Loving the Senator (Capitol Affairs #1) Read Online Free Page B

rehab.” I didn’t mean for it to sound like I thought he didn’t try hard enough.
    Alex’s face grimaced as if he was in pain. But I couldn’t tell if it was from his injuries or my questions.
    “I could have, and be charged with kidnapping and a career in politics never would have happened.”
    I nodded my head in agreement and couldn’t stop looking at those lips and his handsome face. Knowing the details of how he had cared for me, and my mom, even back then, made me want him more.
    “Well, you did take a bullet for her.” I kept shifting around in my seat trying to get comfortable as his eyes burned into me.
    “I took a bullet for you, Prudence. When I heard those thugs talking about hurting you, I went crazy. I couldn’t allow it. You had been through enough,” he said.
    My heart hurt when he admitted that. The more he revealed, the deeper in love I fell.
    “Where did you get shot?” I asked putting my hair behind my ears since I was nervous.
    “Right here in my stomach.” Alex pointed to the spot right above his belly button.
    “I spent two weeks in ICU and had part of my intestines taken out. I nearly died trying to rescue you. My failure has haunted me for the past seven years, Prudence. I couldn’t get you out of my mind, and not in a sick perverted way. I just wanted you to have a good life. I wanted your mom to come to her senses as well. She was so smart in school and had everything going for her.”
    I thought I had worked through those feelings and I was ready to hear everything. Beulah had me seeing a psychologist twice each week and then a psychiatrist once a month. From the day I was born, my mom never hugged, loved, or offered any real physical contact to me. It wasn’t until I had moved in with my grandmother that I was touched in a loving way. My mom wasn’t on the “hard stuff” when she gave birth to me, in the back of the van. That didn’t start till later. She just looked at me as a burden to her and an intrusion to her way of life.
    Alex stood up again and walked to the window. He looked to be in deep thought. I wanted to walk up behind him, wrap my arms around him, and hold him tight to me. I wanted to thank him for all he had done for me and my mom. To appreciate him and make sure he knew he hadn’t failed me. He didn’t let me down. The scent of his leathery cologne put me in the mood to strip him naked and take him right in his office. His truth was my foreplay. I was beyond ready. He turned around again as I started to speak.
    “I haven’t talked to my mom either. I’ve tried so many times to get in touch with her, and she has not responded to me. I’ve written to her once a month since I left and I send her a card on holidays and her birthday, but have received nothing in return. I’m not even sure if she’s still alive.”
    I looked down, remembering how dreadful my mom looked last time I saw her. She weighed no more than ninety pounds, arms peppered with track marks, hair falling out, and her skin gray and sickly. She was so strung out; she didn’t know I was her daughter.
    “I’m sure she is in lousy shape if she’s still doing the same things,” he said.
    The trip going down memory lane upset me, and I snapped out of the memories. “Why did you want to see me today, Alex?” I asked.
    “Well, I wanted to see if you would go on a proper date with me?” he said,
    Thank God for the seat; otherwise I might’ve passed out.
    “A date?”
    “The campaign is over and it wouldn’t be inappropriate. You surprised me with that kiss the other night, and what you said. Of course, that other thing you did caught me off guard. The way you took charge and grabbed my tie was sexy, Prudence. I had every intention on seeing you the night of the election, before this happened,” he said. He sat down again in front of me. I noticed how muscular his thighs were as they pushed up against the desk. I could only imagine what they looked like bare. His stomach was flat and