ROMANCE: Romantic Comedy: Love in 30 Days - The Best Plans Don't Always Work! (Plus 19 FREE Books Book 13)

by Jane Keeler

  “Yes. I had also said that I did not believe in either because I had no time for it given the career that I had resolved to pursue. Now that career seems like an elusive dream.” Alex said.

  “It’s not over yet, Alex.” Eva was trying to sound reassuring.

  Eva sneaked out of the back of the house again and ducked quickly inside Ravi’s car. She asked him to driver to Alex’s office.

  Chapter 7

  She reached the place to find the place in absolute uproar. As soon as she stepped in though, everybody went silent.

  “Where is the Mayor, Eva?” asked one of the staff members.

  “He’s home. And I need to speak with all of you right now. Gather around please.” Eva commanded.

  All of them rounded up near Eva. She could feel the cameras outside the office zooming in on every word they said and every lip movement was being watched closely.

  “This may not be the ideal place to discuss this. Let’s move into Mr. Riley’s office.” Eva said.

  After everyone had moved into Alex’s office, Eva started to speak.

  “I am sure everyone has heard by now that there have some very serious allegations that have been labelled against Mr. Riley” Eva said as she looked at each of the staff member’s in their eyes. She was trying to see if anyone reacted.

  “Now anyone who thinks that the allegations are correct or feel that there might be any truth behind these allegations, please raise your hands.” Eva wanted to see how many raised their hands. Only three people did.

  “Jess, please see these three people out of the office. Guys it’s not your fault, but at this point we cannot afford to have anyone in this office that is not a 100 percent behind Mr. Riley. I have drawn out a MoU which I need all of you to sign before I speak anything else on this matter. It states that whatever we discuss here right now will be strictly confidential and anyone found to be in breach will be liable to be prosecuted. Anyone who is not willing to sign this can leave right now.” Eva had made it clear that she was not going to have nay moles in this office.

  After hearing what she said, she found a couple of more people leaving the room. But she knew that the ones that were left behind were the most ardent of Alex’s supporters. She began speaking after everyone had signed the papers.

  “We are under attack people, make no mistake about it! This is a deliberate attack from the opposition to derail our efforts to make this city regain its glory. Whatever you are seeing in the news is absolutely false. Mike, is there something that you would like to day?” Eva was looking at Mike.

  “Me?” stuttered Mike.

  “Yes, Mike. I am talking to you. Is there something that you would like to say?” Eva asked again.

  “Ms. Brown, I was suspicious from the last year that there was something or someone who was trying to sabotage whatever we set out to do. I had even spoken to Peter about this – the former PR guy. But he did not seem to pay any attention to what I had to say. So one day when I was using the lavatory, I heard Peter come in and talk to someone over the phone about the Children’s Park project. He was blurting out all the plans that we had made to make this project a success and even went on to suggest ways to derail it. It made me extremely suspicious and I confronted him that night outside office. He was very apologetic at first, but after a while he came clean. He promised me that he would not share office secrets with anyone else and I made him promise me that he would quit this job. He started taking off early from work and arriving late which irked Mr. Riley and it was then that he asked him to be replaced.” Mike said.

  “Well, Mike I would appreciate if you could let us in on your secrets from now on, if we have to come out of this. It is my hunch that somehow Bywater is involved in all of this. We have to find all we can about this company. I want you to call your friends in PR in other firms and find out any dirt that you can to link them to this. I am sure it is out there. We just need to find it. Mike, was there anything else that Peter told you that might help us?” Eva asked looking at Mike.

  “I cannot remember anything like that right now, Ms. Brown” Mike was stuttering again.

  “Take your time to think about it Mike. We need you to focus.” Eva directed Mike.

  Eva felt her cell phone ring in her pockets and pulled it out to see that it was Alex.

  “What’s happening there, Eva?” asked Alex curiously.

  “Well, it seems no one here believes that you are innocent.” Eva said playfully.

  “Please do not make me any more nervous than I already am.” Alex said plainly.

  “Ok. We have decided on a strategy to figure a way to get you out of this mess. Sit tight, Alex. I will be late, but I have something important to share with you.” said Eva.

  Eva hung up and began calling some of the other people that she had gone to college with when she was studying for her degree in PR. She called the girls first and barely found any useful information. She then called the guys and after a couple of them denied having any knowledge about the subject, one guy told her that there was a case in NY where there was suspicion that Bywater had colluded with one of the political parties to bring disrepute to one of the senate members. This was exactly what she was looking for. She took down the particulars of the people involved and hung up. She then walked over to the staff members and told them about the incident.

  “Alright guys. We now have a target to aim at. It is suspected that Bywater was involved in setting up Senator Fairwood of New York in a falsely accused case of adultery just like Mr. Riley a few years back. I know this is going to be hard, but we need to find a proof of what happened there.” Eva said excitedly.

  All the staff members including Jess and Eva were working in the office trying to find some proof of the incident that happened in NY. They were hoping that if they could prove that Bywater had something to do with that incident, they could create sufficient doubt in the minds of the public to appeal for a hearing at court. And she was extremely certain that no matter what happened later, there could only be one winner then – Alex.

  Chapter 8

  It was already four o’clock in the morning and Eva decided to call it a night. She asked everyone to find a place to make themselves comfortable and sleep in the office tonight. She decided to go to Alex’s home and share the developments that they had made till now. She wasn’t as upbeat as she was a few hours ago when they had made the breakthrough about the incident in NY. She was starting to lose hope and the stress from it all made her feel exhausted. She had to take a shower and probably get an hour’s sleep too if she could.

  She asked Ravi to drive back to Alex’s place and when they reached she was happy to see that the crowd at the front gate had dispersed by now. She came in to find Alex working on something on his laptop completely engrossed.

  “Alex! I thought you would catch some sleep.” Eva said surprised.

  “Eva! Look at this. When you said that you had something to tell me, I knew that you had found something out and that you were unwilling to say what it was over the phone. I got one of the guards to drive up to the office and get Mike to talk to me from a phone booth. I got to know about the NY incident and ever since then I had a hunch that if this has happened twice, it must have happened several other times as well. As it turns out, it indeed has. There are similar cases all around the country in the last 15 years. And in about 70% of the cases there was an executive from Bywater involved in handling the PR. I see a pattern here. Look, at least in 4 of these incidents, there is one name that keeps coming up – Peter. I tried to reach him but his phone is unreachable and no one seems to know where he is. All we have to do now is link Peter to Emma and we are done. Give me a kiss, Eva! You are a superstar!” said Alex excitedly.

  Eva was dumbfounded that Alex was able to get hold of so much information sitting at home. He truly was a genius, she thought. She kissed him but pulled out of it as soon as she sensed Alex getting more into it. She sat up and unbuttoned her shirt baring her lacy bra and slid her ski
rt down to reveal the skimpiest of panties that Alex had ever seen. Eva walked up to the door of the washroom and tilted her head to indicate to Alex to follow her inside. Alex sprang up from his chair and jumped towards the washroom. By now, Eva had taken off all her clothes as she turned the shower on. Alex took of his clothes in a hurry and snuck into the shower behind her quickly before he lost sight of her in the steam that was emanating from the warm water. Eva slid her hand towards Alex’s manhood and squealed in delight to find it completely erect. Alex turned Eva towards the wall as he took her from behind. The warm water had a therapeutic feel on their bodies as the water trickled down their body and splashed on the floor. Alex put one of his hands across Eva’s breasts and with the other he held her hips, thrusting harder and harder. Eva felt herself shiver with pleasure. Alex’s hard thrusts gave her a sweet pain that she did not want to subside. With every thrust Alex was starting to get faster. Eva moaned aloud in pain and pleasure as Alex’s thrusts got deeper and deeper. Alex went even faster and in a fit of pleasure erupted all over Eva’s bottom and legs. Eva had come too and she turned towards Alex to kiss him again. They both soaped each other up and had one more session of intense love making before coming out of shower exhausted with the mental stress from the day’s incident and the physical stress from the wild sex. They were both absolutely famished.

  “I have to head to the office.” said Eva.

  “Already?” asked Alex.

  “Yes, you know I have to. We just need to connect Emma to Peter and we are sorted. The only thing that we have to do thereafter is to call in a press meet. And let the law take its course from there.” Eva said excitedly.

  Eva had just reached office and she saw Mike running up to her in full tilt.

  “Ms. Brown, I have found it! I found a diary in the office that Peter used before he left and nestled between the books on the shelf was this little diary. It has names of the all the clients that Peter has worked with on behalf of Bywater and it has details of all the ways they tried to blackmail, extort and plot against political leaders who were their targets. I think I have hit the jackpot, Ms. Brown!” said Mike flashing his biggest smile.

  Eva kissed Mike on his cheek and saw his face redden. “You have hit the jackpot alright, Mike! This is exactly what we needed. This is it, guys! We’ve done it!” she exclaimed to the rest of the room.

  The whole staff exploded in elation hearing Eva. People were on their feet jumping with joy. It was a victory greater than the one that had come when Alex was elected as a Mayor. The first thing Eva did after that is call the Commissioner of SFPD. She explained the whole thing to him in detail and asked her to send in some Officers for the Press Meet that she had proposed to call.

  She then called one of her best friends who was a lawyer and told him to drive down to Alex’s office. She told him that she had found him the case of his life. She asked Jess to make arrangements for the press meet and called Alex.

  “Alex, we have done it!” screamed Eva.

  “I must have dozed off. Has there been a breakthrough?” asked a sleepy Alex.

  “Wake up Mr. Riley. It’s time to suit up! We have a press meet in a couple of hours and you are going to have make it to the office at least an hour ahead of it so that I can brief you how to tackle the questions that are sure to come your way.” said Eva trying to calm herself.

  “Does that mean that you have found the link between Emma and Peter?” asked Alex, wide awake by now.

  “Yes, we have Alex! Your honor will be reinstated!” said Eva.

  “I can’t thank you enough Eva.” said an emotional Alex.

  “Well, that can wait. Get yourself over here as soon as you can.” said Eva hurriedly.

  Alex had believed all his life that relationships make a man weak. He considered them a distraction to his work. That is why he did not believe in “Love”. He assumed that he had the acquaintances and all the power and money in the world that would help him in case he was ever in trouble. His power and wealth also made him popular among the girls. So he never imagined what this fuss over “Love” was all about. But the events from yesterday and today taught him something that he will hold on to for the rest of his life. He was down and out. The whole world was against him. Even the people he called his friends turned out to be enemies. He had lost all hope, but the one thing that came through for him was Eva.

  “I think I might be in love.” he thought to himself, amazed.

  Alex made it to the office on time and he saw Eva standing there in all her beauty, waiting for him. He felt time slow down around them. Eva’s smile had a way of doing that to him. Even the first time they met at her office, he could feel the world stop spinning for a second and the light being eked out of everything else around her. Eva’s touch brought him crashing back to reality.

  “You need to understand what happened first.” Eva said smiling.

  “I know what happened.” Alex said.

  “How did you know that? I have asked the whole staff to not speak a word about it to anyone before the press meet.” Eva said with a questioning look on her face.

  “I was not talking about my political career.” Alex said shaking his head.

  “What then?” asked a thoroughly perplexed Eva.

  “It’s about my life, Eva!” said Alex.

  “This is no time for a joke Alex! This is what happened.” said Eva and explained the whole picture to him – how Peter had maintained a diary that had explicit details of everything that they had planned over the years. She told him to not panic in front of the camera’s and motioned him over onto the dais where the reporters were now ready with their questions.

  Alex answered all the questions with aplomb and once all the questions were over and he had scandalized the whole media contingent about the controversy surrounding Bywater, he felt an inner peace.

  He then said “I have another important announcement to make. And I wanted to make it in front of all of you – my friends.” There was evident sarcasm in his voice while made quite a few of the journalist chuckle.

  Eva meanwhile was frozen that he was not following script.

  “While I going through this ordeal since yesterday, I thought my career as a politician was over. I have nothing but good intentions in my heart towards the people of San Francisco and the people of America. But I was doubted by these same people. I was doubted by you. If I were in your shoes I would have behaved in the same way and there is nothing wrong with that. But there was one person who believed in me and trusted me even though I had given that person no reason to do that. I am a young man, even though I am your Mayor. I have a lot to learn, sure. But before you learn from the tabloids about another controversial incident that I am involved in, let me just be open about this right now. I am in love.”

  He felt the air leave the room for an instant before people started to mumble among themselves again. He saw Eva shaking her head as if to say “No, you seriously cannot be doing that right now!”

  “You might be inclined to think what you want to. But I am in love with the most beautiful woman I have ever had the good fortune to lay my eyes upon. I love you, Eva! Do you feel the same way about me?”

  A huge cheer went around the staff members and everyone in the building soon joined in including the media and police and the crowd that was gathered in that tiny place outside Alex’s office. Eva came out to thunderous clapping and chants of “Say yes!”

  Eva leaned in towards the mic and said “I love you too Alex!” They hugged each other as the whole building started cheering. Eva looked into Alex’s eyes and they she felt overawed by the whole situation. She had never felt so special in her life! It was almost like a fairy tale!

  *** THE END ***

  Book Ten

  Back to Contents

  SECOND TIME LUCKY

  By Jane Keeler

  Chapter 1

  Vicky always knew that her marriage to Fred was not the most romantic story but lately she had found that their marriage
was a marriage only on paper; Fred was never around. He only came late at night to sleep and then left before Vicky even woke up. It had been months since they had even slept together. Vicky knew it was silly to ponder about things like this because Fred was working really hard. They had a good time when they were out to a friend’s wedding last month. But these instances of good time were few and far between and that is why Vicky was circumspect.

  Vicky considered herself lucky to have the best friends in the world – Emma, Christie and Michelle. They were her pillars of strength. She had discussed her marriage with them too but they had said that every marriage goes through a period like this and that it will only make their relationship stronger in the long run. What bothered Vicky was that lately Fred’s habits seem to have changed. He drank more these days and even started smoking again. When Vicky asked him about it, he said that it was because he was very stressed at work. His trips out of the city also increased.

  Vicky started becoming suspicious when one day when laundering Fred’s pants that he wore a day earlier, she found a floral handkerchief which she was sure could only belong to a woman. She confronted Fred about it and he just blew it off saying that the handkerchief was given to him by a colleague. Fred never wore perfume earlier but she was sure she had found a whiff of a perfume in some of his clothes lately. Vicky wanted to block these thoughts from her mind, but they kept coming back in her mind. To say that Vicky wanted everything to go back to normal would be overstating things. Frankly, she was never happy with Fred. She had married him because she was not getting any younger and Fred was at least stable enough to support a family, unlike most of her other boyfriends in the past. Vicky was like a disaster magnet when it came to dating. She vaguely remembered her first crush in high school – Ryan. Being with Ryan was so easy. Often they would just sit at the top of the hill and just gaze into the vast landscape until dusk and not speak a word. Yet, she felt the most alive with him.