Page 83 of Violent Hearts

Epilogue

Ann

~ One year later ~

I often wonder how differently things could have turned out.

What if I had never decided to write that story about Violent Delights? What if I had never decided to sign up for their catalog?

What if I had never met Jared King on that fateful day?

What if he had never met me?

Would he be a Congressman today? Maybe. Maybe he would have followed through with his plan to take on something new, to make his voice heard on a new playing field. If he didn't have to worry about his character credentials as much, if he hadn't been haunted by those demeaning rumors again and again. If politics was less about kissing ass left and right, less about making the right friends and displaying a proper but false picture of yourself, and more about substance, maybe he would have gone through with it.

But it isn't, and Jared is too much of a self-dependent businessman to comply with a set of rules that inherently forces him to do nothing but appear to be someone he isn't, until he's finally allowed to make his voice heard where it matters.

We talked about this a lot. After all, our whole arrangement was based on this campaign he was about to embark on. The campaign and preserving his public image were the main reasons for me to become part of his life. But neither one of us saw this coming.

Jared and I, we have a lot in common. Unfortunately, we also share a number of negative traits. We've both been lone fighters as long as we can remember, and neither one of us is used to taking another person into consideration when it comes to making big life decisions.

That's why I didn't find out about Jared's decision until after he finalized it. He no longer wanted to run for office, and instead focused on his business - and he made that decision all by himself.

"Letting go of my company didn't feel right from the start," he told me. "I guess in the end I am more of a businessman than a politician."

I will never forget the day he said that to me. It was a few weeks after he thought I'd be able to sell him out. Things were still shaky between us, but progressively moving forward, mainly because we both held on to that one goal.

To get him elected to Congress.

And then he pronounced that goal was dead, and all of a sudden, my position in his home was no longer dependent on a contract.

"What about us?" I asked him, fearing his answer.

And he just looked at me, raising his eyebrows in question. "What do you mean?"

I was so startled that I got mad at him for not understanding what I was asking.

"I'm here on contract, to help you become a Congressman," I said. "If you no longer plan to do that, then..."

He looked at me, standing there in his unbuttoned shirt, his tie loosened after a long day, his hair ruffled because I greeted him with a passionate kiss as soon as he walked through the door, and looking utterly confused. It's as if he completely forgot about our deal.

"I mean, you don't need me anymore, do you?"

I felt silly for saying it because I knew that it wasn't that easy. But I still needed him to say it.

Jared came over to me, and if he'd be any other man or we'd be any other couple, he would have given me a hug at that point, or a kiss. Instead, he reached up for my throat, not really choking me, but threatening to do so, and a dark smile graced his handsome face.

"You're not going anywhere," he whispered. "And if you try, I'll just have to tie you to the bed until you understand just how much I need you, Button."

I smiled at him then, and he closed his hand around my throat, squeezing gently.

"I don't think that'll be necessary, Sir."

And that was that. Neither of us is very good or practiced at talking about our feelings, especially toward each other. We worked around the L word for months, even though we both knew how we felt. When it finally did slip from my lips, it was right after he'd made me come, my hands tied at my back while he had his way with me, a collar closing in around my neck instead of his hand. He pulled at it, and when my climax hit me, the words followed on instinct. I was more shocked at it than he was. His only response was a repetition of the same, a whisper, heavy with meaning. "I love you, too, my little Button."

That was about three months ago, and since then, we've been acting like the most obnoxious couple in love, walking around with a silly smile and giving way to our insane desire for each other.

The fact the he's no longer running his political campaign had another pleasant side effect for me: I was able to work as a journalist again.

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