In Bed With the Opposition (9 page)

Ethan checked himself. The damage was already done. No need to berate the poor man. Besides, Ethan wasn’t half as upset that the professor was already bungling his way through the campaign as he was about Grace. He’d intended to tell her—tonight. He’d planned such an expensive and romantic Christmas Eve that she’d have dressed herself up in a bow and let him unwrap her…and now she wouldn’t even answer his calls.

He had to resort to text messages, at which he was suddenly all thumbs.

Let’s talk. I can explain everything. -EC

No need to explain. I get it. -GS

At least she was still playfully signing her initials. That was a good sign, right?

I’ll be at your apartment to pick you up in 10 minutes. -EC

I don’t want you at my apartment and I’m not getting into a car with you.

Uh-oh. No more initials.

Then meet me at the restaurant where we can talk. I’ve got reservations. -EC

I’m not going to let you wine and dine me at some romantic restaurant where people might think we’re dating.

It took him almost half an hour of cajoling to get her to agree to meet him
anywhere
. She chose the diner, which he supposed was neutral ground, but not the place he’d intended to spend Christmas Eve. She took her time showing up, and he was so hungry after his flight, he ended up ordering a burger while he waited.

She finally arrived in smart high-heeled boots, which gave her the air of an urban street fighter, ready for the attack. And she marched across the tiled floor to Ethan’s booth as if she were at the head of a legion. That tight little jaw of hers, spine straight, a look of utter determination on her face, as if she’d let no one and nothing distract her from her mission. Truthfully, it was kind of sexy.

“Coffee,” Grace snapped at the waitress, throwing her coat into the seat.

She looked like she was ready to launch into a well-practiced diatribe, so Ethan held up his hands in surrender. “Look, Grace, I’m sorry you found out about Professor Kim’s candidacy the way you did. It wasn’t supposed to happen that way. I was going to tell you tonight.”

Grace wasn’t mollified. “You think I’m pissed off because you didn’t
tell me
about it? I’m mad that you’re
doing it!
You’ve been scoping out our campaign for months. How stupid was I to think you were actually in town
to see me
?”

Ethan’s own jaw tightened as he considered her words. “You seriously think I’ve been getting cozy with you to spy on Old Man Halloway? You know me better.”

She rearranged the salt and pepper so that they were lined up properly. He’d seen her do that before. Was it a tic? “You sound so sincere, Ethan. Probably just how John Smith sounded before he let Pocahontas be kidnapped and forced to shill for Big Tobacco.”

There was something so delightfully nutty about her that he almost laughed. “I don’t think that’s how it happened.”

Then she gave him a look frostier than the weather outside. “You told me you were going to work for McLanahan or Wagner. You told me you were torn.”

Half-finished with his burger, he took a stab at the coleslaw. “I
was
torn. I had no idea who I wanted to work for. I just couldn’t get excited about any of them. That’s never happened to me before. I even considered just sitting this one out and booking more gigs on television. So when I talked to Professor Kim—who doesn’t have a chance in hell of winning, as you know—I realized I had an opportunity to do something different. It wasn’t a planned thing and I’m not going to make a dime on it, so what’s the big deal?”

The Santa-hat-wearing waitress seemed to know better than to interrupt them. She slid a mug to Grace, who dumped fake sugar into it with such fury that coffee splashed the table. “The big deal is that now we’re enemies, Ethan.”

She said it like some Cold War spy who caught him trading in state secrets. “C’mon, Grace.”

“No, I mean it. I gave you a chance to work for Kip Halloway and you turned me down. Instead, you went to work for a guy who is trying to take out my boss. That means war!”

It was adorable the way she pointed at him with her coffee spoon. But it worried him that she was this upset. “Grace, it’s just politics. Friends work on opposing campaigns all the time. We’re grown-ups. We do our best, then shake hands when the game’s over.”

Grace slapped her spoon down. “It’s not a game to me. You work for a different politician every season, but
I’m
loyal.”

So, she didn’t just work for Senator Halloway, she obviously idolized the geezer. “I’d never ask you to be disloyal.”

Her lower lip quivered and for one horrifying moment, he thought she was going to cry. “Can’t you see that you’ve ruined everything? You’ve ruined Christmas Eve and I can’t go home with you for Christmas. I can’t even see you to the airport.”

“That’s crap,” Ethan said, and when she startled at his word choice, he said it again. “It’s
crap
. You want to be a professional in this business? Then act like one. This is just a primary. It’s not like I signed up to fight for the other side. Primaries can be friendly. Long before the general election, everybody holds hands. This will last a few months at most.”

He’d only said what was on his mind, but regretted making it sound like she was a naive, unreasonable kid. This was obviously deeply personal to Grace, a point she drove home with her next words. “A primary challenge is a statement that Senator Halloway is unfit. And I don’t know if I can be with someone who doesn’t know just how amazing he is.”

Ethan scowled thoughtfully, pushing his plate away. “I get it. You’re passionate about your guy. Your whole heart is in it. I admire that. I admire it a lot. But Halloway isn’t going to lose. We’re just going to have a polite debate.”

“You don’t do polite debates.”

He paused. “Fair point. Normally, I’d be chomping at the bit for a brawl. But not this time.”

Grace lifted an eyebrow. “So why’d you take this job?”

“For one thing, I like Professor Kim and I haven’t liked a candidate in a long time.”

“So take him to a Ravens game.”

Ethan found himself fiddling with his napkin. “You know why I really took the job. Do I have to say it?”

She blew on her coffee, making him wait. “Yes. I do need to hear you say it, because it makes no sense. Why did you take the job?”

“To be near you,” he said, his tone one of irritation. “You said I wasn’t the kind of guy to stick around so I’m proving you wrong. I told you I’d try to find a more permanent solution and I did.”

“Oh,” she said, her eyes dropping as her cheeks pinkened. She was quiet for a long time—a really uncomfortably long time—and then she said, “I don’t know if I believe you.”

“Well, I can see why you’d have your doubts. Not every woman has a TV heartthrob willing to go to insane lengths for her…”

His cocky attitude worked on her every time. The smile escaped her efforts to hide it. “How is this possibly going to work? How is this better than you flying back and forth? Now you’ll be in town, but we can’t actually date each other.”

“Why not?” Ethan said.

She looked at him like she thought he was an imbecile. “Don’t you think Dr. Dark Ages is going to be offended to know his whole campaign is part of a dating strategy?”

Ethan let his ego flash in his eyes. “He’s lucky to have me. It’s not his business who I’m dating and if it’s a problem, I’ll quit.”

Grace bit her lower lip. “It’s different for me. Senator Halloway isn’t just a client and I don’t think he’ll be okay with this.”

Everything was always so complicated with Grace. “It’s none of his business who you date, either.”

Grace didn’t seem so sure. “Maybe not, but I still have to tell him. He has a right to know if he’s being compromised by my relationship with you.”

“How would he be compromised? You’re not his campaign manager. Let Blain Halloway worry about the campaign. In fact, we don’t even have to
talk
about the campaign. If you need time to tell your boss, that’s fine, but don’t take forever. I know tonight got ruined. I can even grudgingly accept that you need to stay here for Christmas and settle things with your boss, but we’ve still got a date on New Year’s Eve, right?”

“Ethan, I don’t know about this…”

“We can make it work,” he assured her, reaching for her hand, which curled around her coffee cup in a fist. Slowly, he unwound each of her fingers into his palm and she let him. It soothed her, just as it used to.

“List three reasons it can work.”

“You need a
list
, Grace?”

“Almost always.”

“You’re just a little bit OCD, aren’t you?”

She grinned. “Just a little bit.”

Ethan started ticking off his reasons. “One, this can work because we’re professionals. Two, this can work because we’re highly motivated and smart. Three, because I want this, and I get what I want.”

“That’s five reasons,” Grace said.

That did it. He had to kiss that smart-assed mouth of hers. His hunger for her was starting to hurt. Leaning forward over the table, he grabbed her cheeks and planted one on her. “Listen, if you’re not impressed by a guy upending his whole life just to get a shot with you, you might just be a little too hard to please.”

“I’ll talk to the senator,” she promised. “If it’s all right with him, then it’s all right with me.”

Chapter Nine

As the driver parked under the golden arches, Grace groaned. Why couldn’t her boss wait for the New Year’s Eve party tonight where there would be something healthier on the menu? “Can’t we at least go through the drive-through, sir?”

“I can stand in line at a fast food joint like everyone else,” Senator Halloway pronounced. “I’m an everyday guy.”

“Sir, you’re a US senator. You’re
not
an everyday guy.”

There was no arguing with him. Especially not when she recognized reporters waiting in line. The senator recognized them, too. “Good to see you folks,” he said with a huge smile and meaty handshake for members of the press corps.

He really hammed it up, and Grace shook her head. He’d negotiated treaties to end genocide, launched programs to lift kids out of poverty, and written an award-winning book on economics, but given the chance, he still couldn’t resist glad-handing in a McDonald’s.

“Which number is the Whopper?” her boss asked.

“It’s Big Macs here, sir.”

Senator Halloway squinted. “Which number is that? I don’t have my glasses.”

“The Big Mac meal is number one,” Grace said.

“Since when?”

Grace shook her head. “Since always?”

Her boss took leathery hands and rubbed them on his cheeks in consternation. “Back in my day, we didn’t have these combo meals.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “I know, sir. Back in your day you had to steer your horse-drawn carriage through the drive-through if you wanted two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun.”

The senator laughed his big laugh and Grace steeled her courage. She’d waited until the last possible moment to tell him about Ethan and now was probably the right time. She was fairly certain he wouldn’t scream at her in the middle of a burger joint in front of reporters.

Hopefully.

“Senator, I need to tell you something a little personal.”

“I’m all ears,” he said, but then they moved ahead in line and the checkout girl prompted him for his order.

Grace smiled. “He wants the number one combo.”

Grace had no idea why the girl replied to her in Spanish. Maybe it was because she took in Grace’s Mexican-American complexion and dark hair. Or maybe the political gods were aligned against them. The only thing she knew was how bad it was going to be, even before the senator opened his mouth.

“This is the United States of America,” Kip Halloway announced. “If you want to work here, the least you can do is speak English.”

“I
do
speak English,” the girl replied, with only a trace of an accent.

“Then why don’t you respect your elders and use it!”

Grace winced at the senator’s rant. Didn’t he remember that there were reporters here? Didn’t he remember that there were
voters
here? No matter what anybody thought about making English the official language, everyone in the place looked startled and appalled that he was yelling at a poor cashier. But short of kicking him, there was no way Grace could stop her boss.

Yanking his money back, the senator snapped, “Grace, let’s go.”

“Sir—” Grace tried to stop him.

“I don’t know why you wanted to eat here anyway. There’ll be plenty of food at the party.”

Grace chased after him. For every step he made her run through the snow in her high-heeled boots, she wondered if he was really and truly
losing it!
He wasn’t really the xenophobic jackass he’d just made himself out to be, but she found herself strangely unsympathetic. “
Surly Senator Hurls Abuse at Minimum-Wage Latina Worker.
That’s what the headline is going to read tomorrow, you know.”

Her boss grumbled, then pointedly changed the subject. “So what did you want to tell me? Something personal, you said.”

What a time for him to have a crystal-clear memory. The last thing Grace wanted was to tell him about Ethan when he was in a foul mood, but now she was trapped. And at the moment she was so annoyed she wasn’t sure she cared what the senator thought about it. She realized, to her surprise, that she wasn’t really asking permission, either. “I’m dating Ethan Castle.”

She waited for the explosion, but it never came.

Instead, the old man’s eyes brightened with delight. “Gracie Girl, you sly fox.”

Sly was not an adjective that had ever been attributed to her before, so Grace had to wonder if her boss was having yet another Senior Moment. “You remember that Ethan is managing Professor Kim’s campaign, right?”

He barked, “I’m not senile! I underestimated you, Grace. It’s
brilliant
. Who knows what he’ll let slip to you about the campaign?”

Grace wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or mortally wounded by the implication that she was that mercenary. “We probably won’t even talk about the campaign.”

He slapped his knee in obvious delight. “He won’t be able to help it. And something always slips, and when it does, we can use it and grind Dr. Dark Ages into the dust.”

The senator had always dismissed Dr. Dark Ages as a kook, but now that Ethan was on the campaign, everyone took him more seriously. Grace swallowed with some difficulty. “What if I’m the one who lets something slip?”

He waved it off. “Never. You’re too smart for him. Besides, you’re out of the loop.”

That much was true. Her daily job was on the Hill, not in the campaign office, which meant that she didn’t know anything important. That gave her some small comfort. “Blain might not share your rosy assessment.”

“Blain will see the advantage. I always thought you were bright, Grace, even when you were a little girl. I just didn’t think you had the killer instinct, but maybe you
do
have what it takes.”

Grace realized that she was gawking like a fish, and tried to rearrange her face into a more dignified expression. “So, you’re okay with my dating Ethan?”

“Of course!”

In some demented way, she was touched by the senator’s faith in her. It had apparently never crossed his mind to question her loyalty or worry that Ethan Castle might be using her. And if the senator approved of her dating Ethan, she didn’t want to say anything to change his mind.

…

New Year’s Eve was definitely a sexy holiday. Normally Grace wore a black velvet dress with drop pearls like the senator’s wife used to wear when she was alive. But tonight she didn’t want to wear pearls or black or navy. She didn’t even want to go respectably wild with a little gray pinstripe. For this party—and this guy—nothing less than a strapless matte satin dress in red would do.

Fobbing the senator off on an intern, Grace checked her coat, swiped a few peppermint candies in the lobby, and then went to find her New Year’s Eve date. Ethan was by the bar surrounded by a gaggle of girls who could scarcely disguise their open adoration.

To Grace’s consternation, Ethan looked every bit the television star that he was, and seemed to welcome the flirting and fawning. She nabbed some wine off a passing tray to calm her nerves and told herself not to be jealous. These girls couldn’t help themselves. Ethan was a rising star. He was as close to a celebrity as you could be in politics. Any of those girls would want him, and from the expressions on their faces, they all did. One girl even kept doing the flirtatious hair flip. Grace knew that one—that was the blogger, PolitiGal.

But while Grace dithered like a teenager at prom, Ethan broke away and headed her way. “Ms. Santiago,” he said, sweeping her a mock bow.

Taking a sip from her wineglass, Grace tried to feign sophisticated indifference. “Are you done flirting with girls for the night?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I just got started. Are you done babysitting Senator Halloway?”

She glanced over her shoulder and saw that her boss was surrounded by friends and colleagues. Then she reminded herself that she wasn’t on duty tonight. “Yep. I’m all yours.”

“I like the sound of that.”

Oh, Holy Mary, Mother of God
, she wanted to be his. Badly. Swallowing nervously, she said, “So, here we are.”

Ethan took her hand into his, which was warm and strong. “Our first public and
official
date. Shall we dance?”

Grace felt self-conscious under the bitchy gaze of PolitiGal, but Ethan whirled her into his arms and onto the dance floor.

Laughing, she said, “I thought most men hated to dance.”

“Because most men suck at it,” Ethan replied, guiding her with a hand on her shoulder. His movements were smooth, loose, and modern. At ease with the funky beat, Ethan clasped Grace against him, catching her by the hips in a slightly intimate grind that made her forget there was anyone else on the dance floor.

Eventually the music changed and it was all close dancing. Here, Ethan was even lighter on his feet. God, was this for real? It was hard to believe that she was being twirled and guided on a dance floor by the sexiest guy in the room. Maybe the sexiest guy on the planet. “Seriously, Fred Astaire? You know ballroom dancing?”

Ethan led her easily through the steps, his hand at the small of her back, resting there possessively. “I have six older siblings and I’ve been a groomsman at all their weddings. Learning to dance was a matter of survival.”

“Did you forget a sibling? I thought you said you were the youngest of eight,” Grace replied, gliding across the floor in a way that made her dress sweep elegantly—which thrilled her.

“I don’t want to talk about me,” Ethan said, holding her close. “I want to talk about you…and how much I’ve been looking forward to tonight.”

Her heart thumped in her chest and she hid her delight by pressing her cheek to his jacket. Her head fit perfectly against his shoulder. This was like a fairy tale…which probably meant something was about to go horribly wrong.

After they were done dancing, she was still nervous, so she drank
another
glass of wine. Which might have been her mistake in terms of playing it cool.

She and Ethan ended up making sampler plates of the hors d’oeuvres and battling it out to see which of them had the most politically incorrect appetizer. “This delicious caviar is from overfished waters. Take that, Little Miss Environmental expert. I win.”

Grace scrunched her nose to avoid being fed salty fish eggs on a cucumber. “No way, I win. The foie gras is from force-fed ducks!”

“Hippie.” Ethan snapped the foie gras cracker from her fingers and gulped it down.

Grace giggled.

Oops.

She was a grown woman, and grown women didn’t giggle. Unless they’d had too much wine. But truthfully, she felt drunk on being with him. They left the hotel atrium together for a quiet corridor with thick Oriental carpets, and then, at last, for a heady moment, they were alone. Ethan’s eyes swept over her and he made an appreciative growl. “You look amazing in that dress.”

She did, didn’t she? It bared her shoulders and neck and made her feel a little vampy. Or maybe it was because she was outrageously drunk. Or maybe it was just
him
making her feel that way.

Ethan let out a long sigh. “Unfortunately, your dress gives me some serious regrets.”

Grace leaned back against the wall, bracing herself for bad news. “Like what?”

He brushed her bare shoulder, leaning in closer. “Like the fact that when we first hooked up we were always in such a hurry that I’ve never seen you
completely
naked.”

That comment, the wine, the dazzling chandelier light overhead, and his scent all made her dizzy. “Well then, we certainly have something to look forward to in the New Year.”

…

What was it about this woman? They were in a hotel with more than two hundred rooms, but Ethan felt like he would burst into spontaneous flames if he didn’t touch her
right now
. Which meant that the abandoned coat-check room would have to do.

Pressing Grace back against someone’s mink shawl, he forced her to whimper into his kiss. Surely she knew what he wanted, and if the look in her eye was any indication, she wanted it, too. Her skin was on fire, flushed, her eyes wide with desire.

But she also seemed nervous as a cat. “Ethan, wait…no, what if someone needs their coat?”

“Event doesn’t end till one,” Ethan murmured, banging his head on the metal coat bar as he kissed her neck. The way the sensual red of her dress complemented her bronzed skin was making him crazy. “I want you to be mine tonight, Grace.
Mine
.”

Grace fell against him, rattling all the hangers. “Ethan,
no!
”

Ethan froze. “
No
?”

She gave him a heated glare, halfway between lust and anger. “Oh God, it’s just…why do you
always
want to do this in
public
?”

“We’re not in public. Not exactly. Besides, it’s a rush.” The danger that someone could discover them was part of what made it so hot; he was sure that she felt it, too. “And because you like it. You like it a lot.”

She went kittenish, her eyes dropping. “Ethan…”

Whatever she was going to say, he stopped her with a kiss. She smelled like peppermint and tasted like it, too. She threw back her head, and he kissed the base of her throat where her heartbeat throbbed in time with his own. Holding her by the nape of the neck with one hand, he cupped her breast with the other. She moaned when he touched her, a deeply intimate sound that vibrated through his whole body. Then she arched toward him for more, pressing her hips forward in obvious need, and he reacted in kind.

He slid a hand underneath her dress and came into contact with the lace band of a thigh-high stocking. It made him so hard it hurt. “I want you,” he said, sliding his hand up into her panties, finding her soaking wet underneath. He fingered her, slipping his thumb back and forth in the slickness of her arousal. “Right now.”

From elsewhere in the hotel, he could hear the crowd shouting out the New Year’s Eve countdown, and he wanted to be inside her before they finished. He unzipped, swiftly reaching for a condom and tearing the wrapper open with his teeth.

The sound startled her; maybe it broke her concentration because her fingernails suddenly dug into his shoulders through his tuxedo and the anxiety in her expression didn’t look like excitement anymore.