"Okay, do you have a girlfriend?"

"I sure don't," Jo answered. "That would be a little hard to hide from Daddy and his mega-church, let alone from all the snoops who want to get a glimpse of the inner workings of the mayor's staff." She winked.

"That's true."

Madeline took a long drink of water. "So what do you think? How does one more question sound?"

"I guess I kind of cheated you out of your first one, so shoot."

"How many women have you...well, you know...been with?"

Jo winced. Madeline had taken it a little too far with that question.

"You don't have to answer, if you don't want to," she added.

Jo's forehead wrinkled as she conducted an internal count. Suddenly Madeline was not one hundred percent positive she wanted to hear the answer. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her, though. Someone as attractive as Jo could have had her choice of women-even if only in secret.

"This is not something I typically do," Jo began, drawing her words out longer than necessary. "I feel like I can trust you, though, and you have already shared so much with me...so I will tell you."

"Okay," Madeline urged.

"Twenty-three," Jo said, letting out a long breath.

"I don't doubt it," Madeline said, looking Jo up and down. "You are drop-dead gorgeous, not to mention witty, funny and one h.e.l.l of a cook."

"Well, thank you." Jo giggled, and a slow blush came to her cheeks.

d.a.m.n, she was s.e.xy. Madeline remembered how she had felt when she was kissing Jo in the garage. It had been wild and reckless, sure, but it was more than that-so much more. It had been invigorating, had ignited for the first time in years a pa.s.sion that was almost too hot to be ignored. She might have ripped Jo's clothes from her body that instant had it not been for the sound of the car starting next to them.

"Did any of them mean anything? I mean, have you been in love?" Madeline couldn't resist the urge to know more.

Jo shrugged. "I don't really have much of the chance for something that lasts longer than a night or two. I try to keep a low profile."

Madeline could see the sadness in Jo's eyes and wanted to make it go away. Jo spoke before she could try to make it better.

"You know, this might be an overshare, but..." Jo said.

Madeline cut her off. "Oh, honey, we pa.s.sed overshare a while ago."

"True."

"So what is it you were saying?" Madeline winked at Jo. She loved the way Jo returned her gaze, loved the fire she could see in Jo's eyes. Even if she would not admit it for fear of being rejected, Madeline could tell what Jo wanted.

"I was saying that you're..."

The doorbell rang, interrupting a thought that Madeline desperately wanted to hear.

"Are you expecting anyone?" Madeline pointed toward the door.

"Just the strippers." Jo laughed.

Madeline shook her head. As Jo went to answer the door, she entertained herself with the thought of watching Jo strip. That would be one h.e.l.l of a show. Silently she scolded herself. This was wrong on so many levels. Jo wasn't only off limits because she was a woman; she was also an employee...

Jo peered through the peephole. "It's Gabe," she said to Madeline.

"Jo?" Gabe called through the door. "Who are you talking to?"

She unlocked the door and opened it.

"Hi, Gabe," she said. "Is everything okay?"

"May I come inside?" He held out a bottle of wine, as if paying a cover charge to get inside a club.

"Oh, of course, I'm sorry. Come on in."

He stepped inside, then noticed Madeline on the couch. "Oh, h.e.l.lo, Mayor Stratton."

Madeline had to smile. Gabe looked like an uncomfortable schoolboy going through that awkward p.u.b.escent phase. "h.e.l.lo, Gabriel. How are you doing tonight?"

"I'm doing well, and yourself?"

"I'm just fine, thank you." She enjoyed Gabe's company most days at the office, and he was a nice young man. Most importantly, he was very good at his job. Unlike with Jo, though, she did not feel as if she could simply let loose in front of Gabe. Having him here made her acutely aware that she was wearing sweatpants and a T-s.h.i.+rt from some beach in Florida. Which belonged to Jo. They had somehow forgotten to grab anything for Madeline to wear to bed in their earlier rush at the house.

The silence had grown past awkward when Jo spoke. "So what brings you out this way tonight, Gabe?"

"I was just...uh...checking to see how you were doing. I knew you had been with Mayor Stratton today, and I wanted to see how she was doing as well, so I guess I was checking on both of you."

Madeline had never seen him act so nervous. He clearly was not himself around Jo. She had watched them interact in the office and thought that they would make a cute couple, but now she knew otherwise. It would be just like it was with her and John.

"Thank you, Gabe. That is awfully sweet of you," Jo said, giving him a hug. "I really do appreciate it. I'm doing well, and Mad-Mayor Stratton is doing well too."

Jo had almost slipped and called her by her first name, which had somehow become taboo among the staff. They all called her Madeline when she wasn't around, she knew, so she had no idea why it was such a big deal when she was in the room.

"Well, that's good. I'm glad to hear it. Anyway, I just wanted to bring you a bottle of wine to say thank you for all of your hard work. Will I be seeing you tomorrow?"

"Yes, I'll be coming into the office tomorrow," Jo said.

"Me too," Madeline chimed in.

"That's great," Gabe said. "I've canceled all of your meetings for tomorrow, but we can figure something out if you want."

"No," she said, waving her hand in the air. "I'm not sure I'll stay all day, but it will be good to get back into the swing of things."

"I'm glad to hear it," Gabe replied. "I'll let you two get back to your night. I just wanted to stop by and make sure you were doing all right."

"Don't you want to stay for a gla.s.s of wine?" Jo extended the invitation, even though Madeline could tell she would rather go back to the couch and finish their discussion.

"No. Thank you, though. I'm going to go home and get some sleep."

"Oh, okay. Well, thank you," Jo said. She showed him to the door.

"You two have a good night, and I'll see you tomorrow."

After he left, Madeline smiled at Jo. "You know he is interested in you, right?"

Jo nodded. "He is pretty hard to ignore. He gets me coffee, compliments anything I wear and has almost asked me out about seventy different times."

"It must be awful," Madeline joked.

"No, of course it's not awful," Jo said, laughing. "It is flattering, and Gabe is a sweetheart. He's just not my type." Her smile grew. "He is a little on the masculine side for my tastes."

"Poor Gabe," Madeline teased. "He doesn't have a clue that you prefer s.e.x with women."

Madeline enjoyed seeing the flicker of arousal that danced in Jo's eyes after hearing Madeline use the word "s.e.x."

She was wet and tense, and she had a feeling Jo was too.

Chapter Eleven.

The sheets were rumpled when he woke, but it was still dark outside. John Stratton glanced at the bedside clock, trying to get his bearings. It was only eleven p.m.

He shook his head, as if to clear the fuzziness there. Memories began to trickle back in as he lit a cigarette. He used the flame from the lighter to survey his dumpy hotel room, then snapped it shut. He could have found a cla.s.sier place to stay, but he hadn't wanted to alert the media. In fact, all he wanted for the next little while was to lay low.

The day the news cameras had captured him leading that little blond up to a fancy hotel had been the day that his life fell apart. Publicly at least. The day that his life actually fell apart had been years ago, but no one else had been privy to that-no one except for Maddie, and he knew she would not have told a single soul.

Here he was, hiding out from anyone who might delve deeper into the story, who might ask too many questions.

John knew the reality. If all his sins were publicly displayed, he would lose out on the one thing that had kept him by Maddie's side, playing second fiddle to the woman in the spotlight, all those years. He took a drag of his cigarette. Unfortunately, it did nothing to alleviate the pain in his head. Apparently, when you got drunk during the day and pa.s.sed out before six in the evening, hangovers did not fade quickly. It was a lesson he had learned over the past couple of days.

Exhaling the smoke, John decided to see if a shower would clear his head. He had a lot to figure out, and he was not about to sit idly by while his future went up in flames.

In the shower, he began to replay his current predicament in his head.

Maddie's maiden name was Carmichael, meaning that she was loaded. The very first time he laid eyes on her, he knew that she was a rich girl. It was evident in everything she did, the ski trips, the European vacations, the summer home she mentioned down on the beach. It was also all too evident in how she carried herself, how she dressed, and the elegant ease with which she spoke.

From day one, it was apparent that underneath the wild party girl front she put on for all to see, Madeline Carmichael was all cla.s.s. Her wealth was not what had drawn John to her in the beginning, however. She was smart and witty and a bombsh.e.l.l to boot.

During his senior year of college, they had met at a frat party. He had drank most of a keg by himself. Maddie was clearly drunk as well. Even half in the bag, she was stunning.

Her blue eyes s.h.i.+mmered underneath the lights, and her perfect figure tantalized his senses. That deep laugh kept him guessing, and when she slid one of those soft hands down his arm, he was hooked. She hadn't needed to say anything or do anything more. He was already hers. At that point, he would have done anything she asked.

When she said she was going to call it a night and go home, John had offered to walk her. It was dark and almost a mile back to her dorm room; he thought he would impress her with a display of chivalry.

"A pretty little thing like you shouldn't be out walking alone," he told her with a smile.

Maddie gave him a once-over. "So does that make you my bodyguard?" she had said with a laugh.

"That's me," John said, flexing his muscles, thankful that he had been hitting the weight room as hard as he had been for football.

"Okay," she agreed. "Let's go. I'm getting tired."

On the way out, some of his frat buddies tried to give him high fives. Under normal circ.u.mstances, he would have played along. But that night was different. He shook his head at them, signaling that this girl was different; she deserved respect.

The night was brisk, but not too cold. Even so, Madeline s.h.i.+vered with the chill of the wind. So he offered her his jacket. John couldn't help but think how great she looked in it.

"So tell me a little about yourself," he said.

"I don't just spill my information to anyone," Madeline teased. "I'm not that easy."

"No..." John stammered. "I...I didn't say you were easy."

"Oh yeah? Isn't that what your friends think?" She changed her voice to impersonate a college boy. "There goes John out the door with that hot little blond. You know he is going to get laid tonight."

She had smiled as she said the words, but her self-doubt was evident.

"It's not like that," John insisted. "I genuinely want to get to know you, Madeline."

"Call me Maddie," she said.

"Okay, well, Maddie, it's not like that. I'm not out here looking to get laid, as you put it. I offered to walk you home, because...well...I'd like to take you out sometime. Maybe we could grab dinner or a movie or just take another walk sometime?"

Madeline took off his jacket then, much to John's dismay. She handed it to him. "Here, I don't need this right now."

"Aren't you still cold?"

"Maybe." Madeline's sa.s.sy nature was showing through more and more with each minute. "But I don't need it right now."

With the ease of a seasoned stripper, Madeline had begun to unb.u.t.ton her s.h.i.+rt and dance around him. She pushed him back in the gra.s.s.

"What are you doing?" he asked, knowing he sounded like an idiot, but, after all, they were in public.

A drunken group of kids pa.s.sed by, not noticing John and Maddie on the gra.s.s in front of the school library.

"Just sit there, and shut up," she whispered.

She continued her striptease, further captivating him.

Before he could say anything else, she was completely naked, reaching into his pants and mounting him. "I thought you said you weren't looking to get laid tonight. It sure looks like you want to." Her voice was velvet.

John couldn't resist. He flipped her over in the gra.s.s, and they had s.e.x right there on the front lawn of the library. When they were finished, John was sure of one thing-he was falling in love with Maddie Carmichael. She dressed quickly and began to walk away.

"Wait," he called, fumbling with the buckle of his belt.