Read Online Campaigning for Christopher by Katy Regnery - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Katy Regnery
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said a woman from behind her.
Julianne turned to see a dark-haired woman holding up her hand. Her eyes were sharp and burned with interest in her otherwise plain face. She turned to Christopher.
“I just checked her out online. No record. Nothing. Just a few modeling pics and a video credit at a college in South Dakota.”
“Lori, we don’t know her from—”
“Chris? I have never bullshitted you. Not once. Can we agree on that?”
Julianne twisted her neck to look at Christopher, who grimaced before nodding once.
“Then I need to tell you that this— her — she is your Hail Mary.” She took a few steps closer, walking around two desks, and coming to stand beside Julianne. “You hate her guts? I get it, but I don’t care. Because the press is going to eat this up sideways with a spoon. A hidden relationship built on trust and protection?” Christopher scoffed loudly at the dark-haired woman. “Two attractive young people in love who were taken advantage of? And, pardon me for asking, but are you Native American?”
Julianne nodded. “I’m a Lakota.”
“Christ, that’s perfect,” she said with hushed reverence, then turned to Christopher with a no-nonsense plea: “You cannot—I repeat, you cannot —pass this opportunity by. This is how you recover. This is how you win.”
After what felt like an eternity, Christopher’s face fell. He looked around the room at each person: Simon, the brother, the pretty blonde pregnant lady, a frowning Asian man, the mouthy, dark-haired lady named Lori, and then back to her. His gaze drilled through Julianne like a red-hot bit, but she remained rooted where she stood, answering his stare with her own.
“I don’t know if I want to win that badly,” he said in a soft, broken voice.
“Well, that sucks. Because I didn’t realize I was campaigning for a loser,” said Lori. “When you hired me, you told me that you’d win. You told me you’d give it everything you’ve got. You promised me. You promised Si and Slater. Even Pres and Elise have been out stumping for you over the past few weeks, using Elise’s fame to boost your numbers. You’re going to let us all down because you can’t act nice with this lady here for one lousy press conference? Well, shit, son. Then you’re not the candidate I thought you were. Times get tough and you take off, huh?”
Julianne turned slowly to look at the dark-haired woman with admiration, doing her best not to smile, but feeling her lips tremble with awe. To her great surprise, Lori winked at her, then gestured back to Christopher, who cleared his throat to command Julianne’s attention.
Throughout the dark-haired woman’s arguments, he had been staring at Julianne with a hatred bordering on malevolence, but now his brows knit together, and he shifted his gaze to the Lori, his eyes begging her for a reprieve. “You’re asking the impossible.”
“No,” she said, “I’m not. Pull up your big-boy panties, and put your arm around your girlfriend. You two have a press conference to attend.”
***
Christopher stared at the beautiful, totally reprehensible, woman standing beside Lori, his gut so clutched and tangled, he thought he might vomit.
The fact that he still found her physically attractive after what she’d done to him made him hate her a thousand times more, and he wasn’t positive there was enough rage in the universe to express how angry her presence made him. He couldn’t even muster up a grudging respect for her courage in coming to find him all on her own. She had been the weapon of his destruction, the very mechanism of his present distress. And now she wanted to fix it? Well, to hell with her. She could go fuck herself.
But Lori’s words resonated like a gong in Christopher’s head: You told me that you’d win. You told me you’d give it everything you’ve got. You promised me. You promised Si and Slater. And he had. Damn it, he had. He had promised all of them. With the youthful
Julianne turned to see a dark-haired woman holding up her hand. Her eyes were sharp and burned with interest in her otherwise plain face. She turned to Christopher.
“I just checked her out online. No record. Nothing. Just a few modeling pics and a video credit at a college in South Dakota.”
“Lori, we don’t know her from—”
“Chris? I have never bullshitted you. Not once. Can we agree on that?”
Julianne twisted her neck to look at Christopher, who grimaced before nodding once.
“Then I need to tell you that this— her — she is your Hail Mary.” She took a few steps closer, walking around two desks, and coming to stand beside Julianne. “You hate her guts? I get it, but I don’t care. Because the press is going to eat this up sideways with a spoon. A hidden relationship built on trust and protection?” Christopher scoffed loudly at the dark-haired woman. “Two attractive young people in love who were taken advantage of? And, pardon me for asking, but are you Native American?”
Julianne nodded. “I’m a Lakota.”
“Christ, that’s perfect,” she said with hushed reverence, then turned to Christopher with a no-nonsense plea: “You cannot—I repeat, you cannot —pass this opportunity by. This is how you recover. This is how you win.”
After what felt like an eternity, Christopher’s face fell. He looked around the room at each person: Simon, the brother, the pretty blonde pregnant lady, a frowning Asian man, the mouthy, dark-haired lady named Lori, and then back to her. His gaze drilled through Julianne like a red-hot bit, but she remained rooted where she stood, answering his stare with her own.
“I don’t know if I want to win that badly,” he said in a soft, broken voice.
“Well, that sucks. Because I didn’t realize I was campaigning for a loser,” said Lori. “When you hired me, you told me that you’d win. You told me you’d give it everything you’ve got. You promised me. You promised Si and Slater. Even Pres and Elise have been out stumping for you over the past few weeks, using Elise’s fame to boost your numbers. You’re going to let us all down because you can’t act nice with this lady here for one lousy press conference? Well, shit, son. Then you’re not the candidate I thought you were. Times get tough and you take off, huh?”
Julianne turned slowly to look at the dark-haired woman with admiration, doing her best not to smile, but feeling her lips tremble with awe. To her great surprise, Lori winked at her, then gestured back to Christopher, who cleared his throat to command Julianne’s attention.
Throughout the dark-haired woman’s arguments, he had been staring at Julianne with a hatred bordering on malevolence, but now his brows knit together, and he shifted his gaze to the Lori, his eyes begging her for a reprieve. “You’re asking the impossible.”
“No,” she said, “I’m not. Pull up your big-boy panties, and put your arm around your girlfriend. You two have a press conference to attend.”
***
Christopher stared at the beautiful, totally reprehensible, woman standing beside Lori, his gut so clutched and tangled, he thought he might vomit.
The fact that he still found her physically attractive after what she’d done to him made him hate her a thousand times more, and he wasn’t positive there was enough rage in the universe to express how angry her presence made him. He couldn’t even muster up a grudging respect for her courage in coming to find him all on her own. She had been the weapon of his destruction, the very mechanism of his present distress. And now she wanted to fix it? Well, to hell with her. She could go fuck herself.
But Lori’s words resonated like a gong in Christopher’s head: You told me that you’d win. You told me you’d give it everything you’ve got. You promised me. You promised Si and Slater. And he had. Damn it, he had. He had promised all of them. With the youthful
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