Chapter 1
JUST THE BEGINNING
Time stood still as Liz Dougherty stared out at the crowd of reporters visible through the backstage curtain. It was hard to believe that just a year and a half ago she had stood on the other side of the stage for the first time. Brady Maxwell had been announcing his run for Congress and she was covering the event for her paper, and now she was standing with him as he was about to announce their relationship to the world only months before her college graduation date.
His fingers laced with hers and he squeezed gently, giving her the reminder and reassurance that his presence already brought to her. Liz looked up into his handsome face, admiring the strong jawline, the confident dark brown eyes, the perfectly put together hair, and the full lips that drove her crazy. She loved this man.
“We’ll get through this,” he whispered.
“I know.” She sent him a soft smile.
We’ll get through this wasn’t exactly the comfort she had been looking for, but she knew everything will be okay was a lie. Brady didn’t make promises that he couldn’t keep, and neither of them knew if everything really would be okay.
The workers backstage gave them a wide berth as they went about their business. She and Brady had been briefed and rebriefed until Liz had gotten a headache from it all. She took it in stride, though. She knew how to address reporters, considering she was one.
To everyone else, Brady probably looked completely in control. He always was. But she knew that he was worried. Not necessarily about himself or what this would do to his career at the moment. He was more confident now that he had taken control of the situation and was handling it in the way he knew how. But his brown eyes betrayed that he was nervous about how Liz would take it.
Only time would tell what would happen, just like time was what they had needed to find their way back to each other. The only thing Liz knew for certain was that she wanted to make this work.
“Heather will introduce me. I’ll give a speech. No questions. Just a short statement, and then I’ll be back with you,” he told her in that confidently casual manner only he could manage.
“Brady, I know. Heather and Elliott have drilled it into my head,” Liz said. Brady’s press secretary and lawyer didn’t exactly see eye to eye with Liz on everything, but she trusted them enough to get her through one press conference. “I’m not even the one speaking. Worry about yourself.”
“Nothing to worry about. I do this every day.”
“And I’ve been on the other side dozens of times. I can handle standing backstage for one press conference.” She gave him another small smile. She didn’t need people to keep telling her what was going to happen. She was nervous enough without the reminder meant to placate her. She took a deep breath and tugged on the necklace dangling around her neck. Brady had given it to her when they had first been together, and it felt comforting to have it hanging there now. She hadn’t worn it since he had been elected to office.
“I know you can. I just want you to be prepared for the reactions,” Brady said, running his thumb up and down her hand. “People aren’t going to be kind about our situation.”
Liz sighed softly. “Do you think we could be alone for a minute?” she asked, giving him a pointed stare. Alone. Hint. Hint.
“I have to be onstage,” he reminded her.
“Soon. Heather hasn’t even made her announcement. I just need a minute.”
“I’d say I generally need more than a minute, Liz,” he said, his signature smirk crossing his face.
Liz couldn’t help but chuckle. “Maybe more than a minute. That’s a way to make the headlines. ‘Congressman Maxwell’s Affair Confirmed, Caught Having Sex in Backstage Bathroom.’ ”
“Don’t tempt me,” he said. His eyes were already darting around the room as he calculated how much time they had.
Liz ducked her head down and looked up at him through her thick black lashes. “Please, Brady.”
“Oh, you know how much I like when you beg.” Brady immediately started walking toward a small back room. Not a bathroom, at least. That was a relief.
There were a few people in the room crowding around a computer monitor and talking among themselves. Brady’s appearance made them jump out of their seats. “How can we help you, Congressman Maxwell?” the first guy asked.
“I require the use of this room prior to my speech.” He gave them an easy smile, but he might as well have threatened them, the way they jumped to leave. It was a bit strange to watch this side of Brady compared to the way he was with her when they were alone. He still had an air of authority that never left, but they were equals in their love. This was all power.
And she found power immensely attractive.
As soon as the door was closed and locked, Brady had her back pressed into the wall, and his lips moved from her mouth to her ear down her neck. God, she couldn’t get enough of him and he was only kissing her. It was intoxicating. She had no idea how she had lived in that interminable purgatory without him.
It had been less than twenty-four hours since they had officially come out to Calleigh Hollingsworth, the reporter at the Charlotte Times who had broken the story along with Liz’s ex-boyfriend, Hayden Lane, yet they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other. Liz certainly felt as if they had a lot of time to make up for, and the way Brady’s hands were traveling down her dress made it seem he had the same idea.
Reckless or not, Liz wanted Brady . . . and she wanted him right now.
“God, baby, I missed you,” Brady groaned.
“You’ve been with me all morning,” she teased.
“Not the way I wanted.” He pulled her back from the wall and walked her toward a chair that he kicked out from under the table. His eyes were full of mischief as he started undoing his pants. “We don’t have much time.”
“You’re serious?” she asked, a bit surprised that he wanted to go through with this right here, right now. But Brady wasn’t someone to deny himself what he wanted. And there wasn’t any real danger of them getting caught. At least . . . not by a reporter, which was all that mattered.
Plus . . . she had never been good at turning him down, and her body was already aching for him.
Brady smirked at her. “Baby, I never joke about wanting you.” His loosed himself from his boxer briefs and took a seat facing her. She took a step toward him and his hands moved to the hem of her modest knee-length skirt. Pushing it up around her waist, he tugged her thong off and moved her so that she straddled him.