by Sienna Snow
I almost cupped him, wanting to squeeze his long, hard length; instead I restrained myself and folded my arms.
Fuck, I was in serious trouble.
The agents in front of us shifted and gave each other looks. I cringed inside. They had to have sensed the tension behind them.
The moment the lift opened, they stepped out and directed us to Veer’s suite.
“Governor, when you are ready to return let us know. We will remain outside.”
They waited for us to enter and immediately shut the door. The room was nothing less than what I’d expect of a hotel owned by Kevin. It was over-the-top elegance without looking gaudy. The floor-to-ceiling windows gave a breathtaking view of Central Park and the city that never slept.
The interior was a mix of modern, clean lines and small touches that kept the room from looking industrial.
“I’ll get you a drink.” I moved to the bar cart near the wall of windows. My hands shook as I picked up a decanter and poured a rich amber liquid into a tumbler.
“Jaci,” Veer crooned from behind me, and my heartbeat jumped. “Stop.”
I paused, setting the decanter down. However, I refused to turn and look in his direction.
“Veer, we can’t.”
“Can’t what, Jacinta?” He gripped my shoulder, and I closed my eyes.
Shit, shit, shit.
My cleft grew damp, and my clit began to swell, as did my breasts against the confines of my dress.
He’d made love to me at least four times on our drive to New York City, and still, I hadn’t gotten him out of my system. With a few words, I was ready and willing for him.
“Turn around,” he commanded, and without thought, I moved.
His eyes were molten gold and reflected the desire I felt.
We stood staring at each other for what felt like hours. Then in a frenzied shift, we reached for each other and our lips collided.
“Veer,” I gasped as his tongue pushed past my lips.
I shoved his jacket off his shoulders and tugged his shirt free of his waistband. I tried to unfasten his buttons but got frustrated and yanked the shirt open, sending studs everywhere.
The second his upper body was bare, I threaded my fingers into his hair. Before I knew it, my back hit a wall.
He bunched my dress over my hips and pulled my legs to wrap around his waist. He kissed down my throat and his hands massaged my breast, causing a pained, guttural cry of need to escape my mouth.
My soaked pussy screamed for Veer, and I wasn’t sure what to do to get him to forgo foreplay and fuck me.
“This is going to be hard and fast.”
“Good.” I dug my nails into his shoulders and moaned. “Stop talking and do it.”
“Jaci, if you don’t shut up and let me fuck you, your ass is going to glow bright red.”
“Either way you screw my brains out, so it shouldn’t matter.”
A growl rumbled deep in his throat. “God, Jaci. Don’t ever change.”
He tilted away from me, keeping my thighs locked against him. His fingers found the crotch of my panties and then ripped them from my body.
The next thing I heard was the sound of his zipper echoing in the air and his hard cock pressing into my sopping cleft.
I arched against him at the exquisite feel of his thick, hard girth spreading my tight core.
“That bastard will never hurt you again. I will kill Decker before he gets close to you one more time.”
I rotated my hips with his thrusts. “He doesn’t have any power over me. He is a weak man with no future. Don’t let him take any piece of what we had.”
“Have,” he countered.
I wanted to agree, to say we’d find a solution, but I’d be lying. There was no way to have what we needed from each other and the goal we were both striving to achieve.
“No. There has always been truth between us no matter how much it hurt. I won’t change it.”
He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against mine. “Jaci, I don’t know how I’m going to do this without you.”
He pulled out and slammed back in. I cried out in a pleasure-pain only he could ever make addictive. My breasts ached, and my nipples beaded to sharp peaks, pushing against the coarse fabric of my gown.
“You can do this like you’ve done everything—on your terms. You don’t need me.”
He gripped my hands and then captured them above my head. His face grew into hard lines as it had been when he was confronting Grey.
“I would give up everything if I knew I’d have you, but I know it won’t ever happen.”
I arched toward him and whispered against his lips, “Stop, Veer. Right now, it is only us. This is all I can give you. If things were different…” I trailed off.
Tears burned the back of my eyes. We should never have come up here. I knew better, and I’d done it anyway.
“Things will never be different. You love your career more than me. Have always loved it more than me. I thought I could handle it. But I was wrong.”
My heart ripped at the pain in his words.
He pulled out to the hilt and slammed balls-deep. “I need a woman who will love me enough to compromise, to make my dreams hers as I’d make her dreams mine.”
“Veer, I’m begging you. Stop.”
“Fine. I won’t tell you what I wish. Instead I’ll fuck you so hard that years from now you’ll remember what you cast aside.”
He set a pace that had me helpless against the need driving him. His hold on my wrists intensified as my core quickened to a desperate race for release.
“Come. Come for me. One last time.”
My pussy spasmed and detonated around his pistoning cock. Each wave of ecstasy fed another until all that was left was the decadent pleasure he was bringing my body. I clenched my eyes tight and pressed my head against the wall.
“Your turn.” I contracted my internal muscles and rolled my hips.
He smacked the side of my ass, and he came with hard, deep groans against my neck.
After a few minutes, my heartbeat calmed, and I kissed the side of his face. “We need to get back.”
He lifted his head, revealing his beautiful hazel gaze filled with resounding sadness.
He stepped back, letting me slide to the ground and pulling his softening cock free of my body. He tucked himself into his pants and continued to gaze at me.
The wetness of his cum slid down between my thighs, making the finality of our relationship painfully clear.
“I’m so sorry, Veer.”
He took tissues from a box near him, crouched down, and wiped the remnants of our pleasure from my body.
Once he finished, he tugged my gown into place, rested his head on my stomach, and said, “This can never happen again. We won’t ever be alone again.”
“I know.” I ran my fingers through his hair.
“I’ll marry someone else.”
I swallowed the jagged lump in my throat.
“I know.”
He glanced up at me and then stood. “I’ll always remain faithful to her, Jaci, no matter how I feel for you.”
“I know. It’s who you are.”
He cupped my face and kissed my parched lips.
“Goodbye, Veer.” I pulled out of his hold and walked to the door.
My hand shook as it covered the knob. I wanted so much to say fuck the consequences, to say I’d rather have Veer than my dreams.
How was I going to live without him?
I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t leave the only man I’d ever loved.
I began to turn, but Veer spoke, “No, Jaci. Don’t say it. If you do, I’ll never let you go. It wasn’t fair, what I said. You have to do this. If not for you, then do it for me. I don’t ever want you to have any regrets.”
“Veer,” I hiccupped, still holding the doorknob as tears streamed down my face. He was right. I would wonder what life could have been if I never tried for the White House.
“Go, baby.
”
I nodded, and before I lost my nerve to keep from making a commitment that had the potential to destroy us, I stepped into the hallway. I wiped my wet eyes with the back of my hands and walked toward the elevators, closing the most precious chapter of my life.
Chapter Eighteen
I walked into my Capitol Hill office to a frenzy of activity. My staffers, Kimberly, Frank, and Terry, were running around and giving each other directions, and Tracy had a frazzled expression on her face as she held two phones on her shoulders.
“What happened in the time I was out?” I asked Kimberly, glancing at my watch. “I’ve only been gone for an hour and a half.”
Before she could answer, the office phone rang.
“Answer it then tell me.”
She picked up the receiver and then gestured to Frank for a pen.
Whatever was going on, I had a feeling I would be spending the night at the office.
Since the eventful night in New York City three weeks ago, the election campaign had jumped into full swing as did the president’s efforts to pass various bills, and then a few days ago, Kevin and I had announced our engagement. This meant I had little or no time to myself.
With the exception of random dinners with Kevin, most of my days were spent either in meetings surrounded by people jockeying to secure my vote or helping Mrs. Edgar and Tara with the No Bride Initiative, which had garnered such backing across party lines that the president had no choice except to support the efforts.
I was still waiting for the fallout on that one. I wasn’t naive enough to think I’d gotten off scot free. Edgar had a reputation for holding grudges, and sooner or later, there would be repercussions.
Tracy hung up her phone and looked at me. “Senator, we have a major problem. I suggest you check your cell.”
I set my shoulder bag on a nearby sofa and pulled out my mobile. When I opened my news app, I found at least four major news agencies reporting about the secret relationship between vice-presidential candidate and Texas Governor Veer George and Texas Senator Jacinta Camden. Articles were questioning my loyalty to the party and others calling for an investigation into the illicit affair between two high-level Texas state officials.
The article that ignited a migraine was one where a reporter asked the president about the breaking news. He’d laughed while standing next to Grey Decker on a golf course and said, “Nothing stays hidden in politics, especially our bedfellows. Well, one thing can be said, for a supposed conservative, she has poor taste in men. But what can be expected when her best friend is a liberal?” And then he posed for pictures.
He couldn’t leave it at Veer and me but had to throw Samina in the mix.
“Oh fuck.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “When did this hit the air?”
“A few minutes ago,” Terry answered. “However, we started a media lockdown about half an hour ago when I received a call from my friend at The Washington Post to give us a heads-up.”
“Tell them thank you.”
She nodded.
I had hired Terry not only for her killer resume but her ability to make friends with the most unlikely people. She had a way of garnering loyalty, and I’d known it would be foolish not to have her on my team.
“Has anyone contacted my family or Kevin? We need to prepare them.”
Tracy set a glass of water and a bottle of my migraine medicine in front of me and said, “I called Representative Camden right after the call from The Post. You were in a secured session, so there wasn’t a way for us to contact you without causing unnecessary attention. Mr. Stanton agrees with our media blackout and will remain in Texas on his family’s ranch to keep any undue attention away from you.”
Boy, did I owe Kevin for his volunteer sequestering at his estate. It probably would force him to take a break from the nonstop traveling he’d done over the last few weeks. He loved the outdoors, and the 70,000-acre estate he owned in West Texas would give him the perfect excuse to spend some time doing what he loved, hunting and sleeping under the stars.
I opened the container, tapped out a tiny white pill, and then drank down the yucky-tasting meds with the cool water.
Frank came around his desk and offered me an envelope. “This is some data I was able to gather.”
Frank was probably the best analyst anyone could find. He could weed out the tiniest details within minutes of an event occurring. Samina had recommended him to me after I’d won the election. She, in all honesty, had poached him from her father’s technology company with a promise of a future where he would get to show off his skills and not be stuck in a cubicle all day.
“What about Dad?” I asked as I opened it.
“Your father is on his way to Louisiana. I have someone waiting at the airport to get him updated as soon as he lands,” Kimberly said as she hung up the phone. “I’ve also arranged for a return flight back to DC for him. Senator Camden isn’t one to sit back when anyone attacks the ones he loves.”
A vein pulsed on Kimberly’s forehead. She was the first lady’s niece and had a serious dislike for her uncle ever since his long-term affair with an assistant was revealed to the public.
“I appreciate you taking care of this.” I pulled out the contents of the envelope and groaned.
Image after image of Veer and me appeared. Some were from social gatherings, without anything salacious, but there were a few that made me cringe. There was one from the last weekend Veer and I had spent at my house in Austin with our friends. I was only wearing Veer’s shirt and was sitting on his lap. There was no doubt we were lovers.
And then there were two pictures of the morning after the drive from DC. Veer was holding me close as we said our goodbyes. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and both our faces couldn’t hide the love we felt for each other or the shadows of sadness.
My heart ached at the memory. I’d spent so many days pushing back the pain and loneliness, but now seeing the pictures, I could no longer pretend I was okay.
This was a private moment between two people whose hearts were breaking, and a fucking reporter had followed us to get the picture. At least this time, they hadn’t doctored them or made me look like a drunken whore as Decker had tried to do seven years ago.
I looked at the people in the room. The looks in their eyes told me they’d all seen what Frank had put together.
“You did nothing wrong, Senator,” Kimberly whispered. “You need to keep your head high and not feed into the media spectacle.”
“The world won’t see it that way. After all, I’m engaged to one man while having an affair with another.”
“None of the pictures show when or where this happened. For all anyone knows, it could have been years ago,” Trisha added.
I gave her a tight smile and then turned to Kimberly. “Send a message to your aunt and tell her it won’t be a good idea to meet today.”
“I’ll text her now. Aunt Amanda will understand.”
“If I may add something, Senator?”
I turned my attention to Frank again.
“Every one of those pictures was taken before the first lady announced her involvement with the No Bride Initiative. I have no doubt President Edgar is involved.” He paused.
“But…” I probed, resting my hand on the back of a nearby chair.
“…but the one who had you followed was Grey Decker Senior. He blames his tarnished career on you and Senator Kumar-Camden, he blames you for his son’s drug habit, and he blames you for the fact he is under investigation in Texas.”
I nodded. “You’re right. Decker Senior is the reason the photos of my lunch with Tara and Sam were leaked to the press two months ago and most logically the reason these images were available for the media now.”
“Plus,” Tracy interjected, “the Deckers are spending more time with the president than usual. If you noticed, anytime a rally or event happens, one of the Deckers is present. This was not the case during the last election.”
I clenched my jaw. “Th
e bastards have been planning something against me for a while. Why else were the pictures ready for distribution while they were enjoying an afternoon together on the golf course? This was Edgar’s way of trying to put me in my place.”
“Trying is the operative word.” Kim smiled. “I think it’s time to call in some favors, Senator.”
My lips turned up at the corners. I could handle anything these guys threw at me. “I couldn’t agree more.”
My phone buzzed. Glancing down, I saw it was a message from Tyler saying he was on his way up with Sam. Immediately, my confidence from seconds earlier faded. I could keep the cool, always-in-control image up with everyone except Tyler and Sam. They’d see right through me.
Releasing a deep breath, I moved toward my office. “If you’ll excuse me. I need to gather my thoughts and make a few calls. Keep the media lockdown going, and once I talk to my advisers and my family, we’ll implement a plan on how to handle this.”
No one said anything, but I felt the weight of their gazes.
As I entered my office, I let the door shut behind me and collapsed onto my chair.
I hated Edgar with every ounce of my being. He wanted to pay me back for flouting his authority. He was determined to humiliate me, to make me look like a whore, to ruin my reputation.
I guessed this was the price a woman paid for entering the political game. The fucker had a full-blown affair as a married man, but he was pretending he was morally superior. I couldn’t understand how he could stand next to Grey Decker, a man who was currently under investigation for harassing and manipulating anyone who got in the way of his political career.
Samina was right. Men like this had to go. It was the reason we’d entered politics in the first place.
I clenched my fists. God, how stupid was I to play the game with the very people I wanted gone. I let the public think I was a huge supporter of Edgar. I let everyone think I was a modern, more progressive version of the Republican Party but in actuality, I was only a younger form of the same old GOP.
I’d let myself get so caught up in outmaneuvering and winning against my opponents that I’d aligned myself with the enemy who would slit my throat if it meant they’d come out on top. Something that was happening while the good old boys sat back, playing fucking golf.