and molded her against his body. She tightened her thighs against him, urging him to thrust inside. As he thrust inside her, they both sighed and slowly ground against each other, making the water spill over the edge of the tub. She held him tightly, needing to feel every inch of him, wanting to ride him slow and long. Jackson loved her long strokes, fought with himself to keep his climax at bay. He loved seeing Liza sated and calm.

  He could feel her on the verge of exploding. Her muscles tightened around his erection, making it harder for him not to come. Then she moaned, slow and deep. He snaked his hand up her back and rested it on her neck. “Come for me, let me come with you,” he breathed into her ear.

  “Mmm, oh-kay,” she moaned. And they both reached their climax and leaned back in the now tepid water. Her back rested against his chest as they soaked.

  “You are just full of surprises,” Liza said when she finally caught her breath.

  “And what makes you say that?”

  “You read my mind perfectly and did everything I wanted.”

  Jackson chuckled and stroked her arms. “You’re pretty damned amazing, Liza.”

  “Me or the sex?”

  “The sex wouldn’t be amazing if you weren’t. I hope you realize that I want more than just your body.”

  She sighed, mad that she was allowing her insecurities to come to light in the afterglow of their lovemaking. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Then again, I’m not really sorry. I don’t want to be taken advantage of or hurt.”

  “I’m not going to take advantage of you and I’d never do anything to hurt you.”

  “No one intentionally hurts other people unless he’s a psychopath. What if these rumors about me don’t go away? What if being with me will cost you this election? Do you think Robert isn’t going to use this to his advantage?”

  Jackson placed his finger to her lips. “There you go breaking the rules again. We’re not bringing politics into our time together. You and I know that this rumor is bullshit and . . .”

  She pulled back from him and rose to her feet. “I really love that you believe in the people. But I don’t share your faith in the general public. Do you know how many times Twitter has killed people and everyone believed it?”

  “It’s not your problem,” he said.

  “Oh, but I am a problem?”

  Jackson rose from the tub and ran his hand across his face. “Really?”

  “You said it.” She folded her arms across her breasts and tilted her head to the side.

  “And you’re twisting my words. Why do you want to pick a fight with me?”

  Liza dropped her head, then reached for a towel. Jackson took it from her hands and tossed it over his shoulder. “Are you going to answer my question or not?” he asked.

  “I’m not picking a fight with you, but if you don’t win this election, I don’t want you to resent me. And if I’m the reason why you lose, you will resent me.”

  “Whether I win or lose has nothing to do with you. And remember, I’m the mind reader, not you.”

  She snorted and reached for the towel. “That’s easy for you to say now.”

  Jackson allowed her to take the towel from his shoulder. “If I win or lose,” he began as he pulled her against his chest, “we’re going to be fine.”

  “Okay,” she said. Jackson wasn’t convinced.

  “Liza, I need you to chill. I need you to relax, and I need you to stop trying to act like you’re looking for an escape clause.”

  “Escape clause?”

  “You keep acting as if you expect me to just walk away from you.”

  Liza stroked the back of her neck. “Do you want a cup of coffee?”

  Jackson brushed his fingers across her cheeks. “I want you to answer a question for me,” he said. Liza looked up at him and her face reminded him of a lost little girl.

  “What?” she asked, her voice low and throaty.

  “Do you always expect the worst?”

  “I . . .” Words failed her. Did she expect the worst? Yes. That had been her life. Especially when she thought things were going well. Why would things be any different with Jackson?

  “I guess it’s up to me to prove you wrong,” he said. “And the last thing we need is coffee. I’d prefer to simply go to bed.”

  She smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “You don’t have to apologize.” He took the towel and dried her shoulders. “Just stop judging me because of what he did.”

  “I’m not judging you, per se,” she said as she placed her hands on top of his. “I just like to be prepared so I’m not blindsided.”

  Jackson shook his head and draped the towel across her shoulders. “That’s no way to live.”

  Liza stepped back from him and grabbed a second towel from the linen shelf. “Let’s just go to sleep. You should probably try to get some rest since the debate is tomorrow.”

  “Do you plan on attending?” he asked as he wrapped the towel around his waist. “I’d love for you to be there.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” she asked as they headed down the hall to her bedroom.

  “Why not?” he asked.

  Liza pursed her lips, then turned the lights on in her room. Jackson smiled at the calm colors adorning her walls: pink and lilac. The queen bed in the middle of the room obviously doubled as her office. Her MacBook sat open on the nightstand and her TweetDeck account was open. Jackson got dizzy watching the tweets scroll across the screen. “You r
eally don’t sleep, do you?” he asked.

  “I have to keep up with what’s trending,” she said, then crossed over to the computer and closed it. “Especially if I had a client who may be getting the wrong kind of attention on social media. The wrong tweet can ruin someone’s life.”

  Jackson shrugged and climbed into the bed. Liza joined him and fluffed a pillow. She stopped herself from grabbing her laptop, which was her nightly ritual, to schedule tweets and Facebook posts for her clients. They’d be all right for one night. She was going to try this living-in-the-moment thing. Glancing over at Jackson, she smiled at how comfortable he looked lying there with the towel wrapped around his waist.

  “Want to watch TV or . . .”

  He pulled her into his arms. “I want to relax. You should try it sometime. Let me give you your first lesson. First, you turn the lights off.”

  “I don’t like sleeping in the dark.”

  “Turn the lights off.”

  She got out of the bed and hit the switch to turn the lamps off. “Happy?” she asked as she climbed back into bed.

  “It’s a start,” he said. “Next, you get back into my arms.”

  “This relaxing thing seems pretty good,” she said when she rested her head on his chest. He stroked her arm.

  “Finally, close your eyes,” he whispered against her ear.

  “I’m not sleepy,” she replied.

  “I didn’t say go to sleep,” he said as he slipped his hand between her thighs. “I said relax.”

  “How am I supposed to relax when you’re doing that?” Liza moaned and Jackson squeezed her thigh gently.

  “Keep your eyes closed,” he said as he continued to massage her thigh. “Breathe in slowly.”

  She followed his directive and took slow, deep breaths. His hands made her forget rumors, debates, and anything else that had been stressing her. It felt so good. So good. And before she knew it, Liza had fallen fast asleep.

  Chapter 21

  The next morning, Liza treated Jackson to a home-cooked breakfast of eggs, sizzling turkey bacon, and French toast. But when he walked into the kitchen in his slacks and no shirt, she didn’t want to eat the food she’d cooked; instead she wanted to pour maple syrup on his chest and lick it off. Have mercy, she thought as she turned away from him.

  “Good morning,” he said.

  “Morning. I hope you like French toast.” She busied herself making a pot of coffee and warned herself not to focus on the carnal desires flowing through her brain.

  “It smells delicious in here. I guess this is a better idea than heading to The Original Pancake House again.”

  Liza reached for two coffee mugs as she nodded. “I’m sure Robert is looking for some kind of drama to pop off so that he can use it in the debate tonight.”

  “Are you going to be there?” he asked as she handed him his mug of coffee. “You never answered me last night.”

  “I don’t think that’s the best idea. There’s no need to add fuel to the fire. You need to be focused on the issues and not worrying about the next rumor that’s going to be started about us.”

  “That’s your bag. I’m not worried about what Robert and his team are going to try to say. There are real issues that people are concerned about. I get e-mails about them every day. That’s the difference between me and Robert.”

  A lightbulb popped on in her head. “What are you doing with those e-mails?”

  He shrugged. “I answer all of them and, hopefully, I’m guiding people in the right direction.”

  “You should use those in your debate. You should show Robert and the voters that you’re in tune with the people and what their needs are. Do you plan on doing any commercials?”

  “That’s really not in the budget,” he said, then took a sip of coffee.

  “Unofficially, I can help you. A few YouTube videos and just one to go viral will make you the front-runner that no one will be able to catch up with.”

  Jackson shook his head. “I thought we made a deal?”

  “Then just take my idea and let Teresa handle it. Jackson, I believe in you.”

  He set his coffee mug down and crossed over to her. Drawing Liza into his arms, he kissed her forehead. “Thank you.”

  “It’s not the most . . .”

  He silenced her with a deep kiss. Liza closed her eyes and saw a future with Jackson. She saw a white gown, heard promises of love and believed them.

  Those thoughts scared the living hell out of her. She broke the kiss and smiled at him, hoping her eyes didn’t betray her inner turmoil. How was it possible that she was falling for this man so quickly?

  “So, what did I do to deserve that?” she asked.

  Jackson stroked her cheek. “You’re just you,” he said. “And I think you’re starting to relax a little.”

  “After last night, I think I like relaxing.” She kissed his chin. “But are you going to at least shoot one video?”

  Jackson rolled his eyes. “Remember the rules?”

  “Whatever.” Liza pushed him playfully and grabbed her cup of coffee. “Why don’t we just pretend that it was your idea?”

  “Anyway, Liza. Why don’t we just talk about how awesome this breakfast is going to be?” He winked at her and headed over to the breakfast bar.

  “Don’t set your standards too high,” she said. “Cooking has never been my forte.”

  He dug into his eggs and discovered that Liza wasn’t telling the whole truth. But then again, who couldn’t cook eggs? Turned out that the whole meal was delicious.

  “And you said you couldn’t cook,” he said as he reached for a strip of bacon from her plate.

  She smacked his hand. “Greedy!”

  “Next time, cook more.” He grinned and broke the strip in half. He held out the bacon to her and Liza took it into her mouth—licking his fingertips at the same time.

  “I must admit, your fingers made that bacon taste a lot better.”

  Jackson looked at the clock on the stove. “I’d better get going. Teresa and I have some debate prep to do.” He rose to his feet and Liza tilted her head.

  “Forgetting something?” she asked, then pointed at his bare chest. “That’s the picture that we need to see on the news this morning. Candidate for senate seen leaving alleged call girl’s house shirtless.”

  “That’s not funny,” he said. “No one said you were a call girl.”

  “I bet if you win the debate, they will.” She took their empty dishes and dropped them in the sink. “I’m sorry, I guess this isn’t me relaxing.”

  “No, it isn’t. But we’re going to work on that later,” he said with a wink.

  “I think your shirt is in the bathroom.”

  When he headed upstairs, Liza grabbed her cell phone and checked her e-mail. She wasn’t surprised to see that there were more than ten Google alerts about her. Most of the articles she’d seen before, but when she saw a story where the South Park Madam had issued a statement about her, Liza read it in disbelief.

  South Park Madam denies involvement with social media professional.

  “Yes!” she shouted as she read the denial. Liza almost wanted to find this woman and hug her and give her a kiss.

  Jackson rushed into the kitchen, his shirt half buttoned. “What’s wrong?”

  “Finally something is right!” She shoved her iPhone underneath his nose. “Looks like I’ll be at the debate after all.”

  Jackson gripped her wrist to keep her hand from waving. “Calm down, Liza,” he said. “I can’t read this if you keep waving your hand.”

  “The South Park Madam said she doesn’t even know me.”

  “That’s great news and I told you that this would work out.”

  “I can only imagine how Robert is feeling right now. I told him that he wouldn’t win by playing dirty and not to make an enemy of me.”

  Jackson buttoned his shirt and then kissed Liza on the cheek. “Let me remember that as well.” He took her hand in his as they walked to the
door. “The next few weeks are going be hectic, so if you don’t hear from me, I want you to know I’m going to be thinking about you.”

  Liza nodded. While she understood the election was close and he had to focus, she couldn’t help but miss him already. “Maybe you should just focus on the election. I want you to win because you’re the best man for the job.” She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

  “See you later,” he said, then walked out the door. Liza watched him as he backed out of the driveway and wondered if there was something she could do behind the scenes to help him win the senate seat.

  As her phone rang, she decided that she was going to find the woman who was in Robert’s office that day. He had a lie, but she had the truth!

  “Hello?” she said when she retrieved her phone from the breakfast bar.

  “Liza, it’s Chante.” Immediately, Liza didn’t like the sound of her friend’s voice.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She sighed. “Robert.”

  “What did he do now?”

  “He went to my partners about the fund-raiser and basically said that I’d fallen victim to your lies and he still wanted their support. So, this morning I get a call from Taiwon, that asshole, who said I need to keep my personal business out of the office and then he threatened me with suspension.”

  “What?! Why?”

  “Taiwon seems to think Robert is going to be a great senator for the business sector of this district and doesn’t think Jackson has what it takes to make a difference in Raleigh. He won’t even take my proposal to the partners that we give a donation to both. I’m willing to bet that Robert’s making a deal with the big cash donors. I’m really starting to loathe that man.” Chante groaned. “I know this all could’ve been avoided had I just listened to you and . . .”

  “It’s okay,” Liza said. “I’m just confused about who’s the bigger ass, Taiwon or Robert. You know what, though, I have an idea. Since Robert wants to spread rumors, let’s spread some truths about him.”

  “Are you talking about that trollop?” Chante asked.

  Liza wanted to laugh. Who called a woman a trollop in the twenty-first century? “Yes, I’m talking about the woman in the pictures. Before you, Robert was known to date rats. And from the way big-booty Judy went off when I walked in on them, she is more of a rat than a trollop. But she was really mad about him being in a relationship. Who knows what Robert promised her.”