She drew a deep breath. Tanner felt, rather than saw, her chest rise; even her well-tailored blouse couldn't contain the raw biology beneath it. Strangely, he felt an answering surge of warmth course through him, the heat of raw, primal attraction, but he pushed that sensation off to the side. Instead, he waited, knowing that he could outlast her.
And then, after an eternity of silence, she blinked.
"Very well," she said quietly, her tone barely above a whisper. "You're right. I do need your help. We both need each other."
"Glad to hear you admit it," Tanner answered. In the back of his mind, a little part of him noted that hearing Alicia say those words sent another little rush of warmth through him. Why? He ignored it. Probably just pent-up frustration with her, not finding any other outlet in his head except through the suggestion of sex.
Whoops. Don't think about sex. It had been at least a full week since the last time Tanner had a girl - an eternity, in his life - and he felt an uncomfortable stiffening. Push it down, don't let that come up now, he commanded himself. Think soft thoughts.
"Listen," he said to Alicia, wanting to diffuse the tension still sparking between them. "Let's go out, get some coffee, chat for a little while before your meetings start. We can talk about strategies for selling the bill, some emotional hooks that you can use, ways to really show your passion for this."
Alicia started to nod, but stopped. "No can do - my first meeting's in just a few minutes," she said, glancing down at the delicate watch on her wrist. Tanner's eyes moved along with hers, downward, and he caught another quick little glimpse down her blouse, catching the swell of her breasts. Shit. He closed his eyes, trying to think of anything non-sexual, anything neutral. Coffee. Biscuits. Milk - no, where did milk come from, that wasn't helping-
"But I'm free tonight," Alicia went on, looking back up at him. Just in time, he drew his eyes off of her breasts as they nestled together inside that tight blouse, back to her face. "Maybe we could plan out some possible speech topics over dinner?"
"Yes, that sounds good," Tanner replied quickly. He could work with dinner. What was important was that he was a part of these speeches, that he knew every step of the Stone campaign before it happened - so that he could plan out a countermove. "I'll pick the place, get us reservations. Let's say, around seven?"
"Perfect," Alicia answered. "Seven."
Tanner expected her to turn away, gather her notes and head off to her first meeting of the morning. Instead, however, he saw Alicia hesitate for a fraction of a second longer, looking up at him. Those faintly red patches of heat in her cheeks suddenly flared up again, just before she turned away.
Previously, that heat was from anger, from him countering her little verbal ploy, her fake seduction. But why did they flare up again? Tanner briefly frowned. Was she angry at even the idea of having dinner with such a slippery individual as himself?
Or - and he hesitated even to consider this option - was that heat not from anger after all? Was there something else there?
Interesting, Tanner noted to himself, turning as he watched Alicia head out of her office, stack of papers in hand. He had no guarantee that there was any sort of real attraction there - but if there was, that was something he could use.
Idly, his eyes dropped down to watch Alicia's ass, tight in that sexy little pencil skirt, as she left the office. Already, he couldn't even count how many times he'd pictured her naked, unable to talk as she moaned from him plunging himself into her, replacing all those annoying orders with moans and gasps of pleasure as he took her-
He sighed after the door closed. Judging from the hard-on in his pants, he really needed to get laid, and soon. He was so desperate, he was even finding bitchy, controlling Alicia Stone to be attractive.
Chapter Ten
*
After some consideration, Tanner placed a call to Bayou, a Cajun high-end restaurant located in the West End neighborhood. He gave his name, confirmed that he needed a table for two at seven, and ended the call after receiving the host's assurances that they'd save the best table for the Senator and himself.
The rest of the day passed quickly, Tanner looking ahead already to the evening. He needed to get Alicia to open up, let down her shields around him, he decided. He needed her to see him as a trustworthy confidante, someone with whom she felt comfortable revealing the inner workings of her plans, her next steps in pushing the education bill.
He needed, he reminded himself as he arrived five minutes early at the restaurant, to be smooth, charming, attentive - and above all else, a good listener.
Tanner strolled up to the entrance to Bayou, expecting to be the first one to arrive and planning to check in - elected politicians never arrived anywhere on time. It was like a genetic disorder with them, one he'd come to expect. But when he reached the host's station, the man smiled at him and picked up two menus.
"Ah, Mr. Tanner," the host greeted him with a smile. "If you'll follow me?"
Tanner frowned, but moved after the host as he weaved his way through the narrow wooden tables, past the booths upholstered in red leather. They headed over to Tanner's favorite table, one set just far back enough from the window to let him look out at the passing pedestrians outside, but not so close that someone might spot his face and recognize him through the window.
And there, already sitting in one of the two seats, was Senator Alicia Stone, sipping slowly on a glass of something dark with a single ice cube floating in it.
For a moment, Tanner froze, his mind going blank with surprise. Alicia was here early, getting to the table before him? He recovered quickly, his face returning to its pleasant smile with astounding rapidity, but she had to have seen that brief look of concern.
"Sorry, but I hate being that person who shows up late," Alicia said as Tanner slid into the booth across from her, not sounding sorry in the slightest.
"Well, that certainly makes you different from most of the other legislators I work with," Tanner replied, looking back at her across the table. The waiter bobbed near their table, and he ordered his usual, Laphroaig 25.
"Not bad," Alicia commented, as the waiter turned and darted away to bring him his request. "A bit overdone."
"What, my scotch choice?" Tanner replied, his eyes moving to Alicia's glass. "And here I was, taking you for a vodka and cranberry girl."
She raised her eyebrows at him, a curiously alluring taunt. "And what does that imply, exactly?"
"I have absolutely no idea," Tanner countered, keeping his face completely straight. If she wanted to exchange volleys of taunts, well, he could return just as well as serve. "I don't believe that a cocktail implies anything about the person."
Alicia chuckled. "Rich, coming from the man who orders a splash out of a four hundred dollar bottle of scotch. That's not trying to say anything?"
This time, it was Tanner's turn to raise his eyebrows. "All it implies," he said innocently as the waiter set his drink in front of him, "is that I enjoy a good scotch."
Round one ends in a draw, Tanner thought to himself as the two of them eyed each other, both taking a moment to nip at the smooth, well-aged liquor. Round two will begin momentarily.
The silence, however, persisted even after the waiter stopped by and collected their orders (Alicia went for the jambalaya, while Tanner elected to go with the crawfish étouffée). They both just watched each other across the table, waiting for the other to make a move.
As he sat there, however, Tanner's thoughts started to stray. His eyes drifted over Alicia's outfit, noting that it was quite a bit snugger than her usual work ensembles. She certainly didn't need to worry about anyone mocking her for being out of shape, he noted with a grudging flare of admiration. Those tight clothes revealed an absolute knockout of a body, tight and trim in all the right places, plump and wonderfully soft in others. If she wasn't who she was, he'd already be thinking ahead to peeling that cute little dress-up outfit off of her, bending her over his couch and moving up against her from behind-
At least, he would have done this if she wasn't who she was, he reminded himself. But who she was - a senator, a Democrat, a target - made her his enemy.
Still, he couldn't completely fight off those tempting little daydreaming images that flitted through his head, suggesting many better ways that they could spend the end of the evening together.
Their food arrived, and Alicia finally broke the silence. "We're really getting a lot accomplished here, aren't we?" she remarked, her voice heavy with sarcasm.
For a moment before answering, Tanner examined this sentence for verbal snares or traps, but his search came up empty. "Yeah, this perhaps won't be as productive as I imagined," he admitted, matching her wry tone.
Alicia sighed. "Look, I get it. You see me as the enemy, and I don't trust you as far as I could throw you." She flexed her bare arms, revealing trim and fit muscles. "Which is still further than you'd suspect," she added with a little smirk.
"So what are you suggesting that we do? It seems like we're stuck at an impasse."
She considered this for a moment while delicately eating a mouthful of dirty rice. "What about a truce?" she finally suggested.
Tanner frowned. This seemed too straightforward. "A truce?"
"Sure - I'll stop taunting you, and you'll stop actively plotting to undermine me." Alicia laughed. "Of course, we both know what will happen when the end date of the truce comes along, but we can work together until then. Our end goals might be opposed, but we can still help each other in the short term and both come out ahead."
Tanner took a bite of his étouffée as he considered the advantages and possible downsides. It was true that, if they kept on keeping their shields up and firing exchanges back and forth, neither of them would make much progress. Instead of killing Alicia's education bill, he'd instead be leaving it up to chance - a coin flip.
Those odds weren't enough for Tanner to risk his reputation on it.
"Very well," he finally said, shaking his head a little, surprised that he was agreeing with this unexpected direction. "A truce. And what are the details?"
Alicia pursed her lips, tapping her fork idly against her bowl as she considered. With her lips pouting like that, Tanner couldn't help but feel another little rush of hunger for her, one that had nothing to do with the delicious food in front of him. He quickly ate another bite of crawfish to cover up any sign of his arousal.
"Two weeks," she said finally. "That's enough time for us to get the bill in place, but you can still have a few days to try and bring it down. I will, of course, be trying to stop you, but you can try."
"Two weeks," Tanner repeated.
Alicia nodded. "And during that time, we're on the same side. You're on my side, and you're being helpful. No false personas, no trying to lead me down the wrong avenue, no giving me the wrong information, nothing like that."
"And what do I get?" Tanner asked.
"You?" Alicia blinked. "You get me being honest with you."
Tanner sat back and considered his options, covering by taking another sip of his scotch. It wasn't an ideal situation, but this whole thing with Alicia had been on the wrong foot since the beginning. He'd spent the whole time off balance, with her somehow, inexplicably, managing to keep one step ahead of him. He hated to admit it, but he needed this truce, perhaps even more than she did.
"Honesty," he said, drawing out the word, tasting it as if he'd never encountered it before. "This might be new for me."
Alicia actually snorted, a short little laugh that she couldn't fully contain. "Maybe it will help you grow, make you a little less of an ass," she countered.
"Low blow," Tanner protested. But after another second, he set his drink down and held his hand across the table, careful not to let his sleeve dip into his entree. "But I don't see any other options. Deal."
"Deal," Alicia agreed, shaking his offered hand.
"So, care to tell me everything?" Tanner cracked, after taking his hand back.
Alicia, however, didn't laugh. "Where would you like me to start?"
Tanner searched his mind. What sort of question would give him a hint at her weaknesses, would offer a crack in her armor that he could exploit later? He tried to find the most strategic question possible to ask - but instead, his mouth chose an entirely different question, one that he hadn't even considered asking.
"Why didn't you get that spot as high school valedictorian?"
Across from him, Alicia blinked; clearly, that wasn't the question she'd been expecting. "That's what you want to know?" she exclaimed.
Tanner hadn't intended to ask that question, but he realized that he truly did feel curious. "Yes, it is."
She blinked at him, rearranging her thoughts. "It was my own fault," she said at length. "I had a class with a teacher who really liked me, because I was the model student."
"Somehow, I can see that," Tanner commented, making her smile.
"Well, I thought that, since the teacher really liked me, I could breeze past the final in the class. I didn't study, didn't put in the time - and I totally bombed it." Even now, Tanner saw a wince pass across Alicia's face at the memory. "I went to the teacher, begged him to let me retake the exam, but he stayed firm. He told me that I'd be fine, still have the future I wanted - but I needed this as a lesson to show me that I needed to work at being perfect."
"It seemed to have worked," Tanner said, trying to keep her from getting depressed. Her face had fallen as she remembered that particular moment in her past.
She sighed, but then brightened again. "It did, I suppose. I didn't agree with him at the time, but I suppose that I do now - not that I'd want him to do it again, if I had the chance!"
That first question seemed to break the dam. "Now, your turn," Alicia told Tanner. "What did you want to be as a kid, before you sold your soul to the Republican party?"
"First off, they paid a very nice premium for that soul, and it's proved to be a far better investment than any other that I've made," Tanner countered. He thought back, seeking a truthful answer. "But when I was younger, I really did want to go into politics. I still believed that it was pure, that I could do real good, that it wasn't all just another system to be manipulated."
"So cynical," Alicia murmured, shaking her head at him. "I hope I never get like that."
She likely didn't mean for the words to sting, but they did. Tanner didn't let it show, but he winced inside. "Trust me, you'll either get kicked out of Washington, or you'll come around to my way of thinking real soon. It's just how things work around here. No way around it."
But Alicia remained resolute. "Maybe," she admitted. "But it doesn't have to keep on being that way forever."
After a second of quiet, however, she shook off her pensiveness. "Okay, your turn for a question," she said, taking the opportunity to grab another bite of food.
Tanner pursed his lips at her as he watched her chew, and then blot her lips with a napkin. "First high school boyfriend," he said.
Alicia coughed, quickly grabbing for her glass of water. "What??"
"You heard me," he said, grinning despite himself, glad to have unseated her composure. "Name, what he did to land you, and how far you went with him."
"You can't be serious."
Tanner leaned forward, fighting to keep his face blank. "You did say that you wanted this truce, and you'd be open and honest. If you can't answer a simple question like this, I might have to think about revoking my services-"
"Oh, knock it off, you ass," Alicia cut him off, but she was smiling as she did so. "Fine. My first boyfriend was probably Harvey Dylan, way back in sixth grade, and he got me by finding a frog on the playground and trying to shove it..."
Chapter Eleven
*
"I suppose that I probably ought to be getting home," Alicia said, several hours later, finally glancing down at her watch. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, held the watch face up a little closer. "Wow, is it really that late already?"
"Time flies," Tanner
commented across the table, stifling a comfortable little burp. After a rocky start, he'd actually had quite a fun night, he had to admit! He kept on needling Alicia with personal questions, hoping to embarrass her, but to his surprise, she kept on answering! He felt his grudging respect for her continuing to grow. She might already be regretting the deal that she'd struck with him, but she was sticking to her word.
"What, are you having fun?" Alicia asked, gasping and holding one hand to her mouth in mock surprise. "Impossible!"
"Oh, come on. You've been having fun, too," Tanner replied, stretching his hands above his head. "I saw you grinning at some of those questions that you asked me. How in the world could knowing what kind of underwear I wear help you better understand me?"
"Just trying to get in your head, that's all," Alicia said merrily.
"My head? That wasn't the part that I thought you were trying to get into."
Laughing, Alicia smacked him lightly in the arm. "Here, let's get going. I need to get to bed at some point, you know, or I'm going to be absolutely useless tomorrow."
"Is that an invitation?" The words slipped out of Tanner's mouth, helped by the three scotches he'd ended up consuming, before he could consider the implication.
Alicia just laughed, but looking across the table at her, Tanner swore that he saw that flush creep momentarily back up into her cheeks. Maybe there really was something there, after all.
Tanner paid for dinner, over Alicia's brief objections, and then they headed out of the restaurant. The chill of DC's night air made Alicia shiver, and she leaned in against Tanner.
"Here," he said, pulling off his suit coat and draping it around her shoulders.
"You really don't need to-"
"Oh, just take it," he interrupted, smiling. "I dislike seeing a woman shiver, even if that woman happens to be my mortal enemy."
"Mortal enemy? I'm so honored," Alicia cracked, but she kept the jacket.
Fixer: A Bad Boy Romance Page 7