Page 31 of Hottie on Her Shelf
“The truth?”
He used his soda to make a go-on gesture. “Please.”
The restless motion of her hands stopped. “I’m not sure. I would’ve been tempted. Because you’re almost handsome enough to make me throw common sense out the window. And because I dismissed you, judged you before I even knew you—it turns out that you’re interesting, too.”
Whaddya know?That was progress. Détente.
“See? When you drop the whole ‘we must be enemies’ thing, we communicate effectively.” Pushing off the counter, Fitz led her back to his office. Their steps were overly loud on the tiled floor, the only sound in the deserted building.
“Effective because I complimented you?”
“Only after I complimented you first.” Détente, but still with verbal fencing. Which was actually fun. Fitz stopped at the top of the stairs, waiting for Hallie to make the next thrust.
Instead…she laughed. No, she giggled. The giggles rolled out of her like bubbles bursting out of a champagne bottle. It was infectious. Well, that and Fitz knew how ridiculous it was for them to one-up each other over compliments. He burst out laughing, too. Their laughter echoed off the open stairwell.
Hallie was even prettier when she laughed. Might as well be the difference between a black-and-white movie and a colorized version. Her eyes sparkled, her beautiful smile brightened up like a freaking sun ray, and…oh, hell.
She had a dimple.
Dimples were Fitz’s kryptonite. There was something about a dimple in a woman’s cheek that revved him from zero to sixty in about a second.
She was leaning toward him, too, as she laughed. Practically touching. Not that Fitz could feel it, but he saw her hair drifting against the arm of his dress shirt as she shook with laughter.
It was comfortable between them. Maybe for the first time. Fitz was acutely aware that he was entirely alone in the building with Dimple Girl. And that it’d be the most natural thing in the world to drink up those adorable giggles with his lips.
That’d be…unwise.
Dumb.
Bad.
So he broke off first, striding purposefully straight into his office. Fitz made sure to ignore the couch, too. Sat down in his chair and celebrated the generous width of the desk between them.
Distance was exactly what he needed from Hallie at this moment.
“You asked for a moment.” He was so tired of being asked to reallocate the budget. Which he couldn’t actually do—it took the approval of the city council. Or to make a parking or speeding ticket go away. Which he also couldn’t do. Unlike everyone else who asked for a meeting with the mayor, Fitz didn’t have a clue what she wanted from him.
“Yes.”
When she didn’t expand on that, Fitz leaned forward. “Is this in your capacity as a citizen of Swan Cove? Or as my opponent in the mayoral race? If it’s a complaint about the upcoming season at the Performing Arts Center, my last name’s on the building, but I don’t get any say in the touring productions. Which I’ve explained to more than a dozen people since the announcement came out last week about that comedian who sets things on fire.”
“It’s about…well, not being your opponent, per se. More about being a mayoral candidate in general.”
“Are you taking your act on the road? Running for mayor in multiple towns? Because there’s you and me on the ballot. Pretty sure you’ve gone out of your way to establish that it’s a mano a mano opponent situation.”
“I think you were right,” she said slowly.
Fitz kicked back in his chair. Interlaced his fingers behind his neck and grinned. “I’m all ears.”
“You pointed out that the campaign was its own beast, but separate from that, we’re simply a man and a woman who may have things in common. Who may like each other as people, no matter how we feel about each other as candidates.” Hallie swallowed hard. Lifted her chin. “Who may be inclined to help each other.”
No question she’d surprised him. Talk about pulling a one-eighty.
No question he’d have a little fun with it, too. “Ah. The classic supplicant making their way to bend a knee before the mighty leader.” Fitz grinned even wider. “Did you come to me to ask a favor? There’s only one response to that. To badly mangle the words of Don Corleone, someday you can do a favor for me in return.”
Definitely no vestige of her dimple left as she scowled at him. “Why do all men find it necessary to quote The Godfather?”
“Why do all women find it necessary to quote The Princess Bride?” Thrust and parry. Fitz could keep this up all night.
