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

go out and act young. I wanted not to think.”
    “Well, you certainly weren’t thinking. By the time I take the stage tomorrow, this will be gone. After the Stella episode, this was the last thing I needed to deal with. The press is looking for anything to hurt my credibility, Prudence.”
    He was right.
    “Let’s put this behind us and move on. There’s no use talking about it. Are you hungry?” he asked.
    “No, I’m not hungry. I feel like complete crap.” He came to me and took me in his arms. I practically collapsed against him. I nestled my head into his neck. I was so pissed at myself. He held me tight, my head to his chest.
    “It’s going to be okay. I didn’t hire Mark and the others because they were idiots. They can fix it, and no one will remember. This happens a lot, Prudence. Just because we work for the government doesn’t mean we, or our families, are perfect. I’ve heard of worse, seen worse, and it’s all been okay. It’s just bad timing.”
    I looked into his eyes. They were so tired and dark.
    “If I didn’t love you more than anything, I probably would have lost my shit with you,”
    I nodded.
    “Oh, Prudence. What am I going to do with you? I can’t help but love you more and more, no matter what you do. Promise me, when I call next time, you answer me. I was so afraid something had happened to you.” He let me go, and I moved away from him.
    “If you were smart, you would run and not look back before I hurt your chances of becoming president. I lost it, Alex. I’m human. Jesus Christ, everything we do is judged, studied, and brought into the open. I can’t take it. Sometimes I want to say fuck it and disappear .”
    “I told you being the wife of a politician wouldn’t be easy. You knew that going into this. We’ve talked about this so many times. It’s going to get worse. We can’t do this again. There cannot be a next time.”
    “There won’t be a next time. If you want to leave me, I understand. The age difference is becoming a problem. I’m so sorry. I didn’t do it to hurt you. If you need to get rid of me so it looks better for you, I understand.”
    He reached for me and brought me close to him.
    “Shush. I’m not getting rid of you. What the hell, Prudence? Get rid of you, over this? I wouldn’t get rid of you because of this, or anything. This little escapade of yours isn’t going to stop my love for you. Actually, I may be looked at as the hotter senator with the young hot wife. They’ll all be jealous of me.” He smiled as I buried my head into his neck.
    “In public you have to behave. For me you don’t. For me you need to always be the wild, bad girl I saw on the video, dancing like a hot stripper,” he continued.
    I wasn’t in the mood to laugh. I was too upset with myself and I wanted it to go away. I pushed away from him to look at his face.
    “Are you leaving?” I asked, as he ran his hands through his hair.
    His phone rang in his pocket and he answered it.
    “Are you sure? Okay. Yeah. Thanks. Tell Riggs I owe him big time. That’s not funny, Mark. I’m not in the mood for jokes. Kiss it.”
    He put his phone in his pocket and grabbed my hands. “Well, they managed to get it off the Internet. We lucked out. Nothing leaked to the news. There are two copies out there. One that asshole took of you, and one I have.”
    “What if he puts it out?” I asked.
    “He won’t. I promise.”
    “Why do you want a copy, Alex?”
    He smiled, looking at me.
    “It’s hot. I had them take out Thomas and leave you dancing. It’s for me when you’re not around. Which, after this, is not happening too often.” He winked.
    “I’m sorry, Alex. I can’t stand it when I make you unhappy.”
    He grabbed me and kissed me, long and hard. He reached down inside the sweat pants I wore and touched me.
    “Still wet for me?”
    “Yes, wet for you, Alex.”
    “You’d better be. Let’s go make you something to eat.”
    “Eat?”
    “What did you think? We