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It had been a long day and it wasn’t over yet. Beth did her best to stay focused, but she felt her eyes start to glaze over as her elderly constituent told her in great detail about the issue plaguing his block. Snapping out of it, Beth did a quick mental calculation… If she could wrap this up and say her hellos to the gallery owner and the last few artists without getting sidetracked, she could be home and in her pajamas by…
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye Beth caught sight of a familiar profile across the room. She frowned, but luckily the man speaking to her assumed the reaction was related to the complaint he was droning on about and didn’t realize she was only half paying attention.
What was he doing there? She’d made the drop already this week, and he knew she was working tonight so they hadn’t made plans to meet. A dozen possible scenarios ran through her mind, and none of them were good.
After Nick was arrested and she was sworn in, the city had initiated an internal investigation into the recently uncovered corruption scandal, which meant she and Rio had needed to keep a tighter than normal lid on their less-than-legitimate business dealings. The last thing they needed was for someone to get suspicious and make a connection that would negatively impact their bottom line - or land them in jail, too.
That meant being more careful about where and when they met, to keep from drawing any unwanted attention. Him showing up unplanned at a charity event that she was attending - and speaking at - was the exact opposite of what they’d agreed on.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Hoffstader,” she interrupted the older man with a sympathetic hand on his arm. “Thank you so much for taking the time to be here this evening. The lack of a stop sign on your street is definitely a very serious matter, but I see one of my colleagues trying to get my attention so I’m afraid I really must excuse myself. Can you please give your information to my assistant so we can have someone from the traffic department look into fixing that for you as soon as possible?”
Thanking the man again, both for his support, and for bringing the matter to her attention, Beth pulled herself away. Behind her, she heard him start the whole story again from the beginning and for a second she felt a little guilty about throwing her assistant under the bus. It didn’t last long, though. Delegating was an expected part of her job now, and her assistant got paid quite well - even by city salary standards - to pick up where she chose to leave off.
Besides, she reasoned, it wasn’t like she was asking for anything outrageous; it was part of the job. She wasn’t going to turn down the unsolicited coffees that showed up on her desk most days of the week, but she knew some other councilors routinely had their assistants run personal errands for them, up to and including helping them keep wives from finding out about mistresses. She, at least, kept her relationship with her assistant strictly professional.
Keeping her eye on her target, Beth made her way across the crowded space. So her ultimate destination wasn’t too obvious, she paused occasionally to say a quick hello to colleagues and stakeholders she recognized, or who recognized her from previous community events.
She never lost sight of him as he moved around the room, though, as he went from one piece to the next. From her angle it looked like he occasionally referred to the printed programme that was offered to the guests as they arrived, but she hadn’t seen him speak to anyone, and he hadn’t seemed to notice her yet.
Was him being there just a coincidence? She wouldn’t have thought a charity event - a silent art auction, at that - was something he’d be interested in, but then again… He did have several nice pieces of art in his loft, now that she thought about it. She’d assumed he’d had a decorator pick it all out and none of it was really personal to him, but maybe her assumption had been wrong.
It took several minutes, but once she’d made her way through the crowd, she caught up to him as he stood, causally, with his hands clasped in front of him. He was focused intently on the painting hanging closest to him, but glanced over when she came to a stop beside him, making sure to keep enough space between them so anyone looking their way would assume they were just strangers making small talk over a piece of art.
“Councilwoman,” he drawled, tipping his head slightly in greeting, giving no indication he was surprised to see her.
“What are you doing here? You can’t be here.” she hissed quietly through a strained smile, not wanting to bring attention to their conversation.
His eyes cut back from the painting again. This time he gave her a genuine, relaxed smile.
“Was in the neighbourhood,” he assured her with a flick of his wrist, bringing her eye to the programme he still held. “My dealer recommended the gallery. Thought I’d come check it out.”
Beth’s eyes narrowed. His… dealer…?
He clocked her annoyance and chuckled softly. “My art guy. He knows I’m in the market, and a few artists I’ve bought before are on the block tonight. Said he was busy and gave me his ticket. Couldn’t pass up the opportunity t’see my tax dollars hard at work.”
Beth rolled her eyes. So he did know she was going to be there and chose not to give her a head’s up he was coming. She could tell from his tone he was teasing, but she was annoyed and chose to ignore the comment. Reacting would just make things worse.
“Whaddya think about this one?”
His question threw her for a second. She was only there in her official capacity, to meet a few constituents and thank everyone for their generous donations to the local art community. The only artwork she’d been exposed to in the last dozen or so years was stuck on her fridge, so she wasn’t sure what meaningful insight he expected her to contribute to the conversation. Her brows furrowed slightly as she looked from him to the piece in front of them.
Leaning in closer to read the card mounted under it, she saw it was titled Azul, and was created using something called alcohol ink, a medium she wasn’t familiar with.
The work itself was abstract. The colours were bright, a mix of blues, and teals and greens that swirled and bled and blended together more fluidly than she would have thought possible for a painting. It was sealed with resin, which really made the colours pop. They were so vibrant it reminded her of pictures she’d seen of the Caribbean and other more tropical seas that lapped against far away sandy shores. The painting was beautiful, but Beth couldn’t have said exactly why she liked it except that looking at it was oddly… calming.
“I wouldn’t have thought it was your style,” she shrugged after several seconds. “But, I like it. It’s...”
A little more of her agitation drained, and her features softened.
“… Relaxing.”
Rio made a pained sound and clutched his hand over his heart in mock offense.
“Hey, now. What’s that they say about books and covers? I *know* you know I happen t’have a wide variety of tastes…”
Beth could feel her skin flush at the blatant innuendo. The heated look, quick as it was, that he gave her when he said it was *exactly* the reason they had their rule in the first place. It was too much. Too telling. When he looked at her like that she was positive anyone who saw it would just… know.
Luckily her assistant, at least, was oblivious. Appearing at her side a minute later, he didn’t even acknowledge the man standing beside her.
“Hey, boss, break time’s over. Councilman Jackson’s been looking for you, he says there’s someone you have to meet, but they’ve got another event and need to leave soon. They’re at the bar finishing their drinks and you can catch them there if you hurry.”
Duty called.
Assuring her assistant she’d be right over, Beth sent him on his way before turning back to Rio, who was watching her with an amused smile.
“That’s some assistant you’ve got there.”
“Yeah,” she acknowledged with a nod and a little smile. “I don’t know what I’d do without him. Nathan’s really been a big help since I started. Without him keeping me on track, I wouldn’t get done half the stuff I need to.”
Rio chuckled. “Oh yeah? Might need t’have a chat with good ‘ol Nate, see if he can give me some tips on how t’keep you properly incentivized.”
Beth glared at the dig, but he wasn’t exactly wrong. Nathan was very good at making sure she stayed focused on what needed to be done. Rio… Not always so much.
“Jealous?” she teased.
She didn’t think he was, but when he went quiet and returned his focus to the painting in front of them, she wondered if she might have actually hit a nerve.
Her brows furrowed. Seriously? Was that really why he’d shown up, so he could size up the so-called competition?
“I *work* with him, Rio.”
That got his attention and he stared back at her, one eyebrow cocked.
Okay, she hadn’t really thought that through. Her “evidence” hadn’t actually supported her case at all. He was living proof that “issue” hadn’t exactly stopped her before. Mentally rolling her eyes, she counted to three and tried again.
“He’s a baby, for crying out loud.”
That was a bit of an exaggeration, but he was mostly definitely younger. He’d actually just turned 27 a few weeks before. Beth had taken homemade cupcakes for the office.
His other eyebrow rose to join the first, forming another silent question.
And, yeah… Fine. At this point she was just making his argument for him that it wasn’t exactly outside the realm of possibility, but it didn’t change the fact that the thing he was thinking about, it was never going to happen.
Sure, there might have been a few similarities between the two of them, but that’s where it ended. She had less than zero interest in getting involved with her assistant. The fanning and fawning was fine - nice, even, for a change - for a few hours a day, but she’d developed enough self awareness between finding out about Dean’s cheating and finalized the divorce, to know whoever she ended up with in the future, they needed to be able to push her, to challenge her. And Nathan, sweet as he was, he would never be that man.
Nathan… he was a house cat. Rio was the king of the jungle.
When she stole another worried glance at Rio, she caught the slightest twitch of his lips and recognized the signs of the satisfied smirk he was barely managing to suppress.
Asshole. He wasn’t jealous; he was just baiting her, and she’d fallen for it.
His soft, easy smile came back, like he hadn’t just riled her up on purpose, knowing she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
“You outta here soon?” he asked, already moving on with his version of an olive branch. They hadn’t planned on seeing each other later tonight, but he was giving her the option, the opportunity to resolve their… misunderstanding.
Beth nodded her head then glanced quickly behind her to make sure the man she needed to talk to before she left hadn’t already gone.
“I just have one more thing, then I should be okay.”
Rio dipped his chin in acknowledgment and turned his attention back to the painting, leaving her to make her way over to the bar.
When she looked around a few minutes later, he was gone.
***
A few days later, Beth was sitting in her office catching up on some paperwork before her next meeting when Nathan knocked on her door and poked his head inside.
“Hey boss, this just got dropped off for you.” he held up a brown paper wrapped package about sixteen inches square.
“Thanks, Nathan, just leave it on the table.”
They chatted for a few more minutes, pinning down details for a few constituent meetings that were scheduled for later in the week. When he left, her curiosity got the better of her and Beth walked over to see what he’d brought.
She hadn’t ordered anything, and wasn’t expecting any work related deliveries. Occasionally vendors would send fruit baskets or boxes of chocolates as a token of thanks after a contract was finished or a negotiation was wrapped up, but the city had been trying to discourage that too, not wanting there to be even a whiff of impropriety.
They would be feeling ripples from Nick’s arrest for a long while, in more ways than one.
The back of the package had no markings, but when she turned it over she saw the logo from the art gallery from the charity event stamped in the top corner. That was strange. They’d been made aware of the rules, too; no honorariums or gifts for the speakers. But as soon as she pulled the wrapping aside, she saw she was wrong; it wasn’t that, either.
It was the painting she’d told Rio she liked, and it was even more captivating than she remembered. Holding it up, the light from the window hit it and reflected, refracted in spots, highlighting a subtle shimmer she hadn’t noticed the other night under the lighting in the gallery.
It was gorgeous.
It was too much.
Beth closed her office door and picked up her personal cellphone.
“I didn’t bid on this,” she opened, dispensing with a proper greeting when he answered.
“Mhm,” he made a noise of disagreement. “That paperwork there says y’did. Was real generous about it, too. Didn’t know you was such a patron of the arts.”
Beth made a sound of frustration. He sounded pleased with himself, and she bet he’d just been waiting for this phone call.
Beth looked at the packaging again, and sure enough, slipped in between the plain brown outer layer and the inner tissue paper wrapping there was a letter from the gallery congratulating her on being the successful bidder. Apparently she had been very generous. Except the money wasn’t hers.
Actually… The money probably wasn’t his, either, she realized.
A few days before the auction, she’d given him a box of freshly printed money. She was willing to bet the painting in her hands, that that’s what he used. Part of her was pissed he’d brazenly walked into her event - without telling her - and taken that kind of risk. Another part of her was impressed because it was actually the perfect set up to pull it off. But that was an argument for another day.
“But, Rio, I can’t accept gifts…”
She tried to stand her ground, really, but it was a token argument and they both knew it. Just because she was trying to fly far under the radar at the moment didn’t change the fact that in a few months, after all the dust had settled, she and Rio were going to be right back up to Nick’s old tricks. In the grand scheme of things, this painting didn’t even register in terms of significance compared to what they were planning to do, but she was trying to make a point.
“Oh, darlin’,” he purred. “We’re already partners, I don’t need t’buy you off with a pretty picture. Besides, I can think of a lot more fun ways to try t’influence you if I need t’get you on my side.”
Beth huffed in annoyance at the truth of that, because he wasn’t wrong. His methods could be very effective.
She really didn’t think the city’s new ethics officer would be too inclined to accept the “I didn’t try to bribe her with a painting because sex works better” ‘defense’, though.
“I’m late for a meeting, but we’re not done talking about this.”
His deep chuckle reverberated through her core.
“Lookin’ forward to it, councilwoman.”