“And I think you’re still carrying years of resentment inside you. One ‘I’m sorry for all that’ from him just isn’t going to cut it, is it?”
He looked at her. “Thanks for that. I think that’s what’s bothering me. I feel like him saying ‘I’m sorry’ should be the end of it, but it doesn’t feel like the end of it for me.”
“Nor should it. Years of indifference don’t just disappear with one apology. He has a lot to make up for.”
“For some reason, I thought you’d be on his side.”
She laughed. “Hey, I’m Switzerland here.”
“A very political statement. Maybe you’ll end up being Secretary of State.”
She climbed onto his lap. “Not a chance, buddy. It’s all the way to the White House or nothing.”
He grasped her hips and snaked his way up her rib cage, his fingers playing with the thin tank top she wore. “Ambitious women make me hard.”
She rocked back and forth against his erection. “Hmmm, so I’ve noticed.”
He cupped her br**sts, swept his thumbs over her ni**les, watching them bead through her tank top. “And apparently thinking about becoming the president makes you hard.”
“That’s from you touching me. Politics doesn’t excite me sexually.”
“Good to know.” He lifted her tank top over her head and took a moment to stare at her br**sts, at her perfect ni**les. He pulled her toward him, fitting one hard bud between his lips. The sounds she made as he licked and sucked her ni**les made his dick twitch and his balls tighten, made him want to be inside her while he licked at her br**sts.
With a little maneuvering, she rose up and removed her panties while he shrugged out of his boxers. Evelyn dove into the drawer where he kept the condoms and with deft movements rolled one on. As she eased onto his cock, he sucked in a breath, every time with her like the very first time he’d been inside her. It was always a new experience, and as he lifted her on and off his cock, watching the way she threw her head back and arched while she rode him, he wondered how he was going to make this work. For her and for him.
Because there was no doubt he was in love with her, and once the convention was over, once he’d done his job and she’d done hers, he wanted her in his life.
Her thighs squeezed him just as her pu**y wrapped around his cock, owning him like she owned his heart. He wasn’t one for deeply emotional shit, but God he had it bad for this woman. He cupped the nape of her neck and brought her in for a kiss, needing that connection with her as he powered into her. And when she whimpered and dug her nails into his shoulders, as she rode to her orgasm and brought him to his, he felt everything pour out of him. He wrapped his arms around her and brought her close as he came, kissing her with everything he had, communicating to her without words how he felt, wondering if somehow she could tell the difference.
She lay splayed out on top of him afterward, drawing circles on his chest.
“I don’t know if that solved any of your problems,” she said. “But it sure felt good.”
He smiled. No, it hadn’t solved any of his problems, but making love with her always made him feel better. She was his connection, always made him feel less alone in the world, and had since the first time they’d been together.
He didn’t know what he was going to do to keep her in his life, but he’d move heaven and earth to make it happen.
“Evelyn.”
She sat up. “Yes?”
“Have you thought much about what’s going to happen when the convention is over?”
She gave him a blank look that told him nothing. “Not really. There’s always so much that goes on day to day, I always have to stay in the present. I’ll likely head back to Washington and start on the presidential campaign. There’ll be a lot to do between now and November.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
He detected no emotion on her face, no sadness at the prospect of her leaving him.
Was what he felt one-sided? He thought there was something special between them, but maybe that was just him. Maybe to her what they had was just a fling, and she’d be perfectly satisfied to walk away at the end.
Evelyn had those dreams of the big house with the oversized yard and the tire swing, but she was also a realist. She knew the two of them were as far apart in worlds as two people could be.
Maybe she was the only one thinking clearly about this.
And maybe he was the only one emotionally invested in them.
But he’d also never been a coward. He loved Evelyn and he wasn’t going to let her walk away. He just had to figure out how to make this happen so they could both have everything they wanted.
*
EVELYN PAUSED, WAITING FOR GRAY TO SAY ANYTHING that would lead her to believe he felt something for her.
She was in love with him. Crazy in love with this lean, sexy athlete who was so much more than what he showed on the surface. Underneath, he was tender and romantic and vulnerable, and that he’d showed her all of that, that he’d trusted her with all his emotions, had meant so much to her.
When he’d asked her what was going to happen after the convention, she thought that was going to be the opening, that he’d start a dialogue about the two of them— about their future.
Because she really wanted a future with him. She knew it was an impossible future.
He had his racing career, which took him all over the country, and she was going to be firmly planted in D.C. once Governor Cameron and the senator won the election.
And they were going to win the election. She’d do everything in her power to make that happen.
It wasn’t like she’d be able to hop from city to city with him. She’d be so busy with the senator, who’d become the vice president. But Senator Mitchell was also Gray’s father. They’d find a way to make this work.
If that’s what Gray wanted.
Then again, maybe he’d brought up what would happen after the convention to start easing his way out of this relationship. He might want to let her down easy. After all, he’d never promised her anything. They’d been having a wonderful time, but not once had they talked about a future together. Given their differing lifestyles, anyone with half a brain would realize the two of them, as a couple, made no sense at all.
They both had brains, and she had always been a realist. The idea was ludicrous.