Liz sighed. “What if I don’t mention Calleigh?”

Brady grabbed her face between his strong hands and brought her close to him. “If you must talk to him, then fine. I don’t like it. I’ll never like it, and I don’t want this to become a routine thing. I don’t want to have this argument again.”

“I don’t want it to be routine either. I just want to get to the truth,” she said. Her eyes were locked on to his brown ones and she thought she was going to drown in that gaze.

“I trust you,” he said, kissing her on the lips hard. “I’m going to have to tell Heather about this. So please report back as soon as your brief conversation is over.”

“I will.” He started walking toward the door, but she reached out for him. “I’m sorry that it’s this way.”

“Do I get you forever?” he asked, his words as smooth as silk.

The words caught her off guard. They had never talked about forever. They had never really talked about anything until he had asked her to move in with him.

“Yes,” she murmured.

“Then it’s worth it.” He kissed her again before leaving. She was left to wade in the lingering ecstasy of his lips on hers and the whispered promise of forever.

With a sigh, Liz found her phone and hesitantly dialed Hayden’s phone number.

“Hello?” he answered. He sounded both shocked and tentative, like he didn’t know why she would be calling.

“Hey, Hayden.”

“Is . . . something wrong?”

“No. Well, not exactly,” she said softly.

The silence hung between them, thick with the breakdown of their failed relationship. She knew that she needed to say something, but she felt as if her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth.

“As much as I enjoy hearing from you, I am curious as to your reasoning,” Hayden said. “I assume you have a motive?”

“Did you set me up?” Liz gasped out. “With the pictures.”

“What?” he asked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean did you plant a photographer to get pictures of us in the paper?”

“Are you joking?” Hayden sputtered.

“You need to be honest with me here. If this is all true, then we’re going to have serious issues. I don’t know what your motive is, but it’s not going to work. I just need you to tell me the truth.”

“I’ve never lied to you before, Liz,” he said. “I would never plant a photographer. I was there to apologize, not to try to break up your relationship. Guess my message was lost on you.”

“I’m serious, Hayden!”

“So am I! I don’t know who took those pictures. I’m sorry that they were in the paper, but I had absolutely nothing to do with that. Why are you asking me now anyway? That happened two weeks ago,” Hayden demanded. “Wait . . . do you know who took the pictures? Is that why you’re accusing me?”

Shit! He knew her too well.

“Should I even hazard a guess, since you’ve come to me to ask about it?” Hayden said dryly. “I hadn’t thought about it at the time, but who had a personal vendetta against the subject and would know I was going to be in Chapel Hill?”

Liz held her breath. He was too smart for his own good. Not that it was doing any harm at the moment. He hadn’t known that Calleigh was involved. It was clear in his voice. Crystal clear. And now he actually sounded pissed.

“Calleigh, huh?” Hayden guessed.

“I can neither confirm nor deny . . .”

“Oh, don’t go all reporter on me now, Liz. I taught you everything you know.”

“Not everything,” she spat.

“Fine. Not everything,” he said awkwardly. “Calleigh stalked me when she knew that I was coming to visit. I’d really like to know what she’s up to.”

“Wouldn’t we all.”

“It’s probably good that I work on the inside then, huh?”

“What do you mean?” She didn’t even know why she was continuing this conversation, but something had changed in Hayden when everything had snapped into place for him. He sounded more like himself—driven, ambitious, dedicated to the truth. She hadn’t seen this person in a long time.

“She’s taking this personally because I chose you, Liz,” he said tenderly. “I just . . . think that maybe I could keep an eye on her.”

“And why would you do that?” She wanted his intentions out in the open loud and clear.

“Partly because she’s messing with people I care about, partly because she stalked me, and partly . . . because she got her promotion over me.”

“The promotion for uncovering that I was Sandy Carmichael? God, she’s such a bitch!”

Hayden laughed. “She sure has her moments.”

“Every moment,” she grumbled. “Well, I should probably go. I just . . . I guess I’m glad I called.”

“Here to help. If I see anything strange, I’ll just shoot you a text or something.” He sighed as if he were contemplating saying more and then decided against it.

“Thanks, Hayden,” she whispered, and then said good-bye before hanging up.

Knowing that Hayden wasn’t involved in Calleigh’s sinister plots made Liz feel as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders. Their conversation actually felt, if she dared to consider it, normal—or as normal as it was ever going to get with Hayden.

Chapter 20

THE KICKOFF

A few days later on the afternoon before Brady’s kickoff rally for his reelection effort, Liz and Brady lounged around their apartment in D.C. She had started calling it their apartment after Brady had reminded her over and over that they shared it now and it didn’t just belong to him. If she was living here, then it was theirs. That was all that mattered.

They would be flying out the next morning into Raleigh. Liz was nervous about her first official event at Brady’s side. She had been to dozens of political events as a reporter. She had even been to a number with Brady in D.C., but the campaign trail was a whole different story.

She was worried about keeping up with her life while Brady was on the campaign trail. She had recently received her acceptance letter to Maryland for the fall term, which she was ecstatic about, since that was her top choice. Not to mention it was within the D.C. metro area, which kept her close to Brady while she focused on school. She had liked that they could be closer, but if he was gone through the November election she might still miss him a lot.