His frustration spun me up. “I wasn’t the one who asked for this meeting, Mr. Mayor. You are. And last week you had a fit when I canceled a meeting at the last minute because Amelia wasn’t available.”
He drew a breath and nodded. “You’re right. I apologize.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded.
I took a seat across the desk from him, thankful for the large barrier between us. It was twice the size of the tiny table we sat at a week ago, and would be a much bigger divide to cross.
Not that I was going to. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I had to keep things professional.
“So, what updates do you have for me?” he asked after a minute of silence.
“None.”
“None?”
I shook my head. “Every contractor we’ve spoken to in the last week said they aren’t booking into the spring yet and to be in touch after the holidays. They have projects to finish up through the winter, and their schedules can be highly dependent on the weather, so everything is up in the air right now.”
“You’re telling me you have no new information. Amelia couldn’t be here. And you haven’t made any progress?”
I resisted the urge to growl at the man. How dare he question me? I wasn’t the one who wanted the meeting. I wasn’t the one who needed to micromanage everything. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you. I’d love to have more news, but we’re not doing anything at the site right now. Not with winter break next week. Amelia would be telling you the same thing if she were here right now, but she’s not because she’s working on stuff for break.”
“Two weeks,” he barked. “I want you back here in two weeks, and I want an update.”
“And then what? Are you going to give us more money?”
“We don’t have more money.”
“Then why do I have to be back here in two weeks? Why do I have to be back here at all? Are you like this with all your departments? Do you micromanage everyone? Do you make everyone answer to your unrealistic demands? How in the world do you get anything done if you’re meeting with every single town employee who has a project happening every two weeks?”
He rose from his seat, leaning toward me like he did the week before, but this time in a less than friendly way. “You’re untested. You’re getting a huge bonus with this gifted property. You have never run a project like this, and I don’t know if I can trust you to do what’s best for the town.”
I matched his stance, rising up from my seat and leaning forward. “You can’t trust me? Are you kidding me? No. That’s not the truth.”
“Then what is? If you know me so well?”
“You don’t like me, Mr. Mayor. You’ve made that clear. You have something against me. I don’t know what it is, but you’ve decided I’m the problem and that you don’t want me taking control of anything. You just want to shut me up and?—”
He kissed me. Holy crap, he kissed me.
His lips slammed against mine, a sharp inhale on his side saying it was as much of a shock to him as it was to me.
I should pull back. I should stop it. I should resist.
But I couldn’t.
My hands went to his shirt and pulled him closer. I parted my lips under his and licked his lips.
He growled and reached for me. His hands went into my hair, tilting my head to the side and devouring me like he’d been starving for me the same way I was starving for him.
My thighs hit his desk and reminded me we were in his office. I wanted to say I didn’t care, that kissing him made everything else disappear and not matter, but we were in his office.
Anyone could walk in and see us. Take another picture of us.
“Dammit,” I breathed, breaking our kiss and releasing him.
He let go of me immediately, his eyes remaining closed as he fisted his hands at his sides.