by Cynthia Dane
“So you think there may be merit to what he suggested?”
“That’s not what I said at all.” Hunter cleared his throat. He wished Kerri was flirty again, but he understood why she wasn’t. “Best case scenario, he’s merely warning you because he doesn’t want you to get hurt. Worst case scenario, he knows, and he may do something about it.”
Kerri grumbled something unintelligible. I can guess what she’s saying though.
“You have to understand, my dear, that Joshua Payne intends to be a dark horse this election.”
She looked up at him, still agitated. “A dark horse?”
“You don’t know what that is?” Hunter tried his best to not sound condescending, but who knew how it really came through – aside from Kerri, of course. From the way she wrinkled her nose, her boyfriend must have said it wrong.
“I’ve heard of it before, but you know me… I don’t pay attention if I can help it.”
There was a bottle of wine still on the table. Hunter tipped some into his girlfriend’s glass before filling his own again. He waited until Kerri had her fill before explaining. “A dark horse is a candidate in any race or contest that comes in from behind and wins, shocking everyone. Usually the biggest underdog. If Joshua Payne wins this election, then he’ll be a dark horse. Probably the biggest one in the state’s history. Third party candidates know they don’t stand much of a chance in these environments. Maybe in a less populated state, but here…”
“So his tactic is to take down both of his opponents through us?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Kerri was still on the defensive side. “Then what else could he be intending? He has to know. And he’s going to use that information to scandalize our parents and dump their positions in the polls… oh damn…”
“Don’t fret about it.” Hunter put a gentle hand on hers. Their fingers entwined on the table. “Worrying about it will only make things worse in your head. We need to enjoy the time we get together. Let’s not… well, yeah. Dark horse or not, Payne is probably up to something. I don’t know what, though. He knows that I support him so I don’t think he would go out of his way to alienate me like that. Maybe it’s a warning that he knows, but he doesn’t want other people finding out. I like to think he has a good heart…”
Kerri snorted. “Then you have a lot more faith in politicians than I do. He may have a ‘good heart,’ but that doesn’t mean he won’t play dirty. You said so yourself, a would-be dark horse will have to pull out all of the stops in order to win. God, I hate politics. No matter what form they take, they are the freakin’ worst. You know what I want in life?” She squeezed her boyfriend’s hand. “I want to get as far away from politics as possible. My dream is to live my adult life without having to worry about this business. Because that’s what it is. Being in politics is running a business. A brand. You sell yourself so you can get power and authority, but what do you do with it? Do you actually make changes? Change policies for the better? What is the better? Just because you think something is good for the people, doesn’t mean you’re right or that they’ll want it. You could be doing the right thing, but if the public hates it, they’ll spit you out before they can feel any positive effects. Take my father for instance. I don’t agree with him most of the time, but he has had good ideas. Like when he tried to get preschool funding throughout the state. You know, he fought tooth and nail to make it happen. But the voters threw a fit because it meant raising taxes. So he gave up after two years of fighting. He’s not even using it as a platform this year. I was so ashamed in him, but I understand why he did it. I saw it firsthand. God, sorry. I’m so burned up, if you couldn’t tell.”
Hunter released the tension in their handholding. “I see your point. I don’t know if I have a lot of faith in him, but I don’t think he wants to hurt us. Say what you will about him, but I trust him more than I do either of our fathers, no offense.”
“None taken.”
With their wine now depleted, Hunter called in their private server and had him bring in dessert. “It’s on me,” Hunter said, as Kerri began to object. “Let me spoil my Juliet for a little while longer. Let’s forget about Joshua Payne, the election, and what happens in our families.”
Kerri snorted. “You call me your Juliet and then talk about our families.”
“It’s very topical.”
“Too true. Did you know that there is a famous French musical based on that play? It’s beautiful. I had the opportunity to see it in its original version when I studied abroad in France for a semester. It was breathtaking. I’d love to see it again someday.”
Their dessert arrived, and the two of them picked up their tiny dessert forks so they could enjoy the flavors. “I’ll take you. Italy, France, wherever you want to go. When this is over, I’ll take you away somewhere.”
Kerri smiled at him, but it was not with good humor or vigor. What I would give to make her happy. Rarely in his life had Hunter ever felt the need to cheer up such a woman. With his previous girlfriends, all he had to do was throw some money their way or show them the lavish life of a politician’s son. Sometimes being Hunter Hall was enough for those women. But Kerri was not impressed with any of that. What she needed went deeper than trinkets, dinners, and even lovemaking. She needed freedom. She needed to no longer be a prisoner of her family’s.
After their time in the restaurant was over, Hunter took his girlfriend to a hotel on the far side of town. At first he wasn’t sure if she would be open to sex – Kerri looked out the window of their hotel room, her frown lines deep and her pondering eyes searching for an answer to her problems. Hunter did not concern himself with her problems unless she wanted it that way. While Kerri sat in deep thought, he flipped open a newspaper and tried to find anything but local politics to read. Impossible. Everything was laced in politics.
Eventually he felt a fragile hand on his shoulder. His glance up told him that Kerri had come to him, her eyes anything but empty. “Make me forget about this,” they said. Kerri looked away again, her sensibilities getting the best of her.
Stoic. Hard. Proud. Three things the child of a politician was taught to be. Hunter knew it well, but he also knew that Kerri had it harder than him due to being a woman. She had to be more proper, beautiful, and demure than any son Hunter ever met. All of this while holding down her opinions and learning to keep the strictest poker face in the business. Anything that could give away what she really thought and felt would be considered blasphemy in her family.
Hunter knew that from one look. Kerri wanted to escape the tyranny she grew up under. To know what it was like to express herself truly and fitfully.
No pressure. On one hand Hunter was flattered that his Juliet had chosen him to be her Romeo. On the other, it meant that he had a lot to live up to. Good thing he was used to that kind of pressure in his life. Other men would flounder. He took that self-confidence and let it boil inside of him. If he were to love Kerri right that day, then he would need all of his self-confidence and desire to sate her hunger like the Romeo she wanted.
Hunter picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. “What can I do for you, Miss Mitchell?” he asked softly.
She blew air through her nostrils, but a hint of a smile twitched at the corners of her mouth. “You can call me anything but that name.”
I’ll call her many other things then. Like beautiful, intelligent, witty… in fact Hunter could barely remember words whenever he became close to Kerri like this. When he drew her down into his lap, his hands gripping her sides and legs, he leaned in toward her ear and whispered, “I’ll call you the greatest girl I know.”
Kerri wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned her chin on one. “Then why don’t I feel better about any of this?”
“Because you’ve been carrying this burden for a long time. I didn’t change anything, other than make it obvious.”
No one wanted him to shut up more than Kerri, who placed her lip
s on his and silenced his advice and good wishes. Just as well. Hunter was running out of things to say anyway.
Instead he spoke with his actions, his hand easing up the length of Kerri’s thigh as it disappeared beneath her silk skirt. She’s always so warm. Most women were. But Kerri in particular was always flushed when they were about to make love. It made Hunter think of their first night together, a passionate evening that was not supposed to be more than a quick fling. If I had told her who I was upfront, that never would’ve happened. Hunter diverted his lips to Kerri’s throat and attempted to leave his mark there.
“Don’t,” she pleaded, her voice a gentle whisper in his ear. “I can’t risk it.”
I, she said. It broke Hunter’s heart a little more. How could he prove that this risk was worth it in the end? How could he make Kerri see that they would have nothing to fear in the end? Was it even possible to give her that sort of comfort?
Hunter didn’t know. All he knew was that he could try.
“Hunter…” Kerri’s gasp disappeared into thin air when Hunter kissed the softness of her chest. It was no accident that his girlfriend was wearing a low-cut dress that day. She wants me to do this. Duck his tongue into the warm recesses of her breasts, which could fill his hands if he wanted. How did I get so lucky? His body grew hot under the onus of her weight. A part of him wanted to bring her down upon him and have his fill of her. But his primary brain told him to comfort first, love second. “Hurry,” Kerri said, interrupting his thoughts. “I need you.”
The bust of her dress came away, and so did the bra beneath it. Hunter licked the tip of her breast, delighting in her body’s response to his touch. His wandering hand now encountered the brunt of her softness, and she gasped again, having him touch her so intimately.
His only wish was that they could have this moment forever. He tried to not think about their parting later, or the fact that he had yet to hold her for a full night. The few moments they had were never enough. Broom closets, hotel rooms… they were fun for the moment, but what Hunter truly wanted was to lay his love down and smother her with affection, for a full night. Just one night! She’s never experienced anything quite like that before. Not with him.
“Just like that.” Kerri’s voice was ragged now, having long given herself over to the physical passion erupting between them. Hunter could not say he was immune to it either. He strained against his trousers, and he knew that Kerri could feel it beneath her thighs. As it dug through his clothing and into her flesh, she groaned, her legs opening so Hunter could push his fingers into her cleft and pleasure her. Although he should not have been surprised that she was already as wet as she was, he could not help but become more aroused. The scent of her hit him like a brick to the head.
Kerri, in her famished haze, struggled with his zipper. When it came undone, she wasted no time reaching in and pulling him out of his trousers. Now it was him who groaned, his lover’s lips on his throat.
One thing he never asked her was how experienced she was. Never seemed like the thing to ask a young woman, since Hunter liked to think he had some tact. But there was no denying that Kerri had a level of skill at establishing protection he rarely found in other partners. Hunter didn’t know if she was a natural at touching a man until he quivered in near ecstasy, or if she learned from someone else in her past. I don’t care. Other men didn’t matter. She was his now, and he felt lucky to have her hand on him. Only she could make him nearly lose himself without feeling an ounce of shame.
Without further ado, Kerri straddled his lap and leaned her head over his. The table was in the way, but neither of them cared. They only had eyes and lips for each other, and Kerri’s heat was dangerously close to Hunter’s. One swift motion and…
He was inside her, and she groaned, the weight of the world falling off her shoulders.
“Oh, God.” Watching her eyes close and the rest of her face contort in sexual serenity was almost too much to bear. Kerri slid her finger down the front of her dress, both of her breasts out of their casements and pressed against Hunter’s frame. The only part of him once exposed was now inside her, and every movement of her hips pulled on him until he moaned in delight.
Their thrusts had to be contained in a chair like that. Granted, Hunter wasn’t sure that he had the energy to give his all right now, not with Kerri’s plight weighing heavily on his mind. But they were quickly swept away when she took hold of his shoulders and created a steady rhythm that creaked against the table behind her. A rhythm that made the rest of her body dance, including her breasts as they moved before Hunter’s eyes.
He didn’t know what she was thinking, being so provocative so quickly. Hunter held himself off as long as he could, but with his girlfriend’s beautiful body dancing before him and the desire to forget his troubles plaguing his spirit, he soon lost himself to the intimate world he and Kerri created.
Fingers gripped the back of his head as his dug into the flesh of her rear. Her heat brought his into her, one languished thrust at a time.
They embraced when it passed. Hunter did not wish to remove himself from her, but Kerri eased off him and stood beside the table with doubt still clouding her face. I’m sorry, my love. He didn’t say it. Kerri probably knew he was thinking it already.
***
How could it not be good enough? Kerri curled her fingers beneath the edge of the table. Beside her, Hunter still sat in the chair, although he now covered himself while he disposed of the remnants of their union. With the sound of her boyfriend’s voice ringing in her ears, Kerri went and sat on the edge of the wide hotel bed.
She looked up at Hunter, and he looked back at her. Please… Kerri had not cleaned herself up yet. She didn’t want to.
It didn’t take long for him to come to her, his figure shadowing hers. “We’ll be fine,” Hunter said in his even voice. “I promise you.”
Promises were for those who had control over the situation. As much as Hunter liked to think he was impervious to his parents’ whims, it was hardly the truth. In reality, he was as vulnerable as Kerri. All it would take was one snap of their fingers and Hunter would find himself cut off from the world in ways he never could have imagined. If he’s going to be foolish… Kerri forgot what she meant when her boyfriend smothered her in what he did best. She wrapped her arms around him, her legs reaching around as well. I’m never letting him go. Eventually she would have to. Kerri knew this, and yet…
There was nothing as sweet as that moment when Hunter found her center. I can be foolish, too. This whole relationship was foolish. And yet Kerri couldn’t pull herself away from the man who brought her the passion she had waited for all her life.
Chapter 5
“Try this one on, dear,” Brenda said, taking a long-sleeved purple dress off the rack at the boutique they frequented whenever a gathering was imminent. Weddings, dinners, public functions… this time it was for the big debate occurring the following night. Usually debates didn’t happen so early, but things were heating up between all three candidates and, well, Kerri knew that this debate was about eliminating Joshua Payne as a viable candidate. The only time Terrence Hall and Raymond Mitchell could agree on something was when they wanted to boot the third partier out as soon as possible. They think they’ll mop the floor with him.
Sadly, this meant dress shopping in the middle of summer. Formal dress shopping. It was the summer of cotton sundresses, not silk monsters that would swallow Kerri whole. But her parents wanted her to look a certain way for debates, so she had no choice but to go along with it.
Too bad her mother had awful taste.
“I don’t like empire waists,” Kerri said, lounging against the arm of a white chair with her cell phone in hand. She texted with Hunter whenever Brenda wasn’t looking. “They make me look pregnant. Do you want me to look pregnant for the debate?” She never mentioned that with all the sex she was having with Hunter, who could know?
Brenda slowly put the dress back on th
e rack, but not before smoothing out the skirt and admiring some of the fake gemstones lining the hem. “No. I don’t. I’m not ready for grandchildren right now anyway. Too much going on.”
Kerri couldn’t help but roll her eyes. No one ever said she would get some anyway. Kerri would worry about that if she ever got pregnant or married. You know, whichever comes first. She glanced at a white chiffon dress hanging on another rack and imagined wearing it to her wedding. Her wedding with Hunter. Whoa there. She wasn’t ready for that either. They would have to survive their parents first.
“What about this one?” This time it was a dark red dress that had a plunging neckline. No doubt Brenda intended her daughter to wear a silk camisole beneath it, but Kerri had to laugh.
“Can you say ‘harlot?’”
Brenda put that one back on the rack as well. “I don’t know. Everything is wrong.” She pulled off a blue dress, a green dress, and an understated black dress to be on the safe side. “This would be a lot easier if you were actually looking for something you liked.”
“It doesn’t matter what I like, because you have to approve it anyway.” Kerri muttered that, but she did not doubt her mother heard it.
The pile of dresses landed on the sofa next to her. “Try them on.”
Brenda shopped for an outfit of her own while Kerri dragged her ass to the changing room and slowly put one dress after another on. They were dreadful for their own reasons. Too dark, too bright, too short, too long, too this and too that. Some barely even fit her, a testament to her mother not understanding modern dress sizes to save her life.
Kerri eventually settled on a gray dress that flattered her figure without revealing too much. It would appease her parents while still being suitable to her own style… or close enough. Really, Kerri didn’t care. She would wear this dress once and then put it in the back of her closet until enough years had gone by for her to pull out again. Assuming I still fit into it then. The way Brenda had them eat sometimes…