Free Loving the Candidate (Capitol Affairs #2) by Mia Villano

was mostly from Veena, who ran downstairs to defend my actions. She was my spokesperson, my go-between, my voice, and my warrior. When we were kids in the trailer park, other kids would pick on me. She would stand up to the biggest bully for me without backing down. Nobody messed with me when Veena was around.
    Outside, Thomas had gotten out of the second car that pulled in. Alex screamed at him, and Thomas looked down at the ground. My poor Thomas, he was taking the blame, and being humiliated for what had supposed to be our fun night out. I watched as he shook his head and continued to stare at the ground as Alex yelled and pointed his finger at him. Alex walked to the front door with Thomas following.
    The door slammed, and Alex’s voice sent a wave of heat rushing through my body.
    “I want everyone to get the hell out of here. I’ll handle this. All of you go get breakfast or something. I know you mean well and love us, but Prudence and I will take care of this.
    My backup piled into Beulah’s big SUV. Mouths moved, fingers pointed, and Veena looked up, blew me a kiss and gave me the thumbs up. I stared, waiting for the bedroom door to be busted off its hinges. I felt like the little girl in the trailer park when Mort came storming into my room. I prepared myself for the cussing and screaming.
    To my surprise, no door was busted from its hinges; there was no screaming or swearing. The door opened, and Beckett walked in panting. I had my back to the door, still looking out the window, terrified to turn around. He had to be disappointed in me. I had to speak first.
    “Alex, I don’t know what to say.” I turned. He looked exhausted and disheveled in his old worn-out jeans, leather coat, and a baseball hat; it broke my heart.
    “What were you thinking last night?” he asked calmly.
    “I wasn’t thinking. I wanted to go out and have fun. I wanted to be Prudence Romaine for a night, instead of Senator Conrad’s wife. I wanted to be twenty-six and not middle-aged. I wanted to forget about my family and Beulah. It’s not an excuse. All I can say is, I’m sorry, Alex. I understand if you can’t get past this.”
    He didn’t say anything. He stood there with his hands in his pockets. I looked away again.
    “You had to figure someone would recognize you. Come on, you’ve been all over the news with this Stella story. I don’t understand, but then again, I do. You’re young and need to let loose. You need to act your age and go out and have fun. I’m too serious and too focused on my life, my speech, and the campaign.”
    I knew he would say something about the age difference.
    “Prudence?” he asked in a whisper.
    I turned to face him. The man I had loved since I was sixteen was about to tell me to pack up and move back into my condo. It wasn’t going to work out, I was too immature. He was too set on becoming, and I was not first lady material.
    “I’m so pissed at you.”
    I shook my head. He moved closer to where I stood by the window. He looked like he wanted to touch me.
    “On top of that, you scared the shit out of me. I called you so many times and you didn’t answer. I didn’t know you were going out with Thomas. Mark, Ashe and the guys are trying to fix this. We caught it fast enough; it can still be removed and stopped. They’re working their geek magic to get this off the Internet. There’s a video of you somewhere on someone’s phone and I can’t do anything about that. All I can do is hope the guys can get rid of it every time it gets posted. This is going to cost me big time.
    “I haven’t been around a lot lately. Lord knows, I’ve ignored you way too much. I’m sorry for that, but come on, Prudence. This isn’t the way to get my attention.”
    I spun around when he said that, and my sadness turned into anger.
    “I didn’t do this to get your attention, Alex. I’m not an immature, white trash, slut, looking for the nearest TMZ camera. I wanted to go out and forget. I wanted to