Page 35 of Eye Candy

I opened my mouth to argue with her, but she continued, “I will not change my mind. I’ve spoken with your father, and he thinks it’s a wonderful idea. If you don’t believe me, call him and ask him yourself.”

The last thing I wanted to do right now was call my dad. As I stared at Tessa, I couldn’t help but feel the anger in me threatening to come out. Lashing out at her wasn’t a good idea, but it was difficult to swallow those feelings down and act like everything was okay.

She and my dad thought they could control me forever because he wanted more than the mayor’s seat? What was next? State senator, congress, the freaking white house? Please. As if my kidnapping and escape would garner him enough sympathy votes across the damned country to win any of that. Even if he had friends in high places, there was no way he could ever win any of those races.

Then again, I used to think the same thing about the mayor’s race back before I’d been kidnapped.

“I’ll be in my office when you’re ready to begin,” Tessa rattled off, turning on her heels and starting to saunter away. I stared daggers at her from behind, wanting to tell her off, wishing that one of her heels would snap off and she’d fall and hit her head.

Mayor’s wife falls into coma after terrible home accidentwould garner sympathy votes, too.

I didn’t go to get off the treadmill right away. It was only after Mike and Kieran returned that I let my shoulders slump and I stepped off the belt of the treadmill with a sigh. Kieran’s brown eyebrows had creased in concern, and the second he was by my side, he asked, “What did she want?”

A bitter chuckle left me as I turned to look into his black eyes. “You mean you don’t know what your sister wants from me? I find that hard to believe.” Kieran acted like he’d do anything for his sister; I doubted he was in the dark here.

“I don’t,” he spoke, his voice low. He glanced toward the hall, as if making sure Tessa was nowhere nearby before he went on, “Believe it or not, Laina, Tessa and I aren’t on great terms anymore. A lot changed when you were gone.”

I shook my head. No way in hell would I believe that. “Then why are you still here? Why not quit and get a different job working for someone else?”

The way Kieran looked at me made me think the answer should be obvious, but it wasn’t to me. It took him a while to whisper, “You. I’m still here for you.” The words were spoken so quietly, so intently, that I almost forgot we weren’t alone.

The look in his eyes was so intense that I had to look away. I ended up staring at Mike, who stood a few feet behind Kieran, his arms folded over his chest, a serious expression on his face. “She said my dad’s got big plans, beyond being mayor, that I need to act like a scared, traumatized girl to get him the sympathy vote. She scheduled a press conference tomorrow, and she’s waiting for me so we can go over what she wants me to say during it. Oh, and she wants me to get rid of the color in my hair.”

“Don’t.” The word wasn’t spoken by Kieran; it was Mike who’d said it, and it was so out of the blue for him that both Kieran and I had to stare at him after that, speechless. He added in a hushed tone, “If you want your hair like that, don’t let her force you out of it.”

“Well, aren’t you full of words today?” Kieran huffed. “No one likes hearing your voice, so why don’t you just do us all a favor and keep it zipped?”

“Actually,” I spoke, earning Kieran’s wrathful stare, “I like his voice. I wouldn’t mind hearing it more.” Lifting my right hand, I brought it to my hair. “I don’t want to change my hair,anyway. I’ve always done what my dad wanted. Always. I played the good girl for too long. I don’t want to be that girl anymore.” It was why I’d gotten my hair done to begin with; a fresh start, a new me.

And this new me wasn’t going to bow down to Tessa and do whatever she wanted just because she’d married my dad.

Kieran asked, “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to do what I have to do to get to that press conference, and then I’m going to say what I want to say.” Not what Tessa will tell me to say, not what my dad would want me to say. I couldn’t give a shit whether I lost him any future races. Politics in general could kiss my ass. “And, Kieran, I want you to stop being so rude to Mike.”

That got Kieran to blink and say, “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. You’re rude to him, and it’s getting old. If he’s going to be here for the foreseeable future, I want you on your best behavior.” I sounded a bit bossy, which was unlike me in every way.

Then again, I wanted to be different, and the best way to be different was to do and say things your old self would never. Telling Kieran how to act was definitely something the old me never would’ve dreamed of, let alone ordering him around so confidently.

Kieran gave me a smile. “Are you trying to tell me what to do?”

I took a step closer to him, lowering my voice, “I’m not trying, Kieran. I’m telling you to be nicer to him. If you’re not, well… I guess I’ll have to think up a story to tell my dad that’ll get you fired.” I let a pause in for dramatic effect. “And I’m pretty sure I remember an exchange you and I had a while back… with a few embellishments, well.” I didn’t need to elaborate further; Kieran knew what I was hinting at.

Kieran had teased me that day, when he’d taken off his clothes in front of me. He’d mentioned how bad it would be for someone to catch us in that position, that he’d no longer be able to be my guard.

Really, he’d given me the idea, so he couldn’t be too upset I was using it against him.

Mike’s expression had changed. He was glaring at the back of Kieran’s head now, his stubble-ridden jaw tense. He looked like he wanted to attack him, even though he had no idea what I was talking about.

After a while, Kieran let out a smirk. “Look at you, putting on the bossy pants. Making threats. Never thought I’d see the day.” His voice softened, “Fine, fine. I’ll be nicer to the lumberjack. For you, Laina.” Correction: he’d be nicer to Mike because he didn’t want to be somewhere else.

Kieran wanted to be with me. He was protective to the point of obsession. Really, I should’ve seen it before. That day when he’d stripped, he’d been testing the waters, testing me, wanting to see my reaction, hoping that my captivity hadn’t broken me completely… because he wanted me. He wanted me in a way a step-uncle shouldn’t.

Or maybe that was all in my head. Maybe I didn’t have Kieran pegged like I thought.

“Thank you,” I told him, and then I walked around him and Mike to leave the room.

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