Free When Chemistry Wins (The Dark Horse Trilogy Book 1) by Cynthia Dane

Hunter had retracted his suggestion, but he would be lying if he told his girlfriend he wasn’t thinking of a way to make it happen. Not just because he wanted Joshua Payne to be governor, because what he said was true: the only way they could openly be together was if neither of their fathers held the power.
    “Hunter!”
    Before he could hit the send button on his phone, Hunter nearly leaped out of his skin at the intruding sound of his mother’s voice. “Yes?” he asked, stuffing his phone in his pocket.
    Ronnie stood a few feet away, but her presence could penetrate the greatest force fields on the planet. In fact, that was how she and Terrence met three decades ago. Heiress to a stationery empire. Exactly the kind of story the news media loved to spin every other night when there was nothing new to report on the Halls’ campaign. “Did Veronica Hall marry her husband to save her father’s business? Find out at six!”
    The charmed life Ronnie was raised to have meant she didn’t understand “boundaries.” When Hunter was a child, Ronnie was always holding his hand to school, having phone calls with teachers that were not necessary, and sniffing through her son’s homework every night. And when he started dating! It was “Does this nice girl have a history?” this, and “Do we need to have another talk about the birds and the bees?” that. The most memorable event was when Ronnie caused the breakup of Hunter and his first girlfriend, a pious girl who was saving herself for marriage. Hunter never even kissed the girl before Ronnie stopped them in the middle of dinner to ask if they were using condoms. I was thirteen.
    “You doing okay, love?” she asked. Her bobbed hair had recently been dyed a light brown, even though her natural color was blond. The campaign manager told her that blond never went over well with female voters. “There sure are a lot of people around here, huh? Are you getting enough alone time?”
    Hunter rubbed his forehead and tried not to laugh in disbelief that his mother still talked to him like he was eight. “I’m fine, Mother.”
    An intern in stiletto heels dashed down the hallway, her steps echoing on the wood flooring as she urged herself to get to a meeting on time. Ronnie waited for her to disappear downstairs before continuing. “Good. I worry about you!” Much to her son’s chagrin, Ronnie sat on the bench along with her son. She reeked of lilacs. Definitely not roses. The TV psychiatrists would say that was a good thing. “Does Hunter Hall love Kerri Mitchell because she smells like his mom?” Another stifled laugh. “Who were you talking to? You looked quite pleased with yourself. Oh, oh! Is it a girl?”
    Hunter couldn’t hide his reaction this time. Every once in a while his mother was spot-on with his emotions. “I was texting with a friend.”
    “A girl friend?” French-tipped nails scratched Ronnie’s nose. “How exciting!”
    “No, Mother.” Last thing she needed to know was that her son was dating anyone. Not only because of who it was, but because Ronnie would make any relationship instantly embarrassing. “Just someone I went to school with.” He didn’t like lying to her, but in times like these it was necessary.
    “Hmm.” Ronnie poked her son’s cheek. “You’re blushing. Come on, tell me her name. If you can’t tell your mother, who can you tell?”
    Nobody in this case. Besides, Ronnie was a blabbermouth. Hunter made the mistake of confessing his attraction to a model when he was a teenager. Next thing her knew, Terrence came home to have “another talk” with him about using visual mediums to remain abstinent. “Not that you need to worry about that son. If you know what I mean…” It took three months for Hunter to recover from that embarrassment.
    “It’s nobody. Please, leave it.”
    “Uh huh.” Ronnie stood up the moment a small group of campaigners came out of the master bedroom. “Well, don’t be shy, love. You’re