In Her Sights by Keri Ford, Charley Colins Page B

reason.
They were too busy with their own lives to take much notice of hers.
    Just as she was drying her face, her phone buzzed. She
slipped back in her room and thankfully found herself alone. The call was from
Mike, and she let out a breath of relief. Dinner sounded great. “Yeah?”
    “Alex said to call you and tell you Mr. Addison insisted on
discussing one area of your security with you.”
    She gripped the phone. “Is this Julia’s doing?”
    There was a long pause. “I haven’t seen Julia since lunch.”
    “All right.” She tipped her head back and stared at the
ceiling. This would be a quick business talk and nothing more. “I’ll be in my
office in a few minutes.”
    She stayed in her yoga pants and shirt as she had said she
would, slipped on her lamb house shoes and headed downstairs. As she stepped into
her office, Alex walked with Clayton along the outer wall outside her window.
    Okay, it was tempting. She moved across the room and sat at
her desk where she could see better. Clayton had a nice walk. And if Julia
thought it was nice last night in those cargo pants as he disappeared into darkness,
then she should have seen it this morning in a well-fitted suit. Not that
watching him in jeans this afternoon was any hardship. She cleared sudden
thickness from the back of her throat.
    “I can see how not interested you are.”
    Lexie turned away from the window to find Julia putting a
tray of veggies and water down at her elbow. “Shut up.”
    Julia offered a raised eyebrow, then headed for the door. “Mike
said dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.”
    “Thank you.”
    Julia left without another remark, and Lexie quit staring
out the window at what was essentially forbidden territory. She tapped the pen
in her hand and returned to the newspaper clippings she’d left out from the
other day. Because Julia had been right about one thing: she did have that
event for the mayor. A party to introduce the mayor’s grandson, who was
planning to run for governor. Lexie had already gotten the rehearsed-sounding
advertisement about how perfect the grandson was for the job from the mayor
herself, but Lexie didn’t put her money and name behind just anyone. She didn’t
care who they were related to.
    She thumbed through the clippings from various papers around
the state covering his speeches and actions. The less glamorous part of
maintaining the ideal Lexie Olympia. It was tiring. Politics were often
frustrating. When all this had started years ago, she had waded into the world
of charities and, somewhere along the way, became respected enough that people
cared about her opinion. It took her easier socialite, philanthropist figure
and pushed her into something important that required nonstop research to stay
up-to-date.
    With this new politician, there frankly wasn’t much to go
on. Their family was wealthy. Like her, he spent his time and family’s money on
some philanthropy. A little money on abused centers here. A soup kitchen there.
A playground at an underprivileged school.
    Nice things. Generous, even—but it looked like he was
hitting up every operation in the state with a small donation to get a finger
in every pie. She hated dealing with new politicians. There was no track record
to see if he’d stand up for what he believed in or if he’d cave for money or
votes.
    “I’m told I can’t secure the back of the house.” The deep
male voice poured through her. The tones were soft and strong all at the same
time.
    That lump returned to her throat as she glanced up and
found Clayton leaning on her doorway with his shoulder against the frame. He had long legs with one of them crossed over the other. A hand was pushed in his pocket, the other behind
him. She reached for a quick drink to refresh her suddenly dry mouth. He was
far more exciting than the newspaper articles. “I like my privacy.”
    He stepped in the room. “I can work around your privacy
needs.”
    “Then do so by leaving the back of