Stilettos & Scoundrels (14 page)

“I drove down here from the city to interview the Sen
ator and I have a deadline,” I
repeated slowly so he would be sure to understand. “I’m not leaving here without my interview. Where is Tobey? He is the one who set this up.”

“Wait a minute,” he said patiently and held h
is hands up as if to ward of my
anger. “I can see you haven’t changed much. You are still the same headstrong, opinionated person. I’m sorry to disappoint you, King, but there is no wa
y you are getting in to see the Senator today. Maybe tomorrow, call Tobey later and see
,
but Senator Daniels is not taking any more appointments today.”

I
was mad at the situation, really mad at
Cooper
, and downright pissed
that I
was having a hard time focusing on the problem when
I
just wanted to stare at
Cooper
.

“
I don’t think you understand,”
I
said saucily. “I am not leaving here without talking to the Senator. Don’t think for a minute you can make me. And don’t call me King,”
I
added.
I
hated that
I
found
my
self pleased
that
he remembered it after all these years.
I
had
told him the family nickname and how much
I
hated it during
our
night together. Amazed he remembered, he went up a few notches in
my
eyes, which gave
me
mixed feelings.

“The explanation is that he is not seeing anyone. I have made that decision
,
and I am sorry if it
upsets you,”
Cooper
said. “You will have to reschedule
.
”
I
looked intently at him. He still had the casual arrogance he
had
in his youth
and I found it
just as attractive
now as it had been
the
n and p
robably more since
I
knew
what kind of men were out there. He exuded more confidence now as an adult and the whole effect was unsettling to say the least.
Jerk
.

As they stood there glaring at each other (well,
I
was glaring and he
was just amused
), the Senator walked out of the adjoining office and
began
to pass right by
.
Here was
my
chanc
e.
Screw it,
I
was talking to the Senator whether
Cooper
liked it or not.

“Senator Daniels, excuse me for a second
.
”
I
strode away from
Cooper
to where the Senator ha
d
stopped. He looked at
me
. Annoyance was quickly replaced
by
a plastered
political smile, as he looked me
up and down.

“What can I help you with, sweetheart?” the Senator asked in a tone that was a bit creepy, while shaking
my
hand. The Senator was a handsome man, if you liked the aging
-
pretty-boy look, although to his credit, he was aging well. He was dressed in a conservative grey suit, plain shirt
,
and a splash of color with a lime green tie. His suit looked expensive, and considering his wife
came
from money,
I’m
sure it was.

“We were scheduled for a three o’clock interview
,
but he,”
I
said
, giving
Cooper
a dirty look whe
re
the senator couldn’t see, “said you had to cancel. Surely, you have a few minutes to spare. I promise I won’t take up too much of your time. This is really important to me
,
and I am sure your constituents would love to hear from you
.
”
I
t was not
my
norm to suck up
,
but in this case,
I
figured it would get
me what I
wanted the quickest way possible. The Senator seemed like someone who would easily succumb to flattery.

“Well, I did have something come up, but I can take a few minutes for a pretty little thing like you.”

Had he never heard of sexual harassment?
I
hadn’t yet figured out if the rumors were true about him being egotistical, but he sure was a chauvinist, and it didn’t seem like him being a womanizer w
ould be a stretch
.
I
hated these types of men and could see why he wasn’t exactly Dirt’s favorite person
, but I
had a job to do and
I needed to b
e objective
—
w
ell
,
as objective as possible.

“But sir,”
Cooper
started to say.
I
could tell he wasn’t too happy with
me
. Obviously,
I
was interfering with his plans
, but I
was completely distracted by his two adorable frown lines. “
…
as we discussed earlier…”

Senator Daniels waved him away and motioned for
me
to follow him back into his office. “You know
,
I’m not so sure that was something to be worried about. We can discuss it later when I am done with the little lady.”

“Fine,”
Cooper
said, glaring at
me
. If he meant to intimidate
me
, it didn’t work.
I
thought it made him look cute
—
maybe even be a bit turned on. He was damn hot.
I
started wonder
ing
how
I
might work it out to see him again. He was definitely someone who could make
me
completely forget about Rick.

I
heard a buzzing sound from the Senator’s pocket. Reaching in and pulling out his phone, he looked
at the number and then up at me
before answering.

“Excuse me a minute,
s
weetheart. I need to take this. Just have a seat,” he said, again plastering on the obviously fake smile. Did anyone ever think he was sincere? He motioned to the chairs outside his temporary office. He walk
ed into the inner office, so I
took the chance to look around. Taking in the
surroundings, I
heard
Senator Daniels
raise his voice.
The phone call must not be going well.
The door was thin
and a bit ajar and
these offices
were
not as lavishly decorated as the main entrance,
so I
could hear
his side of the conversation
pretty cl
early, especially after I
s
cooted the chair as close as I
could to the door without it being that obvious.

“I told you to stop calling me, Peter. You’ll get your money. Don’t you always get your money? Calling me here is not appropriate
,
”
he
said in a
loud whisper. I strained me
ears to listen
,
and there was just a long pause. “You wouldn’t dare, you bastard. If you did, I’d be ruined
,
and you wouldn’t be able to get your favors. Don’t forget how much I do for you.” Senator
Daniels
tried to sound authoritative
,
but
I
could tell the caller made him a little nervous.

There was another long pause
,
and
I
craned
my
neck as far as it would go to hear, almost falling out of
my
seat.
I
was, and always had been, a shameless eavesdropper.
I
found other people’s conversations fascinating, and if they talked loud enough for
me
to overhear, well, that was their own problem. He should have shut the door if he didn’t want
me
to listen.

“I don’t care. Just leave me alone,” he said with exaggerated forcefulness
, and I
heard him snap the phone shut.
I
definitely wanted to know what that had been about.
My wild imagination began cranking through the
possibilities, when he walked back out and motioned
me
to come inside. He was visibly shaken, but quickly gained control of himself.
The caller had
upset him, that’s for sure.

“Is everything all right
,
Senator
Daniels
?”
I
asked. “Can I get you some water or something?”

“No, no
,
I’m fine,” he said, waving his hands as if to wave away
my
concerns.
He fidgeted with his tie.
How much had she overheard? It probably didn’t matter; she wouldn’t know what he was talking about anyway. Damn that Peter for calling him at work. It was starting to feel like the walls were closing in. How did he get so far in? He had to turn this around. He knew he could.
Turning his attention back to the pretty young thing in front of him, he said,
“Just the ugly side of politics. Sometimes you just have to remind people
that
it takes time to move things on Capitol Hill
.
”
H
e forced out a laugh.

I
hadn’t been able to hear everything he said, but
I doubted
that call was all about politics
, but
I
could be wrong.
Either way, I knew he wouldn’t
share the details of his call
with me
.

Tom Daniels
quickly moved past the call and on to answering
my
questions. They had been talking for about twenty minutes and
, to my surprise,
were actually having a decent conversation.
Tom
was very articulate and smart. Despite some of his less attractive qualities, he did seem passionate about what he wanted to accomplish. Then the door opened
,
and Tobey Stone came in glaring at
me
.
I
assumed
he’d heard about how I had forced my way past Cooper
.

“I hate to interrupt
,
sir, but you have a call from Senator Prescott. He says it’s urgent.”

“Ok
ay
. Tell him I’ll be there in a minute.
This has been a delightful conversation
,
s
weetheart, but I am afraid we will have to continue this another time. Please call Tobey
,
and he will see when he can fit you on my schedule
,
maybe later this week.”

“You know, Senator, I think I have enough to go on. If I need more
later,
then I’ll call you.”

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t mind talking
with you again.” He leered at me. Twice I had pushed his hand off my leg. What was it about my
legs that men just couldn’t stop touching?
S
h
ould I
be flattered
?
He may be a good conversationalist, but he was also a letch.

“I’m sure. But thank you for your time.”

“Got to run
, s
weetheart,
work beckons.” He winked at me
and rushed out of the room.

I
turned to Tobey to say something
,
a
nd he recognized the look on my
face.
Tobey felt a familiar discomfort in the pit of his stomach. He
had this feeling
every time the Senator was around a
woman. Tom was a good guy, most of the time, but when he was around an attractive woman, all his common sense went out the window.
“I apologize for the Senator,” Tobey said sheepishly. “He doesn’t mean any harm by his actions. He is just a friendly guy.” Friendly was an understatement
, but Tobey tried to be subtle when he had to have these conversations. It was typically an effective form of
damage control.
Tom had thus far escaped any sexual harassment suit, though Tobey lived in fear of that very thing happening.
“I know you didn’t get as much time as you wanted, but the Senator is a busy man,” Tobey said apologetically
, nervously
fiddling with the buttons on his blue suit
.
After these encounters, he would have an upset stomach for days while he waited to see if any of the women would make trouble for Tom.