Hell on Heels Read Online Free Page A

next door, but the boy next door was all grown up.
    He was a dreamboat, a political dreamboat, and I offhandedly felt a small bout of remorse for those running against him.
    “Your assistant mentioned you were interested in sponsoring the charity gala this Saturday evening.” I reiterated the main points from the e-mail I had received from his office yesterday.
    He nodded. “I understand this is very last minute and likely looks like a publicity grab.”
    “Mr. Callaway, you don’t need to—”
    He cut me off, “Beau.”
    “I’m aware that charities look good on a political roster, Beau. I’m not offended.”
    “Very well.” He seemed satisfied with my answer and I saw no need to redirect that. “Some recently acquired campaign funds have become available and I’d like to put them towards something I believe in.” I gestured for him to continue. “I’m not sure if you follow politics much, Mrs. Smith.”
    “ Miss Smith,” I corrected his obvious word choice. He smiled and I returned one of my own. “Please, call me Charleston.”
    “Charleston,” Beau repeated after me. “That’s a very pretty name.”
    The tremor in my steel shook loose a blush that crept across my cheeks. “Thank you.”
    I’d never grown accustomed to taking compliments well. They often made me feel out of place in my own skin, though I worked tirelessly not to show that.
    “As I was saying, I’m not sure if you follow politics, Charleston, but I have taken a very public stance with my campaign on providing better education at a district-wide level should I be elected.” I nodded again. This I knew from the articles I’d read in the paper. “I believe that a part of providing children with the opportunity to garner the futures they deserve is by providing them with a better and more rounded education. I think we are losing children, and teenagers especially, to a variety of twenty-first century plagues far more frequently than we should be comfortable with.”
    He was mesmerizing as he spoke, and I was quickly in awe of him.
    “I believe one of those plagues is addiction.”
    My throat burned, the fire in my chest scaling its walls for freedom. “I agree wholeheartedly.”
    “We have to fight for change, and I believe this is a fight your charity has already broke ground on. So, if you’ll have us, we’d like to sponsor The Halo Foundation in that fight.”
    I saw it. It was impossible not to see it. There was a reason he was the city’s front-runner, and it wasn’t because he was good looking, though that didn’t hurt. It was because Beau Callaway was a living, breathing saint and he didn’t even know it.
    “We’d be honoured to have your campaign spearhead our sponsorships.” I shook a little as I spoke. I was struggling to maintain an emotional equilibrium.
    The week of the gala was always emotionally taxing for me.
    “I’m glad to hear that.” He stood, buttoning his suit jacket once again. “I’ll have my assistant contact you this afternoon to coordinate anything you need from us.”
    I stood as he did, following the somewhat abrupt end to a quick but otherwise very deep meeting. “On behalf of the Halo Foundation and myself, I want to say thank you. It’s not often we have sponsors that are so passionate about what we do,” I said, and I meant it. Standing in front of him, outstretching my hand, I wished I had more eloquent words of thanks, but in that moment, my grief was plunging in and out of my heart, making it hard to breathe.
    “I just have one condition.” His hand tightened around mine.
    “Oh?”
    I wasn’t surprised by this. It was often when making sizeable donations that the sponsors had conditions, though usually they were ironed out prior to the ending handshake of a meeting.
    “To thank me for the donation, I’d like you to let me take you to dinner.”
    “Oh.”
    Using the hand not joined with mine, he pulled a sealed envelope from the inside pocket of his grey suit and held it