Free Allure: State Of Desire (Contemporary Erotic Romance) by Lucia Jordan Page A

under a rock. It had all changed two months into the
mission. And now, with the campaign coming to an end, she couldn’t
believe how much she, and her priorities had changed.
    She had always
been let down by her partners – either sexually or emotionally, and
she had longed for a relationship that lasted. Jaycie Thornton’s
problem seemed to be that she cared too much – about everything
form her work to her lovers. And when she had her heart broken, she
took months to recover. Coming out of university, she had made a
vow to concentrate on her political career – but something still
nagged at her. She knew what it was, and the ache on her heart and
around her sex betrayed her feelings only too well. Still, she was
strong enough to put her cute smile and confidence to use in her
career, instead of her love life.
    The next
morning, she put on a shorter skirt, unpopped two buttons on her
shirt and wore her best push-up bra. The rosette she used to
emphasise her cleavage, and her shoes were swapped for the
skyscraper stilettos she prided herself of being able to walk in
perfectly.
    Every door she
knocked on, whenever a man answered the door, she found herself
being mentally undressed. Married men, young men still at
university, silver-fox suited types, all of them she flirted with
and let her natural confidence shine through. And though she
received plenty of phone numbers, as well as votes, she put them in
her pocket and forgot about them. She could charm her way to the
top, but she wasn’t about to start being someone’s girlfriend. She
had a career and she loved that more than any man. When the scores
came back from the internet polls, Jaycie couldn’t help but grin as
she was rated the best in her county. She had a secret weapon – a
confident desire to be the best.
    “Jaycie… Look!”
Chloe poked her fellow canvasser in the ribs and pointed at the van
that had just passed outside the window of headquarters. On it was
a photograph, blown-up and airbrushed, of a man in his thirties.
His arms were folded over his expensive suit and he was grinning
with self-assured confidence. The man’s name was Nick Louden and he
was the leader of the Old Party – Jaycie and her colleagues’ main
rival. Whilst they strove to get their leader, Penny Jackson, into
office, the Old Party had been holding seats comfortably in the
town for decades. Jaycie scowled at the too-good-looking man’s
photograph as it drove past.
    “Gross,” she
snorted.
    “I know,” Chloe
rolled her eyes as she picked up some mock ballot sheets. “He’s
been on T.V., trying to get people to sign up to this new voting
system and I didn’t understand a word he said.”
    “Mm,” Jaycie
privately thought that was maybe due to Chloe’s intellect than
Louden’s poor explanation of the system. “He’ll get all of the
housewives voting for him, though. He always does.”
    “You can’t vote
for looks alone,” Chloe gasped as though such a thing was unheard
of.
    “Well people
can and do,” Jaycie pointed out. “Time we started making them do
the same, I say.”
    Chloe pulled a
face. “I don’t think all the airbrushing in the world is going to
make Penny attractive to the housewives of the county.”
    “I wasn’t
thinking of… Oh, never mind,” Jaycie didn’t feel like explaining
any longer. It was hard work thinking of politics anyway, and her
new-found ideals of concentrating on her career only was making her
gaining voters so successful she didn’t want anyone to distract her
with talk of men or relationships. She pushed the memory of the
encounter with the man in his house to the back of her mind. She
resolved to be selfish.
    The afternoon
went by slower than she would have liked. Many people were at work
and the doors were answered mostly by women – some seemed mildly
interested in electing a female politician, but more seemed eager
to chat about the various merits of Nick Louden. Jaycie always
quickly changed the subject, left her