Free Summer Rain (Lightning Strikes Book 3) by Barbara Freethy Page A

the truth. He liked the fact that not only did I have dreams, I owned them. He hired me that day and I learned a lot from him. I wish he hadn't retired. I really liked working for him."
    "What's the new chief of staff like?"
    "Erica Hunt is very different from Joe. She's only thirty-eight, for one thing. She's a Harvard graduate and she's beautiful, sophisticated, brilliant, and ruthless. The senator likes the fact that she's younger and that she has relationships that Joe did not have with the younger generation of lawmakers and news media."
    "I hear respect but not a lot of love in your voice," he commented.
    "To be honest, I don't really know how I feel about her. I do respect her. She's very good at her job. She makes things happen, and she has a lot of influence over the senator." Dani glanced over at him. "If she doesn't want you to talk to Senator Dillon, you won't talk to him."
    "I'm beginning to see that. I just don't know why everyone is so afraid of me. Don't they understand that evading my questions only makes me more curious?"
    "Well, hopefully Joe will be able to help you."
    "And then I can get out of your hair."
    "That's the plan." She glanced out the window and let out a little sigh. "It's a beautiful day. I rarely get off work early enough to enjoy the summer weather."
    "What about during the summer recess? Do you stay in DC or go back to Texas?"
    "I stay in town. There's really no recess for the staff, although things do slow down a bit when the senator is in Texas. Enough about me. Let's talk about you." She shifted in her seat so she was looking at him. "Are you writing another book?"
    "Not at the moment."
    "So you're on vacation?"
    "I wouldn't say that. I have a few projects I'm working on. There's always a lot of research at the beginning."
    "I saw that you've contributed articles to just about every important news publication there is."
    "I've had some good luck placing my stories," he admitted.
    "But you don't work full-time for anyone but yourself? You're strictly a freelancer?"
    "I am now."
    "Where is your home base? Corpus Christi?"
    "I have a condo there, but I spend a fair amount of time in New York and other places. I go where the research takes me."
    "It must be nice to be able to call the shots and to be so free."
    "It took some time to get here, but I like being my own boss."
    "Not that much time. Didn't I read that you just turned thirty?"
    "I did," he admitted. "Where did you read that?"
    "I think it was on a celebrity news site. You were at a restaurant in Los Angeles with some actress."
    "Oh, right. That was not a great night."
    "Why not?" she asked curiously. "The woman was beautiful."
    "A guy I went to college with lives in LA. He set me up with the friend of this woman he's dating. She was pretty, but she was boring as well. She could not talk about anything but plastic surgery and who was sleeping with who on the film set she was on."
    Dani smiled. "It can't have been that bad."
    "Trust me, it was. Have you ever been to LA?"
    "Not LA, but I've done Disneyland and San Diego; those were pretty fun."
    "How do you like living in DC? It's a big change from Corpus Christi."
    "I love it. There's energy and excitement, and I feel like anything can happen."
    He smiled as he glanced over at her. "My mom liked DC, too. You remind me a little of her. She was ambitious and she fought hard for what she wanted. She was always in pursuit of justice and truth, but it didn't come easy."
    "It's never easy. Joe used to tell me that democracy is about compromise. To get one thing you want, sometimes you have to give up six other things that are also great. But you can't think about what you lost; only what you've gained. Otherwise, you'll lose your mind."
    "Sounds like good advice, but I didn't think anyone was compromising these days."
    "It's a tough climate. Did you ever consider following your mother into politics?"
    "Nope. It didn't appeal to me in any way."
    "But you did inherit your mother's passion