Page 72 of The Mayor and the Mystery Man

Even though it was really, really this-can’t-be-good-for-my-lower-back hard.

Er, difficult.

“Go kick some Buchanan ass tonight,” Dusty said. “I’ll be watching.”

“You’re my good luck charm.”

“I haven’t done anything except provide you with an alibi.” He shrugged off the statement, hands digging into his pockets.

“An alibi? We weren’t arrested. Though, I guess that is true in a way.”

“I saved you from the spiral of your online hookups.”

“You did save me.” I gulped back a lump of horniness that always formed when it was the two of us.

Dusty closed the gap between us and planted a kiss on my cheek. “For good luck.”

But that wasn’t enough. By his tie, I pulled him to my mouth for a kiss I felt in my bones. His hands rested on my hips and pulled me closer.

I felt hazy and dizzy when I stepped back. Had I not cut it off, I would’ve taken him in my dressing room. Or tried to.

Breath came back to my lungs. “It’s showtime.”

* * *

I’d been involvedin many debates in my career, and they all had the same out-of-body quality. Time stopped. I left myself as my brain and mouth worked on auto-pilot to some extent. But I was in the zone, a state of flow as I lobbed and deflected points with Rita. She, to her credit, was bringing her A-game, throwing jabs as hard as I was. Knowing her family, her debate prep team was the best money could buy. The bump she was planning for with The English Patients never materialized.

Oops. My bad.

When the moderator brought up what to do about public park space, things turned even more contentious.

“What Councilwoman Buchanan proposes is taking our beautiful riverfront, where we’ve taken our families for birthday parties and beach days, and handing it over to a wealthy, select few who can pay her family the most money.”

“Mayor McCaslin is unsurprisingly out of the loop of what’s going on in his own town.”

“Spoken by someone who voted in absentia for half of last year’s city council meetings.”

“There are several companies who have expressed interest in bringing value to Sourwood, which will make our town more inclusive, not to mention making all of our property values skyrocket.”

“Bringing value to who? Your shareholders? Sourwood needs to be careful with who we get in bed with, professionally speaking.” The crowd chuckled, more of a tension release valve.

“I could say the same for you,” Rita shot back.

“What?” Panic rose in my chest. “What does that mean?”

“It means you brought an aggressive, violent man into our town.”

“Dusty?” I asked with a laugh. A big one. “We’ve all met Dusty. He’s a sweetheart.”

“Is he? Dusty was fired from his position on the showOcean Cityfor beating up one of the cast members. Adam, the bad boy.”

“That’s…” Technically, that was true. I wasn’t good with outright lies. “That’s—what—Dusty isn’t the one running for mayor.”

The audience murmured amongst themselves. Scandal plus celebrity was like the lifeblood of gossip. I willed myself not to react, not to let her have that. Dusty slunk down in his seat in the front row, hanging his head. He wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“If he can’t control himself among co-workers, what will he do to residents of Sourwood who dare disagree with him? Is this who you want to associate with, Mayor McCaslin? Violent men who can’t hold down a job?”

I shook my head at my opponent, anger like liquid nitrogen scorching my veins. “I’m not going to deflect from the real issues impacting Sourwood to rehash Hollywood gossip. Whatever you heard may or may not have happened, I can assure you that the man I have known for twenty-four years, the man I love, is a good man. A kind man.”

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