Page 55 of Courting Gossip (Courting)
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Brody stared out the sliding glass door to the back yard. The rain was still coming down in sheets. It smacked against the plate glass, trying to get to him, and rolled down the window when it failed. The outdoor fire pit sat cold, while the fire in the fireplace hissed and snapped. He could hear it cursing at him from halfway across the room.
He could be an ass; he knew it. He was paid to get results, not to be nice. It was a bad habit he’d let slip into his personal life, and Genieve had called him on it. But that was where he kept getting tripped up. Was this for the job? Or was it personal? He wasn’t sure he knew.
The girlfriend experience.
He drummed his knuckles against the window. He supposed that was about as close as you could get. He’d known what she did walking in – hell, he’d hired her – but he still wanted to pretend. He wanted to forget about her other clients.
Talk about a double standard.
He let out a long breath that fogged up the window. He’d thought that signing her to an exclusive contract would kill two birds with one stone, but it might have just made things worse. For someone who made money hiding the truth, he was dangerously close to exposing his.
He wanted her – had ever since the first night they’d met.
He still remembered that call. She’d asked him to come help her with Gunderson, and her voice alone had made him sit up and take notice. It had been all soft and smoky. He’d driven across town wondering who she was and what she looked like. He hadn’t been prepared when he’d found the pair at a Senate barbecue. Gunderson had been flat-out drunk, but Genieve had been right at his side propping him up, smiling and expertly hiding his intoxication from stuffy Senator Margulies. That man used anything he could against the opposing party, but he’d been close to voting with Gunderson on a bill that would create jobs.
Brody had known all that. He’d swiftly carted Gunderson away, but he’d been on autopilot. All his attention had been on the beauty who’d saved the night.Genieve. Who was the smart redhead with the bubbly laugh and banging body? And what was she doing with Gunderson? He’d quickly learned, and his head was still ringing from the punch that had been.
He looked at the time. She’d been shut in her room for way too long. ‘Hell.’
He needed to apologise.
He walked down the hallway, but stalled outside her bedroom door. He made himself knock. ‘Jenny?’
There was a long pause before she responded. ‘What?’
He opened the door. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed with his laptop in her lap. She pushed the headset off and let it drape around her neck.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
Her green eyes flared, but the stubborn set of her jaw loosened. She sighed and closed the laptop. ‘You’re forgiven.’
He hesitated on the threshold. He hadn’t expected it to be that easy. Deciding to go with it, he entered the room. ‘You missed lunch.’
‘I was mad at you.’
Andzing…She wasn’t totally over it. He supposed he deserved that. ‘Fair enough.’
He looked around the bedroom. She’d made her mark. Splashes of colour were here and there, from her perfume bottles to the picture on the wall. He looked closer. It was his signed poster from the Stones’ Voodoo Lounge tour. She’d framed it.
‘We’re going to have to add another stipulation to our agreement,’ she said. ‘No snide remarks about my job.’
‘All right.’ He walked around to the other side of the bed and sat down beside her. He stretched out his legs and kept an eye on his feet. ‘I just have a hard time with it.’
‘So you hired me, but you have a problem with that?’
He finally looked at her. ‘Yeah.’
Her green eyes got even bigger before she broke the look. Her hands seemed clumsy as she removed the headset and unplugged it. His brow furrowed. She seemed…unsettled. He’d never seen that in her before.
‘I know it’s contradictory.’
The corners of her lips twitched. ‘It’s OK. Really.’
He leaned back against the headboard. Outside, the clouds were heavy. They blocked the sun and were making for a dreary day, but things inside her room felt cosy. Intimate.
‘Did you finish everything you needed to do?’ he asked.
