35
Charlotte
The bell above the door twinkles, but I don’t look up. This financial report for my accountant isn’t going to format itself.
I should’ve worked on it last week, but I’ve been distracted.
Very distracted. It’s not my fault. Aidan is just too kissable, with his gorgeous face and those perfect lips of his.
I’ve loved having him here helping me with the store.
While he has been very encouraging and a huge help, it’s extremely hard to concentrate when he’s sitting in the corner reading his book looking like the perfect snack, wearing his slutty little glasses.
I had to send him out this morning because I couldn’t keep my hands off him.
He reluctantly went with a sad puppy dog face that matched Lloyd’s and a promise to bring me a London Fog.
“Let me know if I can help you find anything,” I call, hoping it’s a customer that will just browse, make a purchase, and leave without requiring much effort from me.
Damn it, why is that column spaced all wrong?
I hear footsteps as the newcomer pads up to my counter. Great, someone determined to talk to me. Just what I didn’t need.
“Hello Charlotte.” The cool voice sends shivers up my spine, and I immediately wish that I hadn’t sent Aidan away.
What the fuck is Stephen Gott doing here?
I turn, and there’s the man himself dressed in neatly pressed slacks and a light blue dress shirt.
Yet, despite his fine clothes, he looks horrible.
There are dark circles under his eyes, and his red hair is uncombed.
There’s stubble on his chin, which makes me wonder if he’s shaved in the last few days.
“Uh, hi,” I reply, my throat dry. “What can I do for you?”
“I was hoping we could talk,” he says in a slow drawl. “Is that ok? I know you’re very busy.”
Does he know that Aidan and I reported him to the County Sheriff’s Department?
I was so certain that his fiancée was onto us when she barged into our Save the Library Committee meeting last week.
Aidan is convinced that isn’t the case, that she was just assuming that it was someone in the group who discovered that Gott hired her stepbrother for a multi-million-dollar contract.
To assuage my fears, he made a call to his father, who made a call to a former colleague of his, who then made a call to someone else.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get any answers.
Shit, he knows that we reported him.
“Uh, sure,” I reply, my voice a little shaky. “I’m just doing a report for my taxes. What did you want to talk about?”
Gott shoves his hands in his pockets and steps forward.
“I was hoping that we could talk about ethics. I know it seems out of the blue to talk to you about this, but I have a very vivid memory of you berating me about my ethics when you broke up with me. Your dad also lectured me on the subject a few times back then.” He stops at the counter, chewing on his lower lip.
“I was hoping that maybe you could advise me, given our prior relationship.”
My eyes grow wide, and I swallow hard. “On ethics?”
He nods. “Correct, I did something, unknowingly. And now everything is crumbling apart, and I don’t know what to do. People who I trusted, I can’t.” He waves his hands in the air. “It’s all going to shit. I’d like your advice.”
I am so confused right now.
“Advise you? Stephen, we’ve barely talked in the last fifteen years and our ‘relationship’,” I air quote, “was just a few months when we were in high school. I’m not sure I’m the one who’s qualified to give you advice.
” I let out a sigh, my body relaxing now that he’s not going to retaliate for my reporting him.
“Why are you coming to me? You broke my heart when you cheated on me on Prom Night. Why the fuck do you think I have advice?”
He winces. “Have I mentioned I’m sorry for that?”
I blink, shaking my head. “You’re about fifteen years too late for that.”
He presses his hands against the counter. “Look, I helped you when you were trying to keep your little library open, and now I’m cashing in on the favor. I—”
“Did you change the budget? Is the library now fully funded? I didn’t see a press releases.
” I lean back and grab my phone, tempted to call Aidan, Nicole, Xander, anyone who can come and help.
There’s something that I don’t like about how Gott is looking at me.
There’s a wild look. Like an animal cornered.
“I did my best. I tried,” he answers.
“Did you really?”
He watches me, his eyes darting about. “I told you I can’t trust anyone in Canterbury anymore. Someone found out something and now I’m being investigated. I thought I was doing right, but I was misled and misguided.” He takes a step back from the counter.
Relief courses through me. He doesn’t know it was Aidan and me.
He continues when I don’t say anything. “You’re well respected in this community. Yes, you’re a simple bookstore owner in this charming little town, but you’re also admired. Just hear me out, and then you can kick me out, and I won’t bother you again.”
I study him, debating on whether I can trust him. He appears trust me for some odd reason, and maybe this could benefit the library. After a few seconds, I cross my arms and nod. “Alright. I’m still pissed off. You’re ruining our town and my business.”
He bobs his head stiffly. “I know, and I deeply regret that. Especially since the circumstances that brought me to those actions were false and misleading.” I wonder what in the world he’s talking about.
Gott continues, “So, ethically, is it still right to continue in a leadership position, if you have surrounded yourself with people who have manipulated you into making poor decisions?”
“What are you talking about?” I inquire, my gaze darting around his face to get some sort of hint.
“I was manipulated into making bad decisions,” he explains. “I was misled into initiating some office renovations. I believe I mentioned them before.”
I blink. “No one held a gun to your head and said, ‘Hey, you gotta do this now and cut the budget for everything else.’”
He nods and steps forward again. “It doesn’t matter now about that, but it’s a fact that I was manipulated.
” He takes a breath. “Am I still fit to lead if I have been manipulated so much?” He bangs his hand on the counter.
“I swore an oath, Charlotte. An oath to fulfill my duties to the best of my ability. To protect the citizens of this county. I have failed them by being led astray.”
I lean back against the chair behind my counter. “I’m the least qualified person to answer you right now, and I still don’t know why you’re here.”
He palms the counter. “I broke my oath. I betrayed my constituents based upon the whim of someone else. Am I still worthy of being called County Executive when I can’t detect the manipulators and fiends?”
Sighing, I shift on my feet. “I really can’t answer that, Stephen.
I’m not a political expert or a pollster.
It sounds like you fucked up. People are angry and pissed off about the budget cuts.
You can’t just blame someone else when you’re the one responsible.
” I give him space to counter my statement.
He shoves his hands in his pockets and leans back on his heels, comfortably. His gaze roams around my face for a long moment. He doesn’t say anything. I wish he’d just leave.
The bell above the door twinkles, and I swivel my head to find Aidan clutching a coffee tray and a paper bag. His glasses are crooked. His warm smile falls when he spots Stephen Gott, and his gaze darkens.
“Uh, hello,” he says with a shaky voice and moves quickly to my side, setting the coffee tray and paper bag on the counter. He rests a hand on my shoulder. “I didn’t realize you had a customer.”
“Mr. Gott was just leaving,” I say, my tone firm, and I rest my hands on the counter. “Thank you for coming in, and I hope you found what you were looking for.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Aidan’s free hand curling into a fist. Gott gazes at me, and the tension is so thick I could snap it like a stale biscuit.
“Thank you, Charlotte,” Gott says after a long moment.
“I did find what I was looking for. I appreciate your help.” His gaze shifts to Aidan.
“It’s nice to see you again, Mr. Talbot.
I apologize for my former stepson’s behavior this past school year.
” Without another word, he hustles out of the bookstore.
As soon as the door closes, Aidan whirls to me with large eyes. “What the fuck did he want?”
“Advice,” I reply, crossing my arms. “Although it sounded a lot like he was trying to place blame on someone else. He kept on talking about how he was manipulated, which I assume refers to those office renovations and hiring his brother-in-law.” I press my lips together.
“Wait, he said ‘former stepson’. Did he break up with Bridgett?”
“Good for him.” He wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Sounds like a typical politician. He can’t accept responsibility for his actions and, thus, he has to point the finger somewhere.” He studies my face. “Are you ok?”
I lift one shoulder and lean into his warm touch. I’m enveloped by the smell of coffee and cinnamon. “Yeah, it was just weird, you know?”
He nods and presses a kiss on my forehead; his breath warms my skin. It sends happiness straight to my core. “I’m sorry you had to deal with him without me. I should’ve been here.”
I shove him away and exclaim, “I sent you away because you’re too fucking hot.” I gesture at my computer. “I still haven’t gotten this stupid report done thanks to the both of you. Now, can you please go away again so I can concentrate?”
Aidan grasps my elbows and caresses the skin. A corner of his mouth turns upward and a dimple pops. “Why do you spurn me? Me, your devoted servant? What have I ever done to receive such scorn and mistreatment from you?” He jokes.
Pressing my lips together in a thin line, I let out a groan. “I can’t get anything done with you here. Please help me and leave. Now! I need to finish this fucking report.”
His face hardens into a pout. “I don’t want to leave you, especially after he came here.
” He brings his hands to cradle my face and plants another kiss on my forehead.
“How about this? I will sit in that corner.” He points to one of the chairs sitting in the middle of the bookstore.
“When you’re done with your report, I will reward you. ”
I consider his plan.
“Hmmm. What kind of reward?”
Aidan flashes a wry smile. “That will be for me to decide and for you to find out.” He claims his mouth on mine for one hard, intense kiss that leaves me weak in the knees.
He breaks off suddenly, leaving me breathless and yearning for his touch.
But he grabs a copy of Travis Baldree’s Bookshops and Bonedust from a display table labelled Cozy LGBT Fiction.
“I’ll be waiting,” he says slyly before plopping himself down in the chair and cracking the book open.
Letting out a sigh, I run a finger across my lips, still feeling the kiss he gave me. It takes everything in me to not stop working and go sit on his lap.
Sighing, I turn back to my computer and start again on this report. My gaze falls to the Triple C cup resting right by my keyboard, and a warm smile spreads across my face as I take a sip of the soothing Earl Grey and vanilla. I peer into the paper bag and spot a blueberry scone.
I didn’t even ask him for tea.
How did I know that’s what I needed?