Page 63 of Power Switch

And you know what? For the first time in my life, I'm okay with that.

16

Randi

The black SUV speeds down the drive, growing smaller and smaller with each passing second until it vanishes below the horizon. Fingers against my lips, I huff hot, humid air into my frozen hands, desperate to keep frostbite at bay. Even though the SUV is long gone, here I stand in the early morning frigid air, wishing I could've had one more day with Taeler.

“You okay?”

I turn toward the deep voice, my hair whipping across my face. Reaching up, I tuck the few dark locks behind my ear and hold on to the strands to keep them in place.

I quickly scan Sam, who stands just inside the large double doors, hands tucked into the pockets of his slacks. He looks good again. Of course he does. That's him. But do I feel that pull, the fire Taeler spoke of last night? Yes, I'd love to see him naked, but do I want to be naked with him?

Is that an odd question to ask?

“Not sure,” I say honestly, somehow answering both my internal ramblings and Sam’s actual question. Does that mean I get a triple-point score like in Scrabble? “I didn’t want her to leave, but I was desperate for her to go.”

“Conflicting,” he says with a small smile.

“Very.”

“Seems to be your life these days.”

I meet his knowing gaze and dip my chin in acknowledgment. “You have no idea.”

“You wear your emotions on your sleeve, Randi. It's not that hard to figure out.”

“Not the first time or the last, I suppose.”

“No wonder you never went the corporate or defense attorney route after school.”

I snort. “That among other things.”

“Yet you went the political path. Strange, if you ask me.”

The few agents and Sam follow me as I move through the front doors. Inside the house, dry warm air warps around my chilled body, slowly thawing my fingers and toes.

“We all do what we have to do,” I say with a shrug. “I've always wanted to help people, and what better way to do that than at a large scale. I have billions at my disposal, yet you say this role is a strange path.”

He trails me to the roaring gas fireplace. The heat stings my cold hands, but that's easier to ignore than his pulsing heat as he stands too close, also gazing into the flickering flames.

“Most people think what they see is what they get with me,” I say, not glancing away, allowing the dancing orange and red to pull me into a near hypnotic state. “In some ways, I guess that's true, but they don't know what drives me, what made me do all this. What makes me put up with all this.”

“And what's that?” he asks. The weight of his stare urges me to turn. Instead, I turn my cold ass to the fire.

“Her,” I say with a nod toward the front doors. “Them. Everyone who's been forgotten by the people in this town. I'm their voice, and I won't let anyone take that from me, from them, now that I'm here. You said you wanted to strategize.” A glance around shows us alone in the grand living room. “Let's do it.”

“Not here,” Sam says, bending down to whisper into my hair. “Walk with me.”

I shoot him an incredulous look before waving a hand down my black leggings, Uggs, and sweatshirt. “I'm not prepared for a hike.”

“I said a walk.”

“In the fucking cold? I don't think so.”

“It’ll be fun,” he says with a chuckle, amusement glittering in his green eyes.

“For snowmen and Eskimos maybe, but not this girl.”

---