Page 30 of Where There's Smoke

I snorted. “Now that would be a sight.”

She shrugged. “I’m telling you…”

“Thank you, Ranya. Now it’ll be even harder to concentrate around him.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet it’ll be harder…”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re seriously twelve, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah. Isn’t that why you hired me? Since I’m about four years ahead of you on the maturity scale?”

“Touché.”

Ranya elbowed me playfully. “That’s what I thought.”

We kept bantering as we often did, but I couldn’t get the image out of my mind of Anthony with floating hearts over his head. Or at least, I couldn’t stop trying to conjure up that image. It wasn’t a thought easily reconciled with the Anthony I knew.

Gay or not, single or not, he was icy and abrasive. Sexy as all hell, but controlled as all hell too. I swore he gave off an impenetrable aura ofstay the fuck back. If anyone had little hearts floating around his head, it was me. Oh, if Anthony only knew how difficult it was to keep up my little charade with Simone when he was around.

Ranya tapped my arm with the back of her hand. “Hey.”

“Huh? What?”

She laughed, rolling her eyes. “My God. You are a space cadet today.”

I chuckled in spite of the warmth in my cheeks. “What can I say? I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

“Uh-huh. I’ll just bet you do.” Ranya winked.

More heat rushed into my face.

At least I wasn’t stressing about the debates.

Chapter 7

Anthony

Jesse nailed the debates.The other candidates had their strengths and weaknesses, but Jesse easily came out ahead. A businessman from Palo Alto gave him a run for his money on solutions for California’s economic issues, but Jesse was still a strong voice in that part of the debate. Then he promptly owned the businessman when it came to social reform and education.

The icing on the cake was Jesse’s proposed legislation for domestic abuse. We’d carefully kept that card up his sleeve until now, and he played it with a gambler’s precision, throwing it down and leaving the other candidates scrambling to find a reason to oppose it or give their own better solution. Surprise, surprise, after the debate concluded, informal polls on news sites showed Jesse with a substantial lead in the primary, and commentators speculated he had a much stronger than anticipated shot at not only securing the primary, but beating Casey.

After another week of appearances and interviews in the wake of the debate, we finally had an evening of downtime. Naturally we spent it going over speeches and campaign strategies. At least this time we were in Jesse’s living room instead of on a plane, in a car, or in a hotel room. This was the closest thing to relaxation either of us would get until the election was over, so I wasn’t about to complain.

As Jesse and I pored over speeches and calendars, Simone appeared in the doorway.

“You guys ever going to take a break?” she asked with a tired smile.

“A break?” Jesse said. “What’s that?”

She laughed. “Anthony, you’re not running him into the ground, are you?”

I wish.I coughed, then smiled. “No more than any campaign manager should.”

Jesse shielded his mouth with a piece of paper and, in a stage whisper, said to his wife, “Help. Me.”

She giggled. “You’re on your own. I, however, am going to call it a night. Don’t work too hard, boys.”

Jesse waved a hand toward me. “Tell that to him.”

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