Chapter Four
Colton
Susan’s voice came through the speaker. “Is now a good time, Sir?”
“Yes, Susan come on in,” I responded, leaning back in my chair. It was early in the morning. I had finished my usual morning run on my treadmill at the apartment I stayed in here in the city and was now showered and ready for a day of work. The fact that I felt tired wasn’t unusual. It was the reason I felt this way that irked me. I had spent hours into the night thinking of Evie. She was bent over my bed, her round ass up in the air…I had to stop my thoughts. I was obsessing and I sure as hell never obsessed over a woman before. I needed a distraction…
A moment later my secretary entered my office. She had been a loyal employee for the past decade. A middle-aged single mother of two grown boys. Her smile was warm when she saw me. She was holding the newspaper in her hand. Perfect…a distraction.
“I came across a cute little story,” she said, eyeing me in an accusing way over her rimless framed glasses.
“Okay,” I leaned back in my chair and ran a hand over the scruff on my chin unsure where she was going with this little semi interrogation. “I didn’t make the gossip columns again did I?” I huffed out a breath. The gossip columns loved to report on my love life, who was I seeing? How long would it last? Would my current dame be able to tame the infamous bachelor of Chicago? It was a boring old tale.
“Gossip columns, No. May I take a seat?” she eyed the chair opposite my desk. She didn’t need to ask me to take a seat. We were way past that formality in our working relationship yet no matter how many times I scolded her for it she did it anyway.
“Take a seat and tell me what has you smiling like that so early in the morning.” I shook my head but she knew I was just playing with her.
She laughed, took a seat, her posture impeccable as she held up the newspaper in front of her and began to read. “Good Samaritan saves a family from living on the street.” After reading the headline her brown eyes narrow, assessing me. “Should I continue?” There is a hint of sarcasm and admiration in her tone.
“Please,” my lips turn down as I begin to chew the inside of my mouth.
“A good Samaritan had a check made out to cash in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars and had it delivered to the Murphy residence via a personal delivery service. The youngest son who will not be named here because of his age opened his front door to a man in a suit and a dark pair of sunglasses. After his mother scolded him for opening the door to a stranger his mother, Anita Murphy, a single mother of three young children who was living on welfare and was facing eviction found out that the man at the door wasn’t dangerous. In fact, he was more like a modern-day Robin Hood giving money to the poor people living in the government subsidized housing project.” Susan paused and removed her glasses. “I guess that you know how this story ends and I don’t need to read further,” she continued to smile deliriously like a mother would when proud of her son. Most times Susan felt like the mother I didn’t have.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I still feigned innocence.
“Fine, I know you like to play that card. That was a grand gesture and I’m proud of you. That’s all I will ever say on the matter.” I grinned back at her warmly. She knew how to pull my heartstrings. When she came to work for me ten years ago I was just starting out as a lawyer, and she was working in the prosecutor’s office while raising her boys. I’d seen how hard she worked, how tired she sometimes was coming into work in the morning. I’d also seen her dedication to her children. It was something I had craved from my father and never received. Susan would leave work to take one son to basketball practice, the other to piano lessons and then make dinner and sit with them for homework. Her ex-husband had been a real deadbeat and eventually left her to raise the boys on her own with no support. She wasn’t making much at the prosecutor’s office and so when I started my campaigning, I hired her as my assistant which upped her salary big time. She kept changing her job titles as need be as the years went on.
“Thank you, let’s get back to work.” I gave her a nod that said I meant business.
“Such a good man,” her lips thinned and the smile she gave was small, but the warmth that radiated from her brown eyes tugged at something deep inside me. “You have a good day, Sir,” she said and placed the open newspaper on my desk so that the article was facing me. Then she walked out of my office.
I leaned forward on my desk and read the article briefly and all I could think was that I couldn’t save everyone but I could make sure Mathew Murphy had a roof over his head and food on his table. Susan had hired someone to research the Murphys and we’d found out that his mother dropped out of college because she got pregnant. Then had two more kids with the same man. He was hooked on drugs and couldn’t keep a stable job. Anita Murphy hadn’t heard from her husband in over a year and things had gone downhill for her. She just needed a little help. I hoped she would use the money wisely. Maybe head back to school and get a better career for herself. I hoped she would make the right decisions for her and her kids. Sometimes that’s all we had was hope.
***
The following evening my driver came to a halt in front of Evie’s apartment building. I usually went on dates in a suit. I almost always wore a suit in public, but tonight would be different. Evie wasn’t my usual type of hook up and something told me she wouldn’t appreciate one of the upscale restaurants I usually attended in Chicago. She was a teacher. She spent her days working with students, she seemed simple and down to earth, besides the fact that she had a spicy personality and told little white lies when she got nervous. I’m not put off though because I think I affect her or at least I hope I do because I don’t remember the last time a woman had such an effect on me. I’m still envisioning those hot as hell heels she wore yesterday morning which had me thinking all kinds of dirty thoughts. Problem is it’s not only her looks that have me so wound up. I’m also intrigued by what will come out of her unfiltered mouth next. She isn’t afraid to say what’s on her mind and she doesn’t give a shit that I’m governor. I fucking love that she called me a schmuck because hell she was right.
I slowly climbed a few steps to her front door and rang her doorbell. In a pair of blue jeans and a white polo shirt, I was as casual as I could get. She hadn’t given me her phone number, and I realized we never did set a time, so here I was out of nowhere ringing the doorbell of the feistiest redhead in the state of Illinois. My heart beat rapidly as I waited for her to answer. It took a little longer than I expected for her to open the door. The excitement of seeing her swarmed my chest, the feeling was odd, throwing me off balance.
She finally answered, those blue eyes of hers round and a little shocked as her gaze raked over me. Her red hair was tied messily at the top of her head. She was wearing a pair of grey sweats and a white cut off shirt that revealed a very lean and trim midriff. Her silky white skin entirely on display caused my cock to twitch. Down buddy. Don’t think we’re going there tonight. My thought startled me because until this moment I had only used women for release. Evie was somehow different though and I didn’t know why.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as if she didn’t agree to a date with me yesterday morning.
“Not the welcome I was expecting.” I paused. “We didn’t set a time.” I cleared my throat. “For our dinner. Remember?” I asked allowing myself to take a quick sweep of her apartment hoping to learn something else about her before she boots me out on my ass. Small, neat, modern. “You gonna invite me in?” I pressed, knowing I was making her uncomfortable but for some reason her being uncomfortable had me intrigued. She didn’t answer while she dug her teeth into her bottom lip. “If you’re tired from work we could order in,” I suggested, thinking it was the polite thing to do. I didn’t want to give her an out.
Her silence continued along with her quiet stares. Then she spoke. “You want to come in… here? Like you want to eat here?” she repeated as if I had just spoken in a foreign language she didn’t understand and required confirmation. I wondered what type of accent she had. Still, I didn’t want to ask. First, I needed to gain entry.
I smiled warmly. “I assure you that you’re safe with me,” I answered. I mean I’m the fucking governor, not a complete stranger. Shit! I was out of my element with this woman. In the past when I showed up at a lady’s door it meant my entry was ensured - until now.
She turned around and looked over her apartment then back to me. “Give me a minute.” She smacked the door in my face. Ouch. There’s a first time for everything. It had just been a while since I had any firsts.