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“I said stop thinking.”

My lips trembled, and I nodded, my head rising to capture his lips.

My core quivered and then clenched, fisting him in a tight grip, as another orgasm washed over me. I tore free from his mouth, screaming my release and pushing Veer into his.

He groaned my name, coming in hard shudders, and said, “I can’t let you go. Not yet.”

Chapter Four

Two hoursafter my mind-blowing sex session with Veer, I leaned against my kitchen counter and drank down a strong martini. The olive-infused concoction burned down my throat and warmed my stomach.

Veer had left in much the same way as he’d come in the night before. I hated that no one outside my circle was supposed to know we were together. He’d accepted how it had to be, reluctantly, but he’d accepted.

Now I stood in my kitchen with guilt weighing down on me. I should set Veer free and let him move on. But I couldn’t do it. If I did, it would mean I’d lost my one opportunity to be with the love of my life.

“So, are you going to tell me what’s going on between Veer and you or am I going to have to guess?”

I stared at my beautiful best friend and sister-in-law, Samina Kumar-Camden. She was a world-renowned celebrity attorney-turned-junior senator from Washington State. She also happened to have known me long enough to recognize when I was in a brooding kind of mood.

I’d tried to show excitement when she and Devin had arrived at the house earlier, but I’d had no energy for pretenses. At least with them, I could be myself, emotional turmoil and all.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She snorted, not buying my evasion. Her brown eyes narrowed, and she tilted her head and studied me in the way that made anyone she had on the witness stand think twice before lying to her.

We’d been assigned as roommates when we were barely eighteen and had started law school at Stanford. Our parents thought it would be safest to have us live together. We were both girls from conservative homes whose parents weren’t sure what to do with kids who could outthink everyone around them.

Samina’s father, an overbearing technology billionaire, had decided for Sam to room with me. He assumed I would be a good influence on his ultra-sheltered daughter, who he wanted to fit into a mold he’d designed. Little had he known that I was just as protected and ready to break free of the confines of family and on the lookout for a partner in crime. From the moment we’d met, we were thick as thieves. The amount of trouble the two of us had gotten into could have given our parents heart attacks. Thankfully, Ashur, Sam’s older brother, and Devin, my big bro, kept us from getting into something that would have had dire consequences.

Fifteen years later, we were still getting into mischief together, but our last foray into adventure had gotten us elected as United States senators.

“Okay, then tell me why you barely said a handful of words during lunch and are drinking one of your ‘lay an elephant on its ass’ drinks at one in the afternoon. I’m the one with a not-yet one-year-old who gets barely any sleep.”

“Because I need something to take the edge off.” I moved to the sink, rinsed my glass, and then set it in the dish drainer.

“Jaci,” Sam said softly. “Did you and Veer break up?”

There was only a small group people who knew about Veer and me. Sam happened to be part of it. Sam had wanted Veer and me together from the time she discovered that I felt more for him than friendship.

Reality was reality. Southern politics was brutal, especially for women, and I was a conservative who couldn’t let anything taint my reputation. And a relationship with a liberal outspoken-against-the-GOP real-estate and technology tycoon would tank any chances I had.

Veer knew it, as did I.

We’d resisted the attraction for years, making sure to keep things distant between us. That was, until three years ago. While attending a conference in Las Vegas, I’d run into Veer at my hotel. He had just finished a business meeting with the casino owner, and I was returning to catch a power nap. We’d decided to have dinner, which led to us going out dancing, and then turned into a night of nonstop sex. We had agreed it couldn’t go anywhere but kept finding excuses to see each other. Then after returning to Austin, we’d continued to meet up conveniently. Eventually, we’d admitted what we were feeling was more than lust.

“I’m going to take your silence as an affirmative.”

I shook my head and turned to face her. “No, I think we’re still together.”

“Think?” she questioned and then gestured to the seat next to her at the island. “Come here and tell me what’s going on. I want to be in the loop. I’m still ticked I learned about Veer and you a year after you guys hooked up. I’m your best friend. You’re supposed to tell me shit.”

“Whatever,” I muttered.

It was only right before our senatorial elections that she’d accidentally discovered Veer and I were more than friends. She happened to have gotten up one morning when she was visiting and caught a half-dressed Veer leaving the house.

The conversation we had after the incident still made me cringe. Samina had made it clear that what we were doing would end up hurting us and, in the end, we’d regret it.

I knew she’d spoken from experience. Sam had accepted being a secret from the world for nearly ten years. She’d married the love of her life only to have both of them pretend nothing was between them and to date other people.

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