Page 6 of Protected
He straightened his tie as he crossed the room to the young woman sitting behind a pristine desk. Her dark hair was up with a few loose curls framing her face, her makeup neat and understated, and her suit was a simple but flattering gray. She was the first line of defense between his employer and angry constituents, and she was damn good at her job. Keeping her happy was at the top of his priority list.
He perched on the corner of her desk and waited for her to respond.
“Everything is great boss. Just an angry lobbyist trying to bully her way into a meeting with the senator.” Bradley chuckled. When his assistant glared at him, he raised his hands and backed away from the desk.
“Sorry, I’m laughing at the lobbyist for thinking she would get past you. I swear I’m not laughing at you. You’re a force to be reckoned with, Adara.”
“And don’t you forget it.” There was no bite to her words, only teasing. He had hired Adara not long after he became chief of staff, because they had worked together as interns when they were first starting out. He knew little about her personal life, but at the office she was spunky and didn’t take shit off of anybody—Bradley included.
“Did you need something boss?” she asked, a playful grin still on her face.
“Can we review the agenda for the rest of the week? I need to squeeze a few more donor meetings into the schedule if we can.”
Adara scowled at him. “You stretch yourself too thin, Bradley.”
He laughed. “It’s sweet of you to worry about me, but we’re working to send the man to the White House. We’re all going to be spread thin for the next year.”
She sighed. “I don’t want to have to train a new boss when you keel over halfway through the campaign.”
“Says the woman who gets here two hours early every day and doesn’t believe in days off,” Bradley snarked back.
She was frowning at him, but he knew his calendar was already up on her screen. His assistant was not intimidated by him, and she kept his office running like a well-oiled machine. She had the knowledge and skill to run a campaign on her own someday, but she wasn’t fond of public appearances. In fact, the last time he tried to get her to go on an evening news panel there had been fear in her eyes, so he stopped pushing.
She rattled off appointments and told him whether she could move them or not. Once they narrowed down free times, he handed her a handwritten list of the people he wanted to meet. She would have the appointments scheduled before lunch.
“Mrs. Devlin will be at the luncheon you’re going to next week. If your mingling game is strong, you can squeeze in some face time with her there.” She clicked something else on her computer. “And don’t forget your lunch with the director of the ACSL is in thirty minutes, and your meeting with the senator is at three o’clock.”
He glanced at his wrist. “I should get going. Call a car for me, please.”
Ten minutes later, Bradley sat in the backseat of a black SUV heading to the restaurant while he reviewed the latest headlines about the impending primary elections.
Fifteen minutes later, he arrived at the upscale pub near the capitol. It was Bradley’s favorite place to bring clients and partners for lunch. A giant burger would help take his mind off the stress of the day. He climbed out of the car and told his driver he would be ready to leave in an hour and a half. He moved toward the trendy establishment, thinking about how crazy his schedule was about to become. There would be few days off over the course of the next year, but it would be worth it to say he put Sean Atleigh in the White House.
As he opened the restaurant door, a feminine voice cried out, “Hey watch it! You almost hit me in the face.” The exclamation shook Bradley out of his thoughts in time to see a beautiful and very familiar redhead jump back as the door narrowly missed her cute nose.
“My apologies Miss... Darci?” He stopped with her name dangling between them. What were the odds of bumping into her after all this time? Four months ago he’d spent one night with this stunning woman. He felt bad for never returning to Club Exposure, but he’d hit the ground running on his new job and never made the time.
“You. Well this is a pleasant surprise. Are you meeting someone?”
For a moment, Bradley felt dazed, but her voice broke through the fog.
“Sorry. Yes, in fact, he should be here any minute.” He looked at his phone, unsure of how punctual Jim Perkins was.
“Me too.” She smiled as he spoke and memories of their one night together came rushing back. She ran a hand through a wild mess of red curls framing her pale face. Her skin looked so smooth it begged for his touch, and he struggled to keep from reaching out to brush at a wayward curl.
Her smile faded, and she looked at a sticky note attached to the back of her phone. A hand came to her forehead.
“Oh God. He said Brad something. You’re not by chance Senator Atleigh’s chief of staff are you?”
Bradley frowned. “I am. Are you with the ACSL? I thought I was meeting with Jim Perkins.
Darci shoved her phone back in her purse and held out her hand. “Darci Sanders. I’m the Vice President of Media Relations for the ACSL. Jim had a family emergency and had to pick up one of his daughters from school, so he asked me to fill in at the last minute.”
Bradley wasn’t sure whether to grin with excitement or shudder with trepidation. Their night together had been fun, but they’d left with no strings attached and she’d agreed to a date if he came back to Exposure again. But that hadn’t happened.
“Bradley Givens. I guess you finally get my last name. Come. Would you like to get a table or sit in the bar?”
He pulled open the door for her and they stepped inside.
