He decided to observe her while they made the long drive to the restaurant. She didn’t talk, and neither did he. Instead, their drive was met with a mixture of talk radio, PBS, and a ten-second phone call from the other lackey who’d texted Green, confirming the retrieval of Green and that they were on their way. If Mallory had the ability to make small talk, Green couldn’t find it.
The vehicle pulled up to the entrance of The Pink Door, and a valet opened Green’s door. He stepped out, and before he could say thanks for the ride, the SUV pulled away. Mallory had been a strange woman indeed. Very attractive in a nerdy way, but wound way too tight for him. He liked a secure woman who let go and went wild in the bedroom.
Even though there’d been a spark between them, he knew it would sizzle real fast. She most certainly didn’t have a kissing game, let alone a kinky bone in her body that he was curious about. The top of her suit had fitted quite close to her. He wanted to know about the bottom half.
The other lackey who’d called while they were on their way stood at the entrance to the restaurant, waiting to pull Green to his table. It appeared they didn’t like making the senator wait for anyone. That’s why they’d insisted on getting him there early. Just as Brackish had stated, they did a security sweep on him, searching for weapons or bugs. He came up clear with their amateur equipment.
“The senator will be with you shortly,” lackey number two informed him.
“I’m here pretty early,” Green said. He was having a difficult time staying in his role of star-struck lapdog.
“Senator Miller’s a busy woman. It’s better for you to wait for her than for her to wait for you,” lackey boy said with a cool look, indicating he didn’t see why the senator was taking anytime at all with Green. Green smiled at him, seeming to fluster the man. He turned and Green followed him inside.
“Please send an affirmative text I’m coming through,” Green whispered as he walked a few feet behind the lackey. He felt his phone instantly vibrate. He pulled it from his interior jacket pocket to see a childish response — You’re coming through . . . by taking one for the team.
No one is taking anything for the team, Green replied.
“Have a seat. Order an appetizer and a drink. The senator will be here shortly,” lackey number two said, then turned and walked away.
This is gonna take a while, Brackish texted. She’s nowhere near the place yet.
I figure this is all a part of the game, he replied.
And it did take a while — forty-five minutes, in fact. Maybe that was his punishment. He’d made her wait too long to have a meeting and now she was attempting to gain her power back. She’d never met a man quite like Green before, he was sure of that.
There was s stir in the restaurant as a few people buzzed at the sight of the senator walking inside. She moved with purpose to his table. He stood to shake hands with her, they exchanged greetings, and then sat in unison.
She was a well-polished politician. An easy smile stayed on her face throughout their opening lines, giving any onlookers the appearance that she was as happy as could be to be in the restaurant as simply one of the normal people she lorded over. Everything about her was put together perfectly, and Green surmised it took a team of four or five people to get every piece put into place.
While she wasn’t the stunning model type, she was an attractive woman, and it was evident her curvy figure was the result of more than simple genetics. She obviously worked out and seemingly had had work done. He could spot fake lips and boobs any day of the week. He wasn’t knocking it, either. If mother-nature didn’t give a person the gifts they wanted, why not go out and buy them for yourself? What a person did with their own body was their own business and he’d sure appreciated a good surgeon a time or two in his life when his hands had been roaming over the work of those doctors.
“I’m glad our schedules finally aligned, and we have time to meet,” Senator Miller said with a Cheshire cat smile and a glint in her eyes that told him she knew how to play games just as well as he did. She was far more his type than the prickly woman who’d chauffeured him to the place.
“Sorry about the delays, but I appreciate you taking me out for dinner. I have to admit, I’m confused about why,” Green said, trying to keep the character of a barely educated man who’d gotten lucky in life and was now able to intrigue a senator.
She didn’t hesitate. “I don’t beat around the bush, Hendrick. It isn’t my style — in work or play,” she said. The waiter stopped her from speaking for a moment as he offered a bottle of wine she’d preordered and poured their first glasses. Green was very aware she hadn’t asked his opinion on their drinks. He didn’t say anything about it as he waited for the waiter to leave so the senator could continue speaking, which she did as if they hadn’t been interrupted.
“First, please, call me Anna. Second, I find you attractive. When we met at the announcement party there was no way to talk to you privately and, unfortunately for me, the dating scene in my world has a very limited pool,” she finished before taking a sip of her three-hundred-dollar bottle of wine. He knew the brand and how pricy it was. She didn’t blush at her bold words, and it was apparent she hadn’t anticipated being rejected. She’d been at the top of the totem pole for a long time and probably hadn’t been turned down for anything since she was a child.
Green felt his phone buzz and knew there was a text from the team that would piss him off right about then. He smiled as he held his hand out beside the table where the senator couldn’t see it and flipped up his middle finger. He was sure his team saw it loud and clear. His phone buzzed again, and he ignored it, again.
Creating a false sense of embarrassment and eager excitement, Green squirmed in his seat while not making eye contact with the senator when he said, “Well, I, um, are you . . .?” timing his response to be perfect. Green knew he’d nailed it when he looked up and locked eyes with Anna Miller. “Are you saying you want to date me, Senator Miller?”
She reached over and gently put her hand on top of his, keeping her eyes locked on his. “I said to call me Anna. I insist,” she told him. Then she softened her tone. “I don’t know if I’m ready for dating, but I’d like to see where things can go between us. Let’s have dinner and find out where the night might take us.”
His phone buzzed again, and he didn’t even have to read it to know what was being sent to him. He was going to kick all of their asses when this night was over. He reached in and turned off his phone with a quick flick of his thumb.
“I think that sounds good,” Green said, then held up his glass. “To where the night might take us,” he finished. The senator gladly met his glass with hers as she gave him a flirty smile. It was so fake it made his teeth ache, but he gave it right back to her.
The night went in the direction Green had figured it would go — in the direction his team had figured it would go. They talked politics, sports, family, and everything in between. Green knew what he was telling her was a bunch of crap, and he had no doubt it was the same from her. But it’s what people who just wanted to get laid without having a commitment did — they talked to impress.