“Yes.”
“What kind of question is that?”
“A legitimate one,” she said. “You’ve spent the past six months avoiding me. Why this sudden desire to take me to dinner?”
He blew out a ragged breath and ran both hands down his face. He glanced over at the house across the street, and then brought his eyes back to her.
“Here’s the thing,” he started, holding his hands up. “If I come right out and admit that it’s because I think you’re one of the hottest women I’ve ever met, it will make me sound shallow.”
Tamryn pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “That does come across as a bit shallow—”
“You see—”
“—but honest,” she continued. “I appreciate honesty.”
His gaze narrowed as he closed the car door and leaned against it. “You want honest?” he asked. “Because if you want me to be completely honest, I can admit that when it comes to you, this whole Southern gentleman thing is just an act. There is nothing even remotely gentlemanly that runs across my mind when I look at you.”
Her breath faltered as it crawled from her lungs. She coughed to clear away the desire that had lodged in her throat. “Well, I asked for honest, didn’t I?” Tamryn said.
Matt closed the distance between them. He reached down, captured her left hand, and trailed the fingers of his right hand down her cheek, letting them linger on her jaw.
“Just dinner,” he said. “We can start there.”
Tamryn shut her eyes tight against the powerful yearning that surged inside of her. Then she thought about the blows her career had already sustained after the last time she allowed her emotions to get in the way of her common sense.
“I can’t,” she said. She took a step back, then went around him and got into her rental car. She didn’t even chance looking at him out the driver’s-side window. She started the car and pulled away from the curb before she lost all ability to fight the lust that threatened to get her in a heap of trouble she didn’t need this summer.
Chapter 5
Matt’s knee bouncedin tandem with the nervous rhythm he struck on his desk with his pen. He eyed his phone, debating the wisdom of pressing the second button from the top.
Unable to fight the urge, he jabbed at the desk phone, buzzing Carmen’s extension.
“What about the tent company?” he asked. “They know we need two tents, right?”
“Look out your window. They’re erecting the first tent right now.”
He jumped out of his chair and rushed over to the window. Sure enough, a blue-and-white-striped canopy extended across a twenty-by-thirty-five-foot portion of Heritage Park. He noticed a stack of metal poles lying where the other tent was to be erected. A portable stage had been constructed earlier this morning, and was now being adorned with royal-blue-and-white silk bunting, the campaign colors Ben had chosen because blue represented power and integrity.
Matt returned to his desk, a small portion of his anxiety appeased now that things were falling into place. It had all become official early last week when he filed his statement of candidacy papers at the state capitol building in Baton Rouge, but it wasn’t until this morning—the day of his official campaign kickoff rally—that it had truly sunk in.
He was in this. There was no turning back now.
Today’s rally was just the start of what would be several weeks of intense campaigning, all leading up to a special election to fill the prematurely vacated District Twelve senate seat. The crowd at this evening’s rally would tell Matt a lot in terms of how much support he could expect from the citizens in and around this area.
He buzzed Carmen again. “What about the cotton candy and popcorn machines? The vendor knows he needs to be here at least an hour before the rally starts, right?” His question was met with silence. “Carmen?”
His office door swung open.
“Matt, get out of here right now,” Carmen yelled.
He put his hands up in surrender. “I’m just trying to make sure everything is in place.”
Carmen propped her hands on her hips. “When was the last time the electricity here was cut off, or the office supplies not delivered, or the bathroom out of toilet paper?” she snarled. “You don’t have to worry about any of that because I get all that done. That’s my job. Now get out of this office before you drive me crazy and I’m forced to kill you.”
Matt figured she was only half joking. “Fine,” he said, rising from behind his desk. “Maybe a walk will help me settle down.”
“Do not set foot in Heritage Park,” Carmen warned. “The people setting up over there don’t need you bugging them.”
