Ambition: A Dark Billionaire Romance Anthology Read Online Free PDF Page B

wish there was a way I could help you more."
    "You do a lot," Mark said with a rueful smirk. "You free up my time to do what I really need to do, and you help by being the public face. Although Sophie and I both wish we could have been there when you took down Traylor yesterday."
    He had a point there. For all of Mark's direct action, my role did some good as well. "It was quite satisfying. You sure you don't want to tag along for the press conference tomorrow? You could be my driver, my maintenance man and my personal chef."
    "There are a lot of roles I fill, but no thanks. I think tomorrow will be all about Sophie and I. Maybe after a night's sleep and some thinking, making love with my wife won't feel so damn dirty."
    I patted him on the shoulder. "I don't know all the details of what you guys do, but I can tell you one thing from looking at my best friend's face. Nothing you two do can ever be considered dirty. If anything, you guys elevate the whole idea. Now go get some sleep."
    Maybe Mark drew strength from my words. Maybe he was just tired and the punches had let him drain the worst of the poison from his soul. I didn't know. But some of the pained look was gone from his face, and he was even able to muster a ghost of a smile. "You too. Unless you plan on sucking down a gallon of yerba mate with your breakfast."

----
    M ark's prediction of me being sleepy was dead on, even after he had made me a super strong green tea protein smoothie before he went to bed, chilling in the fridge for me in the morning with a note attached. "Thanks. Sorry there's no hot breakfast, but if you want, there are Pop Tarts in the cupboard."
    Eight hours later, I was running on fumes standing outside the first of the community centers that MJT was opening. Rubbing my eyes, I smiled wanly at the General Manager of the Spartans, who along with three of his players, were dressed in jerseys. He smiled back with an understanding expression. "You doing all right, Miss Williams?"
    I nodded, shrugging. "Long night, you know how it is. I'm sure your head coach feels the same way the week of a hard game."
    "Why do you think he's not here?" the GM said with a chuckle. "He's getting an hour of sleep before the team starts film and practice this afternoon. Man spends five months a year running on three hours of sleep a night. I'm surprised he doesn't have a mental episode once a season."
    I was surprised when another car pulled up, and City Councilman Patrick McCaffery got out. On the job just a few weeks, after the shakeup in city politics that had been caused by the downfall of Owen Lynch, Pat McCaffery was a bit of an enigma. Charismatic, he easily won his recall election, which by itself wasn't a problem. The problem, at least the one that concerned Mark and I, was that his district included The Playground and other high crime, corrupt areas. In the past twenty years, nobody had won an election from that district without criminal backing.
    Stepping out of the car, he was dressed for the occasion, wearing a Spartans t-shirt along with blue jeans and holding a Spartans jacket. "Sorry for the late arrival," he said, shaking hands with the General Manager. "How are you doing, Gene?"
    "Not bad, Patrick," he said with a smile. "Tabitha Williams, I'd like to introduce you to Patrick McCaffery. I know he's got a new job, but I'll always think of Patrick as the kid I had to throw out of the stadium on nearly a weekly basis back when I was head of security at the old Municipal Stadium."
    "Oh?" I asked, smiling. "Were you a bit of a rule breaker back in the day?"
    McCaffery laughed and held out his hand. "I break rules nowadays too, Miss Williams. But I’ve tried to at least reform the reasons I break them. I used to just want to get in for autographs and maybe snag a bit of free swag from the laundry room. Now, I'm trying to make the city better."
    "I remember, I saw your posters around the city," I said, smiling professionally. Up close, I had to admit that