Politically
Incorrect
By Jeanne McDonald
Release Date:
August 16, 2016
Publisher: Enchanted
Publications
Cover Designer: Jada D'Lee Designs
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Sex. Lies. Greed. Power. Scandal. Politics.
Political strategist, Elizabeth McNeal has been called a lot of
things throughout her career—bitch being at the top of the list—but she doesn’t
let it get to her. She’s bold, she’s blunt, and she takes orders from no one.
This is how she’s survived working in a man’s world. She’s the master of
diversion, and her specialty is winning an election—no matter the cost.
That is, until she meets her new client, Democratic candidate,
Congressman William Baxter. Kind, considerate, insanely handsome, honest, and
ten years her junior, he’s a unicorn among politicians. He infuriates her. He
challenges her. Most of all, he makes her see past the scandalous world of
politics and helps her to discover the heart of the woman inside her.
With sparks flying between them and the election rapidly
approaching, the last thing either of them need is to be caught in a
compromising position. Some lines are meant to be crossed and some rules
broken, but for Elizabeth and Liam is it worth the cost of being politically
incorrect?
Chapter One
Dark garnet liquid reverberated in the wineglass
as I circled my finger around the rim. With every swirl, the motion of the wine
increased. The effect was almost hypnotic.
“Elizabeth?”
The flicker of fingers snapping in my face
drew me from my entranced state.
“Elizabeth, are you even listening to me?”
Truthfully, I’d tuned out the conversation a
while back, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. There was only so much a girl
could listen to when it came to what it took to make ugly people beautiful.
For the most part, this date had been a
complete and total failure. At least he had good taste in restaurants, however,
with the location being inside one of the most elegant hotels in Dallas, I was
sure he had more than dinner on his mind. He could think again.
“Of course I am,” I schmoozed, gracing him
with my most polished smile.
Dr. Jack Gamble had met all my criteria on
his dating profile. First and foremost, I needed a professional man. Having
been out of the dating game for far too many years, gainful employment was
pretty much my main criteria. I didn’t have time to babysit a man who didn’t
have a job and I certainly wasn’t going to become someone’s sugar mama. Work
took up a lot of my time and I would never apologize for loving my job. If a
man couldn’t understand that then he wasn’t the one for me.
My second criteria – he had to be good
looking, and Jack fit the bill there. He was handsome with his ocean green
eyes, wavy black hair, and perfect smile. While the black suit and red
button-down shirt hid his body, it was easy to see he spent many hours at the
gym ensuring he stayed fit.
And my third criteria, which was probably the
most important of all, was he had to be a Democrat. There was no way in hell
I’d be caught out on a date with a Republican. I’d never hear the end of it. I
worked too long and too hard to make a name for myself as the political
strategist of the Democratic Party. I might’ve enjoyed the occasional tryst
with a Republican, but dating one, nope. Not gonna do it.
“Oh, really?” He leaned forward and rested
his elbows on the table. The luxurious white linen table cloth bunched beneath
the Italian silk of his well-tailored jacket. His dark brow lifted and his lip
curled into a half grin.
“Yeah, really.” I batted my eyelashes and
widened my grin. Another tactic I’d learned while working with politicians. Lie
all you want, but do it with a smile on your face.
Taking my wineglass by the bowl, I swirled
the alcohol twice and took a sip, savoring the rustic flavor on my tongue. Up
to this point there had been food sitting in front of me, which allowed me to
keep busy. Now, the only place to direct my focus was on Jack and my wine.
This wasn’t the first date I’d been on since
my daughter, Jordyn, persuaded me to get out there again, but this might very
well be my last for a while. Men my age were full of themselves. They wanted a
little thing, more like my daughter's age, that they could dangle on their arm
as a trophy, not a successful woman who spent her life raising a child and
making a career for herself.
Yep. It’s certain. Perpetual bachelorette
life for me.
And why couldn’t I remain alone? What was
wrong with it? I was happy. I had a full life. Just because I didn’t have a man
didn’t mean I was incomplete. No. Dr. Jack Gamble had officially made me realize
that finding Mr. Right wasn’t in the cards for me. Mr. Good for Right Now was
all I needed. At least with him, I could toss him back when I was done. No
harm, no foul.
Jack stroked the stem of his wineglass
between his thumb and index finger. It took all the self-control I had not to
roll my eyes at his unconscious sexual suggestion. He leaned back in his seat,
continuing to tease the stem of the glass. As if to challenge me, he lifted an
eyebrow and rolled his tongue along his bottom lip. “Okay. What did I just say
then?”
Dammit! He had to ask that.
I had no clue what he’d said. For most of the
date I’d been off in La-La land. He talked so much that I really didn’t need to
worry about doing anything more than nod and ask the occasional appropriate question.
This man was dull and entirely full of himself. He even had the audacity to
mention his last girlfriend was only thirty. Who gives a fuck? I sure didn’t.
It was right about then when I completely tuned him out.
I positioned myself so that my cleavage would
draw in his attention. Just because the guy wasn’t getting any, didn’t mean I
couldn’t use the gifts the good Lord gave me. I might be forty-five, but I
still had a great rack. Pursing my lips, I peered over the rim of my wineglass
as I took a sip. “You were talking about a patient,” I guessed.
He didn’t waver. His eyes flickered down to
my breasts, but only for a moment. Those blue-green eyes remained locked on
mine as a smirk curled the corners of his mouth. “Which one?”
I gulped down the last of my wine without so
much as enjoying it. My gaze dropped to the black screen of my cell phone. If
only it could give me the correct answer. “The one who had a facelift.” It was
a viable answer, and I had a fifty/fifty chance of being right.
“Wrong,” he snapped. “I was talking about the
penial extension I performed last week. You haven’t heard a word I’ve said all
night, have you?”
Every inch of my skin crawled at him
admitting to discussing such a terrible topic. In my line of work, it was
customary for me to go to places no one else wanted to go. Dark, dirty, sweaty,
smelly, seedy, or forbidden. I’d seen it all and did it all in the name of a
win, but for him to discuss this, well, that was too much for even me.
My fingers drummed against the screen of my cell
phone. The one night I wished it would ring, it was silent.
“Okay. You caught me.” I released a sigh.
“I’m sorry. I just have a lot on my mind.”
Jack leaned forward and took my hand in his.
“I can tell by the way you stare at that phone; you’re anticipating it to ring.
Trust me. I know the feeling. My life is a constant on call fiasco.”
On call? Who was this guy kidding? He’s a
plastic surgeon not a heart surgeon. Good grief!
His thumb rubbed along the outer shell of my
index finger. “I turned mine off to be with you. So, how about you put it away
for the night?” His thumb continued to rub along my fingers. “We can get a room
and I can help you relax a little.”
I slipped my hand from his, resting it in my
lap, creating distance. “It’s a sweet offer, Jack, but we’ve only just met.”
“But I feel as if I’ve known you all my
life.”
Face meet palm. Of all the pick-up lines he
could choose from, he went with that one?
I scratched the back of my neck looking for
the waiter. It was time for me to make my exit and fast. “That’s sweet, but I
think we need to get to know one another a little better first. Besides, I told
you when I agreed to this date that I’m leaving town in the morning. I have to
get back to DC for work.”
Jack ran his fingers through his perfectly
coiffed hair. “I know what you said, which is why I want to spend the night
with you,” he stated in a slight huff. “And quite honestly, you’re making me
feel like a sleaze here. I only want to help you relax. You seem so tense.”
Nope. Just bored.
“Thanks, but really, I’m fine.”
“Okay. Fine. I understand and I’d never take
advantage of a lady.”
I nodded, my eyes searching the room for the
waiter.
Jack reached into the pocket of his jacket,
retrieving his wallet. He pulled out a little black card and handed it to me.
“How about you stop by my office tomorrow before you leave for some Botox.”
My smile dropped and my brow furrowed. “I beg
your pardon?”
“Many of my patients tell me it’s very
relaxing, and it’ll take about ten years off your face. It’s only an hour of
your time and you’ll feel like a million bucks afterward.”
This asshole was serious!
My perfected persona dropped. It was a rare
person who could cause me to break my polished demeanor, but somehow, Jack
Gamble had managed it.
“Listen here, buddy, I don’t know who you
think you are…”
Just as I was about to tell this prick what I
really thought of his offer, my cell phone started playing the Star-Spangled
Banner and flashing the name Guy Harper across the screen.
Saved by the bell, dickwad!
“Hold that thought.” I paused and took in a
deep breath. “I need to take this.”
Without giving Jack a chance to respond, I
grabbed the phone from the table, slid my finger across the screen, and
answered, “McNeal.”
“My, my. So professional,” came Harper’s
jovial tone.
“How can I help you?”
“Oh, right. I forgot. Tonight’s date night! I
take it’s not going very well.” Harper’s chuckle only added to my bad mood. He
was taking too much pleasure in my torture.
“You might say that.”
“Wow! This guy must really be a doozy.”
Harper chuckled low.
I glanced up at my date. A look of
frustration brightened his tanned skin. Served him right after insulting me
like he did.
“You don’t know the half of it…”
“Well, then, ditch him, Bet, and get over
here. We have business to discuss.”
Harper and I had known each other since high
school. He was my ex-husband’s best man and Jordyn’s godfather. It was safe to
say, he was pretty much family. I trusted Harper with just about everything,
which was saying a lot. Trust was a high commodity in politics, and was never
given freely. While I worked my way through college, Harper coasted through
life on his family’s dime. He came from a long line of old money, but no one
would suspect it if they’d seen him on the street. When I entered the realm of
politics, he joined me by donating to campaigns for many of my most promising
candidates. He always said his donations weren’t wagers on the candidates, but
on me, because I was the safe bet. Hence, the nickname. Over the years, he’d
developed a good eye for finding the right person for the job, so when he said
we needed to talk business, I knew exactly what he meant.
I didn’t have to look up this time to know I
was being stared down by the man across the table. Frankly, I didn’t care.
Harper had given me the out I needed. “I’ll be there in forty minutes or so.”
“Perfect. See ya then.”
I ended the call and slipped my phone into my
clutch.
“So that’s it? I try to help you by offering
my services and you’re going to give me the brush off?” Jack sneered.
My eyes jolted up to meet his death stare. I
stood up and leaned over the table, coming nose to nose with him. “My dear,
Jack, your services are not necessary.”
“I beg to differ. Not only do you need some
work on those crow’s feet, but I can help you get rid of those extra ten pounds
you can’t seem to run off in the gym.” His mouth bowed and his thick brows
lifted as if he’d actually one-upped me.
He didn’t.
I took in a deep, cleansing breath and
plastered a smile on my face. “I’ll have you know I look damn good for my age.
Now, if you’re interested in spending your time with a twenty-year-old blonde
bimbo, go find one, but don’t you dare try to Dr. Frankenstein a woman to meet
your stereotypical idea of perfection.”
“At least a twenty-year-old woman would know
how to be engaging on a date. She’d listen to me.”
“Jack, if you’d had anything interesting to
say, I might’ve listened to you.” I let out a half-hearted laugh. “But from
what I did hear, I can tell you this. You and I are on the same side of the
coin. We both tell people how to look, but the difference between us is I tell
them how to act. So, the next time you try to tell a woman how she should look
or what standard she should try to achieve, think of me and what I do. Because
no matter how pretty you make her, she’ll never be what I turn my clients into.
You see, Jack, I create power.” I moved in a little closer to him. “I create
legends…” I paused for dramatic effect, “I create gods!”
I reached into my purse, pulled out a
one-hundred-dollar bill from my wallet and dropped it on the table. “Don’t say
I never paid for your services.” I dusted my hand over his shoulder, pretending
to remove lint from his jacket. “It was nice meeting you, Jack.”
With a flick of my blonde locks, I grabbed my
belongings and started to walk away. “Oh, and Jack,” I called out without so
much as a glance back to see the baffled expression on his smug face, “the next
time you want to implant something, how about you implant some brains in that
head of yours, because you’re thinking with the wrong one, buddy.”
Throes of laughter reverberated behind me as
I slipped into my frock coat and exited the building with my pride intact.
Jeanne McDonald
is an author, a mother, a wife, a student of knowledge and of life, a coffee
addict, a philosophy novice, a pop culture connoisseur, inspired by music,
encouraged by words, and a believer in true love. When she's not spending time
with her family, she can be found reading, writing, enjoying a great film,
chatting with friends or diligently working toward her bachelor's degree in
literature. A proud Texan, Jeanne currently resides in the Dallas/Fort Worth
area with her family.
Social Media Links
No comments:
Post a Comment