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  I smiled at that. I may have had a rat’s nest for a hair-do, and I might have been sneaking out of this party with a stained dress and underpants, but at least I wasn’t wearing ugly lipstick.

  “Who I am is none of your business … Jacqueline,” I responded cooly. I tried to take a step to the left to go around her, but she side-stepped and blocked my exit.

  “Do I know you? How do you know my name?”

  “Doesn’t everyone?” I asked, innocently. It was the best I could do off the cuff. I thought I’d keep her confused about her own popularity. She seemed to be someone who had an inflated sense of self.

  She frowned, and then as her eyes scanned my dress and hair, she got an angry look on her face. Her voice came out as a vicious-sounding accusation. “You were fucking him, weren’t you?”

  Before I could react, Alexander appeared at my side. “Jacqueline, your date is waiting for you at the door.”

  “Let him wait,” she said, still staring daggers at me. “Your little slut and I were just having a conversation.”

  My jaw dropped open. “Who are you calling a slut, clown?” I could feel the adrenaline rushing into my veins. I wasn’t normally a fighting person, but nobody was going to call me a slut but me … and possibly Jessica, but I only permitted that because I knew she meant me no harm. That was not the case with this witch.

  Her nostrils flared. “Did you just call me a clown?”

  “Yeah, I did,” I said sweetly, before getting all threatening on her. “Because where I come from, that’s what we call hags who wear the wrong lipstick to parties. Clown.”

  Alexander put a hand on each of our arms. “Ladies … I believe, perhaps, that this is a conversation better had behind closed doors, don’t you think?”

  By now the crowd that had been at the door had migrated over and was gathering around us.

  I backed up as much as I could, dragging Alexander with me, making sure no one could get behind me. The last thing I needed was the paparazzi taking pictures of my backside drama right along with the front-side mess.

  My plan for a quick escape was going right down the tubes, so my brain worked like mad trying to come up with a Plan B. I had to get through at least two cameramen, their accompanying journalists, and about ten other people who’d wandered in from the party now. But my only real problem was going to be Jacqueline. She was like a dog with a bone, and she wasn’t going to just let me just walk out.

  “Who’s the young lady, Alex?” asked one of the journalists. He was a younger guy, someone I might have found cute if he weren’t about to expose me for being the slut at the party.

  I glanced at Alexander, who was smiling tightly. “This is Rose. She was just on her way out. She has work to attend to.”

  “Always the slavedriver, eh, Mr. Blackstone,” commented one of the guests who’d joined the group. Everyone had a good laugh at that one.

  Heh, heh. If you only knew! I thought to myself. Things hadn’t gotten ugly yet, but I could see the potential for disaster just hovering in the air above us.

  Jacqueline was the only one who didn’t see the humor in the good-natured teasing coming from the onlookers. Her nostrils flared and her head tilted to the side.

  “Oh, so she works for you?” A fake, bitter smile scarred her face. “How interesting. I don’t believe I’ve ever met her before.” She held out a heavily-ringed hand at me. “Nice to meet you, Rose …? I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your last name.”

  I could tell the reporters were practically foaming at the mouth over this little introduction. Obviously, Jacqueline was totally tuned into what made them tick, and she was giving them a great show of revealing my “work” for Mr. Blackstone.

  I lifted my chin, refusing to be cowed. I took her hand in a firm grip and shook it hard. “You didn’t catch it because I hadn’t given it yet. My name is Rose DuPont.”

  “Lovely to meet you, Rose,” she said. “And what exactly do you do for Mr. Blackstone?” She smiled knowingly, thinking she had me with this one.

  I glanced at Alexander, but all he did was stare at her with murder in his eyes, his jaw muscle twitching like mad. I was glad there were witnesses there so he wasn’t too tempted to kill her with his bare hands. He sure looked capable and willing at that moment.

  I decided the best thing to do was to diffuse the situation as much as I could, much as I wanted to call her out for that lipstick in front of this group. My brain raced to come up with a job for myself. The only thing I’d ever done before was work in a yogurt shop and go to college.

  I said the first thing I could think of that wasn’t about yogurt. “I’m doing PR work for Mr. Blackstone. We were just discussing some ideas in his office.”

  “I’ll bet you were,” she said in a low voice, only I could hear. Then louder she said, “Oh, isn’t that exciting. I didn’t realize he’d taken on interns during his campaign.” Her tone was sweet, but her meaning was clear. She meant to cut me down to size and treat me like a child. And I could hardly blame anyone who assumed right along with her that I was an intern, since I didn’t exactly look like professional PR material right now. Unless of course I was working for Hugh Hefner, which I wasn’t.

  “She’s not an intern,” said Alexander, surprising both of us. “She’s head of my election campaign team right now. I’ve done some reorganizing.”

  Jacqueline’s mouth dropped open. “You cannot be serious.” She laughed but then her laughter cut short when she took in the expression on Alexander’s face.

  He was dead serious. At least, he was putting on a good show of being that way.

  I didn’t even wait for him to respond. All the years of study and debate practice must have sunk in, because my mouth went on automatic pilot, and I just started spewing bullshit as fast as the words could pass through my lips. He was a politician, and he needed to be elected. Bam.

  “We’ve had a long discussion about the state of politics today and the need to wipe the slate clean and come up with some newer programs and brighter plans that will more accurately reflect the future that Mr. Blackstone has in store for the public. I’m sure you can appreciate that sometimes, things just get old and need freshening, right?” I smiled sweetly at her, daring her to come at me again. I was on fire in that moment and felt totally prepared to respond to anything she was going to say. It was like the public relations angels were riding on my shoulders, speaking through me. All I had to do was open my mouth and PR gold was going to fall out.

  Alexander took a step towards me, taking my elbow in his hand. “Rose was just leaving, so if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to see her out. She has a lot of work to do before the night is over.”

  “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy! Or should we say Jill!” said one of the guests.

  “Yes, well, believe me, Rose is anything but dull.”

  That earned him a few laughs as he steered me around the outer edge of the crowd.

  I leaned in close to his ear and said, “I don’t want anyone to see the back of my dress!”

  Alexander shifted so that he was walking directly behind me, blocking anyone’s view of my backside, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief. We were nearly to the door, the crowd parting to let us by, when I saw Jessica.

  “Jessica!” I yelled, and waved at her. When she looked up I gestured frantically towards the door.

  She rushed over to meet me there, arriving just as Alexander and I did.

  We stopped for a moment all together, the rest of the party continuing on around us.

  “Well, hello, Mr. Blackstone,” said Jessica, holding out her hand. “I’m glad I got a chance to finally meet you.”

  “It is my pleasure, Miss …?”

  “This is Jessica,” I supplied. “My roommate and best friend. And she and I will be going now.” I grabbed her by her other hand and pulled her away from him, heading for the front stairs.

  I’d hoped to leave him behind, but he followed us out. “I need to talk to you,” he said qu
ietly.

  “No, you don’t,” I said. Then I turned to Jessica and said, “Get the car.” My tone brooked no argument, so even though she frowned at me, she left me to go to the valet.

  “Yes, I do. I have apparently hired you to be my new PR manager, so we have terms to discuss.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, scoffing at his serious tone. “I’m not going to be your new PR manager. I just said that to get away from that witch.”

  After a few tense moments of silence, the mini-cooper pulled up and I moved to go to the passenger door.

  Alexander stopped me with a hand on my arm. “Rose … I really would like to discuss this with you further.”

  I pulled my arm away. “And I would really not. Have a good night, Alexander.” I got into the car and stared straight head, ignoring him.

  “What the hell is going on, Rose?” whisper-yelled Jessica, shifting the car into first gear.

  “Just go,” I said. “I’ll tell you later.”

  The car pulled away, and I refused to look at Alexander as we left the driveway. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to turn around.

  “He’s staring at us,” said Jessica looking in her rearview mirror. “Rose, do you have any idea who that is?”

  “His name is Alexander Blackstone.”

  “Yeah. But do you know who he is?”

  “A politician, I think.”

  “Oh, my god. You have no idea who he is. He’s the one running for Congress in our district, dummy! My parents are totally supporting the hell out of him. They’ve given a ton of money to his campaign!”

  I shrugged. “Good for them.”

  Jessica drove the rest of the way in silence, but only after declaring her intentions. “When we get home you are totally spilling it. I want to know every single dirty detail about how you met him at that party and how you ended up in the middle of that media shit storm in there.”

  I sighed. I knew there would be no avoiding my roommate’s determination, so I busied myself with trying to release the stress from my head and the slight twinges of pain from my heart. I was being totally stupid, thinking about Alexander as anything but a one-party-stand, but his handsome face and strong hands kept creeping into my thoughts and demanding they be acknowledged as things I’d like to see and feel again.

  As soon as we were in the apartment, I made a beeline for my room, determined to get out of this dress and into the shower.

  Jessica followed on my heels. “Tell me. Right now. Everything.”

  “There’s not a lot to tell. I was leaving his office and got caught by that she-devil Jacqueline, whoever she is. I don’t even know her last name or what she is to him.”

  “Jacqueline Silverman is his former girlfriend or fiancée and also a reporter with that political news network.”

  “Oh.” That explains the talons. And the fangs.

  “What were you doing in his office?”

  “Cooling off.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. That had been the original reason for being there.

  “Bull pucky. I know you had sex with him. You have sex hair going on.”

  I peeked out from behind the shower curtain to scowl at her. “Yeah, thanks for that hair, by the way. I’m going to need industrial solvent to get all this crap out of it.” I flung the curtain back in place and dumped an entire handful of shampoo onto my head. I added water to try and get it to lather the glue away.

  “Your hair looked amazing, which is why that wench got so pissed. You were hotter than her.”

  “I doubt that very highly. I looked like I’d just rolled around in a barn, and she looked like she just walked off Rodeo Drive.”

  “Well, did you? Just roll around with him?”

  “Jessica … I really don’t want to talk about it. I feel like a complete fool, if you want to know the truth.”

  “Why? Did you tell him no?”

  “No. Not even close.”

  “Well, good. Because that would have been the only foolish thing you could have done. So how was he?”

  I wanted to keep playing the don’t ask don’t tell game, but images of his hands on my body and the feel of his cock inside me were my undoing. I was nearly bursting with the secret, and I had to tell someone. And I could trust Jessica probably more than I could trust myself.

  “Fine. We totally did it in his office. I’ve never done anything like that before, and I’m never going to do it again, but it was … ugh … friggin amazing. Okay? So don’t ask me anymore because I’m done talking about it.”

  The curtain went flying back, letting in a huge blast of cold air.

  “Hey!” I screeched.

  “Hey, yourself!” Jessica yelled back, a huge grin plastered on her face. “You are such a slut!! I love it!! What was it like? Did he totally take charge or did he have whips and stuff in his office for you to use on him?”

  I laughed and jerked the curtain back closed, dipping my head under the water to get the soap away from my eyes. “No whips, no chains, no handcuffs. Just good old-fashioned office sex. And I’m never going to see him again, so don’t get all excited. It was a one-time thing.” I stuck my head out of the shower again. “And I quit, by the way. I’m not working for the service anymore.”

  “He tried to pay you, didn’t he?”

  “Shut up,” I said, feeling my face heat with shame. I put it back under the water.

  “It doesn’t mean anything. He hired you to entertain at the party. It was just a tip, but not for the sex. It was for being pretty in a dress.”

  “Jessica, there is nothing you can say that will make me feel any better about turning down that five hundred bucks, okay?”

  The curtain flew back again.

  “Again with the cold air, Jess?” I asked, looking at her with only one eye open.

  “Did you just say five hundred bucks?! As in one hundred, two hundred, three hundred …”

  “Yes,” I interrupted her. “Five hundred bucks. Why? Is that a lot?”

  She was scowling. “The most I’ve ever gotten was two hundred. You are such a bitch for getting so much more than me on your first night.”

  I laughed, pulling the curtain closed slowly, now not feeling quite as cheap as I had before. “It doesn’t mean anything. I didn’t take it anyway.”

  “I want to pull the curtain open again and slap you right now,” she said.

  “Well, don’t. I’m almost done anyway.” I shut off the water and pushed the curtain to the side, grabbing the towel she handed me. “I couldn’t take it. It made me feel like a hooker.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I know. But you could have used that to buy all your books and pay for one of your classes.”

  “Don’t remind me.” I stepped out and went to our room, pulling my pajamas out of my top drawer and slipping them on.

  Jessica sat down on her bed, lying back on the pillow and staring up at the ceiling. “What did he want to talk to you about when we were leaving?”

  “Nothing. Something stupid.”

  She turned her head to face me, as I lay down on the bed beside her. I laid on my side so we could see each other.

  “It’s not stupid. Whatever it is, I want to know it.”

  “Well, when that wench Jacqueline was kind of verbally attacking me, Alexander and I made up a lie about me being Alexander’s PR manager. He just went with it for the journalists there and acted like it was true.”

  “So … what did he say out front?”

  “That he wanted to talk to me about it.” I shrugged my one shoulder. “It doesn’t mean anything. He’s a politician. He has a front to keep up. I was the ho in the back room he had to hide. It worked out for both of us.”

  “Don’t call yourself a ho,” she said softly. “You’re a brilliant girl with a heart of gold.”

  I smiled at her loyalty. “Jacqueline Silverman may not agree with you.”

  “Well, she’s a dumb cunt.”

  I burst out laughing at the vulgarity. “You are not supposed to say
that word, Jessica Lynn.”

  Jessica rolled out of bed and pulled her dress off in one swift movement. “Whatever. I call it like I see it. That woman is a gold digger and an opportunist. She jumped from Alexander to that Flint guy as soon as she saw the writing on the wall.”

  “What writing?” I asked, sitting up partway.

  “My parents said Blackstone is losing in the polls. They said he’s pretty much done.”

  I laid back down, looking up at the poster of Cold Play on my wall. Alexander’s much better looking than any of those guys. I vowed to myself that I was going to take down all my posters tomorrow. They were too juvenile for a girl who was a fake PR manager. I smiled, imagining myself actually working for the formidable Alexander Blackstone, ordering him around and telling him what to say and not say. And where to touch me and lick me … I quickly shoved those thoughts out of my mind and turned off my bedside lamp. No use dreaming over impossibilities.

  “Night, Jess,” I said, yawning loudly. “I’m exhausted.”

  “Yeah,” she laughed, “great sex’ll do that to ya.”

  I gave her a raspberry and fell asleep just seconds later, dreaming all night of the handsome stranger who said nothing but made me beg until I cried out with joy.

  I got home from my last class to find a low-slung sports car parked outside my apartment door. As I got closer, I recognized the handsome man leaning against it.

  Alexander Blackstone.

  There was a moment when I saw him and he hadn’t yet recognized me that I considered making a u-turn and going in the other direction. But then I admonished myself for acting like a silly child and kept on going, pulling my scooter up next to his car and shutting it down. I took my helmet off and busied myself with dismounting.

  Once I was standing on the sidewalk and my helmet was tucked under my arm, I looked up at him. My breath caught in my throat, first with surprise at how handsome he was in the light of day and then with aggravation. I never realized how annoying it could be to have such a hot guy standing in front of me, especially when I could very possibly have bugs in my teeth. I didn’t bother reaching up to touch my hair, much as I wanted to. I knew it was a hopeless mess, probably even flat in some spots from the dumb safety gear I had to wear. I could feel the sweat trickling down the side of my face, the sun having baked my head as I rode home.