Free Black Lace by Beverly Jenkins

money.”
    “Okay.”
    Silence settled again before Drake said, “I meant what I said about the presentation.”
    “Thanks for liking the proposal. When I first started working here, I wasn’t sure anyone knew our office existed.”
    “We do now.”
    “And I can’t wait to get going.”
    He paused for a moment, then asked, “When are you going to let me take you to dinner?”
    She chuckled softly and looked up into his face. “Oh, I don’t know.”
    “I keep telling you, I’m harmless.”
    “No man with your reputation is harmless. ”
    He threw back his head and laughed. After composing himself, he told her, “You got me on that one.”
    “Uh-huh,” she replied. “I need to go back downstairs so we can both get some work done.”
    Once again their eyes locked, and Lacy could feel her blood begin to samba. After a moment she confessed without shame, “You’re very hard to say no to, Mr. Mayor.”
    “Good,” he whispered.
    As he reached out and slowly ran a gentle finger down her cheek, time seemed to slow. Lacy’s eyes fluttered closed in response to the power of his touch. “Very hard…”
    He smiled softly.
    Rhonda leaned into the door. “Mayor Randolph, I—”
    Lacy jumped like a teenager busted kissing in the high school hall.
    Rhonda saw the embarrassment on the young woman’s face and instantly apologized, “I’m sorry. I thought you were alone.”
    He eased himself to his feet. “Rhonda Curry. Lacy Green.”
    Lacy nodded, then said, “Hello.”
    Rhonda smiled. “Hello.” Then she said to Drake, “Malcolm has the car ready. He said give him a ring when you’re ready to leave for Lansing.”
    She turned to Lacy and said genuinely, “Nice meeting you.”
    “Same here.”
    Her departure left them alone again.
    Lacy picked up a few papers Ida had overlooked and placed them in the scooter’s basket. “I should go.” Her senses were still blooming from his whispered caress across her cheek. “Thanks again for the support.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    Drake watched her drive out of the room. It took everything he had not to call her back.
    Back in her office, Lacy joined Janika and Ida in a Hallelujah celebration. They were excited about the proposal going forward and proud that the mayor had rewarded them for all their hard work. Lacy sprang for pizza for lunch, and they ate the hot slices of pie around the big smiles on their faces.
     
    At about three that afternoon City Councilman Reynard Parker stormed into Lacy’s office and threw a folder down on her desk. “Did you write this?” he demanded.
    She checked out his angry round face for a moment, then picked up the folder and leafed through the pages. It was a copy of her Blight Court presentation. “Yes, my staff and I put this together. Is there a problem?”
    “Yes. Under whose authority did you do this?”
    “The mayor requested projects for the upcoming budget, so I gave him one.”
    “This is a waste of taxpayer money.”
    Lacy remained calm. “How so?”
    “This will do nothing but harass small businesses.”
    “Only if they’re breaking the law, councilman.”
    “Is the mayor so hard-up for funds that he’s now targeting small businesses with petty fines?”
    “That is not the intent.” Lacy wondered what this was really about. She didn’t know much about Parker other than that he opposed all of the mayor’s initiatives and had ties to the waste hauling interests in the area. “People who poison the city, or refuse to keep up their property, or don’t answer summons, are the only people being targeted.”
    His brown face was grim. “Well, I don’t like it, and I’m going to do everything in my power to stop it!”
    “That’s your choice, sir, but I’d hope you’d wait for it to be implemented before condemning it.”
    He snatched up the report. “This is not good for the businesses of my constituents. You’re new here, aren’t you?”
    “Yes, I am.”
    “Then you need to learn the rules before