Page 89 of Where There's Smoke

“Jesse.” He tenderly ran the backs of his fingers along my jaw. “You’re not doing anything wrong. You’ve been honest and upfront with your wife. You’ve—”

“And what about the public?” I nodded sharply toward the damning printout. “Sooner or later, I’m going to have to decide between coming cleanand keeping up this charade, with or without Simone, for the rest of my career.”

“Yeah, you will, but your heart’s in the right place.” He pointed at my ring. “And for the time being, until the election is over and you decide what you want to do, I would suggest keeping your wedding band in the right place.”

“On my hand?”

He nodded.

I went around the bed and picked up the ring but didn’t put it on just yet. As I came back around to where he stood beside the table, I turned the band between my fingers. “Think I should start wearing it again right away? Or keep up the ‘I fucked up my hand’ act for another day?”

“Might as well put it back on.” He glanced at the ring. “Otherwise everyone will be looking for signs of swelling and all that shit.”

“Great.” I slipped it on my third finger. Maybe I’d just had it off longer than usual, but I didn’t remember the band ever being so cold. “There.” I flexed my fingers a few times and looked at Anthony. “Now I’m fit to be seen in public.”

He looked at my hand, something unreadable in his expression. A second later, he shook himself back to life and smiled. “Good. Hopefully that’ll shut everyone up. Just remember, Big Brother’s always watching, but he’s gotnothingon the voting public.”

I laughed and reached for my coffee again. “Joy…” After I’d taken another sip, I looked at my ring once more, turning my hand so the band caught the light. “Amazing how much trouble a little thing like this can stir up.”

“Anything can stir up trouble in your line of work, and this is definitely something that could ignite a scandal, but as long as you and Simone handle it delicately and do exactly as I say, it’ll quietly blow over.”

“This is why I have you on board.”

“Yeah, well,” he said, dropping his gaze, “I’m also the reason you had it off in the first place, so…”

I stepped closer and put my hand on his waist. “I could have left it on.”

He met my eyes. “And we could have waited to fuck.”

“You really think either of us could have waited?”

We held each other’s gazes for a moment, and to my great relief, a smile finally worked its way onto his lips. He laughed softly and shrugged. “Okay, maybe not. I suppose we could do worse than trying a little restraint, though.”

“What’s that?”

He wrapped his arms around me. “No idea,” he murmured. His lips brushed mine, and he added, “I think I knew what it was before I met you, but now…” He kissed me, and any restraint I possessed very nearly deserted me.

A heartbeat before I would have given in to temptation and dragged him down on the bed that was dangerously close by, I broke the kiss. “Much as I hate to suggest it,” I said, struggling to catch my breath, “now would probably be a good time to implement that whole restraint thing.”

“Good idea.” He pulled back but didn’t quite let go yet. “We’ll have time for this soon.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Will we, now?”

“We will.” He grinned. “Don’t know when or where, but soon.”

“I’m holding you to that.”

“Please do.”

After one more painfully brief kiss, we exchanged one last look that promised we would revisit thissoon, and Anthony left me to get ready to face the day and the public. I showered, dressed, and headed downstairs, checking once at the door, once at the elevator, and once more in the lobby that I had my wedding ring on.

The lobby was packed with people. Staffers accumulated from all directions, congregating for the day’s first round ofhurry up and wait. Several heads turned as I walked in, and more than a few gazes darted toward my left hand. As I caught up with people, checked in with Anthony, and figured out where I needed to be and when, I was constantly aware of my ring and its visibility. Every time I went to put my hand in my pocket, I hesitated and ultimately decided to leave it out and visible, which of course killed any attempt I’d made to be relaxed or casual. And every time I tried to tell myself I was being paranoid, that no one really noticed or cared, I’d catch someone’s eye just as they craned their neck to look at my ring.

And I thought being an actor’s kid meant living in a fucking fishbowl.

While I searched for more coffee, Roger caught up to me.

“Wearing all the necessities today?” he asked.

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