Page 83 of The Liar's Reckoning

“Something like that.”

“Tell me in your own words then.”

“You don’t think I scream secret gay lover?” he asks.

I laugh. “No. I don’t.”

“And I’m not constantly looking at you like I want you to fuck me?”

“Well…we’re never really out in public together except at the gym. You’re pretty standoffish in public.”

“It’s a defense mechanism,” he says.

“Against what?”

“Maybe it’s a product of growing up in Queens. I don’t want anyone to think they can fuck with me.”

“Did you have issues growing up?” I ask, because I’ve never told him about mine.

“A few. But I’ve got a lot of cousins who had my back.”

“I didn’t have any cousins. I ended up being homeschooled. Maybe that’s why I never got the tough exterior.”

“Maybe that’s also why you didn’t get laid until you were in your thirties.”

I chuckle. “Maybe. But I’ve come a long way, right?”

“Yeah.” The word is soft and laden with something I don’t understand.

“Come with me,” I ask him again.

“Whatever you want, Senator.”

I make him kiss me, pulling him down by the fabric of his shirt. His tongue on mine gets me hard quick, and I pull away before my increasingly desperate body gets involved. “Put on your suit,” I tell him.

“Yes, sir.”

Damn. I have a feeling he’s going to be saying that a lot today, but I doubt I’ll be the first man in the history of Capitol Hill to commit an act of sodomy on the premises.

Avery calls while Silas is getting dressed. I almost send the call to voicemail, but I did that all day yesterday, responding with brief texts that indicated I was busy.

“Hey,” I say, picking up the call and walking onto the balcony.

“Hey! How’s it going. Did I catch you at a good time?”

“You did. It’s going great. I had a good conversation with the majority leader and a few other important people yesterday.”

“All that Harvard Law stuff finally coming in handy?”

“Yes,” I say, unable to help my smile. Guilt tugs at me as my mouth stretches. No matter what I do, I’m betraying someone. Maybe Silas is right. Maybe I should come clean with Avery about my affair with him. He’s proven his discretion. Prioritizes it even. And he has a point about getting Avery pregnant. If I give her that, I’ll have completed my end of the deal, at least for now.

I’ve done all I can do not to lead her on. While she usually sleeps in my bed after we have sex, I don’t hold her or kiss her.But she does hold me. She does kiss me. Not on the mouth, but on my back while she burrows in for sleep.

Before we fucked at my parents’ house on Thanksgiving, I’d had to remind her to turn on some porn. Briefly, I’d caught the stricken look on her face until she covered it with an “of course, silly me act,” and pulled something up on her tablet.

Before we’d even begun, I took the tablet into the bathroom alone and gotten myself hard, but mostly to the sounds on the video and my own thoughts of Silas. It wasn’t until I came into the bedroom erect and edged that I gave her a nod and she responded like she understood. She got on her hands and knees, and I’d fucked her from behind with my eyes closed. She’d been quiet, the men in the porn the only noises I could hear.

Afterward she asked if she could try getting me hard on her own next time. She’d sounded more confident than insecure. But I said, “If you’re ovulating, maybe there won’t have to be a next time.”

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