Incumbent(44)

He swallowed so hard it was almost audible. “Ben and I were having a drink. Then Emily, my ex-girlfriend, showed up.”

Wait . . . What? “Did you say your ex-girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

Biting my lip, I said nothing as my mind whirled. Oh my God. Does he still have feelings for her? Do I dare ask?

“I’m so sorry, Lucy.”

This was going from bad to worse. Wanting to throw up, I choked out, “Why are you sorry?”

“Because when we were leaving the restaurant, a guy snapped our picture with his phone.”

“Oh. Is that all?” This was much better than thinking he wanted her back.

“Isn’t that enough? But no, that isn’t all.” He rested his forehead against mine. “Ben told me he’d take care of it.” He looked utterly defeated, and it hurt me to see him this upset.

“Do you still have feelings for her?”

I prayed I knew the answer, but I needed to hear it. Color me insecure, but I didn’t care. I needed to hear the words.

“Absolutely not. I only have feelings for you, but it all happened so fast. At first it seemed like a coincidence we were all in the same place. She asked me how things were going, asked about my family, stuff like that. Then I looked at her hand and noticed she was wearing an engagement ring, so I congratulated her.”

“I’m confused.”

“So was I, because she was all smiles and thanked me, and I thought that was it. Until I went outside to leave and she was there. She ran up to me, threw her arms around my neck, and kissed me.”

Every nerve in my body prickled, and I got that tingling sensation behind my nose that told me that tears were on their way. “She kissed you?”

“Then she said, ‘Thanks for the money shot,’ and walked away.” He raked his hand through his hair. “I have no idea what game she’s playing.”

He kissed her. Well, she’d kissed him, but the lips that were just on mine had been on hers this evening. Without thinking, I wiped my lips with the back of my hand.

That move didn’t slide past Drake. He lowered his head and exhaled a long breath. “I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad.”

I didn’t know what to do. This wasn’t his fault. He was set up, plain and simple, but why?

Obviously it was time for me to prove to him and myself that I could handle this. So I inched closer to him and kissed him.

“I understand,” I said softly, “and I’m not upset with you. This wasn’t your fault. I suppose things like this are bound to happen.”

Drake’s phone buzzed, and he tugged it from his pocket. He scanned the screen, and his jaw ticked as he sat up and pressed a button on the phone.

“Yes, Ben.” Silence.

“Do we know why?” More silence.

A vein in his neck throbbed as he stood up and began to pace next to the bed.

“Good . . . thank you. No, I don’t want to do that. We run a clean campaign, and that’s it.”

He turned the phone off and shoved it in his pocket. The bed dipped as he lay down again beside me.

It was unnerving to hear just his side of the conversation. Unable to contain myself, I asked, “What happened?”

“Grissett’s crew happened. I knew they’d try and dig up dirt, even if it’s old dirt. That’s just . . . I don’t know what that is.” He rolled to his back and turned his head in my direction. “Ben got the man to delete the photo, but seems to think they aren’t going to stop until they find something to use against me. I don’t have any skeletons, so they can dig all they like.”

I scooted over to him and laid my head on his chest. “So, it’s over?”

“It is until Grissett tries something else.”

My heart pinched at that thought. That something else was going to be me. If Grissett’s camp knew about my history, they never would have contacted Emily. She was small potatoes compared to the bombshell I could provide them.





CHAPTER 14


Drake



Sleep evaded me that night as my mind replayed everything that transpired. I knew Lucy got the morning paper, so I gingerly moved and tried not to wake her when I heard it hit the front door close to dawn.

I quickly removed the rubber band and unrolled the newspaper. My fingers couldn’t turn the pages fast enough as I whipped through it, looking for familiar faces. Thankfully, there wasn’t a picture of Emily and me anywhere.

I blew out a long sigh of relief. That didn’t mean it wouldn’t appear online. Although Lucy and I liked to get our news the old-fashioned way, others lived for social media and online gossip sites.

Grissett was such an *; all he wanted was discredit me with a scandal to increase his chances of winning in November. I’d racked my brain most of the night thinking about why he chose Emily, and wondering how he knew her. But the big question was why she would want to be caught kissing her ex-boyfriend for all to see while wearing a diamond on her left hand. It didn’t make sense. Unless, of course, they spun the story to make me look like a cheater and untrustworthy, but my gut told me there was more to it. I was missing something.

I made us a pot of coffee and sat at the table as it brewed. While I waited, my mind replayed everything Emily had said to me last night. It wasn’t just the money-shot comment, but she’d also mentioned how good I looked at the Nationals game, so that meant she saw my picture with Lucy.