Loving the Candidate (Capitol Affairs #2) (2 page)

He didn’t answer, but followed behind me. I poured us a drink, and Alex sat down on the couch. I handed him vodka straight over ice, and he held me as I snuggled into him in silence. Beckett sat at our feet. Rain pattered against the roof, thunder rolled in the distance, and our cell phones went off nonstop. The day faded into night. . Alex’s body shook as he sipped his drink. It was too quiet; I had to break the heavy silence.

“Are you okay?” I asked, kissing his hand. I didn’t look at him. It wasn’t necessary. His voice would tell me everything.

Once he had finished his drink and laid his head back on the couch, he answered.

“This suicide at a school was so uncalled for. Stella was such a brilliant woman and doctor. At one time, she was pregnant with my kid, and now she’s dead. Why couldn’t she go on with her life? ” Alex ran his hand through his wavy hair and lifted his head up to look at me.

“She had problems, Alex, and she hid it well for so many years. It’s so damn sad.”

“I watched her blow her fucking brains out in front of me. She knew I would be at the school, and I have the convention coming up in a couple of weeks. All she had to do was turn on the news or go online and find that out. She wasn’t that insane. She wanted the attention. My God, she had a gun in a school full of kids because of me.” His voice rose.

“We won’t ever know was going on in her head. I hate this. Her parents must be beside themselves. My God, think how bad they must feel right now. They both tried so hard to help her. She was a brilliant woman despite her mental illness. Wherever she is, I hope she is at peace,” I said through tears streaming down my face.

“A beautiful woman ended her life, for what? Love that wasn’t there anymore? Heartache of a having lost a child? I lost a child, too. I had to accept it and move on. Yes, it was awful, but it happens and there was a reason for it. I hope to God this dies down by the time I give my speech in a couple of weeks. I’m going to call her parents in the morning. It’s the right thing to do,” he said, looking at me again.

“You definitely need to call them. By the time you take the stage, this will be old news,” I said. I hoped I was right. Alex had worked too hard to let this hurt him.

He put his head on my lap and lay across the couch. I caressed his head and face, watching him relax and drift off to sleep in my arms. He looked so peaceful and restless at the same time. I couldn’t imagine how anyone would want to hurt him in any way.

The doorbell rang, startling me out of my thoughts. Alex woke up. “Who’s at the door?”

“I don’t know. Just lie there. I’ll go look.” Laying Alex’s head on a pillow, I stood and walked to the door with Beckett following. It was Ashe.

“Prudence. I need to see Alex. Can you bring him out here?” he asked.

“Come in, you don’t have to stand out there,” I said. I stepped aside to let him walk into the house. Beckett didn’t like him much, and gave a low grumble when he saw him at the door.

“Beckett, no.”

“I would rather you send him out here,” he said, looking at Beckett.

“Okay, hold on I’ll get him.” I left the door open and walked back into the living room where Alex sat up, yawning.

“Ashe is here. He wants to talk to you.”

Alex pulled himself up and went out to see what Ashe wanted. Within a few minutes, he came in, kissed me, and hugged me tight to him. “I need to go down to the police station with Ashe. Will you be okay?”

“Of course, go do what you have to do. I’ll fix us something to eat. Is there something wrong?”

“No, they want to ask me some questions about Stella. I won’t be long.”

He ran up to change and left in a hurry. I enjoyed the peacefulness of being alone in the house.

I couldn’t come up with a reason for what had happened. As bad as life was for me when I lived at home with my mom, I didn’t consider killing myself. I couldn’t imagine being so desperate and so alone.

I finished cleaning, made us a sandwich, and waited for Alex to get home. He had been gone for a while, and I anxiously wanted to find out about the book Stella had been holding. I turned on the news to see if there were any updates. Reporters were still at the school interviewing people, repeating the same footage of the chaos that went on afterward. A car pulled up to the house, and I turned off the television. Alex walked in without speaking. He noticed my untouched vodka over ice.

“You might want to drink that,” he said. He was white as a ghost.

I followed him into the kitchen. “What is it?” I panicked, wondering why he looked so distraught.

“Well, it seems she had a scrapbook.”

“Okay.” I stood in front of him with my arms crossed, hoping to find the underlying cause of what happened and why.

“Come and sit down with me,” he said.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me back to the living room couch. I grabbed the drink and took another sip, knowing he was about to tell me something big.

“You were right, she had a scrapbook. Most of it didn’t make sense. The scariest part of it was that it’s full of pictures of you. She had pictures of you doing random things like going to work, shopping, you and I on dates, eating at Giovanni’s. It was mostly pictures of you, Prudence, not me.”

“What are you saying?”

He ran his hands through his hair and looked at the ground.

“It seems she obsessed over you. She also had a list of where you go and what time. She wrote she was going to get rid of you so I would come back to her. The police have it. She cut out our pictures from the paper and scratched out your face. She had a picture of you at the flea market when we went. Shots of us shopping. I didn’t realize you were her obsession. She could have easily killed you instead. I can’t imagine my life right now if she had.”

He was visibly upset, and I wrapped my arms around him. He held my head tight to his chest.

“Oh God, Prudence. I should have protected you better. I should not have let this go this far. I don’t know how long this has been going on. It looks like it started after the press caught us kissing in the park. She fixated on you, and followed everything we did from then on. I’m so sorry.” He squeezed me to him.

“It’s okay. She didn’t have the guts to do it, did she? She didn’t hurt me, she hurt herself. She still loved you and knowing you loved me somehow stopped her from hurting me. It’s okay, Alex. She can’t do anything now.”

“But she could have, Prudence. This could have turned out a lot worse than it did. Who knows what was going on in her mind? While she was in the hospital, she was on the internet following us and printing newspaper articles. I can’t believe it.”

Too upset to eat, we went upstairs, undressed, and climbed between the flannel sheets. He wrapped his body around mine, holding me close as I fell asleep in his arms. His heartbeat and the rhythm of his breathing soothed me. Thank God, she hadn’t hurt me.

I enjoyed Alex’s warm body up against me, but he tossed and turned. Around three in the morning, his hands caressed my back under my t-shirt and woke me from a restless sleep. The feathery touches of his big, soft hands trailed down my back.

“Hi,” I said.

“I can’t sleep. I hoped your body would relax me. I adore how smooth your skin is. You are so perfect, baby. I want you. Is it wrong to want you now?” he asked, looking sensual and sleepy.

“Why are you asking? You can always have me, Alex. And no, I’m your wife and I’m here for you to want me.” I kissed him on his full, wet lips, and my body molded against his. The warmth and a softness radiating from his body melted me. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted up my white t-shirt. His fingers slipped down the sides of my lace thong, and he had it off me in seconds.

“I love and worship you,” he whispered in my ear. His hard cock pressed up against my stomach. His hands massaged my ass, and he kissed my neck, working his way down to his favorite part of me, my breasts.

“I love you so much. No one will ever hurt you. I should have told you about her from the beginning. I’m sorry.”

His mouth found my breasts, and he continued to kiss and suck on them. I arched my back to him as his hands cupped my ass, awakening my body. My body ached, longing for his cock. When he touched me, I lost control. My inner sexual hunger was alive and in need for him. I loved the sound of his voice when he told me he loved me, whenever he spoke. He worked his way back up to my mouth. The scruffiness of his unshaven face scraped against me. It burned my skin, leaving it red. It reminded me we were alive, and he had chosen me.

“I love you too, Alex. No one is going to hurt me. It’s over.” I kissed him, running my tongue over his lips, and sucking his tongue. Even after he had been sleeping, he tasted delicious. I longed to relax him with my mouth. Working my way down his chest, I licked and kissed his nipples. There was no way I could contain the fierce rush of emotion spilling out of me. Love, want, sadness, and fear erupted all at once. An urgency to taste, kiss, and experience all of him took over. I travelled down his stomach as I looked up at him.

He was beautiful, his stomach flat and tight from running and working out. The way he lay there and let me adore him totally turned me on. I followed the dark trail from his belly button to his most precious part, letting my tongue linger over his body. He played with my hair, which was up in a clip still, and pushed me down farther, showing me what he needed.

I looked up into his eyes and he smiled at me, sleepy in the darkness. I moved to his inner thighs, teasing him with my tongue, my teeth, and my lips. His big, hairy legs were sculpted to perfection. Each bulge flexed as I licked their outline. He was so dignified and all-powerful in front of America, but with me, he was animalistic. He moaned as I worked my way back up to his cock, licking and gently pulling each one of his balls into my mouth. Brushing my tongue around them until they tightened and his muscles strained, I took him in my mouth, and he got harder. I loved when his cock hardened in my mouth, straining against my throat. I selfishly ached for him. I wanted to put him inside me to ease the throbbing ache.

His moans turned urgent and I sucked him greedily. His body eased and relaxed as mine became tense. Still, I took my time to enjoy him. I brushed my lips against his head, kissing it and rubbing it across my wet mouth before running my tongue up and down his shaft. Brushing his head in between my lips, I opened them for him so he could feel the wetness of my mouth. His body pushed up to me. The silkiness of his skin and his familiar scent made me moan. A warm shot of his pre-cum wet my lips. I shivered and sucked him harder, hoping for more.

“Prudence, come up here on my face. I need to taste you before I come.” His voice was gravelly and strained

Usually, I would protest and want to take care of him, but being close to him was all I wanted. Straddling his face, I knelt with him between my thighs.

“I crave your sweet cunt. It is so beautiful and delicious, baby. You are so bare and hungry for me, aren’t you?”

“I’m aching for you.”

He buried his face in me, tasting, and licking everywhere. His hands grabbed my ass, pulling it apart as he ravaged me like a starved man. He explored every wet inch of me lovingly and expertly. Every part of me lay exposed to his hungry mouth. With each moan that escaped my throat, he seemed to become hungrier and more aggressive. He rolled the tip of his tongue around my clit until I thought I would cry out. A climax was rising in my core as he pulled back and kissed my inner thighs, running his tongue up and down them.

He loved teasing me with his kisses and when he got closer to my aching cunt, he would stop. Finally, he sucked on my clit while he plunged two of his fingers inside me. I came hard, grinding myself on his face while he gripped my hips to him. I wanted to stay and enjoy his skillful tongue, but I needed to satisfy him. When the pulsating feelings of my orgasm subsided, I slipped off his mouth and straddled his hard cock. With my back facing him, I slipped him in effortlessly. I sat down to take all of him—big, thick, and throbbing. He’d never felt as big as he had then.

His hands caressed the small of my back as I stuck my ass out for him the way I knew he liked. I pulled the clip from my hair and let it cascade against my back. He reached up to sift it between his fingers, then he gripped my hips, straining to push deeper inside me.

“You are so beautiful, baby.”

He bucked and moaned, pushing into me firmly. Every nerve and every sense awakened in me. My heart beat in my ears as he forced himself still deeper.

“Oh, Alex.”

“Prudence, Prudence, my baby. I love you so fucking much,” he said. He came long and hard, pumping into me repeatedly, moaning, and saying my name. I grabbed his thighs and dug my fingers into them, holding on while he thrust until he went soft and his moaning stopped. Neither of us wanted it to end.

“I needed it so bad. I needed you.” His voice sounded strained and tired.

“Next time you don’t have to ask. I’m always yours. I needed it too.” I crawled off him and went to the bathroom. He was asleep before I came back to the bed. I snuggled up next to him and fell asleep, loving the feel of his warm body. We slept soundly until we saw lights and heard yelling in the front of the house.

Chapter 2

Disrupting the darkness of our bedroom, the lights woke me. I jumped out of bed to see what was going on in our front yard, though I already had my suspicions.

“Alex, there are a bunch of cars out front. I bet it’s the reporters. They’re all over.” I peeked out the window, trying to hide behind a blind. They’d invaded what little privacy we had. “It is them. I can see the news vans.”

“You have to be kidding. How did they get back here? Ashe and Mark said they wouldn’t let this happen,” Alex said, wrapping himself in his robe. His phone rang. “Mark, I told you and Ashe to keep those idiots away from my house. What do you mean you couldn’t stop them?”

Poor Mark. He had been hired to write speeches for Alex and house sit, but it seemed he had to do everything else, too. He had earned Alex’s trust, and Alex depended on him. He usually had to take up Ashe’s slack and do the grunt work.