She lowers her brows in a skeptical look. “What are you talking about?”
“The campaign. I mean, it’s over as we knew it, anyway. I gave my dad twenty-four hours to tell my mom or I’m telling her myself. And once she finds out, I assume she’ll leave him. She will. I know her well enough to know that. And once the reporters start digging, they’ll find out about the other woman. I’m shocked he’s managed to keep it a secret all this time.”
“But that’s him, Reagan, not you. You’ll lose some votes over it, but we’ll pick them up somewhere else.”
I run a hand through my hair and give her a tired smile. “Thank you. I couldn’t ask for a better friend. But I don’t think it’s meant to be.”
“Reagan, no,” Lexi says firmly. “You want this. You’ve fought too hard to quit now.”
“It was all for my father. He pushed me to run before I was ready because he owes people votes he can’t cast himself once he retires.”
Lexi’s expression darkens. “What an asshole.”
“I agree. And I don’t even want to go there. If I got elected and I voted a certain way—with no influence from my father—how could I prove there was no influence? The Preston name will be tainted by this scandal.”
“His name, yes. But you can survive this. I know you can.”
I take a long sip of my coffee, letting the warmth reach my belly before I speak again. “I probably could. Or I could at least fight to the finish. But, Lex…I don’t want to. As soon as the strings between my dad and me were cut, I felt so much lighter. I realized I don’t have to run now. This is my chance to decide whatIwant to do with my life. I never really had that before.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
I look down at the table. “I feel like I’m letting you and the whole staff down. Dropping out when I’m leading in the polls is…” I shake my head. “The national party people will never forgive me. This will be the end of my political career.”
Lexi shrugs and smiles. “If you want it to be. Never say never. You might come back in ten years and run…or not. Who knows?”
“We have to decide what to tell the staff. I’m not willing to tell them the whole story. My mom deserves privacy until the story breaks.”
“Just say it’s for personal reasons. You don’t owe anyone more information than that.”
“I feel like I do, though.” I look out the window at the sun, rising higher over the horizon. “These people have given up a lot for me. Gone to bat for me. And they’re all going to be out of a job.”
“So maybe we wait it out a little bit.”
“I can’t keep campaigning,” I say, sighing. “My heart’s just not in it anymore.”
“We can cancel appearances for the next week, and you can take a leave.”
“You think?”
The prospect of catching my breath and getting through my mom’s reaction to Dad’s news before thinking about this does sound better.
“Yeah,” Lexi says. “Let’s take some time to let the dust settle.”
“Okay. I like that plan.”
“Why don’t we go get breakfast while we wait for everyone to get here? When they do, we’ll tell them about the leave.”
We walk to a nearby diner and get pancakes. Talking and laughing with Lexi feels good. It reminds me that I do have more in my life than my work.
Work has always been my driving force—the first thing on my mind when I wake up in the morning. But lately, Jude has taken over my early morning thoughts. Hell, he takes up my thoughts throughout the day.
I can smell his light, masculine scent on me. I just couldn’t get close enough to him last night, even when my body was entwined with his and he was inside me. He started a fire inside me and then stoked the flames with his mouth, hands and…
“How big is he?” Lexi asks me as we’re finishing up our pancakes.
“Big. And he knows how to use it.”
“Bigger than your mystery guy?”
