Off the Record (Record #1)(59)

“No, thanks. I just ate. Need to work on this article for next week,” Liz said.

“Are you sure? Do you need any help with it?”

“No, thanks, Meagan. I think I got it.”

She hurried across the room and into Hayden’s office. They had less than half the amount of normal staff, and no one had said anything when she had taken it over. She had a lot of work to do and she knew that she was going to be here well into the wee hours of the night.

A few hours later, Meagan came back to her office to tell her that she was closing up and asked her again if she needed any help. Liz smiled and politely told her no, though she knew she would be there well past building close. The article wasn’t coming together as smoothly as she would have liked. She had it sitting in pieces on her laptop and even some printed documents that she had scribbled all over.

She was starting to see double when she stared at the screen, and knew it was time for a break. She grabbed her water bottle and trekked down to the water fountain in the hallway. As she was filling up her Nalgene, her phone started vibrating from where it was tucked away in her back pocket. Liz fished it out of her pocket and pressed it between her ear and shoulder so she could continue filling the bottle.

“Hello?” she said.

“I’m going to come pick you up. Be ready in twenty minutes.”

Liz’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t seen Brady in three days. He had been busy in Raleigh all week working on campaign-related materials. He hadn’t really said much else about it. Now here he was asking to see her when she was busy working on the article Hayden had recommended to her.

She really wanted to, but tonight was not the best night. “Brady, I can’t.”

“What? Why not?” he demanded. She could tell he was impatient.

“I’m working. I have this huge article I’m putting together. I’ve been working on it for hours.”

“Then you need a break. I’m already in the car. I’m not turning around,” he said simply.

Liz sighed. “Seriously. I’m worried if I take a step away I’ll lose my entire focus on it. This is a big deal for me.”

She really wanted him to understand. She had a life separate from him. Her job as a reporter was what she had been striving toward for a long time. She wasn’t willing to give up her dreams any more than he was willing to give up the campaign. And in reality, neither of them should have to. They should be able to make this work while still being the same people. She wondered whether that was ever going to be possible.

“Liz, I haven’t seen you in three days. That is three days too many. I’m coming to see you. Where are you?”

“If you want to come watch me work, then you can. I would think it would be pretty boring,” she said, closing the lid on her water bottle and walking back into the empty office.

“My time with you is never boring. Are you at home?” he asked.

“Oh, about that…” Liz said.

“What?”

“My roommate came back into town. She was in London—I won’t even try to explain why—but I don’t have the house to myself anymore,” she explained.

“So, you should get picked up somewhere else?” he asked dryly.

“Oh my God, you can’t come watch me work,” Liz said, shaking her head.

“I’m not coming to watch you work. I’m coming to f**k you,” he nearly growled at her through the phone.

His voice sent shivers down her spine as she thought about their sex life. They were having sex more each week in stolen secret moments than she’d had when she had been dating her last boyfriend. And she had been practically living with her boyfriend at the time. It was exhilarating and incredible each time she was with Brady.

Plus, she couldn’t deny that she enjoyed getting to know him on a more personal level when they met. Some of his walls had started falling the more time he spent with her. After the incident with his sister, he had told her all about his family—his father, the politician; his mother, the professor; his younger brother, Clay, the law student; and his younger sister, Savannah, who would be attending UNC in the fall. She had even learned that Savannah was planning to major in journalism. Liz sure as hell hoped that she didn’t try to get on the paper.

She needed to make a decision. She stared at her open Word document and then exhaled softly. She knew that she had work to do, but she wasn’t really making all that much progress with it anyway. It might be better to look at it fresh tomorrow. And anyway, she really wanted to see Brady.

“I’m at the office.”

“In the Union?” Brady asked.

“Yeah. Do you know where the paper is?”

“Ten minutes,” he said before the line went dead.

Almost exactly ten minutes later, Liz heard the door to the newspaper office open. She peeked her head around the corner of Hayden’s office and couldn’t help but let a big grin spread across her face. Brady Maxwell was in her office. He was on her turf. And he looked really f**king hot.

He looked as if he had come straight from the office in black dress slacks and a tucked-in blue button-down. His jacket had clearly been discarded in the car. It was too hot for pants and a long-sleeved shirt, but she knew that he wouldn’t have gone into work in anything else. His dark eyes caught hers across the room, and she smiled. Her whole body ignited in that one look. How did he do that?