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The thin sliver of vulnerability he heard kicked him into gear. He swept around the desk and had her up and in his lap as he settled back in the chair before she could say anything else.
Not giving her a chance to argue with him, he fisted his fingers into her thick curls and tugged her head back, claiming her mouth when she gasped in shock. Or want.
Personally, I’m going with want.
While he longed to remain kissing her, he ended it and nipped her lower lip before breaking away.
“We’ll talk about your mother shortly, Curls. Right now just,” he cleared his throat, “let me have this.”
One hundred percent a win when she simply settled against his chest, leaving one hand spread over his torso.
“Five minutes.”
He hid his smile in her curls as he buried his nose in her hair. The bite of the citrus scent was incredible and matched the woman who currently sat quietly against him. Allowing him his five minutes.
“You may as well just admit you like being in my lap, Curls.”
“I admit nothing,” she replied.
Hastings closed his eyes, wrapped his arms around her and breathed deep, determined to enjoy his remaining three minutes and forty-five seconds. Because this woman, he knew without a doubt, would jump off his lap at the end of the time she’d allotted him.
Chapter Nine
“Are you not worried about how these people will bring problems and crime to the neighborhood?” A redheaded reporter asked the question, his eyebrow up in such a mocking way that she wanted to smack it off his face. “I’ve already heard that one of them was attacked and hospitalized because of his need for drugs. Him and his street woman, with their baby. Are you letting them stay here?”
Not smack. This fucker deserved to be punched in the junk. Repeatedly. However, she’d not been lying when she’d told Hastings she didn’t need his protection. She’d dealt with enough assholes in her life. Reporters included.
Shoving down her desire to growl at him, she turned to look at the man and cooly arched an eyebrow.
“Let me understand your question before I answer it.” All cameras were on her, and the recorders were doing their job as well. “You want to know if I’m worried about the men and women who volunteered to serve this country, were willing to die to protect our freedoms here and abroad? Willing to be apart from loved ones and family for months, even years at a time? You want to know if I’m worried about them being treated with the respect and honor they deserve? Not in the slightest. I however am worried about someone like you, who obviously never served a day in their life, and looks to try to profit by being insulting and downright vulgar to people who have fallen on hard times.”
There were more than a few snickers in the crowd.
He opened his mouth but she waved a hand through the air. “I’m not finished. All of our residents know the rules and we have a strict no-drugs policy. They are required to have a job. Now, I know while you sit on your overpriced couch at night and watch your supersized television, eating food people probably delivered to you, you feel like you have a right to condemn others. That’s not going to work with me. You want to come here and ask questions, fine, but you will show some fucking respect to the veterans of this country. Or I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.” She held his gaze for a moment longer then dismissed him. “Next question.”
As she continued the interview, she noticed Senator Hayes stepping from a blacked-out SUV. The vehicle behind him let out another man and immediately she knew this was the senior Mr. Rhodes. Their sons carried some of his looks.
The two men pushed through the gathered crowd until they were before her. Violet merely sketched an eyebrow. “Can I help you?”
“Do you know who I am?”
She flicked her gaze over him. Mr. Rhodes. Then she sniffed before moving it to the man in the three-piece suit that matched the reflective silver of his sunglasses. The senator.
“Something you needed, Senator?”
He frowned at her. Mr. Rhodes, clad in a black suit, edged closer. “Do you know who I am?” Disdain dripped from his tone.
She glanced at him once more. Unimpressed all the way around. “Yes, Mr. Rhodes, I do. Is there a reason you’re here? In fact, what reason are both of you here?”
The senior Rhodes looked at her like he couldn’t believe she wasn’t trying to kiss his ass. His face scrunched up as if he’d just taken a large sniff of rancid milk.
“You got my son put in the hospital.”
“Senator, we both know that’s not true.” Violet wasn’t a fan of the attack but hey, again, it came with the territory.
