“Why don’t we get a drink?” Tyson tells him, ticking his head toward the bar.
“That would be grand.” Carter smiles, giving me a quick nod before strolling away with Tyson.
For a moment, I think I’m in the clear, but Mrs. Carter doesn’t follow. She moves forward, closing the space between us, and touches my arm. “It’s a shame your wife couldn’t be here.”
“It is, ma’am,” I say, sliding my arm out from under her hand and dipping my head. “I’m sorry to run off, but I need to prepare for my speech.”
“Of course. Of course.” She laughs and pushes her long blond hair behind her shoulder. “We’ll talk later I’m sure.”
Not if I can help it, but I nod in agreement before heading to the other side of the ballroom and away from Mrs. Carter. She’s nothing but trouble. I’ve known too many of her kind not to know that she isn’t interested in my political platform. She wants a piece of the man, the power I could potentially wield. She doesn’t give a damn about veterans or my agenda; she wants to get in my pants, and I’m having none of that.
Even on our worst day, when I’m so angry with Reagan I want to throw her against the wall and fuck her into compliance, there’s no other woman for me. No one else could ever fill her shoes. She may be a pain in my ass at times, but I know I’m not easy either. We work. We’re too much alike and yet completely different that we’re a perfect match.
I’m sick of being angry with her. I’m tired of fighting. All I want is my wife by my side, my best friend in this fight, having my back like she always has. I type her a quick message before jamming the phone back into my pocket, praying it’ll be enough to at least call a truce.
5
Reagan
I sip my water,pretending to pay attention to Andre Walker as he bitches about the House Majority Leader. It’s not that I don’t get it—the majority leader is a tenacious woman. But her party has the upper hand right now, and she’s just wielding the power any good leader would in her position.
And also, nonstop bitching is my pet peeve. It accomplishes nothing.
“Does she not realize she has to build bridges?” Andre’s eyes bulge with his question. “I mean, wecanmake her life difficult.”
This dinner was supposed to be a chance to discuss the Lancet Foundation’s goals for this quarter, but Andre spent the entire two hours talking about old times and mining for information about my father.
I don’t talk to my father much these days, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell Andre about it. He’s never been a close friend of mine.
“I need to hit the loo.” Andre grins at his feigned British accent, picking up his glass to drain the last of the beer in it as he stands. “Be right back.”
As soon as he’s gone, I exhale deeply, letting my shoulders sag. It’s been a very long two hours of trying to get Andre to focus on the reason I wanted to talk to him. I’ve also got Jude on my mind. I miss him terribly, and I’m starting to wonder why I gave up all my time with him on this rare campaign break just to prove a point.
Showing your partner you’re stubborn doesn’t strengthen your marriage,our marriage counselor, Melissa, has told us both time and again.It’s not about winning a fight. It’s about giving and taking to keep the harmony.
Our harmony lately has sounded a lot like 80’s hair bands. I don’t want to be a woman who resents my husband’s career. I’m exceedingly proud of Jude and everything he’s done and will do as governor.
He’s fighting a tough battle for governor against a woman who founded a highly successful tech company. She has unlimited resources to put into her campaign. Jude has to earn a victory by hitting the ground running in every last one of Illinois’ 102 counties. Many counties, like Cook, have to be visited regularly.
And he’s also still serving as senator. Jude is under a lot of stress, and I know in my heart that I made it worse instead of better by leaving.
I take out my wallet, pulling out my company Amex to pay the dinner bill. When I check my phone as I wait, my heart thuds happily at the message I see from Jude.
Let’s work this out, Ray. I’m catching a late fight to DC tonight, and I’ll meet you in your room later. Getting the hotel details from Julia.
My breath catches in my throat as I read the words. He’s coming here. Tonight. Jude Titan isn’t a man who chases or begs, but he swallowed his pride and decided to come here to set things right.
My lips quirk into a smile as I remember a conversation we had on our wedding night.
“Let’s never go to bed angry with each other, Jude.” I was straddling his lap on our hotel bed, looking down into his dark, intense eyes.
“We go to bed angry with each other all the time, love. Then we get up the next morning and have makeup sex.”
“I know, but now that we’re married…I think we should try to always work out our problems before going to sleep.”
He laughed heartily at that. “We’ll be up till sunrise some nights if we do that.”
“That’s not true.” I poked him in the ribs. “We just have to agree that some things aren’t worth fighting over.”
