Ready or Not (Ready #4)(36)

I shook my head, cradling it in my hands. It was all I could do to keep myself from banging it against the hard wood of my desk.

“So, not okay then?” he guessed, as I looked up to see him taking a seat in one of the plush leather chairs in front of me.

“Things could be better,” I admitted.

“You’ve been here barely a month, man. How did you piss off your secretary so badly?”

“I took her out on a date, maybe two,” I confessed.

He laughed before saying the words I’d repeated to myself over and over, “You’re a dumbass.”

“I know.”

“What were you thinking? You don’t shit where you eat.”

My face twisted in horror. “That is a terrible, terrible analogy.”

He shrugged. “I’m not the one who f*cked my secretary.”

“I didn’t f*ck her!” I countered. “I barely even touched her,” I added quietly.

“So, why is she so upset?” He leaned back, swinging his feet up onto my desk.

My eyebrow rose as he made himself comfortable.

“Oh, she wanted you to f*ck her,” he guessed. “And you brushed her off. You really are a dumbass.”

“I just wasn’t interested.”

“Then, why did you take her out in the first place?” he challenged.

“Because I thought if I dated her, I’d stop thinking about someone else.”

“That never works, my friend.”

“Obviously.”

“So, you left your sexy secretary hanging. What happened with the girl you were trying to forget?”

The small grin that spread across my face seemed to answer his question.

“Nice. Does Kate know about her?” he asked.

“She just called,” I said, grimacing slightly.

“Oh, hence the crazy talk I was confronted with out there.”

“Yep.”

“Dude, you’ve got to find a new secretary.”

“I can’t fire her because I’m an idiot! That’s just wrong, and…well, highly illegal,” I replied, my head finding the comforting cradle of my hands once again.

“No, you can’t, but Brayden needs a new secretary. His just left to be a full-time mom. Might be a good change of scenery for her.”

It wasn’t a terrible idea. “She’d probably be relieved to get rid of me,” I admitted.

“And in the meantime,” he said, “we’ll work on getting you someone new. Maybe a gay guy or a nice old lady.”

“Jackass.” I laughed.

The rest of our talk was boring and mostly work-related, ending with Mark telling me the news buzzing around the entire office.

“We got a call this morning,” he announced, his body nearly vibrating.

“Okay?”

“Senator Prescott is coming out of retirement. He’s apparently putting together a team.”

“What kind of team?”

“The word on the street is, he’s going to make a bid for the presidency.”

“Holy shit,” I whispered.

This was huge. Senator Douglas Prescott was well loved in Virginia and beyond. Coming from South Carolina where we had our own political superstars, I hadn’t followed his career closely, but I knew the bare facts. A conservative superstar, he’d gone from state politics all the way to US Senator, and he’d served for years before retiring during a time people believed to be the height of his career. Maybe it had just been a well-timed hiatus, so he could prepare for bigger and better things.

If he were indeed hoping to enter the race for the White House, it could be huge for the state.

“So, how does this affect us?” I asked.

“He wants legal representation on hand, and he’s keeping everything local.”

“This would be great for us.”

He agreed, “It would be an amazing honor.”

“A bit of a soft spot for the Senator?” I laughed.

“More like a giant hard-on if we manage to land this account.”

I shook my head in wonder. This guy had a crude comeback for everything.

“So, tell me about your woman,” he said.

“You say hard-on, and the next thing that comes out of your mouth is about my girlfriend?”

As he chuckled, the word girlfriend bobbed around in my head. I’d never said it before. Liv and I hadn’t discussed it. I didn’t even know if she would be okay with the term, but damn, the word had felt good leaving the tip of my tongue.

“Seriously though, what’s she like?”

“The exact opposite of me,” I replied. “She drives me insane. She’s a vegetarian, and she wears a million pieces of silver jewelry all at once. She yells at me about my truck, and she has a huge tattoo that runs down her shoulder.”

For once, Mark was silent—for a moment at least.

“The sex must be amazing.”

“Dude!”

“Oh, come on, Jackson. I’ve been married for a hundred years. Throw me a bone.”

“That’s none of your goddamn business,” I replied, chucking my pen at his head.

He ducked and came back up, laughing.

“Okay, I get it,” he answered, his feet hitting the floor. He rose from the chair and walked to the door, pausing just before turning the knob. “If you need help with those blue balls you are obviously sporting, I’ve got an awesome lake house. Just ask, and it’s yours to use whenever.”