Incumbent(6)

Three hours later, I walked into the lobby of the hotel hosting the event. Typical for our nation’s capital, tonight was a formal event, which meant tuxedos and evening gowns. I’d much rather be wearing jeans and a T-shirt, but that wasn’t my reality. At least, not tonight.

Contrary to what people might believe, politicians didn’t spend the majority of their time sitting in Congress or meeting with constituents. The reality of politics was that the moment you won an election, you set your sights on the next one, and that meant fundraising. Tonight’s event was primed to raise a lot of money for our party, and I had to be there. With the primary coming up in a couple of months, I needed to be front and center, shaking hands and wooing donors. And events like this was how it was done.

My date and sister, Gretchen, was waiting for me when I arrived.

“You know, big brother, you really need to get a girlfriend,” she said, laughing.

I kissed her on the cheek. “Hey, Gretch.”

My sister looked lovely tonight, as always, accustomed to dressing up and playing her part as my usual plus-one. As we walked into the ballroom of the posh hotel, she slipped her arm through mine.

“You look great,” I told her. “I’ll have to make sure everyone sees you.”

“What else is new? But you forget that I’m off-limits.”

“Yes, your fantastic traveling boyfriend. You could do so much better than that tool.”

Her clutch bag connected with my chest with a thud.

“Damn, what the hell do you have in that thing?” I winced, rubbing at my chest before frowning at her.

“Just because you don’t like Scott doesn’t mean I don’t. We’ve been together a long time, and yes, he’s gone a lot, but you should be happy about that. If he weren’t,” she said with a pointed look, “you’d need to get yourself an actual date for these shindigs.”

Gretchen had that look in her eye. Knowing my sister was getting riled up, I let it go.

Just inside the ballroom, we did our meet-and-greets with the event organizers and chatted with a few colleagues of mine. Naturally, I didn’t fess up to her being my sister, not that I needed to. Most knew who she was. She was still the best decoy I could have, and with her on my arm, no man in their right mind would come on to her, which put her boyfriend’s mind at ease.

Curiosity and impatience got the best of me, so I pulled out my cell phone and glanced at the screen before slipping it back into my inside jacket pocket. No text. It was going to be a long night. The more my thoughts drifted to the sexy schoolteacher, the more I could envision cold showers in my future.

The band struck up a lively number, and when Gretchen gave me the eye, I escorted her to the dance floor. She loved to dance, and the least I could do to pay her back for accompanying me was to indulge her.

“How was your day?” she said. “You went to a high school, right?”

I took a deep breath, thinking about the auburn-haired beauty I’d met today. Lucy’s brown eyes had filled with excitement at the topic of politics, and I wanted—no, needed—to get to know her better. She was not only beautiful and sexy, but smart too, and we had at least one thing in common. The woman intrigued me; it had been a while since I’d met anyone as genuine and interesting.

“It was great, actually,” I said, looking past Gretchen’s shoulder and not meeting her eyes.

That was all I needed to say for my sister to raise a brow.

Luckily for me, we were interrupted by one of the event’s organizers, who had someone he wanted me to meet, so I didn’t need to elaborate. But knowing my sister, she wasn’t about to let it go.

After we mingled for another hour and had dinner, which we only picked at in order to keep up conversation at the table, we left and went to a diner to grab a sandwich. Granted, we were a tad overdressed, me in a tux and Gretchen in a floor-length black gown, but we were famished.

We slid into a vinyl-cushioned booth, and I set my phone on the table next to my plate. A waitress bustled over and dropped a couple of menus on our table, and left after taking our drink orders.

Gretchen gave me a knowing look. “You know, if I were a real date and not your sister, I’d get a complex.”

“What do you mean?” I glanced up from the menu.

“That’s the second time you’ve looked at your phone. I’d expect Josh or one of our other brothers to be waiting for a woman to call, but not you.” She laughed and took a sip of her soda as soon as the waitress set it down.

“Who says I’m waiting for Lucy to call? And furthermore, why wouldn’t I have women calling?”

“Lucy?” Her eyebrows shot up. “Who’s Lucy?”

I leaned back and tossed my napkin to the table on an exhale. “The teacher. From today.”

Gretchen shimmied in her seat as if she were polishing it, and rested her elbows on the table. She cradled her chin in her clasped hands. “I’m listening. Spill it, Senator.”

“There isn’t much to spill. I sent her a text earlier, that’s all.”

“I’m not buying it. There’s more to this story.” Her eyes widened with excitement. “Senator Prescott, do you have a crush?” She batted her lashes.

Frustrated, I let out a huff. “Seriously, Gretch? And please stop with the senator title for a while.”