Page 49 of Last First Time
She turns to face me. “A bar? Man, that location is to die for. I’m so jealous right now.” She kicks at a little patch of gravel. “How do you know all that anyway?”
I wave my hand airily at the building. “Oh, I had to sign off on the liquor license.” I’m sure that my fake casual voice should have already tipped her off, but her mind is obviously elsewhere.
Then her eyes fix onto my face. “Reed, you’re the mayor. You don’t sign off on liquor licenses. You sign off on mayor stuff. Like laws or edicts or whatever.”
I feign surprise. “What? I definitely signed this one.” I pull the paperwork out of my inner jacket pocket and make a big show of looking it over. “Yes, that is definitely my signature.”
Kar narrows her eyes at me, and for a moment I think maybe I’m taking this whole thing a little too far. Time to distract her.
“Let’s go over there and see if the guys working there can tell us anything.” I pull her across the square toward the Lumbermill building, her steps dragging and tripping as we move.
She scowls at me, but doesn’t fight me, even as I walk us toward the door. “I’m pretty sure those people are working in there, Reed. They don’t have time for us to bother them.” She takes a deep breath as we stepped inside. “Oh, look at that bar set up. It’s so gorgeous.”
“Reclaimed wood from the lumber mill, actually.” I say. “The owner was very particular about keeping as much of the original materials as possible. Take a look at the ceiling.”
She squeezes me so hard that it hurts a little bit, but I understand. The tin ceiling is gorgeous, detailed and embossed with precision and craftsmanship that didn’t come cheap. “It’s incredible. Whoever is setting up shop here is definitely living the dream. Well, at least everyone will have somewhere to go when Riddles is closed.”
“What about Tots and Shots?” I tease. She gives me a baleful look, her lips flattening out.
“It’s still a decent business idea, Reed. I don’t know anyone who needs a drink as much as most moms do.” Then her perfect, tempting lips curl up into a smile. “I can’t help it that Jackass Jeffrey doesn’t share my immense vision for the future.”
“Fuck him,” I snarl.
“No thanks,” she responds, as bland as could be. I am definitely going to spank her later.
One of the contractors comes over to us then, grinning like he’d won the lottery. “Mr. Harrington, coming by to check on the work?”
“Kar, this is Wesley Zimmerman. He’s in charge of the crew here.” I shake his hand, then wait as he shakes hands with my girl.
“Beautiful work you’re doing here, Wesley. Whoever’s taking over the building sure is lucky.”
His eyes light up with a question, then flick to mine. I quickly shake my head at him, but Kar catches the movement out of the corner of her eye.
“Reed. Honey. What aren’t you telling me?” Her voice curls out in that dangerous sing-song that she only uses when she’s ready to burn something down. This isn’t exactly how I envisioned this conversation between us going.
“Hey Wes, do you mind if I show Kar the office for a bit? Maybe you guys can go grab a coffee.” I motion toward the door with my head.
The man has the nerve to laugh as I set about facing my impending death. “Yeah, good luck with that.” He whistles sharply, and the guys gather themselves and file out. A couple of them give me sympathetic looks as they head out the door.
Kar is absolutely bristling with fury now. I can see it crackling across her entire body like bolts of lightning.
“Now, Kar, if you kill me everyone is going to know who did it.” I put my hands up in front of me, palms toward her, as if that’s enough to hold her off.
“Reed, a jury of my peers is not going to convict me. Now start talking.”
“Let me at least show you the office.” I tug on her gently, trying not to provoke her further.
She crosses her arms, pressing her tits up and toward me. My dick stirs, but this is definitely not the right time. Kar and I still have a few important things to sort out first.
“Kar, please,” I try again. She lets me lead her toward the office in the back. Big windows line the entire wall highlighting a built-in bookcase, and even the giant, antique desk sitting smack dab in the middle of the room.
She raises one eyebrow at me, then starts tapping her foot.
“First of all, I’m going to drop out of the mayoral race, Kar. I have to after the kind of press I got. Even though people here know me, I think my current poll numbers are practically in the negative.”
She frowns, but then moves toward me and slides her tiny arms around me. “I’m so sorry, Reed. I know how much you’ve done for our town, and how good of a person you are. I feel so responsible for all of this.”
She shakes her head, her long hair streaming around her face. “I thought for sure that telling people we were engaged would be enough to save your hide, but—”
