Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 108483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
“Lennix and Kimba,” Owen says, jerking me out of my thoughts. “anything you’d like to say?”
Kimba hates public speaking of any kind. She gives me a nod and the look that says, Girl, don’t even. With a sigh, I take a deep gulp of my water and stand. I search the faces of the men and women assembled around the table, and I search for what I should say.
“My mother once said injustice never rests, and neither will I.” A sad little twist of my lips is as close as I can come to a smile. “She was an agitator. One of my earliest memories is of her hoisting me onto her shoulders at a protest. It’s in my blood.”
I find and hold every set of eyes on my team. “I’m counting on it being in yours, too. We have a remarkable candidate in Senator Cade, one I know we can all get behind. It’s no secret that Kimba and I have made our life’s work empowering candidates who will champion the causes of the marginalized. That’s what gets me out of bed every morning. It has been my complete focus for the last ten years, since I left college.”
Maxim’s stare singes a hole in me, but I ignore it and go on.
“On this journey, there will be times when we think we’re losing. Things will happen we never saw coming and aren’t sure how to negotiate. There will be times when we want to give up, but I descend from a long line of warriors. The Apache were the last to surrender. I take a certain amount of pride in that. I embrace it as part of who I am and how I fight.”
I look down the table to Owen. “I’ll fight for you, Senator Cade, because I trust you to fight for the people I dedicate my life to serve. Every person sitting at this table was selected not only for their brilliant mind but for their fighter’s heart. You’re a dream candidate, but we’re a dream team.” I allow the smallest smile to bend my lips before softly saying, “Don’t let us down.”
My team cheers. Owen offers a solemn smile from his end of the table, and his wife studies me with new interest, her eyes darting between her brother-in-law and me. I sit and reach for my glass of water, praying this will end soon so I can go home.
It’s only a blessed half hour before things start breaking up. A nanny comes to take the twins upstairs. The staff clear away the remnants of our last course, and everyone starts collecting their coats and saying their goodbyes.
Wallace is sliding my coat onto my shoulders when Maxim walks over. He just stands there. I sense him, even though I don’t look up from my Stuart Weitzman pumps. The silence encompasses the three of us, wrapping around and restraining me like barbed wire biting into my flesh.
“Can I have a word before you go, Lennix?” Maxim finally asks, his voice subdued.
A word. He means to bundle me off to Owen’s office or to the library. He’ll whittle my resistance down to a nub. He’ll make me forget he lied and that I shouldn’t allow him within ten paces of my body or heart. He wants to remind me how he feels and smells and tastes. He used to camouflage the wolf, but not anymore. He’s tamed his hair, cut the burnished waves that used to nearly kiss his shoulders, but his spirit is still wild, howling on some frequency I shouldn’t be tuned into but I am. He’s now completely wolf and unashamedly Cade. He’s still the rebel, and I’m afraid I’m no more able to resist him than I was in that conference room a decade ago.
Afraid. I’m afraid. That’s an emotion I hadn’t allowed myself to acknowledge in this scenario with Maxim. Is this self-awareness? My therapist will be so proud.
Without lifting my head, I answer before I turn to leave. “No.”
CHAPTER 40
MAXIM
Last night did not go well.
I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t for Lennix to bring a damn date. Not just a date, but a relationship apparently. One where they go on service projects and build wells together and generally make the world a better place. I grudgingly admit Wallace Murrow is not a bad guy. Not at all. I made sure of that when they dated before, but they’re back together? In the decade we’ve been apart, I took heart in the fact that Nix never dated any one guy for long. Wallace was the longest relationship I knew about, and for her to go back to him?
I stepped back before. The wounds were fresh. Her anger still burned hot, and she’d ignored every attempt I made to contact her. Not to mention I was in the fight of my life trying to save my company, but a lot of time has passed. We’re both in different places now, and I’m done waiting.