Page 62 of The Senator's Secret

He reaches around me and unhooks my bra. I let it slip down my arms and land at my feet before sitting on the edge of the bed. Jake unbuttons his shirt and tosses it away. His belt clanks as he unbuckles it and pushes his pants and underwear to the floor, stepping out of them. The combination of the fire in his eyes and the jerky movements as he sheds his clothes tells me that he is too close to the edge of his control tonight. Whatever emotions he’s feeling are riding him hard.

“Lie back,” he says, his voice rough.

I scoot to the center of the bed and lean back in the pillows. Jake grabs the waistband of my panties and uses my backward momentum to pull them down my legs before tossing them over his shoulder. I would laugh, but the intensity of his gaze has me shivering instead.

He grips my thighs in his strong hands, spreading them to make room for his broad shoulders to settle in between. I hold my breath in anticipation. And then his breath whispers across my center. I have to close my eyes, the sensations washing over me, owning me, as he licks up my seam.

Jake places open-mouth kisses over my inner thighs and across my mound, letting his stubble scrape against my sensitive skin, before dipping lower to suck my clit into his mouth. I arch my back and rock against his face. He slides a finger inside me and strokes the top.

I twist the bedding in my fingers as Jake rolls his tongue over my clit again and again while he curves his finger inside me. But just when I’m about to come, he pulls back, taking his hand and his mouth away.

“Jake,” I plead, but I don’t have to beg for long, because he is covering my body with his. I feel his hard tip at my opening, and he slides in deep.

I wrap my legs around his waist and use my heels to try to force him even deeper. He grinds his pelvis between my legs, sending sparks across my skin. I dig my heels in and he does it again, making me moan.

Jake slides his arms underneath me, holding me tight. He tangles one hand in my hair, holding me steady for his mouth to open over mine, and I moan when he licks into my mouth.

I hold on tight to his shoulders as he trails his mouth across my cheek and down my neck, and he sucks the skin at my collarbone, making me arch into him. He soothes the hurt with his tongue before pressing his mouth to mine.

We hold tight to each other while he plunges in and out of my body over and over. So lost in each other, the world begins and ends where our bodies join together. Sweat slicks our skin, and we breathe each other in with his lips so close to mine.

“Please, let this be real,” I gasp as he drives into me one more time.

“It’s real,” he growls just before I shatter, and Jake follows me over the edge, calling out my name as he does.

“Looks Like America’s Sweethearts are Headed to the White House.”

Chapter 19

Battle ground

Ohio

One week later...

“Ilove you,” I whisper as Jake plunges slow and deep. This morning he decided to take his sweet time and the slow building, all consuming burn has robbed me of all thoughts.

My eyes go wide as I realize the words I’ve just said, words I swore I would never say out loud. He presses his mouth to mine and thrusts his tongue between my lips. I cry out as he fucks me in earnest now, harder and faster than the leisure way he made love to me a moment ago.

The way he completely owns me, how he plays my body like no one ever has, chases all thoughts of things that should have been better left unsaid away as we pursue our early-morning orgasms. Jake’s measured movements are more frantic now, and I splinter apart in his arms. He drives down one more time before he plants himself deep and spills inside me.

My heart roars in my ears. Our breathing is loud, and his weight presses me down into the bed. But all too soon, reality sets in. I feel my spine stiffen, and I know that he does too. I push on his shoulders so he will let me up and miss his heat the minute the cold air conditioning of the hotel suite hits my overheated skin.

“Grace, we should talk,” he says softly as he sits back on his heels. I can’t let myself look him in the eyes. I can’t see what I know will be waiting for me there—sorrow, because I caught feelings even though this isn’t real, and pity, because he doesn’t feel the same way. All I know is I will avoid this conversation like I avoid the clap.

“We don’t have time,” I say, faking a look at the digital clock on the foreign bedside table. Cara will be here soon, and I have to shower.”

“Grace—” he starts, but I scramble off the bed.

“Not time!” I shout over my shoulder, and I practically run into the bathroom, where I quickly shut and lock the door. “Shit.”

I drop to my knees in front of the toilet and empty my stomach’s contents. Stress never was a friend of mine, especially added to the culmination of my life’s implosion while on the campaign trail with the man I’m in love with, who doesn’t feel the same way. Not to mention, we’re in Ohio, the battle ground state, to fight for his chance at the highest office in the nation. It’s a lot of pressure, and I’m falling apart.

“Grace, honey,” Jake calls out as he knocks on the door. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, fine,” I say just before I flush the toilet and rinse my mouth out in the sink.

“Sweetheart, let me in.”