Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 108242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“It’s your imagination. We’ve worked together for years, and he’s never tried anything.”
Maxim reaches across the table and covers both of my hands with one of his. He pins me with the intensity of his stare. Even though it’s over something silly, I bask in his undivided attention when there always seems to be something vying for it these days. Right now, I have him all to myself, completely focused on me, and I forgot how good it feels.
“If he touches you,” Maxim says, his tone dangerous because it’s so matter-of-fact, “he’s fired. And do not try to keep it from me. I’ll find out.”
“How? From the security that I’m not supposed to know is there but I do know is there?”
“You agreed to the conditions. We can’t let our guards down while Gregory’s still on the loose.”
With Maxim doing so well in the polls for an independent, it’s easy to forget there’s someone out there who wants to kill us. I hope Gregory isn’t simply lulling us into a false sense of security and then striking when we least expect it.
“Any leads?” I ask.
“Grim thinks the CamTech rat is our best option.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“It’s why he makes the big bucks,” Maxim says, his grin coming and going before I have time to enjoy the warmth of it.
“That’s the only person we know had some form of contact with Gregory when the vaccine information was leaked to him. We find the rat, and then we break the rat, which Grim is very good at, by the way.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that, and is Wallace helping?”
He glances up, grimaces, rolls his eyes.
“Be nice,” I say, chuckling.
“Yeah, Wallace and the CamTech team are cooperating.”
Maxim stands and comes to sit on the edge of the conference-room table, pulling me up to stand between his legs.
“I don’t want to talk about your ex-boyfriend,” he says, ghosting his lips over mine. “Let’s talk about your current one.”
I don’t hesitate, opening for him, as hungry as he is for any crumb, a kiss, a touch. Our love felt so vast in Wyoming, as wide and sprawling as the sky. Now it feels compact, reduced to the minutiae of a few crumb-kisses, stolen touches under tables, and long looks with our fantasies meeting across crowded rooms.
His fingers delve into my hair, tugging the elastic band free so the strands pour over his fingers. He tilts my head and whispers into our kiss, “Are you sure we need to keep doing this? I miss you so damn much, Nix.”
I lick into his mouth, strain up, wrap my arms round his neck, and press into the erection at my belly, making us both groan.
“I miss you, too, but if it comes out, believe me, it will be such a distraction, and the people who are starting to take you seriously won’t. They’ll reduce us to a fly-by-night candidate screwing some young girl from his campaign.”
“Young, huh?” He laughs. “Now you’re trying to make me sound like some dirty old man.”
“Hey, you did start lusting after me when I was only seventeen.”
His smile fades, and his hands tighten at my waist. “You were so fantastic that day. I was in my dad’s car, and I heard you before I saw you. The conviction in your voice, and then you were so…everything.” He cups my cheek and rests his forehead against mine. “I never stood a chance.”
“Neither did I,” I whisper, curling my body in closer to his, loving how we fit together.
“I want our daughter to be just like you.”
The word daughter jars me, and I drop my eyes. Being apart for the campaign is so hard, but doing the work of getting him elected, seeing how people already respond to him, makes it seem…possible. As adamant as I was about him running, I never stopped to think about what happens if he actually wins.
What happens to me.
Maxim’s never proposed, but we want to spend our lives together. If he wins this election, marriage becomes a whole new world that would require sacrifices I never anticipated. Sacrifices I’m not sure I want to make.
“Did you hear me, Nix?” Maxim asks, tilting my chin up to lock our stares together. “I said I want our daughter to be just like you.”
I’m still formulating my response when a key turns in the conference-room door. We hastily pull apart, my heart beating triple time. Maxim seems much more relaxed, sitting in the chair in front of his laptop as if that was his destination all along. Jin Lei opens the door. She’s one of the few people who knows about us. She knows about everything in our lives, even Gregory.
“Oh,” Jin Lei says, looking as startled as we are. “Sorry to interrupt. I forgot something. I didn’t realize—”
“You didn’t interrupt,” I reassure her, avoiding Maxim’s searching stare. “I was just leaving.”