Loving the Senator by Mia Villano
(Capitol Affairs #1)
Published by: Swoon Romance
Publication date: October 28th 2014
Genres: Adult, Erotica, Romance
(Capitol Affairs #1)
Published by: Swoon Romance
Publication date: October 28th 2014
Genres: Adult, Erotica, Romance
To Prudence Romaine, Alex Conrad is the perfect man. He is gorgeous, rich and has just been elected to the U.S. Senate by the state of Virginia. The only problem is Alex is seventeen years older than Prudence, and he still thinks of her as the little girl he tried to rescue. But that all changes the night he is elected senator.
The sexual tension between Prudence and the senator reaches the tipping point. Prudence is no longer a little girl. She’s been in love with Alex for some time. But Alex has continually pushed her away time and again — for both their sakes. At least, that’s what he thought.
But Alex can only hold out for so long, and once they give in, the passion they’ve held back for years threatens to undo them. But loving the senator is not all its cracked up to be.
Prudence must learn to handle the pressure that comes with being with a high-profile politician, his jealous ex-girlfriend and the demands of the people if she wants to make this work.
LOVING THE SENATOR is an erotic romance aimed at mature audiences.
Chapter Three
I
woke up earlier than was necessary Monday morning. I had anticipated my meeting
with Alex all weekend. I got out of going out with Thomas to the club and spent
the weekend working out and preparing for an upcoming case. Sunday night, I had
gone to sleep early, though I tossed and turned the entire night. I had been in
his office many times during the campaign, but this time was different. Since I
had taken the day off, I dolled myself up more than usual and picked out an
outfit I normally wore going out on the weekends. I straightened my
shoulder-length red hair and wore my signature red lipstick. My new designer
jeans fit my ass perfectly and I added a sweater that hugged my breasts. I
topped it off with a distressed leather coat and knee-high boots, my new Tom
Ford sunglasses, and the Gucci purse Beulah bought me for getting into law
school. Lastly, I put on the gift Alex had given me seven years ago. I didn’t
wear it the entire campaign. I didn’t want our past interfering with his
election. I wanted to see if he remembered it, and what his reaction would be
when he saw me wearing it.
I
walked into his familiar office building, stopping off at the restroom to
freshen up. I spritzed on my perfume and reapplied my red lip stain. He always
stared at my lips when they were red and glossy. I walked into his office,
ready to see the man I wanted more than anything.
“May
I help you?” the receptionist asked as I approached her desk. Susan, who I used
to see during the campaign, wasn’t there. It took me by surprise to see this
new person. She was an older woman with a pointy nose and a sour expression on
her face. I caught her eating grapes at her desk and then tried to hide them
when I got close.
“I’m
here to see Senator Conrad. I’m Prudence Romaine. Is Susan out today?” I asked,
smiling at her.
“Susan is out with the flu. I’m a temp in for a couple of days. Do you have
an appointment, Miss Romaine?” she asked. She adjusted her black skirt suit and
then the blue scarf around her neck. Her gray hair hung in a short stylish bob
just above her ears. She tapped her manicured fingers against the keyboard
searching Alex’s appointments for the day.
She was
the total opposite of Susan who always smiled, liked to tell dirty jokes, and
complimented me on my hair whenever I came to Alex’s office.
“Yes, I have an eleven o’clock. I love your scarf,” I said. I hoped to
make her smile.
“Thank you. Please take a seat, and I will inform Senator Conrad that
you are here,” she said. I caught a glimpse of a smile as I sat in the waiting
area listening to bad elevator music. I had told Alex he needed to change the
music and put in something more upbeat, but he never did.
It wasn’t
but a couple of minutes later when he came out of his office. The sight of him
floored me. I almost couldn’t get up from the chair and walk. He took my breath
away every time I looked at him, and to see him with bruises, broke my heart.
His
eyes were partially shut and had a bruise underneath it. I felt guilty knowing
I was the reason he’d gotten into an accident in the first place. I wanted to
take him back to his office and kiss away his pain, stroke away his anguish,
and have my way with him on his desk, immediately.
“Hold my calls while I’m with Miss Romaine, Margo,” he said. The heat
crawled up my body. He just stood there and was focused on me as he spoke to
this temp. I wished I could’ve read his mind.
“Yes, Senator.” She smiled at him, but gave me a suspicious once-over as
I walked back into his office.
“Have
a seat, Prudence,” he said, taking in my outfit. His look was somewhere between
appreciative and shocked. I had never dressed like this when I worked on his
campaign, and he seemed completely unprepared.
I
took a seat in one of the big leather chairs in front of his desk. I inhaled
deeply enjoying the scent of his office, a combination of Alex’s cologne and
the leather. A huge mahogany desk full of papers and books sat in the middle,
facing the window and a perfect view of the city. Law books covered the cherry
bookshelves along with pictures of people I assumed were his family and a giant
dog. My mood changed as my eyes landed on a photo of Alex and Jade sitting on
the beach. I noticed that picture before when I was in there, but this time was
different. This time it gave me a sour feeling in the pit of my stomach. What was I doing there?
“Excuse the mess. It’s nuts around here right now. I’ll be glad to get
settled in my new office soon.” As he spoke, he straightened his tie and
smiled.
“You’re banged up pretty bad, Alex,” I said, wanting to touch him.
“It’s no big deal. I’m just sore. I’m lucky it wasn’t worse. My car’s
banged up more than I am.” He sipped his glass of water while looking me over
from top to bottom and trying not to make it too obvious.
“How
did you explain this to Jade?”
The
air between us crackled with electricity.
“Jade is history. She left me at the party. It’s better this way. It was
time.” My face flushed.
My phone
vibrated in my purse, but I silenced it.
“Do you need to take that?” He nodded
toward the phone.
“No,
they can wait.”
“I
wanted to ask you something for a long time. Now since this whole election
thing is over, I guess it’s okay for me to discuss it.”
“Ask
me anything, Prudence.” His tone contradicted his words, as if he anticipated
the question he knew I would eventually ask.
I
shifted nervously in my chair. “Why were you in Ohio with my mom?”
He
grabbed his glass of water, took a long swig, and walked to the window, looking
out.
“I
went to law school in Ohio, and our families were close. Both my father and
your grandfather were senators at the time. They vacationed together, and we
spent many weekends at their house. After your mom ran away, your grandmother
found out about your mom’s drug use. She was mortified to learn she had a child
and was living in a trailer in Ohio. She asked me to find you and bring you and
your mom back to her. She thought since I went to school with your mom, and we
were the same age, I could convince her to come home.” He stopped talking, and
I had the impression he had much more to say.
“You
weren’t, in a relationship, with my mom?” I asked shifting in my chair again. I
had to know if he had banged my mom back in the day, even though I hated having
that image in my mind.
He
turned quickly towards me.
“Dear God, no. When I got there and saw what a mess she was, and what was
going on in that trailer, I wanted no part of what she was offering. My focus was
on getting both of you, if not just you, out of there and to Beulah’s.”
He
paused for a minute again, took another sip of his water, and sat on the edge
of his desk. He continued as I cleared my throat in preparation for what came
next.
“She
tried, several times to get me to do things with her. She was relentless
sometimes. Your mom was not the same person I remembered when we went to school
together. She was unrecognizable to me and I felt so sorry for both of you.
When I tried talking her into taking you to your grandmother, she flipped out.
The next day I found her unconscious, overdosed on heroin,” he said. He kept
his eyes on me the entire time he talked.
“I
remember that day. My best friend, Veena came home with me, and you came to
tell me they’d taken my mom to rehab. You offered to take me to visit her the
following week.”
“Yeah. Within a day after she got out, she used again. I even took her
to an AA meeting, but she snuck out and met a few of her friends and back to
drugs she went. How is Veena? Do you still talk to her?”
I could
tell he felt guilty, like maybe he didn’t do enough. But he was wrong. He had
done more than he realized. More than my own family had done for me, and my
mom.
“I haven’t
seen or spoken to Veena since I left. I tried to contact her, but I have never heard
back.”
Suddenly, I was very out of sorts. I hadn’t expected to drudge up old
feelings. Veena was my best friend in school and lived in the trailer park with
her grandmother and sister. We were inseparable most of the time, and she was
with me the night my mom told me to get out. I missed her terribly and would
love to see her.
“Why
didn’t you just bring me back here and not tell her? You could’ve sneaked me
out of that hell while she was in rehab.” I didn’t mean for it to sound like I thought
he didn’t try hard enough.
Alex’s face grimaced as if he was in pain. But I couldn’t tell if it was
from his injuries or my questions.
“I could
have, and be charged with kidnapping and a career in politics never would have
happened.”
I nodded my head in agreement and couldn’t
stop looking at those lips and his handsome face. Knowing the details of how he
had cared for me, and my mom, even back then, made me want him more.
“Well, you did take a bullet for her.” I kept shifting around in my seat
trying to get comfortable as his eyes burned into me.
“I
took a bullet for you, Prudence. When
I heard those thugs talking about hurting you, I went crazy. I couldn’t allow
it. You had been through enough,” he said.
My
heart hurt when he admitted that. The more he revealed, the deeper in love I
fell.
“Where did you get shot?” I asked putting my hair behind my ears since I
was nervous.
“Right here in my stomach.” Alex pointed to the spot right above his
belly button.
“I
spent two weeks in ICU and had part of my intestines taken out. I nearly died
trying to rescue you. My failure has haunted me for the past seven years,
Prudence. I couldn’t get you out of my mind, and not in a sick perverted way. I
just wanted you to have a good life. I wanted your mom to come to her senses as
well. She was so smart in school and had everything going for her.”
I thought
I had worked through those feelings and I was ready to hear everything. Beulah
had me seeing a psychologist twice each week and then a psychiatrist once a
month. From the day I was born, my mom never hugged, loved, or offered any real
physical contact to me. It wasn’t until I had moved in with my grandmother that
I was touched in a loving way. My mom wasn’t on the “hard stuff” when she gave
birth to me, in the back of the van. That didn’t start till later. She just looked
at me as a burden to her and an intrusion to her way of life.
Alex
stood up again and walked to the window. He looked to be in deep thought. I
wanted to walk up behind him, wrap my arms around him, and hold him tight to
me. I wanted to thank him for all he had done for me and my mom. To appreciate
him and make sure he knew he hadn’t failed me. He didn’t let me down. The scent
of his leathery cologne put me in the mood to strip him naked and take him
right in his office. His truth was my foreplay. I was beyond ready. He turned
around again as I started to speak.
“I haven’t
talked to my mom either. I’ve tried so many times to get in touch with her, and
she has not responded to me. I’ve written to her once a month since I left and
I send her a card on holidays and her birthday, but have received nothing in
return. I’m not even sure if she’s still alive.”
I
looked down, remembering how dreadful my mom looked last time I saw her. She
weighed no more than ninety pounds, arms peppered with track marks, hair
falling out, and her skin gray and sickly. She was so strung out; she didn’t know
I was her daughter.
“I’m
sure she is in lousy shape if she’s still doing the same things,” he said.
The
trip going down memory lane upset me, and I snapped out of the memories. “Why
did you want to see me today, Alex?” I asked.
“Well,
I wanted to see if you would go on a proper date with me?” he said,
Thank God for the seat; otherwise I might’ve passed out.
“A
date?”
“The
campaign is over and it wouldn’t be inappropriate. You surprised me with that
kiss the other night, and what you said. Of course, that other thing you did caught
me off guard. The way you took charge and grabbed my tie was sexy, Prudence. I
had every intention on seeing you the night of the election, before this happened,” he said. He sat down
again in front of me. I noticed how muscular his thighs were as they pushed up
against the desk. I could only imagine what they looked like bare. His stomach was
flat and his chest seemed broad as he leaned forward on his arms.
“Yes, I will go out on a date with you. I waited for you the night of
the election. When I woke up the next morning, I was disappointed you never
showed up.” I uncrossed my legs and tried to be still as he watched me.
“To get
to know you better and be alone with you was how I wanted to end that evening.
You had me very intrigued, to say the least.” He watched me expectantly-and
maybe even nervously.
“Well, I’m sure we can pick up where we left off.” I looked up at him
and smiled.
“Great. How does Friday sound? I’ll pick you up at your condo and we’ll have
dinner and see what happens,”
He
touched his bruised eyelid with the tip of his finger and winced. I wanted to
nurse him back to health. He needed a nice relaxing message, and I would love
to volunteer.
I
glanced at my Gucci purse and expensive leather boots and couldn’t believe
Senator Conrad asked me out on a date. It amazed me how far my life had come,
from my hand-me-down clothes, poverty, and a drug-addicted mother, to sitting
in a senator’s office and being asked on a date. I sometimes wondered if it was
a dream that I would wake up from and suddenly be back to the nightmare of my
trailer park life. Thinking about that reminded me of what I wanted to show him
before I left. Now was the time.
I
lifted up my arm and pulled back the sleeve of my jacket.
“Do
you remember this?” I asked, showing him what I had kept for so long. His eyes
got big as he looked at my wrist.
Mia Villano's love for politics and romance inspired her to write her first erotic romance. Loving The Senator is the first book in the Capitol Affairs Series.
When she is not writing, Mia is hiking, cooking, and spending time with her two daughters.
Author links:
https://www.facebook.com/mia.villano.7
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