by Sienna Snow
He gazed up at me, and I held in the urge to grip his hair and make him kiss my feet for all the crap he’d made me deal with throughout our time together.
“It’s not that simple. If you recall, you’re the one who wanted to keep our relationship quiet for our careers’ sake. How do we go from pretending we barely know each other to a normal married couple? Besides, my life is going to get a hell of a lot more complicated before it settles down again.”
A look passed in his eyes, telling me I shouldn’t have said that.
Only a few people knew what I was considering. And if Devin latched on, he wouldn’t let go until he knew everything.
To my surprise, he only responded with, “By walking out that door, hand in hand.”
At that moment, Tara barged in, shaking her head at seeing Devin on his knees between my legs. She’d known about my relationship with Devin from the time she and I were in law school together, and nothing surprised her when it came to our antics. She was also the one who drafted the separation decree I’d sent to Devin six weeks ago.
“Sam, we’ve got a big problem. I truly regret pushing that damn case onto you.”
Dev released my hips, stood, and let me slip around him.
“What happened?” I asked a little too breathlessly, giving away the intimacy of what she’d interrupted.
“Look outside.”
Both Dev and I walked over to the sixth-story window.
There were at least fifty photographers and media outlets outside the building with people holding signs saying “Hot Stuff,” and police officers trying to keep the crowd under control.
“They weren’t there twenty minutes ago. What happened?”
“Your former client announced on his show that he was on a mission to get you laid. He decided that he wanted to play radio matchmaker, offering one million dollars to the lucky man he approved to take you out.”
“Oh, for the love of God.”
I released a deep breath as I willed away the painful throb flaring to life in my head.
“Tara, go see if you can call in more security. I’ll get to the bottom of this from my end.”
I ignored Dev’s pacing as I reached for my phone and dialed Clint Bassett’s private number.
“Yello, sexy lady. What can I do you for?”
“Clint, you have to stop this. My life is crazy enough. I thought you accepted my decision. Why would you create this contest? I am not dating anyone you pick.”
“It’s either I find you a date or nominate you for president. I think you’d make a fabulous politician, all controlled exterior but a heart that bleeds for any injustice.”
“Clint, please.”
“I did this for you, Sam.” Clint’s voice went from the cocky radio DJ to the normal and ultra-private man outside of the media. “The guy that’s had you twisted up for the last few months needs a kick in the ass. Especially if you’re about to do what I suspect you’re about to do.”
How the hell would he know my plans when I hadn’t made anything official?
Before I could respond, he spoke again. “And don’t try to deny that you have a man. I’m going to make him see red in order to fix things with you.”
“I appreciate the thought, but this is the worst way to go about it. I don’t need this type of drama added to my life.”
“Sure, you do.”
“Clint…” I couldn’t hide my irritation.
“Sam.”
“Why don’t you terrorize Karina instead of me?”
“Because that battle-ax is scarier than my Italian grandmother with a cast-iron skillet.”
I started laughing, and I couldn’t help it.
A throat cleared behind me, bringing me back to the situation at hand.
“He’s there, isn’t he?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Good. I’ll be up in a second. I want to see the man who made me lose the best damn attorney I’ve ever encountered.” Clint hung up before I could respond.
Oh shit, this was about to go from bad to worse.
“Dev, can we talk later? Clint is on his way up, and I need to handle this.”
“No.” His gaze bored into mine. “I’d like to meet the man who thinks my wife needs a date.”
“You can’t get possessive when for the last six years of our relationship, you pretended to date other women and never cared what man was around me.”
“I’ve always been possessive of you. Do you think I liked seeing my woman on another man’s arm? Why do you think I fucked your brains out the minute you got home?”
My cheeks flushed as memories of past encounters flooded my mind.
“That was your choice, not mine.”
“From now on the only man you’re seen with is me.”
“It doesn’t work that way. You don’t get to dictate what I do. I’ve let you steamroll me for too long, and it stops now.”
“Is that right?”
I crossed my arms in front of me. “Did I stutter?”
“Listen carefully, Mrs. Camden.”
“Ms. Kumar,” I countered. “That’s my professional name.”
He walked forward, making me retreat until my back hit the wall. He cupped the back of my head while the other gripped my waist.
“You may be the boss here, but when we’re together we both know who’s in charge, and it isn’t you.”
My heartbeat accelerated, and my breath came out a little shallow.
“Then it’s time things changed. It doesn’t work anymore.”
“Is that so?” He pressed his hard cock against my abdomen.
“Yes.”
“Liar. I bet if I slipped my hand down your pants, I’d find you aroused and soaked for me.”
I licked my lips, and his eyes went to them, dilating.
Before he could lean down and kiss me, I heard from behind him, “Well hell. A federal judge and a high-profile attorney. Now it makes complete sense why you ditched me. You two send conflict of interest to a whole new level.”
A flash of annoyance crossed Dev’s face as he held my gaze. “We’ll continue this discussion later.”
He kissed my forehead in the way it always made me melt, and released his hold on me.
Turning to Clint, he extended his hand. “Mr. Bassett.”
“Judge Camden.” Clint shook his hand and inclined his head. “So, are you two dating or is it more?”
He noticed the ring on Dev’s left hand.
“You could say that. She’s my wife.”
Clint gave no outward reaction to Devin’s announcement except his signature smirk.
“Well, you’ve done a piss-poor job of keeping her happy. I know when a woman spends her time alone and crying. I’ve raised four daughters. I suggest fixing whatever is wrong between you two. Within minutes of my announcement, I had thousands of applications flood the station inbox for the opportunity to take your place. She needs a good man by her side.”
I groaned out loud and smacked the back of my head against the wall I leaned on.
Dev clenched his jaw. “I’m not the one being sued by my ex-wife.”
“True, but I’m on the side you’ll be on soon enough. I neglected Kim for years and then she turned to someone else. The divorce was a hair-trigger reaction to my pain. Something I’ll regret for the rest of my life.”
Clint had never expressed his remorse until this moment. I knew he’d been devastated when he learned of Kim’s affair. He’d drawn first blood by calling her out on national radio. Before that day, he’d never once discussed his twenty-year marriage. Now he was in a heated lawsuit that had nothing to do with the money at stake and everything to do with the pain.
“Your advice is duly noted, Mr. Bassett.” Dev flashed me a grin. “I’ll see you tonight when I move in.”
“Wait. What? You can’t be serious.” I braced myself against the windowsill.
“Either that or I sue to have access to a house that is fifty per
cent mine. You make the call.”
Chapter Four
“Samina, have you seen the news?” my friend Sarah asked the second I answered the phone.
She was Nathan Travis’s wife and one of Seattle’s top surgeons who happened to be the granddaughter of a former president and a connoisseur of all things news.
If she didn’t know about it, then most likely it didn’t happen. She had such a busy schedule between Nathan, their kids, and her practice that I didn’t know when she found time to keep up with current events.
She apparently forgot or conveniently ignored my text from earlier in the day, where I specifically said not to call so I could mentally prepare for Devin to move in.
I poured myself a cup of coffee and set the French press on the warmer. “No. I unplugged. Remember?”
The last thing I wanted to do was get on any form of media after what I’d dealt with at the office today.
Clint’s radio mission had turned my life into even more of a spectacle, forcing me to use Tara’s car and the private garage exit to leave the building. By the time I arrived home, the groups of paparazzi outside my house had grown so much that part of my street had to be shut down.
Thankfully the sheriff’s department had forced the media to leave the area and camp out at the entrance of my residential community.
“Well, future senator. I suggest you get plugged in.”
I winced. Why had I told her what I was planning?
Because her whole life has been about politics and her mother is the current Secretary of State. She’s the only one who can give it to you straight.
“I don’t care,” I said. “Can you top having my former client tell my estranged husband to fix my marriage or he was going to find me another man?”
“Yes. If a bailiff found said client having sex with his ex-wife in a courthouse bathroom. He acted like it was no big deal when he spoke to the reporters later.”
I felt heat and anger creep up my face. This could not be happening. Four months of my life and they end up back together?
“I’m going to wring his neck the next time I see him.”
“It’s been a very active news day.”
“That means you’re leaving something out. Spill it.” I sat on one of the barstools lining the island.
“He credited his visit to your office today as the inspiration for wanting to reconcile with his wife.”
Sure, my husband threatening to sue me to live in our house was going to trigger thoughts of happily ever after.
“And?” I probed.
“He’s now more determined than ever to find you a date. With the help of Kimberly, of course.”
I groaned and then rested my head on the hard granite in front of me.
“Of course. That’s all I need. The woman who called me Clint’s tramp and whore is going to play matchmaker. Someone kill me now.”
“It could be worse.”
“I doubt that. My career as an attorney is tanked. I’ve gone from being the take-no-one’s-shit bulldog litigator to a contestant on a dating game orchestrated by a former client.”
“It’s not as if this is your first high-profile case. You’ve represented at least three politicians and a swarm of TV and movie celebrities. Remember Debbie?”
My neighbor Debbie was my first politically connected client. She’d discovered through a tabloid reporter that she was the secret love child of two senators who were in opposing parties and married to other people.
“Yes, but she and everyone else I’ve represented avoided any and all media whenever possible. Clint caters to them. His ratings depend on them. I’m collateral damage.”
“I think you’re too sensitive.”
“Sarah, this case put the final nail in the coffin of my marriage. Now I’m left to make plans for a future without the one person I’ve always loved.”
“What did you expect? Great sex doesn’t make a stable marriage. Every time things got difficult, instead of working it out, you would ignore the situation and try to fix the problems by having sex for hours on end or go on vacation where you’d fuck as if your life depended on it.”
The one place where Dev and I had no problem communicating was in the bedroom. We could read each other without any difficulties, and getting it on like rabbits was our way of dealing with the frustration of our dueling careers.
The moment I took on Clint as a client and he threw me into the national spotlight, Devin and I couldn’t mask our issues anymore.
I wanted the support I’d given him during his rise through the ranks and eventually to a position as federal judge, and he wanted things to remain the same.
It was when life became too hard for him to handle that we ultimately separated.
“You’re right. Something had to give, and neither of us was going to budge.”
“Do you miss him?”
“Yes. Of course, I do,” I responded without hesitation. He held a piece of my heart that I’d never get back whether we stayed together or not.
“Do you have any hope of fixing things?”
“I never gave up hope.”
“But?”
“But, it has to be different if we are going to salvage our relationship. I refuse to be a secret anymore. This was not how I planned to spend the first years of my marriage. Do you know what it was like to watch Dev get sworn in from the audience instead of by his side like all the other judges’ wives?
“Yes, he’s a politician’s son, but I’m the daughter of a freaking billionaire. I stood up to my father when he disapproved of us. Devin never did that for me. His parents still don’t know we’re married. I moved thousands of miles away from Texas, from my family and a successful, cushy future, to be with him. I deserve better.”
I gasped for a few deep breaths as my temper flared and tears prickled my eyes. “I’m done living for other people. First it was for my father, then it was for Devin. Besides, I’m about to use my fame to catapult me to a new phase of life that Devin will never be able to handle. He’s told me countless times how he wished his father would give up politics.”
I rarely discussed the hurt I felt about my marriage with anyone. I was ashamed of putting myself in this position. Even Dev’s sister and my best friend thought I was a moron for how I’d allowed him to treat me. She’d wanted me to leave Devin years ago.
“Feel better, now that you got that off your chest? I expected you to explode months ago.”
I could almost envision the smirk on her face as she said that.
This was her plan. To get me to release the frustration and anger.
“Yes. You’re such an ass.”
“Takes one to know one. Seriously, I wouldn’t worry about your marriage staying a secret for long. The moment you file the candidacy paperwork for US Senate, nothing about you is going to remain quiet.”
I shifted the phone to my other ear and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I know.”
“The paps are going to have a field day when they discover that you had a secret wedding four years ago to ultra-conservative Louisiana Senator Richard Camden’s eldest son.”
“I never hid it. I just never acknowledged it in public.”
“Answered like a true politician.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled as I pressed the speaker button, then set the phone on the counter and took a sip of my coffee.
“How do you think your parents will react to the news you’re running for Senate?”
Great, something else to worry about. Sarah was full of happy thoughts today.
“Papa is going to lose his mind when the press starts hounding him. I doubt this will lead to a family reconciliation. He is all about donating to both sides of the aisle and using those associations to his benefit. Having a child enter the political game instead of business will be insulting to everything he believed he put into his children’s upbringing, even from me the black sheep of the family.”
“Oh, come on. My parents would be so thrilled if I jumped i
nto politics, especially against that jackass Anthony Sanders. That man is a no-good, double-talking, sexist piece of shit.”
I almost asked her to tell me how she truly felt about my future opponent but decided against it. If Sarah got on her soapbox, it could be an hour before she came up for air.
“Yes, but that’s your quote-unquote family business.” I air-quoted my words with my fingers. “Remember when I told you how Papa reacted the day he found out Ashur joined the Air Force?”
“You said he was livid and tried to use his connections to stop Ash from enlisting.”
“Well, that would be mild compared to a child entering politics. At least most of his influence is in Texas and doesn’t reach to Washington State.”
“What about your mom and brother?”
“Mommy supports me unconditionally and Ash already knows about my plans. I told him what I was preparing to do when he came up for a client meeting. The second I tell him I filed, he’s going to start contacting donors.”
Ashur was the one person I had no doubt would stand behind me in anything I pursued.
“And Devin’s parents? They’re about to get a double whammy—not only is their son married, but their daughter-in-law is going to be the politician.”
I sighed. “Well, once they get over the shock of finding out about Devin and me, their reaction won’t be any better than my father’s. No, that’s not true. Dev’s mom will support me. She is all about women entering the congressional ring. Dev’s dad is the one who’ll go ballistic. The good senator will view it as a slap in the face. Dev was supposed to follow in his footsteps and become part of the next generation of Louisiana senators. When Dev decided to become a judge, Senator Camden’s plans for his son’s future changed to him someday holding a seat on the United States Supreme Court.”
I could almost see the shock and anger on both our fathers’ faces.
“Sorry I brought it up. I never meant to upset you.”
“It’s okay. I have to face the facts of any political bid I consider.”
“I hate to break it to you, but you have something more important to worry about. Your estranged husband is going to move into the mansion you built together. You better figure out where he’s going to sleep, and it better not be with you.”
