LITMIR.BIZ

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      After he had left, Kasey had sagged against the desk exhausted, feeling as though she’d been caught in a whirlwind. She hadn’t remembered him being so full of energy, on such high alert. But then, she hadn’t known him all that well despite…

      Kasey had tromped down on that thought and gathered her belongings. The office had lost its appeal for more reasons than one. Shirley’s absence was a dismal reminder of what had happened. And without Tanner, all the vitality seemed to have deserted the room. She no longer wanted to be there.

      Without a backward glance, she had walked out and closed the door behind her.

      Now, as she pulled her mind off Tanner and back on her love-hate affair with the treadmill, Kasey blinked against the sweat burning her eyes. Deciding she’d had enough, she steadily lowered the speed button and was soon walking at a slower, but still brisk pace. Sweat continued to cleanse her pores. She reached for the towel draped over the bar and mopped her face and neck.

      After a hot bath Kasey lay on the chaise lounge in her bedroom, a cup of chocolate on the table beside her and a legal pad braced on her legs. She had every intention of toying with ideas for Tanner. Whatever she and the staff put together had to be their best efforts. Pleasing him on her best days would be difficult. But challenging. That was the fun part. And the scariest.

      Kasey lowered her head and stared. Not only was the yellow page blank but so was her mind. Except for Tanner’s face. She blinked, but his image wouldn’t disappear nor would details of the fateful night that changed her life.

      “You’re tipsy, aren’t you?”

      She giggled and pulled his head down close to hers. “So are you.”

      “Whoa,” he said with a chuckle against her lips, “not so tipsy that I don’t know what’s happening here. You’re about to get me in a heap of trouble with my friend and your fiancé.”

      “It’s his own fault. He deserted me for an old baseball game.” She licked her lips and grinned. “And he’s the one who asked you to take me, even though I barely knew you.”

      “Still—”

      “You don’t find me attractive?” she asked in a petulant, but cajoling tone, running her finger back and forth across his lower lip.

      He groaned, then trapped that finger and sucked on it.

      “Kiss me,” she whispered, grinding her hips into his hardness.

      His moist lips adhered to hers in a long, hot kiss.

      “Do you know what you’re doing to me?” he gasped, pulling back and staring down at her.

      “The same thing you’re doing to me, making me hot.”

      Without taking his eyes off her, he yanked open her blouse and sucked on her nipples until they were wet and torrid.

      “I want to touch you,” she whispered.

      Without taking his glazed eyes off her, he unzipped his jeans, reached for her hand and placed it on him.

      She gasped, then with wonderment began to caress the rock hard but soft skin.

      “Sweet Kasey,” he rasped, jerking down her panties, then leading her to the nearest sofa in the deserted parlor where he spread her legs and entered her.

      A moan from deep within her stopped him midway. He stared at her wild-eyed. “Shit, I can’t, not when you haven’t—”

      “Please, don’t stop now,” she pleaded, lifting her hips.

      “But I’ll hurt you.”

      “It’ll hurt worse if you don’t.”

      He buried himself in her…

      Suddenly Kasey jerked herself upright, her body bathed in a cold sweat while a wave of despair washed through her. Nothing she could ever say or do would excuse her despicable behavior that night so long ago.

      She would never forgive herself.

      Having grown up in a strict, religious home where guilt was the weapon of choice, Kasey had had little freedom before going away to college. Once on her own, she’d been highly susceptible to the fun and parties of the campus fraternities and sororities.

      At one of those functions, she’d met Mark Ellis and soon after they had fallen in love. Or so she’d thought. One evening he had reneged on taking her to a private party. Because she was so upset at not getting to attend, he’d asked a frat buddy to sub for him.

      Nothing had prepared Kasey for the charismatic and charming Tanner Hart. The second they met, sexual tension had leaped between them. After hours of laughing, dancing and drinking, they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other and ended up making love.

      Nine months later and much to her shame, Kasey had given birth to a healthy baby boy.

      She had never told Tanner that she’d borne his son.

      She had told Mark that she couldn’t see him anymore, that she was pregnant with another man’s child, a man who would remain nameless. Mark was devastated yet he had assured her that he could forgive her for betraying him, that he loved her and wanted to marry her. He’d gone on to promise her that no one would ever hear the truth from him and that he’d raise Brock as his own.

      Kasey, determined not to further humiliate herself or her family, had settled into the role of student, wife and mother, giving up all her dreams of becoming a successful career woman.

      Suddenly the phone rang, startling her back to the present. With an unsteady hand and pounding heart, Kasey lifted the receiver.

      “Hi, Mom.”

      “Hi, darling,” she whispered around the tears in her throat.

      Eight

       I t had been several days since he’d seen Kasey and she had accepted his offer. Since then, he’d been on a short campaign jaunt that had gone really well considering he’d been in enemy territory, so to speak.

      Right now, he and Butler appeared to be running neck and neck according to the loosely taken polls. Jack and Irene, along with the rest of his backers, were jubilant.

      “By the time November rolls around,” Irene had told him on the way home, “you’re going to kick his ass.”

      He shot her a side glance before concentrating once again on the road. “Don’t get too cocky. We’re just getting started.”

      “You had them eating out of your hands.”

      “Butler’s good at that, too, remember.”

      “He might have a pedigree, but that’s all he has. He’s just a big bag of hot, stale air.”

      “I’m sure the same is being said about me.”

      “Only you’ll do what you say you’re going to do. He won’t. His record proves that.” Irene paused, then changed the subject. “You should be excited by the way things are going.”

      He was, but cautiously excited. He knew that Buck Butler intended to hold on to his senate seat no matter what the cost.

      Though his passion for Texas and the possibility of serving its constituents burned as brightly in him as it did Butler, Tanner had every intention of sticking strictly to the issues. Slinging mud was distasteful to him. He had an idea that wouldn’t sit well with Jack or Irene, but he didn’t care. If he couldn’t win the election on the issues and his reputation as a solid, dependable businessman, then he just wouldn’t win.

      So far, he hadn’t had to worry. Surprisingly Butler had also kept on the high road. Now that Tanner had caught him in the polls, Butler’s true personality would likely come out. Underneath that charming, good ole boy facade was a backstabbing bastard.

      No

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