Private Politics (The Easy Part) by Emma Barry Read Free Book Online

scuffed shoes and frayed jeans and wrinkle-free shirts that failed to live up to their billing, but at least he had integrity.
    “I’m Ryan Scott. Hiya, Alyse.” They evidently knew each other. “What are you nailing me for?”
    The guy flashed an insincere smile and Liam contemplated the best response to the situation. Telling him the truth was out. Ten seconds into their acquaintance, Liam was more convinced than ever that something was going on at YWR and this guy was the cause. Punching him also seemed unacceptable—a bit violent. Not his usual MO. So that left what exactly?
    Alyse stood up and smiled one of those dazzling grins that made him forget his name. Ryan didn’t so much as blink—which just wasn’t human. She said, “A series of profiles Liam’s doing.”
    Wait, he was doing a series of profiles?
    She turned toward him, still smiling, and only the knowledge that whatever she was up to was strategic helped him keep his head. “You can ask him now since we were lucky enough to run into him.” She spoke the words deliberately and one brow arched about two millimeters.
    She was so conniving and smart he wanted to kiss her. Okay, so that was a normal state, but still, she was turning what could have been a disaster into an opportunity. The solution was diabolically obvious. They could just ask the guy what he was up to at YWR and there was a chance he was stupid or arrogant enough to tell them.
    He turned back to Ryan, who obviously hadn’t picked up on a thing, and nodded. “Yeah, Poindexter is thinking about doing a bunch of profiles of up-and-coming lobbyists. I’d love to sit down and talk about your work.”
    Ryan produced that oily grin again. “Oh wow, really?”
    Liam almost pumped his fist in triumph. He tugged a little bit on the line, trying to get the guy hooked. “Alyse says you’re doing great things for YWR.”
    “Oh, he is.” The sticky irony shading Alyse’s words was subtle. The idiot standing in front of them missed it totally.
    “We’ve really turned things around for them on the Hill,” Ryan said, almost crowing. Oh yeah, this was going to work. The guy clearly loved to brag. “And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
    “Do you have a card?” Liam asked. The manicured hand
not
holding some sort of over-elaborate coffee slid into his jacket pocket and produced one. “I’ll email you this afternoon to set something up.”
    “I’m looking forward to it. Nice meeting you. See you, Alyse.”
    Liam and Alyse remained standing and silent as Ryan turned and walked out the door. As soon as it clicked shut, they turned toward each other and dissolved into laughter.
    “What are the odds?” she asked.
    “In this town, pretty darn good. I can’t go to the grocery store or get on the Metro without running into someone I know.”
    “And you live in the middle of nowhere.”
    “Shaw isn’t nowhere.” He shrugged rather than get into an argument with her about the merits of various DC neighborhoods. They’d witnessed enough of that the night before. “You handled him—” he gestured toward the door, “—really well.”
    “Don’t sound so surprised.”
    “I’m not. I’m grateful. I didn’t have a clue what to do.”
    “Ah, well, that’s because you don’t know him. I’ve dated tons of lobbyists. They’re always infinitely arrogant. I knew if we appealed to his vanity, he’d get so caught up he wouldn’t notice anything else. He might tell you everything you want to know.”
    “If we’re lucky,” he agreed.
    He liked it, the sound of the word “we,” on her lips. He liked saying it and not having her contradict him. But that was why this was dangerous. The anger he’d left her apartment with the night before seemed misplaced now.
    Alyse was smart, pretty and strong in ways she didn’t even seem to understand, but she also wasn’t interested in him. She wasn’t using him or trying to mess him around on purpose, but she was radically