Page 29 of Hesi-Dating
"It’s a winery where they’ll have an outdoor wedding and then the reception."
"Sounds quaint. What do you need from me as your date? You need me to be a buttoned-up church princess or dressed as your girlfriend or decked out as your sex kitten?"
"You be you, I guess." I swallowed hard and added low, "My ex will be there."
"Ah. Do you want to make her jealous?"
"I guess. Yeah, maybe a bit, but it's a wedding."
"Got it. I won't wear anything slutty. How about I do church-worthy hot?"
"Okay." No clue what that meant. "It’s out in Escondido. Wedding is at 4. I have to be there a bit earlier since I'm the best man. I’ll pick you up at 2, if that works for you?"
"Hey, Seth?"
"Yeah."
"Thisisa large ask. You’re going to owe me big time for this. We’ll have fun. I promise. Just make sure you're ready to dance if they have decent music."
"I'll wear my dancing shoes." Damn if I wasn't grinning. This wedding might be tolerable with her there.
I stood on my desk. On tiptoes I barely reached the pencil on the ceiling.
"Hey, Sheriff. Whatcha doing up there?" a woman said from below. "Eww. Get away from me!"
Aw shit.
I hopped down, mad at myself for forgetting the mayor's team had phoned to say she might stop in this morning. Doubly pissed that I didn't get the pencil out of my ceiling. I grabbed Henry who was sniffing the mayor's feet. "Come here, bud."
"He drooled on my shoes. These are three-hundred-dollar heels."
"I'm sorry." I put on Henry's leash and loosely tied him to the other side of my desk. Her shoes didn't look harmed. "What's the mayor doing all the way up here?"
Sara Vaughn's semi-feral glare reminded me of the tabby cat I pulled out of a drain a few months ago who then went haywire on me. I still had scars on my arms. "I'm getting complaints about the traffic at the Renfro School. Several of my big donors have kids there. There's already been two wrecks last month from parents trying to get in or out at drop off in the morning."
That sounded like something one of her assistants could've dealt with via phone call to someone other than me. Why did this warrant an in-person visit? "I can put a deputy out there to direct traffic if I have someone free." I carefully controlled my tone since I wanted to snap an immediatehell noat her. Traffic-directing jobs were pure punishment for any of my guys. "You're the one with the power to ask the city council to have a stoplight approved for that intersection."
"That'd be great for you to put a guy on it every weekday morning and afternoon. Have someone call the school to figure it out." She sat on the edge of my desk, far too close to interpret it as a professional move. The action pulled up her pencil skirt to show off her skinny, toned thighs. Her perfume saturated my nostrils, something cloying and artificial. I kept my gaze above the chest, but I had a hard time looking at her face since she'd had so many cosmetic alterations over the past few years. I remembered when she didn't look like a cover model and had a more normal nose, not this symmetrical, slightly sloped thing. Had I ever been interested in her sexually? No. I'd been married and might've hidden behind that to avoid noticing the extra attention and little touches she gave me.
She leaned toward me. "I decided since we're both hot off our divorces, about the same age, and bogged down with the minutia of responsibility, we should have a fling."
What?
Hell, no.
Careful to keep my face blank, I said evenly, "I'm flattered, but I'm?—"
She scooted around to be fully on my side of the desk, giving me a view up her skirt to her lacy black underwear.
"When I say date, I mean fuck. I always wanted a taste of you and now that you’re free…" She scanned me like I was a steak she was about to cut into. "I don't have time to waste on the ridiculousness of dating. I'm also not looking for husband number three right now." She leaned forward and used a long, pink painted nail to trace down my chest. The woman was going straight south. "God, you look delicious. I'm going to have my assistant call you and let you know a night I'm free."
This could get tricky. If I made her angry, she'd make my life a living hell. I didn't want to get within ten miles of this woman's home or bed. Joley would say she was perfect for my rebound hookup, but I was pretty sure I didn't need the complications that'd come from this. The mayor was an opportunist who would use whatever happened between us as ammunition.
I scooted my chair backward to avoid her touching me below the belt. "I just started seeing someone."
"Is it serious? Couldn't be. You just signed divorce papers." She smiled in a know-it-all way that grated. "I'll send you dates." She hopped off my desk. "One of them will work."
ChapterEleven
