Page 7 of The Senator's Secret
“So, what?” she prods with an unattractive smirk playing around her mouth. She twirls her glass by the stem while she watches me. It’s really unfortunate when someone knows you so well that they have all of your tells memorized. I know that she knows that I’m full of bullshit. A real friend wouldn’t mention, but Jules is the best so I know she’s about to call me on it.
“Frustrating.”
“I hear he’s good at scratching that particular itch too,” she adds with a wicked smile on her face.
“Not funny.” I toss back the rest of my martini before slicing another piece of cheese and shoving it in my mouth. I love a cheese board. I even make them in the quiet of my own apartment to enjoy while I binge hallmark movies with my cats. I realize now that makes me sound pathetic.
“I thought it was particularly,” she adds, not at all helpful.
“I don’t want to watch him parade around all of his… groupies and their sordid tales. I just want to build the Open Arms Center and move on to the next project.”
“Could you maybe be a bit jealous of the groupies?” she asks me, honing in on my exact problem. I am jealous. I don’t want to watch the parade of his lady of the moment one after another, because he would never choose me, and if he did, it would only be for a night, and that would cut way too deep. I’m strong and firmly self-sufficient, but I’m so attracted to Chancellor that the sting of his rejection would burn too much. And when faced with these truths, I wonder if maybe he’s not as bad as I have always told myself, maybe if given half the chance, I could care for him and that would be even worse.
“Of course not!”
“Me thinks the lady doth protest too much,” she says as she delicately sips her drink while mine is once again, long gone.
“I do not,” I say adamantly. I will go down with this ship of denial at this point, even if it kills me.
“Then you’ll be happy to know the gentleman in question is sitting right up front,” she shares, nodding her head to the front of the room behind me.
“What?” I squeak and nearly choke on an olive.
“Maybe you should go talk to him, break the ice,” she suggests not at all helpfully.
“Absolutely not.”
And thankfully, I am saved by Anthony bringing our dinner to the table so I do not have to argue with Jules any more about Jake Chancellor or anyone else.
• • •
“MAYBE WE SHOULD PLANa trip to go visit Angie,” she says after we’ve settled the check and are preparing to part ways for another two weeks.
“I would love that. Let’s do it. Maybe after the holidays?”
“Let’s plan it,” she says as she pulls me into a tight hug. “And I really think he’s not the bad guy you’ve made him out to be in your head.”
I shoot her the side-eye. “I think you’ve lost your mind. That man has dangerous written all over him.”
“Hmm,” she hums. “I never said dangerous can’t be fun.”
“But it’s also not me,” I tell her and that’s the absolute truth. I’m a play it safe kind of a gal. I’ve never been one to leap off a cliff and hope the soft waves below catch me. Maybe that’s why Chancellor bothers me so much. He’s wild and dangerous, like a leopard and I’m nothing but an old house cat. He would be bored with me before the first day was over.
“That’s true,” she says thoughtfully. “Just see what he has to offer.”
“Fine. I’ll call his office in the morning,” I promise. I can do that. I’ll talk to an aid in his office and find out if he’s interested in collaborating. All while hoping that he absolutely does not.
“Fabulous.” She smiles. “Then call me and tell me everything.”
“I will,” I promise, leaning in to hug her again. The thought of a trip with Jules and Angie is perfect, just what I need to set my world right again. I didn’t realize how much I had missed Angie now that she lives halfway across the world until Jules had mentioned seeing her again.
“I’ll talk to you soon,” she says, and then she’s gone.
I slide my coat on but don’t button it up. It’s too hot in the restaurant, so I leave it open and pick up my clutch. I start walking toward the front door, and that’s when I spot him sitting casually as if he hasn’t a care in the world, sipping a glass of his signature scotch. Everyone knows the Senator loves a glass on the rocks from time to time, but like me, he never overindulges.
What are the odds that the man who has been driving me crazy is here in the very same restaurant tonight? For a second, I let myself wonder what it would be like if things were different. What if he wasn’t with a different woman every time he steps out in public? What if he really was interested in me? But like I always knew, that’s too many what ifs.
His two Secret Service agents stand back against the wall, but you could still spot them anywhere. They are anything but covert. I wonder if he ever forgets they are there. Or what they must have heard or seen in their time in service with him. I guess it’s all part of being a United States Senator, and if he is elected to the highest office, there will only be more restrictions on him, more agents to protect him.