Take Your Best Shot by Starlight by Yolande Kleinn

Author:Yolande Kleinn [Kleinn, Yolande]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-05-26T04:00:00+00:00

HE DIDN’T want to presume, and so it was a relief when Isaac came to Halden’s quarters that night. They had shared lunch instead of dinner, pleasant and only a little bit awkward, but both of them had too much work left to simply call it a day. By the time Halden had met his own obligations and returned to his quarters for the night, he had talked himself right back around to doubt and uncertainty.

The quiet chime at the door reassured him, as did the smile Isaac offered when Halden let him in.

“So, um,” Isaac started, unexpectedly hesitant. “Would it be weird if I stayed here tonight?”

“Not at all,” Halden said. The more blunt answer was that, yes, it would be weird. But weird in the inevitable way of welcome change. They had new patterns to find, new ground to cover, in what had been one of Halden’s simplest friendships. It was a strangeness he wanted, and he was elated that Isaac wanted it too.

For all that Isaac had been up for two days and Halden was as exhausted as if he’d done the same, neither of them slept when they finally settled together in Halden’s bed. Halden could feel an edge of expectation in the air, and it had less to do with the warm body beside him than with the vital question Halden still hadn’t answered. The mattress was soft beneath his back. Isaac was the perfect weight along his side, arm thrown across Halden’s bare stomach. Isaac’s soft hair was a distracting tickle beneath Halden’s jaw.

“I really do need to know if you plan on presenting yourself for a fourth term,” Isaac murmured, as though reluctant to break the comfortable silence.

“For your release draft?” Halden asked, tracing idle fingers through the hair at the nape of Isaac’s neck.

“Sure,” Isaac answered dryly. “But also for me. If you don’t run, I need to get my résumé in order.”

Halden hesitated, his mouth gone abruptly dry. “And if I do run?”

“Then assuming you want me to stay, I can let the thing languish for another five years.”

Halden shifted, a little awkwardly, to peer down at Isaac. He waited to speak until he’d successfully caught Isaac’s eyes. “Of course I want you to stay. How the hell am I supposed to do this job without you?”

Isaac gave a shrug that Halden felt more than saw, and then answered sheepishly, “I just wasn’t sure…. Mixing business and pleasure, you know? I was worried it might make you uncomfortable.”

It was a valid concern, and one Halden didn’t dare brush carelessly aside. All the arguments that had kept Halden from making the first move were still in play, if less fortified than they had been before Isaac took the initiative. There was the alarming potential for scandal if word got out that the president of the Alliance was sleeping with his public liaison. Worse by far was the risk of personal conflict bleeding over into their professional relationship. Their jobs didn’t always run

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