Fatal Flaw Read Online Free Page B

perfectly. She concentrated on remembering the blissful days and nights they’d spent together in Bora Bora.
    “I always worry about you,” he said. “You know that.”
    “The card mentioned both of us living long enough.” She looked up at him. “If this turns out to be something to worry about, would you consider requesting protection, especially on campaign stops?” When she thought about the hordes of people he’d been attracting on the campaign trail, she shuddered at how easy it would be for someone to take a shot at him.
    “Let’s cross that bridge if and when we come to it.”
    “It may come to it, and I won’t need you being mulish about asking for protection.”
    “And who will protect you, my love?”
    She flashed a big grin and rested her hand on the service weapon on her hip. “I’ve got my protection right here.”
    “Samantha…”
    “I’ll be careful,” she assured him, going up on tiptoes to kiss him. “I’ve got so much to live for these days. No point in being reckless.”
    “I’m glad to hear you say that.” He glanced again at the pile of cards. “Is it possible this could be Peter’s handiwork?” Her ex-husband had tried to kill them both with crude bombs strapped to their cars. He’d recently been released from jail on a technicality that rankled Sam because it was partly her fault. She’d let her detectives enter his apartment before they obtained a search warrant. Stupid mistake that she was now paying for by having that lunatic on the loose again.
    “I suppose it’s possible, and it’s certainly his style. Good old Peter loves the passive-aggressive game.”
    “And it would piss him off that we’re married now, especially after all he did to keep us apart.”
    Six years ago, after Sam and Nick met at a party and spent a memorable night together, Peter, her platonic roommate at the time, had gone to great lengths to make sure she never saw Nick again. She still couldn’t believe she’d fallen for his games and ended up spending four miserable years married to the controlling bastard when she could’ve been with Nick all that time. The night before her wedding to Nick, Peter had confronted her on the street outside their home. Violating a restraining order, he’d pulled a gun on her and let her know their relationship would “never be over.” He’d gotten a two-week slap on the wrist for the stunt and was now walking free again.
    Nick kissed her forehead and then lingered at her lips. “Don’t think about it or him,” he said, tuning into her thoughts as he often did. “The past is the past, and all that matters now is the future.”
    “I swear to God, if he’s got the balls to threaten us, I’ll kill him with my own hands.”
    “You’ll do me no good in prison, babe,” he said with a devilish grin that calmed her. “Even though you’d look awfully sexy in an orange jumpsuit.”
    “Very funny. Can you grab me a couple of garbage bags for all these cards?”
    “I’ll see what I can find,” he said. “I’ll need them back when you’re done with them.”
    “What for?”
    “I have to acknowledge them all.”
    Sam stared at him. “Seriously?”
    “Such is the glamorous life of a politician.”
    “What about the hundreds that were sent to me?”
    “I’ll need any that came from Virginia.”
    “Better you than me.”
    While he went to get the bags, she plopped down at his desk and studied the tidy piles of reports, file folders and other desk paraphernalia, which, as always, was arranged with the neat precision that drove her bonkers. Taking a quick look to make sure he wasn’t on his way back yet, she turned the pile of reports so they were all upside down and knocked them out of whack so they wouldn’t be anally aligned the way he liked them. Then she turned the picture of the two of them from the White House state dinner—the night they’d gotten engaged—upside down. Finally, she scrawled “Sam loves Nick” on a sticky note and put