“Matt is an expert in his field with an impeccable record, and I trust him implicitly to perform his duty with the utmost professionalism, without hesitation or distraction. We continue to be friends, though purely platonic now. I’m devoted to my husband,” she intoned.

  “How do you feel about campaigning with your husband’s grandfather during this election season?”

  “I’m proud to support Winston Pershing and the valuable public service he performs for his lucky constituents and this country.”

  “Have you had any input into his new educational platform?” Matt mimicked the nosy members of the press.

  Over the next ten minutes, Madison formulated acceptable answers for his varied questions. Thankfully, the Pershings had taught her basic press survival shortly after her engagement to Todd. She could plaster on her best fake smile, craft diplomatic answers, and spin a good word salad that ate up an interviewer’s time but admitted nothing—except when Matt rattled her.

  “You’re doing well,” he praised. “Let’s try a few more—with your legs spread.”

  Her breath caught. She swallowed against the arousal making her pulse thrum.

  “Madison?”

  She’d come to recognize that timbre. Deep and full of demand. Sharp with something between a question and a rebuke. That tone warned her to comply—quickly—or suffer. It challenged her. It made her unbearably wet and desperate.

  She grappled for composure as she parted her thighs. Her heart jolted as Matt’s lips glided over the sensitive curve of her neck again, then ticked up once more when he plucked at the tender nipples he’d sucked mercilessly last night.

  She struggled to ignore the heady sting. “Yes, Matt.”

  “Wider. Your knees should touch the arms of your chair.”

  “Yes, Matt.”

  “Good,” he said once she’d complied. “Now, rub your clit like you mean it and tell me how you feel about Senator Pershing’s grueling campaign schedule. Do not come.”

  As she lowered her fingers between her legs, Madison tried to ignore both the awful thrill and her aching pussy. “Senator Pershing works tirelessly to improve the lives of his constituents while keeping in mind the values and concerns of all Americans…”

  Matt circled in front of her chair. She strove to look past him and focus on the appointed candle with a plastically pleasant smile in place. When she managed, it was a vast improvement, even if her breathing wasn’t quite regular.

  Then Matt opened his fly, stared right into her eyes, and began stroking his stiff length with a slow, hot hand.

  “What a pretty little liar you are.” He swiped his thumb across his crest with a low hiss. “Tell me specifically how you’ll be supporting Senator Pershing’s campaign during this election season.”

  She watched raptly, struggling to answer his question. All she could think about was being on her knees at his feet as she parted her lips and lost herself in his taste.

  “Licking your lips like that is dangerous.”

  “Matt…”

  “I didn’t tell you to stop rubbing your clit. Do it faster while you answer me.”

  Since whimpering wouldn’t get her what she ached for, Madison did her best to look through him. If she completed this task, he would sate her raging need. Right?

  “Of course I’ll be attending campaign stops with both the senator and his lovely wife, Agatha, particularly those centered around learning. I’m passionate about kids getting a robust education, and I’m a big advocate for a national pre-K program, which Senator Pershing is pushing for, as you know. I’ll also be attending fundraisers and rallies, giving interviews and supporting my family in whatever way they need.”

  “Impressive.” He stroked his erection faster, zeroing in on her pussy like nothing else mattered to him. “Do you think you deserve a reward?”

  “Please.”

  “So polite. I almost don’t hear that demanding whine in your voice to be fucked. Maybe I should find new ways to rattle you…”

  “No!” she gasped out, then grimaced. Her outburst would have the opposite effect. Of course he wanted her fully prepared for Todd, but he also enjoyed coercing her to play the good girl while he did filthy-dirty things to her.

  “Yes.”

  After the stunning orgasms he’d heaped on her last night, she shouldn’t need him this badly. But her belly clenched, and her pussy cramped. Her heart felt hollow. She craved all of Matt.

  “Are those fingers still on your clit? Plunge them inside your cunt. Yes, impale yourself. Rub that sweet spot and drive yourself to the edge. But no sounds or I’ll leave you aching in punishment.”

  Madison swallowed a groan as she complied. Matt watched intently with quicksilver eyes until her breathing fell apart and she was mere heartbeats from orgasm.

  “Stop.” He stepped closer. “Open your mouth.”

  Excitement flared in every corner of her body as she obeyed. Maybe he would stop this horribly wonderful torment and succumb to their mutual desire.

  Instead, he brushed his wet crest over her lips. “Take your fingers from your pussy and wrap them around my cock…”

  She complied, her clit screaming at the sensual torture of denial while she stroked his steely erection and distributed her juices along his length.

  “Look at you. Beautiful and obedient. Now suck me.” He gripped her nape and slid every inch onto her waiting tongue until he prodded the back of her throat. “Yes. Oh, fuck. That’s it. Hmm. Lick me like your favorite lollipop.”

  Madison did with a moan, losing herself in his salty, familiar taste, wishing they could stay secluded in Jack Cole’s love shack forever. But the real world was coming for them. In DC, she would barely be able to look at Matt without inciting a fire storm of public speculation. Then, giving in to her feelings and touching him, except for the few precious hours each week they stole, would be forbidden.

  She shoved the thoughts aside and focused on Matt, on her now with him.

  Too soon, he tugged on her hair—and off his cock. Tamping down a protest, Madison looked up, her gaze clinging to him. He tucked himself away with a sigh before bending to slant his lips over hers for a fiery kiss. Then he pressed their foreheads together.

  She felt his frustration. “I’m sorry. I know I’m not ready.”

  “For the things we know Todd and the Pershings will throw at you, you’re getting there. It’s the things we don’t anticipate that worry me.”

  “As much as I want to lose myself in your arms, I know I can’t. I have to try harder. And I have to get it right.” Their lives depended on it.

  Matt could have chided her for giving into her feelings too often and too easily. Instead, he caressed her crown. “Do you need a breather before we start again?”

  What she needed was a good orgasm and a good cry. They didn’t have time.

  She shook her head. “Keep challenging me. There’s nothing more important than this.”

  He agreed with a silent nod. “Do your best to compartmentalize. We’ll talk everything through afterward.”

  A solid plan. But how would that work once they were under Todd’s roof? Madison stifled the question since it was neither Matt’s fault nor his problem. She had to buck up and stop being the weak link. “Let’s do it.”

  He lifted her from her chair, settled himself in the seat, and set her on his lap, her back pressed to his chest. With his knees, he spread her thighs and covered her wet pussy with one hand, his fingers circling her clit until it beat as insistently as her racing heart.

  His free hand cradled one breast and pinched her tender nipple. “Tell me how you intend to support Senator Pershing and his family in the next term.”

  Madison glanced at the white candle and grappled for a coherent response. “M-my husband’s grandfather has been tirelessly devoted to education and the future. I mean, the children, who are our future. Of course, you know I’m passionate about⁠—”

  “I’m passionate, too,” he murmured over her babbling. “About licking you. About fucking you. About claiming you.” He pushed two fingers inside her and rubbed in exactly the spot that would steal her thoughts. “Every morning. Every night. Every breath I take.” He nipped at her lobe, his growl turning guttural. “All of you—every inch—is mine. Is that what you’re passionate about?”

  She tried to ignore his seductive growl and the climax bubbling between her legs. “I’m determined to make sure America’s youth get the best possible education, not merely throw money at the problem, which historically hasn’t improved kids’ understanding or test scores, but with experienced, hands-on⁠—”

  “Yes, I love being hands-on,” he moaned. “I love having my fingers on this pussy that’s dripping for me. I love the way you’re desperate for me to fill you. That’s what you want, isn’t it, honey? To feel my cock pounding you? For me to fuck you until you can’t walk anymore? I know you do. How do you want it? Slow, so I wring out every little response and make you melt? Or fast, stuffing you full of my cock, until you scream that you belong to me? That’s what you mean by hands-on, right?”

  He was trying to kill her. “We need educators, counselors, and administrators who are committed to teaching and love—” When he moaned into her ear while manipulating her clit, her overstimulated body rebelled. “Ah…Matt!”

  “Tell me. You got answers to my questions?”

  Everything inside her wanted to spread her legs wider, surrender herself to him completely, and beg him to end her torment. Madison squeezed her eyes shut and sought to wrestle her desire under control. But when he talked to her as if he wanted to own her all the way down to her soul, as if he’d never let her go, resisting felt impossible.

  “Yes.”

  “Yes, huh? You’re going to answer me about Senator Pershing’s next term? Or about the ways you’ll beg me to fuck you?”

  Madison furiously blanked her brain and stared unrelentingly at the candle. “In addition to educational matters, I will be involved in programs to keep underprivileged children fed, immunized, and…and⁠—”

  “And what about this pussy? What about it full of my cock, coming for me over and over? Will you dedicate Senator Pershing’s next term to spreading your legs for me?”

  There was nothing she wanted more than to be Matt’s, not just for the next six years but forever. She struggled to breathe and clung valiantly to her train of thought. “I will dedicate myself to Senator Pershing’s next term in whatever way will best help his constituents and—” When Matt pinched her clit and bit down on her neck, she gasped. “Yes!”

  “His constituents and yes?” he challenged, still rolling the nerve-filled bud between his fingers. “What are you saying? You’ll help his voters…or you’ll let me fuck you?”

  Both. “Help his voters, of course. I believe in all the hardworking Americans he represents, as much as I believe in…in”—he swept his fingers across her clit again, caressing the ultra-sensitive button—“what’s best.”

  “For prosperity? Or for orgasm?”

  “Everyone,” she panted. “Don’t all Americans deserve plenty?”

  Matt laughed in her ear. “I see what you did there, dirty girl. Peace and good fortune to all…but you didn’t say no to me fucking you.”

  “I leave partisan issues to those in office. I simply support those who need and deserve my advocacy.”

  He dragged his fingers even more slowly across her clit. “Oh, is that your fancy way of saying I can bury my cock in this pretty, swollen cunt and⁠—”

  “God bless America!” She was so close to climax, she wriggled, nails digging into her thighs, praying the pinpoints of pain would give her focus.

  Matt’s booming laughter filled the room. “God bless America, honey. You earned this one. Come for me.”

  Before he could set her off, static burst from the radio in the corner of the kitchen, crackling through the air.

  They both froze.

  “You there? Come in.” Jack Cole’s Cajun drawl filled the room.

  Madison stiffened. The desire that had flowed like lava in her veins moments ago turned to ice.

  Swearing, Matt lifted her and stood, setting her on her feet. Mouth pressed into a grim line, he regarded her with determination and disquiet. “Wait here.”

  She didn’t answer. What was there to say?

  Matt tore the hand unit from the base and lifted it. “We’re here. You incoming?”

  “Be there in three hours. Things are heating up. Be ready when I walk in the door.”

  “Roger that.”

  “Later,” Jack drawled.

  Silence fell. Madison began to tremble. Every worry she’d been shoving aside about her and Matt and making it through the campaign ordeal with Todd and the Pershings burst through the dam, threatening her composure. “Oh, my god. This is really happening.”

  “Yeah. Come here, honey.”

  Biting her lip compulsively, she headed toward him. He met her halfway on heavy footfalls. She wanted to ask him what happened next and what they should do. But that wasn’t fair. He didn’t know, either. “I’ll gather my things. It won’t take long.”

  But after that, what? Madison didn’t want to think about it.

  “Make it quick,” Matt said. “Before we go, we need to talk.”

  Those words detonated more dread in her belly. Was he backing out? Had he decided that she couldn’t function in public around him, so they’d all be better off if he wasn’t there? Or just that he didn’t need her problems?

  No. That was her insecurity talking, and she tried not to give into it. “Okay.”

  After tossing on an overlong T-shirt that smelled like Matt, she gathered her clothes and the few other necessities she’d cobbled together from Jack’s deliveries. When she looked up, Matt had already gathered his possessions. He was emptying the last of the food from the refrigerator into the cooler and chucking ice on top when he scanned her from head to toe. “Done?”

  Almost afraid to voice the truth, as if that would make leaving here more real, she simply nodded.

  “Good.” He headed toward her, grabbed her hand, then dragged her to the bedroom. “Anything left to pack before Jack arrives?”

  “No.”

  “Take off the shirt.”

  The command surprised her. “Now? Won’t he be here⁠—”

  “Soon. So why would I wait until later to touch you? Take off the fucking shirt.”

  Her foreboding mixed with desire, leaving her aching and confused. But no one except Matt could make it better.

  When she complied, he exhaled, his shoulders relaxing, as if he’d worried she wouldn’t offer him her body. As if she could resist him.

  “Good girl,” he praised as she dropped the cotton to the floor and stood completely naked in front of him. “Are you still wet for me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you still want me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then lie back on the bed and spread your legs.” He shucked his pants, reached for a condom, and rolled it down his steely length. “Madison?”

  His question pulled her from her breathless perusal. She scrambled to obey, tossing herself across the mattress, arms and legs wide, and welcoming him.

  Matt stared down her body, his gray eyes darkening like a storm as he planted his knee on the bed and hovered over her before sinking to his elbows and taking her hips in hand.

  “I always want you,” she whispered. “I always have.”

  With a groan, he planted himself between her thighs and surged deep in one ruthless stroke. “I’ve always wanted you, too. I’m always going to want you. You’re mine—during Pershing’s next term and beyond.”

  “Matt!” She drank in his words, refusing to worry that he would change his mind like all the men in her past or that fate would allow Todd to break them apart. She gave herself over to the fairytale belief that since her heart had made the wish that she’d always be Matt’s, she would.

  But Madison had lived in the real world long enough to know better.

  Together, they moved, their hearts beating as one while they tried to outrun the bitter fear that they had no tomorrow. That tonight would be the last time they could share their unspoken devotion.

  Beneath him, she rocked, meeting every fevered sweep of his tongue and every insistent thrust of his cock. She threw her arms around him, softened under him, and gave all of herself to him.

  I love you. I love you. I love you.

  She didn’t say the words aloud. No idea if he felt the same, and now wasn’t the time to find out.

  Matt’s thrusts picked up strength and speed. His fingers bit as he lifted her to meet each downward stroke. “Look at me.”

  Madison couldn’t look anywhere else. “I’m here.”

  “Tell me you’re mine,” he ground out between every pistoning surge of his hips that left her full and breathless and so near climax.

  “I’m yours!”

  “Prove it. Come. Give me your pleasure. Don’t hold back.”

  As if she could with his growl sensitizing her body and his cock driving her closer to the edge.

  “Come with me?” she pleaded.

  “Fuck yes. Now!”

  She swept aside her barriers and gave herself to Matt completely, in a way she’d never given herself to any man. With her arms wide open, she felt him occupy her soul and warm her heart. In return, he made her feel beautiful, desired, and truly loved by a man for the first time in her life. Pleasure shimmered through her body. Happiness spilled into a single golden moment where she only knew Matt, ecstasy, and the unspoken love flowing between them.

  Then he slowed, finally stopping, but he remained deep inside her, his heart beating against hers. Brushing damp hair from her temple, he met her stare. The bliss slowly faded from his expression. Something grim took its place.

  “Don’t,” Madison begged, despite knowing it wasn’t effective or rational.

  He sighed. “I’d rather not, but reality is here. We can’t avoid it.”