Lexi nods but looks utterly perplexed. This isn’t something I would have said yesterday. I thought then that my very life depended on winning this Senate seat. But then I conclusively lost a debate. And I survived. I did more than survive, actually. I let myself feel something other than defeated. Jude helped me remember there’s life outside this race.
“Let’s get doughnuts,” I suggest.
Lexi glances down at her watch.
“We’ll be late meeting Tom if we stop.”
I smile. “Even better. Doughnuts it is.”
Roy somehow manages to park our giant bus in front of a small bakery in downtown Chicago. After we’ve stocked up on doughnuts and coffee, everyone’s spirits are higher.
Tom is waiting in front of the Palmer House when we pull in front of the hotel. His black hair is starting to gray at the temples, but other than that, he looks the same. I take a deep breath and square my shoulders before I walk off the bus to greet him.
“Reagan,” he says, his gaze sliding down my body. “It’s been a long time.”
Not long enough.
“Are you ready?” I ask.
“What, no hug?”
I give him a fake smile. “No hug. I assume you need help with your bags? You are getting on in years.”
He narrows his eyes. “I’m only forty-three, Reagan. I’m going to have the bellhop load my bags on the bus because this is an expensive suit and it’s hot outside.”
He turns to board the bus, and I step in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. “Listen, you need to keep this completely professional, okay?”
Tom’s smirk, which I found charming seven years ago, now just makes him look like the asshole he really is. “Already having impure thoughts about me?” he says in a low tone.
I roll my eyes. “Absolutely not. I made a mistake once, and I own it. But never again.”
“As I recall, it was three times. Once in my hotel room, once on the elevator—”
“Stop,” I say, my cheeks burning. “Either forget about the past and be a professional or don’t even step on this bus.”
“Well, well, well. Tough girl now that you’re all of thirty?”
I cross my arms. “It’s your decision.”
“Your father never mentioned these terms.”
I hold his gaze, which no longer intimidates me like it used to. Jude would tell this asshole to fuck off, and knowing that gives me the courage to do it, too.
“What’s it gonna be, Tom?” I ask impatiently. “My coffee’s getting cold.”
“Professional, of course,” he says smoothly. “We have a lot of work to do, from the looks of things.”
“I suppose we do.”
“So let’s get started.” He waves a hand toward the bus door. “Ladies first.”
I nod and climb the stairs to the bus, the brush of his fingers across my ass making me tense.
Fucking asshole. I pretend I didn’t even notice because it’s not like I can call him on it in front of my staff. Once the introductions are made, I sit down next to Lexi, making sure I’m in a spot with no room on my other side.
So now, in addition to my Senate race against a tough opponent, I also have to fend off Tom’s advances. It wasn’t so easy when I was a young virgin basking in the attention of an older man. I hate that Tom was my first. I thought I meant something to him back then, but I was just one of many.
My phone buzzes with a text, and I look down at the screen.
