Campaigning for Love novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: The Campaign Bus

He kissed me like he had been counting the days since Sunday.

His mouth came down hard, and I rose on my toes and took it, with both hands fisted in his flannel shirt.

The barn wall was warm at my back and there was straw in my hair.

I didn't care.

"Not here," he said against my mouth. "A kid could walk by."

"Where?"

"The bus."

"The bus has a driver."

"The driver is at the pie tent with a plate of ribs and strict orders to stay for an hour."

I pulled back and stared at him.

"You planned this?"

"I hoped," said Nelson Kittredge, and he was blushing.

"I don't plan. I'm bad at it. I just happen to know where the bus is."

I laughed so hard I had to hold his arm.

We walked to the far end of the lot, not touching, a candidate and his water girl.

The campaign bus was a white coach with his face on the side.

He unlocked the door with a key from his pocket, and we climbed inside.

The curtains were drawn.

It smelled like carpet and coffee.

The back had a small lounge with a leather bench seat and a table bolted to the wall.

He shut the door and turned the lock, and then he just stood there, a few feet from me, with his hands at his sides.

"Cora," he said. "One more time, because I need you to hear it."

"I've heard it."

"You don't owe me this."

"Your job doesn't depend on it, or on me, or on what you say in the next ten minutes."

"If you walk off this bus, you walk off it exactly as you walked on."

"I know."

"Say what you want."

I took off my glasses and put them on the table.

I took off the lanyard that said INTERN and laid it beside them.

"I want you," I said. "I want you to take your shirt off and sit down on that bench."

"And I want to climb on top of you."

His breath left him.

"Okay," he said, hoarse.

"And Nelson?"

"Yes."

"Don't be careful."

His hands came up.

He yanked the flannel shirt over his head and dropped it.

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