The Kingmaker (All the King's Men, #1)(71)

“She said she doesn’t help rich white boys.” He grimaces and I laugh.

“That sounds like Nix.”

“You better be glad I agree they’d be the best ones to run my campaign.” He picks up a glass of water Jin Lei left in easy reach. “Or I wouldn’t be doing this.”

“You want to be president? Hire them. They’re the best. You’ll already get moderates and progressive white voters. You need black women, Latinas. Those voters will have choices and be looking for very specific things in the candidate they support. And no one knows marginalized groups like these ladies do. So does it really matter that I suggested it?”

“But why? You’ve barely shown any interest in my political career before.” His smile widens. “But then it’s her you’re interested in. Am I right, brother? You know Ms. Hunter?”

Intimately and not at all.

“We’ve met.”

“Don’t bullshit me. This is my future, possibly the future of this country we’re talking about. I’m not your matchmaker. I need to win and I need to know everything about your history with Lennix Hunter.”

I knock back a swallow of the bourbon Jin Lei knows I like and stocks in every residence.

“Want some?” I proffer the decanter.

“No, thanks. Tell me about you and Lennix.”

“What do you want to know?” I walk over to the wall of windows, taking in the view of the city. Glittering lights overlay the grime of politics. It’s a city where ideals climb in a corrupted bed with compromise to get things done. One of my least favorite cities in the world, and I need to be here to get what I want.

“Did you fuck her?” he asks.

“That is not the important part of this story.” I chuckle and shake my head. “I’ve fucked a lot of women. You should be asking why this one. What makes her so special that I’d go to the trouble of finally involving myself in your political career? Of dealing with that greaseball Bryce to arrange your meeting with her? And setting up shop in DC, of all places, when my business is everywhere but here?”

“So why?”

I take a long swallow of the sense-numbing liquor before answering. “I have to know if she’s as good as I remember. Did I convince myself we were perfect together before I screwed it all to hell?”

“Give me a minute to digest this.” Owen leans forward and props his elbows on his knees. “So you have a history with Lennix Hunter.”

“Right.” I roll my eyes. “That’s what I just said.”

“You’ve never talked this seriously about a girl, except for once.” He turns wide eyes to me. “Amsterdam. Lennix is the girl from Amsterdam.”

“So.” Brilliant response, but it’s all I can come up with on such short notice. I didn’t expect him to make that connection this quickly.

“So you’re still hung up on her? How’d you screw it up before?”

I slam my glass down on the desk and rub my eyes. “I kind of left out the fact that I was a Cade. And that my father is, for all intents and purposes, the man she hates maybe most in the world.”

“The pipeline.”

“Yeah, among other things. She said I lied to her.”

“Which technically, you did.”

“There was nothing technical about the connection we had before I left for Antarctica. I intended to tell her when I came back, but Dad’s daring rescue got so much air time and outed me on every news outlet before I could explain.”

“So you gave up?”

“Not exactly,” I say defensively. “I put things on hold.”

“For what . . . a decade?” he asks with a frown. “Amsterdam was like ten years ago, wasn’t it?”

“Look, she sent me away. I tried and she turned me down. She had shit to do and so did I. Neither of us were ready to stop what we were doing.” I shrug. “Maybe she made the right call. I can’t even imagine managing a long-distance relationship considering what the last ten years of my life have been.”

I’ve been planning this for some time. Events coalesced perfectly—Kimba and Lennix opening their political consulting firm, Owen following through on his precious ten-year plan for the presidency, and me hitting my milestones, allowing me a little room to breathe for the first time in years.

“And now you’ve decided you want her so it’s time?” Owen asks, skepticism in his expression. “And she should just fall in line with your wishes?”

“I think she’ll wish it, too. Or at least she will once I remind her.” I smile slow and wide. “We couldn’t keep our hands off each other.”

“Spare me the details, brother,” he says with a disgusted grimace “I don’t need the complications of your love life screwing things up for me. I just want her expertise.”

“You can have her expertise.” I toss back another much-needed swig of my bourbon. “I want everything else.”





36





Lennix





“This worked out perfectly,” I say, grabbing my luggage from the conveyor belt.

“Yeah, you know I hate traveling alone,” Wallace says, grabbing his, too.