The Road to Rose Bend, Naima Simone [jenna bush book club .TXT] 📗

front of the room behind the floor mic.

“Young lady, you’re out of order,” Jasper objected sharply.

“Jasper, as mayor, I’m running this meeting,” Cole said, voice flat. It was one thing to disrespect him, but he’d be damned if he allowed this jerk to disrespect Sydney. “And every citizen of this town who needs to speak has the right to do so. Sydney, please.” He waved, indicating for her to continue.

“This young lady thanks you,” Sydney said, and when she deliberately turned toward the rest of the council, basically giving Jasper her back, she somehow became even sexier to him. “If I may offer a compromise to the funding issue. I am a contractor with Grant Resources, a nationally recognized organization. I’ve successfully written grants for corporations and nonprofits and am willing to write one for the proposed community center. And you don’t have to worry about paying me out of the budget. My fee will come from the grant. If it’s not awarded, then I won’t charge one.”

“Are you sure, Sydney?” Caroline asked. “That’s a lot of work with the chance of not being compensated.”

Sydney held up a hand. “I have a seventy percent success rate. And I’m also free for the next few weeks. Use me.”

“This is highly irregular,” Jasper protested loudly, jabbing the table for emphasis. “And besides the breach in protocol, what do we know about her qualifications other than what she’s told us? Are we really placing the plans and funds for a town facility in the hands of a—”

“Watch yourself, Jasper,” Cole warned the other man, voice calm. Ominous.

The other man’s mouth parted, reminding Cole of a gasping fish, before his lips snapped closed, deep brackets appearing on either side of them.

The man could fume all he wanted, just like the overgrown toddler he was. But if he tried to turn that scalpel-like tongue on Sydney again, Cole had no problem putting him in time-out.

“Jasper has a point,” Henry began, stammering as he glanced between his friend and Cole. “With a potential project this size, shouldn’t we—”

“That’s what a résumé is for, right?” Daryl asked, his tone so dry it fairly crackled. “And references?”

“I have no problem providing both,” Sydney said.

Cole nodded. “Do we have a motion for Sydney Collins to write a grant for a community center?”

“Yes, I move,” Eva said.

“I second it,” Caroline affirmed.

“It has been moved and seconded that Sydney Collins will provide a résumé and references to the town council and then work on a grant for a proposed community center for elders and children on Langford Road. Is there any further discussion?” Cole asked.

“Yes, further discussion is needed,” Jasper blustered, a red flush staining his face. “I can’t—”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Jasper.” Eva slapped her palms down on the table and leaned forward, peering around Cole to pin the other man with a scowl that would’ve given Attila the Hun pause. “Is there any more valid discussion other than the petty objections you’ve raised that have more to do with Cole being mayor than an unprejudiced, reasonable position?”

Daryl’s soft bark of laughter echoed like a foghorn in the suddenly silent room. At the end of the table, crimson suffused Jasper’s face. Damn, the man was apoplectic.

But he remained quiet.

Such was the power of Eva Wright.

“Since there’s no further discussion,” Cole continued, impressed that none of the laughter that crowded into his throat shook his voice. “We’ll now vote on the motion. All in favor say, ‘aye.’”

Three “ayes” emerged from Eva, Daryl and Caroline.

“All opposed say, ‘nay.’”

Jasper’s clipped “nay” preceded Henry’s mumbled response.

“With a vote of three to two, the motion is passed,” Cole concluded. “Do we have any more new business?”

The meeting progressed, but before Sydney turned and reclaimed her seat, their gazes caught. Satisfaction, relief, admiration, gratitude, pride—they all barreled through him in a turbulent jumble. And just underneath...simmered that ever-present, reckless need. It lingered, like coals that refused to be banked.

Because God knows, he’d tried.

She could so easily destroy him. Steal what little peace he’d managed to amass in the last two years. Plummet him into an abyss of fear and pain.

The terrifying part? He would be a willing sacrifice in his own emotional demise.

And yet, acknowledging that very real and alarming possibility, a part of him still whispered, take the risk. Take her.

Use me.

Those had been her words. And just thinking about them caused his cock to thump against his zipper, interpreting those two words in a completely different way from how they were meant. And apparently, his mind was on board because images—images of sweat-dampened sheets, tangled limbs, throaty moans and straining bodies—bombarded him.

Use her.

That’s what he would be doing, too. Using her to purge this inconvenient but relentless, grinding lust. Using her to escape himself for a little while. Using her to feel again.

She deserved better than to be his receptacle, his drug.

But God help him, he didn’t know if he was good enough not to ask her to give him that release. That forgetfulness.

No.

He deliberately turned away from the sight of her. Forced his focus back to the rezoning discussion.

Undoubtedly, he could find sweet oblivion in Sydney’s body. He could satisfy the lust that had roared awake inside him since first gazing down at her beautiful face—his sin made even more sacrilegious considering they’d been yards from his wife’s and son’s graves.

But were those hours of forgetfulness worth the harm, the pain, the possible loss that could bury him?

Hell no. Been there. Done that.

Not looking for a repeat.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“OH MY GOD, I can’t believe this day is finally here. I’m so excited!”

Sydney grinned at Cecille’s happy squeal that was accompanied by a fist pump and a dance that was somewhere between the twist and a twerk. On the other side of Sydney, Leo snickered.

“She’s just excited to be free of her kids for the day,” her friend drawled, a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.

“Yes, dammit,” Cecille crowed. “I have zero shame in admitting it. No kids, no men and a