Chapter One
Rose could barely keep her eyes open when looking through her paperwork. Her eyes focused on the clock on her laptop. It had been six months since she finally had an office instead of a cubicle and she was thankful. Eight-thirty p.m. rolled around and she was still in the office. It was another late night in the office catching up on her case work. A few more months and the campaign for governor would finally be over. If elected she would be the first African American women to become governor in the country.
That pressure was enough to keep her up at night. While working at social services she discovered the needs of the people. Most of her clients were low income and many lived in poverty. Most politicians would not be able to work with the people she worked with. Her love for people drove her to this field of work. She sipped on her coffee until her office phone rang.
She didn’t even look at the number on her office phone. “Hello?”
“Rosie, are you still at the office after hours? You have to quit your job in order to become governor. You’re clients are too much of a distraction and it’s costing you the race,” Shanae said. She had a point but Rose wasn’t dropping her clients for anything.
She sighed staring at the caseload on her desk. “Girl, I wish I had someone else to take over my cases but I have to run for governor. We already discussed this but I love you.” Stress was taking over her life but she felt like this was the best choice and she wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Let’s go out for a drink, you deserve it love.”
Rose had a lot of work to do and didn’t want to get further behind. Lately she didn’t have time for anything else besides the campaign and work. “I can’t, I still have to finish this work.”
“Girl I see you at Smokey Bones in ten minutes. Bye.” She hung up.
Rose and Shanae had been friends since graduate school. Both women were in the School of Social Work program at Georgia State University. They met in a community action class. Best friends for many years and they always motivated each other to do better. Through all the breakups and drama they were there for each other. Rose saved all of her documents and turned off her computer. She grabbed her coat and headed for the door. When she arrived at Smokey Bones Bar & Grill only to see her best friend started drinking without her.
She placed her bag on the chair and sat next to her best friend. “Well, hello Shanae.”
Shanae grinned from ear to ear. “Girl I’m sorry, but I needed a drink bad and you’re five minutes late. Some guy bought it for me, and I didn’t want it to get watery.”
She rolled her brown eyes at her and ordered a drink. “Girl, I’ve missed you.”
“I know, three months and you will be elected governor of Georgia. Your opponent is fine though, is he single?”
She eyed the crowd to see if she recognized anyone, this was the last thing she wanted the press to find out about. “Apparently he’s going through a secret divorce. His wife is gorgeous, I wonder what exactly what went wrong.”
Shanae took another sip of her Margarita. “He probably cheated on her.” It didn’t matter whether the man was black or white. Most married men at some point and time cheated on their trophy wives. Rose had seen pictures of the woman. She wasn’t gorgeous but she was attractive.
From the outside looking in, the marriage seemed to be a perfect fairy tale, like Cinderella and Prince Charming. But the rumors said otherwise, they were going through hard times.
Before her best friend made her comment, she never thought about him in that way. The man was very attractive, and she hoped that didn’t cloud the voter’s judgment.
Rose had a lot of homework to do on her opponent. She needed to find out his strengths, and most importantly, his weakness. She wouldn’t bring up any dirt she found, but she would be strategic about this election. The race depended on everything.
Rose looked down on her phone to see an email sent from her campaign manager that read urgent. She clicked on the email and read through it. She was scheduled for a lunch meeting with Brock McDowell. The universe must have heard her talking about him. Now they would meet face to face with each other tomorrow afternoon.
His campaign team was probably trying to use this to get inside of her head. She had to think this thing out anything she would say could be used against her. Republicans were known for playing dirty and she wouldn’t let it happen on her watch.
“How is possible that my campaign team and McDowell’s campaign team schedule us for a lunch meeting? What the hell is wrong with Debbie?” She shook her head in disbelief. Things were becoming stranger by the minute. She’d never spoken to the man a day in her life and tomorrow she would be face to face with him. Suddenly a smile crept on her face and she started to think about what she would wear and how her hair would look.
Shanae laughed out loud and other people stared at her. “Girl, what are you thinking about over there? You sure are smiling. He’s probably going to seduce you. Tell me how it is because if you don’t hop on it, I will.”
“Oh shut up, I like white men but I don’t want everyone to know, and besides, that would be sleeping with the enemy.”
“Girl, I think having the lunch meeting would be a good look because it would make you look approachable if you sat down to talk with him.”
***
She sat down at the table reserved for her and Mr. McDowell. She ordered water and then she heard someone call her name. “Ms. Vaughn, it’s such a pleasure to finally meet you.”
Her heart skipped a beat and she felt butterflies in her stomach. It was strange because she wasn’t a nervous person. Rose stood up and shook his hand and immediately her eyes fell to his shoes and then her eyes elevated to his handsome face. His eyes were sea green and his bottom lip was full and juicy. But she snapped out of staring in his eyes as he pulled her chair out for her.
She cut to the chase. “Same here, so you invited me for a lunch meeting to discuss what?”
He smiled showing off his beautiful teeth. “Us. I mean I wanted to get to know who I was running against. I have never heard of you until now. I guess we don’t run in the same circle huh?”
Was this man insinuating that she wasn’t the typical rich person running for office for power? Unlike most politicians her real force was the people and only the people. She needed more supporters though because Brock came from a wealthy family and his father was a Senator for two terms.
She took another sip and realized he wouldn’t stop staring at her. Was it something on her face? This man probably needed to get laid and had some ebony fetish from watching a lot of porn. This man probably had needs and probably thought he could get two things from her. He thought it would possibly be an easy lay and a victory. But Rose had her guard up and wasn’t bringing it down.
She smirked and readjusted her shirt. “No, apparently we don’t because rich people don’t care to work with the poor or people in need. You write your little checks thinking your saints, but you don’t fix real problems. I’m a problem fixer and that’s why I’m going to win.”
She had never been cocky before but she felt like he was being a snob. Money couldn’t fix all problems, especially a broken marriage. He smiled. “And how sure are you that you’re going to win?”
She leaned over to him and said “Very Mr. Dowell. So how is your wife?”
His smile quickly turned into a frown. “Please call me Brock. I wouldn’t know since I haven’t spoken to her in weeks.”
Rose wanted to sympathize with him, but she couldn’t let him get to her. She didn’t want things to get on a personal level but it was becoming too late.
“So what happened? You don’t have to tell me unless you want too.”
He sipped his whiskey he ordered earlier. “Our marriage was based on the wrong things. I met her in college and we become pregnant after a year of dating. I had to marry her as soon as she found out. I always worked while she stayed at home taking care of kids. We weren’t in love and now she wanted to be free from me.”
“No one cheated?”
He shook his head. “No, we promised each other we wouldn’t do that.”
Surprised by his answer she was at lost for words. She had read that he had an affair but here he was telling her that wasn’t true. Something else must have happened for him to file for divorce. “Hmm..”
He leaned in towards her. His green eyes stared at her as if he was staring into her soul. “Can I be honest with you?”
“Yes..” Honestly, she really didn’t want to hear about this man’s personal life. She couldn’t believe no one had cheated, but what was the real reason it didn’t work. Their love life was probably cold and they probably hadn’t had sex in years.
“No woman has ever talked to me the way you did earlier, and I’ve always looked for a woman like that but never found her until now.”
She was flattered and confused by his comment. Was he trying to get inside of her head before the election? He probably was a sexist male who used his man power to get what he wanted. She wouldn’t fall for it. “So why not date outside your race, oh yeah, republicans don’t do that.”
He laughed. “No, they don’t, but I’ve always wanted to.”
She looked into his eyes searching for a real answer. “So this is the reason why you’re leaving your wife for a black woman? You met a black woman you fell for and you want to pursue your true feelings.”
A moment passed and he didn’t say anything. Guilt crept upon his face and he looked down at his hands. “Rose, you wouldn’t understand if I explained it to you. How about dinner tomorrow night? I have to leave soon.”
Her jaw dropped by his answer. Dinner? This lunch meeting was enough for her. There wasn’t anything else to talk about. “You’re asking your political opponent on a date?”
What this man out of his mind, and was he referencing her? Had he notice her that much before that he wanted to approach her? Whatever the case was, she didn’t want to get her feelings mixed up in this election.
Rose hasn’t gone on a date in about three years and she had given up on love. For starters she was thirty-five and her biological clock was ticking. At least Brock had children, Rose didn’t have anyone to take care of besides her clients. She hoped for years she would meet a man worthy enough but they always cheated.
“Sure why not?” She laughed. Her manicured nails tapped on the table.
“I want to be a gentleman and pick you up. Do you mind?”
This man was trying his best to charm her. But she couldn’t help but smile. “That’s fine. I’ll text you my address.”
“Good.”
Chapter Two
“In less than an hour you’re going on a date with Brock? You have to be kidding me. I mean the man is sexy but what if you guys have sex? Then what? What will happen next could interfere with the election” Shanae said.
Her best friend was trying to reason with her but she wouldn’t listen. It had been a long time since a man asked her on a date and she didn’t mind seeing him again.
“Girl, we didn’t talk about the campaign not once. I think he really wants to get to know me.” She looked at her two options for tonight a simple black dress or a blue dress. She wanted to look beautiful but not revealing a lot.
“I mean, he’s gorgeous, but I don’t know about this one. Just have fun and be careful.”
Shanae was right this could tamper with the election and it wasn’t that far away. She decided to wear the strapless blue dress with a black blazer with black pumps. Her choices of jewelry were simple gold pieces. She smiled to herself thinking about him. Secretly she wanted to have some fun with him but there were so many stipulations.
The way he looked at her the other day at lunch was arousing. He wanted her and he made it quite obvious. But where would this leave her, she didn’t want to be caught up in a scandal.
Shanae left and that allowed her enough time to get ready. Once she got dressed she looked in the mirror. She prayed he would like her outfit. She had to block out the negative thoughts. Hopefully this would be a low key spot so the press wouldn’t report this.
The doorbell rang and she slowly walked to the door. Before she opened the door, she looked at herself in the mirror in the living room. Her hair was in simple curls and her makeup was subtle.
When she opened it, there he stood before her. He wore a button up shirt with a vest and nice jeans with dress shoes. Her jaw dropped when she saw him, he looked sexy in casual clothes.
Her eyes traveled from his eyes, down his supple body. His hair was gelled back and he trimmed his facial hair. “Brock, you look wonderful.”
He greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Hey, I had a better idea, I brought a chef who will prepare us dinner and we can drink wine and listen to music in the comfort of your home. You’re right, we don’t want this to hurt our images.”
Why did he bring a chef? Who was this man trying to impress? Rose eyed all the things the chef was bringing in. She wondered how often he did this with women. Was she the first women he tried to pursue since being married.
He gave her hug and the chef greeted her then walked past her straight to the kitchen.
Rose was having second thoughts about hanging around her political opponent. Did he want to discussion over dinner that he wanted her to forfeit the race so he could win? Men had a way of manipulating woman into doing things they wanted them to.
Brock went over to her stereo and put a CD in. The words of Tonight’s the Night belted through her stereo and a smile snuck on her face.
“How did you know?” She asked. Brock ignored her comment and extended his hand out to her for a dance. Rose put her hands around his shoulder while his hands gripped her waist.
This man had soul inside of him and wanted to share it with someone who could relate. When they moved across her living room floor she felt a wave of butterflies in her stomach again.
When she looked up into his eyes all her problems melted away. Rose felt a warm feeling come over her body. Without speaking he responded “I know it just feels right.”
Rose gently laid her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. She closed her eyes and just swayed to the music with Brock. He kissed her forehead softly and sung the words in her ear.
Rose lifted her head up and when her eyes met his again they both stopped moving. His hand stroked the side of her face and he held her chin. He kissed her for the first time. Once their lips met, her heart skipped a beat and she felt that she could fall for him.
His kiss took her breath away and she needed him more. He held her close as they swayed again to the music. Rose couldn’t help but wonder when she felt his dick rise in his pants.
She grabbed his hand and led him to the bedroom. They were almost near her bedroom when he grabbed her waist from behind and kissed on the side of her neck. They both knew what was about to happen.
Brock stopped before entering her bedroom and faced her. “Rose, you know we are entering into a dangerous territory if we do this?”
No comments:
Post a Comment