Fixer: A Bad Boy Romance (5 page)

Tanner grinned. Just thinking about her big, heavy tits and that soft, wet mouth was giving him a chub! He could head home, hit the gym and pump some iron for an hour or so, and then grab a quick shower and let Candy into his own luxurious apartment. A bottle of wine, maybe cook her some dinner - girls ate that shit up. He'd have her naked and on all fours, moaning as he took her, before midnight.

Briefly, as he tucked away his computer and headed out of the cafe, he wondered whether Alicia was wild in bed. He likely wouldn't get that far with her, but he still allowed himself a moment of fantasy. Maybe all that repressed good girl attitude was hiding an absolute wildcat in the sack.

Wouldn't that be just his luck?

Chapter Five

*

A single glance around Alicia's new Washington, DC office the next morning revealed that Tanner's guess was right on the mark. The walls were still covered with unframed posters from her election campaign, many of them tacked up at haphazard angles as if put up by drunken staffers celebrating her recent win. Those staffers were probably all unaware, of course, that the relocation to Washington would end up putting most of them out of a job.

"A nice place," he said politely to the bespectacled little man in front of him, leading him through the office.

The man - George Duecent, he'd named himself - just shook his head, using one finger to push his glasses up as they started to slip down his nose. "We've worked out of worse," he muttered, not slowing as his little legs flew back and forth to move him along in a scurrying sort of motion.

Tanner turned sideways to slip through the narrow gap between two desks as he followed after Duecent. He'd spent almost an hour getting ready this morning, spending time considering every single choice in his outfit. He'd ended up going with his cheapest, most wrinkled suit, pairing it with an older white shirt that bore a couple faint hints of bleached-out coffee stains. Of course, Tanner had carefully sponged the coffee onto those locations before washing it away, but nobody else knew that, and the shirt and suit combination gave the impression of someone who considered his appearance, but didn't make it his highest priority. The knot on his blue tie was ever so slightly off-center, adding to the illusion.

Looking around, Tanner wondered if, even with these steps down from his typical wardrobe, he might still have come slightly overdressed. He didn't see another sportcoat in the entire office - Duecent wore slacks and a baggy white shirt with an obvious marinara stain on the collar - and several of the staffers were even dressed in jeans, for chrissake! Bunch of yokels, the lot of them.

A moment later, however, Tanner reminded himself that he shouldn't be thinking in such a fashion. He needed to sell himself as, if not one of these hayseeds, at least someone who could work with them, get along with them. So as he followed after Duecent, he peeled off his jacket and slung it over his shoulder to better reveal the coffee-stained shirt.

"And here we are," Duecent said, stopping at a door. "Senator Stone's office." He glared up at Tanner, a full foot shorter but scowling ferociously. Tanner had to shake off the illusion that a bulldog had managed to crawl into some formal clothes and now stood before him.

"Great, thank you," Tanner said. Duecent was one of those types who prided himself on his prickly, asshole attitude, he guessed. So instead of a smile or a handshake, he just gave a short little nod, flashing his teeth in more of a grimace than a smile. He wanted to convey the impression that offering up thanks was physically painful.

Duecent didn't smile, but his glare lessened slightly, which Tanner took as a good sign. "Head on in - she'll call me if she needs anything," he said, and turned away.

No offer of coffee, no warnings about Alicia's current mood, no introduction on his behalf. Duecent might prove to be a tough nut to crack. Tanner made a mental note to ask around about what the chief of staff might like, so he could bring him a present to crack the ice.

For the moment, however, he needed to focus instead on Alicia. Charming Alicia was most important; everything else was secondary. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly as he shook out his shoulders. He could still feel a comforting little residual burn in his muscles; the sign of a good workout the day before.

And then he turned the knob and stepped into Senator Alicia Stone's office.

Not bad, was his first thought as his eyes quickly took in the interior of the little room. And that went for the woman behind the desk, as well as the decorations.

Alicia's office was small, of course; junior Senators always received the worst accommodations. Unlike the outside rooms, however, Alicia had either brought in a designer, or taken the time and effort to make her new office feel a bit more comfortable. Dark cherry bookshelves lined one entire wall; running his eyes over the titles, Tanner observed that, along with books of law and history, Alicia also had some newer thrillers, biographies, and even a couple of romance titles among the older and dustier hardcovers! She'd rolled out a thick rug over the floor, and an oil painting of the Rocky Mountains, done in an Impressionist style, hung behind her chair. Some senators chose to cover their office walls in photographs of themselves, smiling and shaking hands with various important or famous people, but Tanner only saw a few small pictures on Alicia's walls - and he didn't recognize the faces of the men and women standing next to Alicia, smiling and shaking her hand.

After the quick sweep around the office, Tanner focused his eyes on the woman now rising up from behind her desk. "Hello there, Senator Stone," he said, putting on his carefully chosen smile (confident but not too haughty, interested and open, self-assured but not yet straying into arrogance). "It's good to meet you."

"And you too, Mr. Tanner," Alicia returned, accepting his handshake across the desk. She had a good grip, despite the delicate fingers, Tanner noted. It wasn't the politician's overly hearty handshake, however; it suggested interest, but also a slight detachment. "Mr. Perkins spoke highly of you."

"Thank you for taking the time to meet with me," Tanner replied, brushing off the compliment. "Indeed, I've been watching your campaign with some interest. You've done quite the exemplary job, so far."

"Oh?" Alicia asked, leaning forward a little as Tanner took a seat across from her desk. He crossed his legs but leaned forward; interested but not threatening.

"Yes, you've done an amazing job," he went on, doing his best to walk the line between too much praise and too little. "And I've also been quite interested in your platform - very audacious!" He chuckled, showing that he didn't mean this as a slight. "But although you've definitely got the fire, I suspect that you might be in need of someone with a bit more experience in navigating the Washington waters. Someone who can help clear the way to make accomplishing your big goals a little easier."

"And that someone is you, I'm guessing," Alicia commented, giving him a little smile.

He smiled back - easy, engaging, charming. "Well, I do have some experience in this area," he said, casting his eyes downward, not wanting to make his brag seem too obvious. "I've been around long enough to make plenty of connections, on both sides of the aisle. I think that, between your ambition and my experience, we could weave a very strong legacy."

There. Magic word deployed. Sure enough, he saw Alicia's eyes - blue-green eyes, quite enchanting - flash at the mention of a legacy. Democrats must have some genetic weakness to that word, he considered to himself.

"And what position do you see yourself in, exactly?" Alicia asked, pushing her chair back. She rose up and moved around from behind the desk, taking a seat on the chair next to Tanner.

Tanner found himself needing to focus quite hard to keep his eyes from darting to her legs. Alicia wore the typical blouse and pencil skirt, professional and uptight, but it was cut a little closer to her figure than the Washington standard, revealing a very nice pair of legs. He kept his eyes carefully up on her face, not giving away the slightest hint of his inner surge of lust. "Well, perhaps a senior advisor role," he replied easily. "I wouldn't want to presume to tell you how to structure your staff, but the closer we work together, the easier it will be for me to open doors for you."

"Working closely does sound like a good idea," Alicia murmured, leaning forward slightly towards him.

Not showing any sign of inner turmoil, Tanner hastily recalculated. She was coming onto him! Very subtle, but he could see her pupils dilating slightly, the way that she noted his broad shoulders, even disguised beneath the somewhat baggy and ill-fitting suit. Barely arrived in Washington and already searching for a sexual partner - perhaps Alicia Stone was adapting to the Washington culture faster than he'd anticipated!

Still, this was good news. He could use this - and indeed, it just advanced the timetable of his overall plan. This was just what he'd been hoping to see. The goal now would be to flirt back without being the first one to make a move. Alicia, despite her youth, seemed to want to lead.

"And where might it be best to focus first?" Alicia asked, those big blue-green eyes still locked on him. "In your personal opinion?"

Those eyes were surprisingly deep and distracting. To Tanner's own surprise, he had to focus quite hard to keep from getting lost in them. "Well, on your campaign for this seat, you discussed your education bill quite regularly," he said. "That might be a good place to start - although we'll want to move slowly at first, not rush ahead too quickly."

"What's wrong with rushing ahead? Sometimes it's best to just dive in," Alicia countered, a little smile darting about her lips. Tanner swallowed at the heat in her voice. She really wasn't holding back!

"Well, it's a very complex process, especially if you don't want it to go down in flames," he managed. "Need to get everyone on board. We don't want to be accused of anything... improper."

He lingered on that last word, seeing another little flare of Alicia's pupils. Yes, she definitely wanted him! He couldn't believe that things were going to be this easy. Then again, this was where he excelled. He, Keegan Tanner, was a master in the arena of seduction, and this poor young woman, new to the kind of deep politics played in Washington, didn't stand a chance against him.

He almost felt sorry for her.

"Improper," Alicia repeated, her voice deeper, huskier. God, that was a sexy voice. Tanner couldn't quite help himself any longer - his eyes dipped down briefly, noting that, as she leaned forward, her blouse gaped open slightly at the neckline. It wasn't enough to be improper, but he caught the slightest little glimpse of her breasts, soft and supple. Heat flared deep inside of him, surging down his spine and stiffening his cock inside his pants. "Is that truly what you want to avoid, Mr. Tanner?"

"Well, we don't want anything to get out in public," Tanner murmured back, mesmerized by this seductress, eagerly opening herself up to him. This was too easy!

"But in private..."

"Well, we do need to indulge in fantasies every now and then," he allowed. "After all, we all do fantasize about what we want to accomplish..." His words, technically, could still be proper, still be about the legal process - but heat flared in Alicia's eyes, and he knew that an answering flame was burning in his own.

She didn't say anything else, but leaned in a little closer. This was it! Tanner matched her, one of his hands rising up. Once their lips met, he'd cup her neck, draw her to him. Of course, he wouldn't fully take her, not here - but she'd hire him on, they could arrange a suitable off-site location to meet that evening, and he'd just arrive early to set up the cameras so that he could gather the blackmail material he needed...

So close to him, Alicia's lips parted. "I know what you want, Mr. Tanner," she whispered, and Tanner felt himself grow even harder, throbbing inside his pants.

"What is that?" he asked back, his gaze locked on hers, looking into those soft, limpid pools of greenish blue, filled with heat and desire and warmth-

-and then, like a door slamming shut, all the heat vanished from her eyes.

"I know, Mr. Tanner," Alicia repeated. She still whispered, but this time there was a new hardness to her voice, a lining of steel, sharp as a blade. "I know exactly what you want - and who you are."

Confusion shot through Tanner's head. This wasn't what she was supposed to say.

He started to draw back, but Alicia's hand shot out. She closed her fist on his tie, keeping him close. With a yank, the knot tightened uncomfortably on his neck.

"Oh, Mr. Tanner," Alicia said again, her voice no longer that seductive whisper, now hard as diamonds, edged with ice. "I asked about, found out all about you. What you do. Did you really think that I'd be so easy?"

Tanner opened his mouth, but for once in his life, he found himself speechless.

Somewhere, along the way, he'd made a horrible miscalculation.

And now, as Alicia glared at him, chilling him to the bone, he had a horrible feeling that, for the first time in his memory, he'd gotten himself in over his head...

Chapter Six

*

Alicia glared at the scumbag sitting in her office. His face no longer showed the brief flash of confusion - that had been quickly swept away; the man had excellent poker skills, at least - but he was definitely off balance.