Page 47 of The Senator's Secret

“Here,” she says, handing me the deep-pink lipstick she slicked on my lips, and I drop it into my beaded clutch. “Oh! Your shoes!”

“Right here, Cinderella,” Jake says as he holds them out in his hand. I move to reach for them, but instead, he drops to one knee and takes my foot in his hands and slips the heel on me before setting it back on the ground, tapping my other foot to let me know to lift it to his ministrations.

“Thank you.”

“And this,” he says after he stands and pulls a long velvet box from his coat pocket. He snaps open the box and plucks a gorgeous diamond tennis bracelet from the silk pillow. He unceremoniously chucks the box onto the counter, making me smile and Cara laugh. Jake wraps the bauble around my wrist and then lets me go. “I saw it and thought of you.”

“I don’t know what to say,” I tell him honestly.

“You don’t have to say anything at all.”

We stare at each other for moments before the spell is broken by Rick shouting the house down.

“Is this some kind of a joke?” he roars.

“What?” I look to Jake, who looks just as confused as I do, but it’s when I look at Cara and see her features frozen in fear that the puzzle pieces all start to click into place. “Oh no.”

Unfortunately, Rachel chooses that moment to slide into the room on two wheels, totally unaware that you could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

“Hey, Mom!” she calls out happily. She has big headphones over her ears and probably can’t hear anything. “Can I have a new game on my phone?”

Cara just stands there stunned.

“Mom?” Rick parrots. I can see the wheels ticking behind his eyes.

Oh fuck, this is not good. This is so not fucking good. Rick and I are on a shaky truce, Jake is feeling very territorial, and Cara is my friend. In my mind I can’t rationalize sweet Cara with the brute force of Rick Donnovan.

“I can explain,” Cara says, her voice quiet. “But not now.”

“Mom?” Rachel asks, suddenly realizing the room is not a friendly one.

“You have got to be shitting me,” he bites out. “How could you? Is this some kind of a sick joke?”

“No,” she says adamantly. “No, you know me. I would never do that.”

“I don’t think I know you at all,” Rick hisses before turning on his heels. “This is fucking bullshit.”

And then he’s gone.

“That was…” Jake trails off as we all think the same thing.

“My husband,” Cara says before turning to me. “I think we should be going. I’m so sorry, Grace.”

“Don’t worry,” I tell her. “We’ll talk later. It’ll be okay.”

“I don’t know about that,” she says before she chews on her thumbnail.

“Why don’t you both go to dinner and a movie on me,” Jake says. “I think you’ll feel better after some fun.”

Cara’s face goes soft. “That’s very kind of you, but I don’t know—”

“It’s nothing,” he assures. “Joe will take you.” It’s not lost on me that he’s assigning a security officer to make sure Rick doesn’t lose his ever-loving mind. I don’t think he would hurt her, but I’m guessing he’s feeling like his whole life is a lie right about now, and I can certainly relate to that. Jake taking care of my friend even though it might be in direct opposite of what his friend would want or need goes a long way to show how good of a man he really is.

And God, I could love him for it.

“Well, shall we?” He holds out his hand to me. Quietly, he leads me to the car. Instead of the usual black SUV that transports us all over town, a black limo waits in its place.

Outside, the press waits to snap pictures of us, and I smile and wave like I’m a princess. I let Jake play my handsome prince as he presses a kiss to my cheek and then leads me to the limo. And all the while, I can’t stop thinking that it is fake, fake, fake. Even if it was becoming more, Cara and Rick are a harsh reminder that when it goes bad, it goes very, very bad.