Politically Incorrect (34 page)

From what I could see there was nothing terribly incriminating in the photos. There was one where the woman hugged Liam, but it was more friendly than intimate. Another showed Liam with his hand on her forearm, laughing. The worst was of Liam tucking her hair back as he whispered into her ear.

One by one, I scrutinized each photo. From what I could tell the pictures were dated. Liam’s hair was enough of an indication of that. There wasn’t a single picture of his hair grown out as it was now. I had an odd sense of relief because of that one minor detail. The other thing I noticed, however, was the location where most of the pictures had been taken.

“These were taken in one of the Congressional buildings,” I mewled.

“Yes,” Aaron agreed.

Harper rapped his knuckles against the wall. My kneejerk reaction led me to gather the pictures to my chest.

Harper’s eyes darted around the room landing on me. “Everything all right in here?”

“Yes, Harper. Nothing to worry about,” Scout stressed.

“Are you sure? You all look like Camelot has fallen?” Harper pointed toward the photographs. “What ya holding there, Bet?”

I pulled the pictures away from my chest and glanced down at the beautiful woman’s face. “Just work stuff. Nothing important.”

Harper scowled. “I’ve seen enough intel in my day to know what those are. And by your reaction, they’re not good.”

“Don’t worry about it, Harper. Really.”

Harper took a step forward, his hand outreached toward me. “Bet.”

Liam sprang from the sofa, crossing the distance between Harper and me. “She said don’t worry about it,” he growled.

Harper pulled his hand back, taking a step toward Liam. “I put a lot of money into you, Baxter. If you’ve fucked up, I’d like to know about it.”

I rose from the chair and moved between the two men, facing Liam. I pressed my fists to his chest, the pictures crumpling in my hands. “Sit down.”

Nose flared, the veins in Liam’s temples appeared on the brink of exploding. “It doesn’t matter how much money he’s donated; I don’t need him all up in our business.”

Without thinking, I raised my hand to Liam’s face, drawing his eyes to meet mine. Almost instantly his body relaxed. I smiled tenderly and brushed my thumb across his cheek. “I’ll handle this. Okay?”

Liam covered my hand with his. His breathing slowed to almost normal. “Okay.”

“Good. Now, please sit down.”

Liam planted himself back on the sofa. I whipped around to Harper who was pretty much a deep shade of purple. “Friendly, huh? Comradery, you say.” He threw his hands in the air.

“Harper, I’ve got everything under control. Trust me.”

“I used to. That was until you started lying to me.”

“When have I lied to you?”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll be in my office.”

I huffed in frustration, as Harper marched out of the room.

“Do you need to go talk to him?” Scout questioned.

I shook my head. “I’ll deal with him later.” I circled around to the three sets of eyes staring at me. “Right now, we need to get ahead of this.” I landed on the couch next to Liam. “First things first, where did these come from?” I shook the photographs in my hand.

“Victor,” Liam sneered.

Just as I thought. That little weasel was up to something. That envelope at the restaurant was probably a matching set.

Liam turned his head to me, his face drawn and defeated. “He stopped by here just after you and Harper left. I didn’t think anything of it. Victor’s an old friend.”

“Not much of a friend if he’s doing this,” Scout stated.

“I wasn’t much of one to him, either.” Guilt softened his timbre.

“How can you say that?” I demanded.

“I let him go without just cause.”

“Winning is just cause,” Aaron balked.

“You only say that because you and Scout are sleeping together,” Liam countered.

“No,” I intervened before a brawl between the brothers broke out. “He’s saying that because it’s the truth.” I tossed the pictures onto the ottoman and took Liam’s hands in mine. “If Victor should have a grudge against anyone, it should be me. This isn’t your fault. He’s merely some old coot out for revenge.

“Now,” I inhaled deeply, preparing myself for answers to questions I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to hear, “who’s the woman and what’s her significance to you?”

Liam squeezed my hand. Tucking his leg underneath him, he adjusted himself so he was facing me. “The woman is Anita Cole. She’s an aid in Congressman Marcos’ office.”

“She works for the majority whip. Great.” Sarcasm melted from my tongue. This not only put this woman in a place of power, but also involved a high-powered Congressman. This could be detrimental to Liam if not handled with care.

Liam nodded. “She’s also the wife of General Michael Cole.”

As if it could get any worse! “She’s married!”

“Yes.”

“And you fucked her?” I squeaked.

Liam jumped back, his face marred by rage. “Absolutely not! I’ve told you time and time again I don’t do casual and I certainly don’t fuck married women.”

I released Liam’s hands and grabbed the photos. “So, what exactly are Victor’s claims?”

Liam pounced from the sofa, ripping at his hair. “Isn’t it obvious? Even though he knows it’s not true, he’s claiming I screwed the General’s wife.” Liam began pacing the floor, caged inside his head. “When I called him on the lie, he told me the truth didn’t matter. Only the perception of the truth did.”

I grabbed the pictures and sifted through them again. If spun in the right way, they could be incriminating. I rested them in my lap and crossed my hands over top of the glossy prints. “Okay. That means they have no real story, so they’ll fabricate one. Since this is General Cole’s wife, they’ll probably let the media run wild with the allegations. Aaron,” I pointed to the chief of staff, “I need you to get Congressman Marcos’ office on the phone. We need to coordinate with their office immediately.”

Aaron lifted from the chair, whipping out his cellphone. “On it.”

“Scout, I need you to find out where these pictures originated. I want to know who, when, and why they were taken. Then I want you to get on the horn with anyone you know in the media. We need Liam in front of a camera. I want him to be open about his friendship with Mrs. Cole. A shit storm is coming and we need to prepare ourselves for the destruction.”

“Got it!” Scout jumped into action, following Aaron out of the room.

Liam stood near the fireplace, his head down.

I walked over to him, placing my hands on his spine. “Baby,” I whispered.

He whipped around to me, pulling me tight against his chest. “I was so afraid you’d think the worst. I was certain you wouldn’t believe me. You do believe me, right?”

I brushed along his cheek with my knuckles, and pressed a chaste kiss to his sweet lips. “I do believe you and I don’t for a second think the worst of you. I also don’t believe Victor hates you as much as you think.”

Liam seemed surprised by the remark. “He’s trying to ruin my career, Elizabeth.”

“He also gave you warning. He didn’t have to do that.”

A tiny smile lighted Liam’s face. “I never pegged you as an optimist.” He brushed his fingers down my arms.

“I’m not, but I’m learning.”

Liam found my mouth with his. How easy it would’ve been for me to get lost in him. To forget everything now hanging over our heads. But I couldn’t. I had to do what was right for him, for us.

I pulled away, breathless. “We can’t do that out in the open like this.” I glanced over my shoulder toward the open hall. “Actually, it might be best if we don’t take any chances, even in private.”

His dark brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

I took a step away from him, only for him to move forward and close the distance. I sighed. “I think we need to cool things off for a while.”

Liam stumbled back like a man who’d been punched in the gut. “You’re breaking up with me?”

I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling a headache come on. Unable to stand due to the ache in my chest, I lumbered to the sofa and sat down. “No. That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Sure sounds that way to me.”

I worried the inside of my cheek. “We’re vulnerable.” Liam opened his mouth to speak, but I stopped him. “You’re vulnerable. The media’s going to be on a frenzy to find more and I don’t want to give them any reason to look at us.”

Liam rushed to me, dropping to his knees. “I can’t lose you, Elizabeth. I need you.”

“And I’ll be here for you. But until you’re elected, I think we need to cool things off.”

He placed his head into my lap. I slowly ran my fingers through his hair, comforting him. “This feels like you’re leaving me.”

I rested a kiss to the top of his soft hair. “I swear. This is temporary. I’ll be here to help you win, but I can’t be with you physically. I refuse to give them a chance to tear you apart. I believe in you too much.”

Liam lifted his head, his dark eyes weighing me carefully. “You really mean that.”

“With all my heart.” I touched my fingers to his jaw.

“You promise, once the election is over…”

“Yes. I promise.”

He nodded. “Okay. I trust you. I’m going to miss you, though.”

“Not as much as I’m going to miss you.”

Liam let out a humorless chuckle. “What now?”

“For starters, I think one of us needs to move into a hotel for our duration here.”

“Damn. I was really looking forward to having my way with you in the shower tonight.”

A soft, sad laugh resounded from me. “Do you only think with your dick when it comes to me?”

Liam pushed up on his knees, his dark orbs steady on me. There was no joking in his body language. No amusement in his expression. “No. When it comes to you, there’s another organ that does all my thinking for me.”

The words were there, lingering between us. Or were they?

I opened my mouth and snapped it shut. I wanted to blurt out that I was in love with him. I’d been in love with him for some time, but I couldn’t. If I did, I knew I wouldn’t be able to walk away, and I had to let him go. If only for a short time, it was the only way to ensure he’d win.

Liam splayed his fingers along my neck. “I’ll go with Aaron and Scout to the hotel tonight. You stay here. Harper’s your friend.”

I tapped the tip of his nose. “So, he’s my friend now.”

Liam shrugged one shoulder. “I still don’t trust him, but you do. And I trust you.”

I leaned forward and laid a sweet kiss to his forehead. “As I do you.”

“All right,” Aaron returned to the room with a loud boom. “I spoke with Marcos’ chief of staff. She’s working on getting us in touch with General Cole. She also said Congressman Marcos will give a statement on Liam’s behalf, if needed.”

And like that our little bubble was burst. We both jumped into our work and later that night, more like early in the morning, I watched as Liam drove off with Aaron and Scout. It was the first time in a long time I felt like crying. I didn’t, but I felt like it.

Just as predicted, the story broke hard and fast.

Senate candidate William Baxter caught in an alleged affair with General’s wife
ran across the bottom of the television screen in bold white letters.

I sat glued to the TV with my mouth gaped open, watching yet another early morning show bashing Liam. As a habitual insomniac, running on four hours of sleep in the last forty-eight hours was par for the course, however, for me, there was more to it than years of terrible sleep patterns.

I struggled falling asleep without Liam. It was strange. I’d never needed or wanted someone in my bed. I enjoyed sprawling out across the mattress, but with him, I yearned to feel him pressed up against my back. I felt safe with him near me.

Then there was my typical fall back for restless sleep – there was too much work to do. For the last forty-eight hours, I’d been on cleanup duty. Whenever a small fire popped up regarding Liam, I was on it. There was no controlling media productions like the one I was watching, but I could ensure they at least had their facts straight.