Toni shrugged. “You may care, but you don’t spend much time here.”
“My parents come to visit me in California. They enjoy the travel, and I have been a little busy with my business.”
“And your social activities,” Toni added, feeling somewhat testy as she remembered all the photos she’d seen of Wyatt attending this big function or that one, with a gorgeous woman on his arm or gazing adoringly at him.
“Jealous?”
“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m just commenting that you had plenty of time to run around Hollywood or Seattle or New York City, but you’ve barely visited your hometown since you left. The hometown that you care so much about that you want to hire a design firm to install new decorations at the community center you’re supposed to be fixing up for the holidays.”
“I think you’re jealous.”
She pushed herself out of her chair so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. “I am not jealous! I’m…I’m angry.”
“Why are you angry at me? For having fun? For having money to spend on the community center if I want to?”
She felt as if her head might explode. Arguing with Wyatt had always affected her this way. “Yes! I scrape every dime out of our town’s budget, haggle with our city manager for needed projects and get threatened with being voted out of office when I suggest boosting revenue. Then you roll into town in your outrageous vehicle to complete a sentence that is just another publicity scheme for you. So, yes, I’m angry!”
His expression changed from frustration to devilment in an instant. “You’re so sexy when you’re mad,” he said, pulling her the rest of the way across the desk and locking his mouth over hers.
She was so startled that she couldn’t respond, couldn’t think, for a moment. This was Wyatt, kissing her. She tried to push him away, but she was off balance and only managed to grab his shirt. She tried to protest, to tell him to stop, but the moment her lips parted he pushed his tongue into her mouth and deepened the kiss.
Her head swimming, she moaned and resisted, torn between breaking free and hauling him across the desk to have her way with him, right on top of her monthly planner.
“Um, Mr. McCall?”
Cassie’s voice cut through the tension in the office, a strident sound in contrast to Toni’s heavy breathing. Wyatt’s hands tightened on Toni’s arms and she couldn’t move.
“We have an appointment with the reporter and photographer from the Graham newspaper. Er, at the community center. Now.”
Breathing hard, Toni stared at Wyatt. He looked nearly as stunned as she felt. Finally, he released her arms and stepped back. She practically collapsed into her desk chair.
“I guess we’d better continue our conversation later,” he said, pulling his flannel shirt closed and buttoning it low, near his waist. Only then did Toni realize he was concealing the effect of their sudden kiss from Cassie’s eyes.
Toni felt her cheeks heat as her embarrassment grew. Wyatt had done it again! Made her revert to her teen years, seem silly and weak in front of someone else. She was sure Cassie believed that the kiss was mutual.
“There’s nothing to talk about. Nothing of consequence, anyway.”
“We’ll see about that, babe.”
“Don’t call me that!”
He grinned, turned and strode out of the door. Cassie looked back for just a minute, appearing distressed, and mouthed, “Sorry.” Then she hurried after Wyatt. Toni hoped Cassie would immediately erase the image of her boss kissing the mayor from her memory.
Toni sank back into her chair. For a moment, she had to admit, she had kissed him back. But only for a moment, and only because she was surprised.
And because this was Wyatt, the only person who ever made me crazy, she thought grudgingly.
Shaking her head to clear the feel and smell of him, the memories of the hundreds of kisses they’d shared, she sat up straight and braced her hands on her desk. She had to get back to work. She had things to accomplish today and every day.
If she kept herself busy enough, perhaps she wouldn’t think of Wyatt much at all. Not more than once an hour, if she was lucky.
And she wouldn’t see him again for hours. She’d get through the dinner party tomorrow night, and then maybe she wouldn’t see him until it was time for him to leave town again. He could get his publicity photos for the local paper, which would no doubt be picked up by the national press, and he’d forget all about hiring a design firm to turn the community center lawn into a holiday extravaganza.
“THE SCOUTS HAVE DONE a wonderful thing for Brody’s Crossing by adding these animated reindeer and bright trees to the community center grounds. I hope to expand on their generosity this year,” Wyatt told the female reporter, who was probably a few years older than his thirty-three.
“What do you have in mind?”
He grinned and winked at her. “It’s a surprise. Come back Saturday night and you’ll see.”
“We’ll do that, Mr. McCall.” She smiled and turned off the recorder, then looked up again. “If we could take a few photos of you by the display, that would be great. I think the light’s about perfect now.”
He posed with his hand on the reindeer, then stood with arms folded among the lighted spiral trees, and finally he hunkered down next to the colorful gift boxes. Thankfully, time and the cool temperature had simmered him down enough so that he could now unbutton his flannel shirt without showing the world that Miss Mayor had given him a flagpole of an erection.
Even before he’d kissed her, he’d become so aroused that all he wanted to do was drag her off—preferably someplace close and private—and make love to her until they were both sated. He wasn’t sure how long that would take, since they’d been apart for fifteen years, but he was willing to give it a good try.
Considering her testy mood and his building impatience, he might even approach the task as a public service. Much more enjoyable than assembling Christmas lawn ornaments.
“Thank you, Mr. McCall,” the photographer said, snapping Wyatt’s attention back to the present.
“Sure, no problem,” he replied with another grin. “You just call my public-relations director here if you need anything else.” The reporter smiled, appeared a little rattled and waved as she and the photographer walked back to her white car with its magnetic sign on the side.
Wyatt sighed as he and Louisa stood in the late-afternoon gloom. Clouds had come in, which had allowed the lighted decorations to really show up for the photographs. Or at least, he hoped so. He didn’t want to have to do this again until the final display was ready.
He heard the door to the Hummer slam and watched Cassie walk over, her phone and notepad clutched to her body.
“I found a designer who has decorations!” she said, almost glowing as she stopped beside them. “Someone ordered them to go in front of his business, but then he went broke and the designer was stuck with a large number of extra outdoor decorations. He’s sending photos and a contract to my e-mail.”
“That’s great. When can he be here?”
“Right away, he said. Everyone else had their installations set up before Thanksgiving.”
“Excellent. The parade is Saturday. I want the town to look spectacular by that night.”
“That only gives him two days.”
Wyatt looked at his watch. “Two and a half if he gets loaded right away.” Despite what Toni thought, he was going to get this done and make sure the Scout troops