Snoops in the City (A Romantic Comedy) (22 page)

"This is the bid from Palmer Construction," Lorelei told her. "You'll notice I'm submitting it a full two hours before the deadline."

The woman’s smile turned into a puzzled frown. "I did notice that.”

"Make a note of it," Lorelei said and went back the way she'd come.

Take that, Grady. And Wade, too, for that matter. He'd doubted she could help put his girls to sleep for the night. As though that took a rocket scientist, which she could become if she wanted.

She had the strength of will to get anything she desired. That's why she'd come to City Hall this morning in the first place.

She'd left Wade alone for more than twenty-four hours, which should be plenty of time for him to build up a craving for her. She certainly had one for him.

Damn the man for being late. She'd managed to get to work before ten. Why hadn't he?

She rounded the corner, her eyes downcast as she indulged in atypical brooding. The thud-thud-thud of rapid footsteps caused her to lift her chin.

Wade Morrison almost plowed straight into her. He put out an arm to steady her. Just like that, her bad mood evaporated.

Yeah, her shoulder was the only body part that he touched. But that was a start.

"Lorelei," he said in obvious surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Cute didn't begin to describe how he looked. True, his navy pants and unimaginative powder-blue shirt were pretty awful. And, yes, his shirt tail wasn't all the way tucked in. Not to mention his boring navy tie was askew and his hair had that just-out-of-bed quality. But she'd developed a thing for the rumpled look.

"I dropped off a bid, because I wanted an excuse to run into you.” She smoothed her palms over his surprisingly wide shoulders. "Since we kissed, you're all I think about."

He blinked rapidly a few times, then quickly looked around. "Stop that, Lorelei. Anybody could walk by and see us."

He sounded flustered, which was so cute Lorelei could hardly stand it. A muscle jumped in his jaw, and he had a faint smear of something blue on his chin. She wet her thumb and rubbed it off.

"You're right," she told him, drawing back and snagging his hand. "We need someplace more private."

She spied a closed door. Pushing it open with one hand, she tugged on Wade's hand with the other. Within seconds, they were alone.

Wade cleared his throat. "This is the ladies' room."

"I know that, silly. Is there a better place to do something you don't want anyone else to see?"

She came flush against him, stood on tiptoes and tilted back her head only to get a view of his chin. Having none of that, she reached up to loop her arms around his neck and pull his head down.

She sensed resistance in every muscle. She kissed his lips anyway, only to find them tightly closed.

Ah, a challenge.

She was up to it, wrapping her arms around his neck so that the softness of her body plastered against the hardness of his. She pressed open-mouthed kisses the length of his full mouth, thinking his lips were almost sinfully soft.

Long seconds passed before he groaned in the back of his throat and opened his mouth to permit her tongue entrance. One hand held her head and the other cupped her bottom as he drew her closer and took over the kiss.

Bliss. That's what he tasted like underneath the minty tang of his toothpaste. She figured she better get used to the taste. He was so anal he'd probably slip out of bed to brush his teeth before morning sex.

She wouldn't mind as long as she was the woman in his bed. She'd have sex with him any time, anywhere, under any circumstances. She rubbed her pelvis against his erection, wishing they were both naked.

One of his hands found her breast and liquid heat spread low in her stomach. "Let's do it," she said against his mouth. "Right now. Right here."

He raised his head, tearing his mouth away from hers so it was out of reach. Lines of strain bracketed his mouth. Beneath his fogged glasses, she thought his eyes were closed.

"I can't."

Sensuously she rubbed her body against him. "Why not?"

"Because. . ." His voice cracked and he started again. "Because I have a reputation to uphold. Because anybody could walk in on us."

"Nobody's going to walk in on us," Lorelei declared an instant before the door swung open.

Wade quickly sprang away from her, managing to put space between them before a tall, big-boned woman strode into the bathroom with an almost regal air. They'd never been introduced but Lorelei immediately recognized Mayor Honoria Black.

"Hey, Mayor Black.” Lorelei strategically placed herself in front of the tenting of Wade's pants. "What's happening?"

Lorelei might have been invisible for all the attention the mayor paid her.

"Wade?" The mayor’s tone was sharp. "What are you doing in the ladies' room?"

"I, uh. . ." Wade stammered like the good, rule-abiding man he was, too much of a goody-two-shoes to think on his feet.

"There was a palmetto bug in here," Lorelei interjected. "This man was kind enough to kill it for me."

Honoria Black's eyes narrowed. "I don't see a palmetto bug."

"Not now you don't," Lorelei said. "You couldn't have missed it before. I'm surprised you didn't hear me scream when I spotted it. It was as big as a mouse, almost too monstrous to flush down the toilet."

"That's strange considering we have the building regularly sprayed."

Lorelei widened her eyes. "You should think about switching exterminators."

"Maybe you should, Mayor Black," Wade added weakly, then executed a sort of bow. "Now if you'll excuse me, I really should be. . . somewhere else."

After he left the ladies' room, Lorelei smiled dazzlingly at the mayor before following Wade into the hallway. She caught up to him in about ten steps. He kept on walking, not looking at her.

"So I was wrong," Lorelei said. "How was I supposed to know somebody would come into the ladies' room?"

"It's a public restroom, Lorelei, not a bedroom," he said through gritted teeth.

"Don't tell me you're angry," Lorelei said.

"Oh, no. I like getting caught necking in the ladies’ room by my boss."

"She doesn't know we were necking. She thinks you were in there executing a palmetto bug."

"Like that was a believable story," he said.

"So what if it wasn't?"

He let out a short, disbelieving snort. "That was the mayor. She has the power to fire me."

"She can't fire you if she didn't see anything. Thanks to my smudge-proof lipstick, you don't even have any evidence on your face."

He shook his head and finally stopped walking. They were alone in the hall, which seemed cavernous.

"You don't get it. I'm a father. I have responsibilities. I have a reputation to withhold. I can't be ducking inside restrooms to neck with twenty-one-year olds."

Lorelei's temper spiked. "My age isn't the issue."

"It might not be if you acted it."

Because his words held some truth, Lorelei's temper deflated. "Okay, maybe I asked for that. Look at it from my point of view. If you'd see me after hours, I wouldn't have to come around here during the day."

He blew out a breath, and she sensed he was weakening.

"See me tonight, Wade," she pleaded. "Please."

"I can't. I'm taking the girls out of town for the weekend to visit their grandparents in Tallahassee."

"Are you leaving tonight?"

"Tomorrow morning," he said, but it sounded like a reluctant admission. "Don't ask. I can't see you tonight, either."

"Why not?"

"Mary Kate and Ashley, for starters. Even if I wanted to take you out, I couldn't get a babysitter. Nobody who's ever babysat for them will do it again. You saw what happened with the last one."

"M.K. and Ash aren't bad kids. They're just mischievous," Lorelei said.

"Tell that to the director of their preschool," Wade muttered, "but I have a feeling she won't listen."

The sigh in his voice and the tight line of his lips alerted Lorelei that wasn't an idle comment. "What do you mean by that, Wade? Are the girls having problems at preschool?"

His sigh was audible. "That's why I'm late. I'd barely dropped them off this morning when I got a call on my cell phone from the assistant director. They'd gotten into the finger paints and were painting the other kids."

"That's what the blue spot on your chin was," Lorelei commented.

"I drove back over there and helped the teacher clean up. It hardly mattered. The director wasn't in today but I have an appointment with her Monday morning. I think she's going to kick them out."

"Screw her, then." Lorelei read disapproval on his face and felt compelled to restate her objection. "I mean, who needs her?"

"I do. If she tells me they can't come back, I'll be in one heck of a child-care bind."

"Then fight her." Lorelei put her hands on her hips. "She can't treat a pair of three-year-olds like juvenile delinquents."

Wade rubbed his forehead. "Unfortunately, she can. This wouldn't be the first preschool that has kicked them out."

"But M.K. and Ash are wonderful little girls."

He smiled at her with a tenderness she felt clean through to the center of her being. "I happen to agree. Unhappily, we seem to hold the minority opinion."

"Then we'll convince them to see things our way." Lorelei gained steam as her conviction took hold. "No way will we let some preschool big shot diss M.K. and Ash."

"What do you mean by we?" Wade asked slowly.

"You and me," she said with heat. "When you meet with the director Monday morning, I'm coming with you."

Grady fed another quarter into the parking meter outside the downtown Seahaven pub where he and Tori had eaten overstuffed roast beef sandwiches and washed them down with ale.

Tori nodded at a nearby sign stating the hours of enforcement for the meters as between nine a.m. and six p.m.

"Do you really think a cop would have ticketed you in the next ten minutes?" she asked when he rejoined her.

"No." He slung an arm around her shoulders and drew her delicious warmth against his body. "It just wouldn't be right not to pay."

"Good answer," she said, and he grinned at her.

She'd been asking him questions all night, not the multiple-choice variety like she had at the carnival, but every other kind imaginable.

"Do you always do the right thing?" she asked as he steered her toward the center of town.

"I try to," he said.

"You never told me whether you recycled everything or just glass and newspapers," she said, referring to a conversation she'd tried to start at dinner.

"You never told me why you dropped by City Hall yesterday," he said as casually as he could, voicing the question that had been nagging at him for days.

Her eyebrows rose. "You know about that?"

"I heard you had a meeting with the mayor."

"It wasn't a meeting," Tori said readily. "It was an interview. I thought she had a job opening. It turned out she'd already filled the position."

He felt his body relax and realized he'd been holding himself rigidly as he waited for her reply. Just as he'd hoped, she had a logical explanation. It seemed even more plausible because he knew she'd been searching for a job.

"It's just as well," he said. "You don't want to work at City Hall anyway."

"I don't? Why not?"

He wanted to tell her about the whole sordid mess and his role in trying to clean it up, but he couldn't. Not with the FBI warning him they needed his complete secrecy.

"It's not a good place to be," he said evasively, then nodded at their surroundings. "Now downtown Seahaven, that's a different story."

With architectural accents like dormer windows and steep rooftops on buildings that had been around for a hundred years, downtown Seahaven quietly seeped into the soul.

Crosswalk pavers and park benches in a beautiful redwood graced the street, improvements that the previous administration had approved. A red-and-white pole, reminiscent of bygone days, marked the front of an old-fashioned barber shop. A bakery store window embossed with cursive white letters proclaimed the place Baked Treasures.

The restaurants and bars along the quiet streets seemed full but not packed, with traffic steady but not heavy.

"I'd only been in Seahaven once before I moved here,” Tori said. "My family drove through town when I was a little girl. Years later I still remembered it. My parents, though, they don't understand the allure."

"Did anyone besides your parents object to the move?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

"What do you mean?"

"That was a clumsy way of asking if you left some man behind."

"Yeah, I did. My former fiancé. He wasn't crushed about me leaving, if that's what you're asking."