Chapter One
Susa
Now
I never knew what I was getting into when I first met Owen and Carter.
Maybe it’s better I didn’t know.
Maybe I would’ve run away if I had.
But now I’ve been sworn in as the lieutenant governor of the great state of Florida, working with Governor Owen Taylor.
Publicly, it might seem that I serve at the governor’s pleasure, but that’s nothing close to the truth.
He servesmeatmine. Especially the pleasure part.
We both serve my husband, Carter Wilson. My Master and Owner.
Also Owen’s best friend and chief of staff.
And, as Owen dubbed him long ago, a bastard extraordinaire.
Boy, how I love him.Bothof them.
Not many women are lucky enough to have two men who love them as much as Owen and Carter love me.
I grew up in a political family. My father likes to “joke” that me changing my party affiliation from GOP to Independent contributed to the massive heart attack that forced him out of running for higher public offices and into semi-retirement.
Except, here’s the thing—I never wanted to be known as Benchley Evans’ little girl. Ialwayswanted to make my own name.
If anyone’s to blame it’s my father, because he’s the one who taught me how to be ruthless.
Brutal.
Never come in second.
There’s only one winner.
Joke’s on him. We came in first, all right. By a damned landslide.
Without running under the banner of his precious GOP. And without the help of being a Democrat, either.
Both parties have good points, but both parties have increasingly fatal flaws that mean neither is doing their constituents any favors in this state. Tribal politics run rampant. No one’s interested in actually governing, only scoring poll results and sound bites. Florida’s a major swing state, and party candidates are frequently too busy tonguing the taints of national-level pols, trying to curry favor with them to help their own careers, instead of focusing on what’s important to the people ofourstate.
I wasn’t Florida’s first female lieutenant governor, so that wasn’t a glass ceiling I could shatter. But I damn sure plan on being Florida’s next governor, provided Owen is re-elected.
There’s no reason to think he won’t. Carter won’t let him lose.
If there’s someone who wants to win even more than my father and I do, it’s Carter. Which is one of the reasons why Daddy hates Carter so much.
If only Daddy knew what else Carter does, he’dreallyhate him. Him and Owen both.
But I love them, and no way in hell will I give them up.
Not for Daddy, and not for anyone else, either.
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