with disbelief as he asked her if she was stumping for votes. Maybe she had a little bit of a problem. But she had spent the past few years as a workaholic, and she didnât really know what else to focus on. Particularly when things were chaotic. She tended to fall right back onto the topics she found easy. Right now, that was her campaign. And since her marriage, or rather, the continuation of it, was directly related to that campaign, it was particularly easy to do now.
âYou know you have my support,â Sadie said. âAnd Eliâs. I mean, he canât actually force people to vote for you under threat of arrestâI askedâbut if anyone talks to him about it he makes his preferences pretty clear.â
âAnd I appreciate that. I appreciate the support that heâs given me, always. Which I mean in a nonsexual way.â
âI know.â
âEli, in my opinion, is Copper Ridge. You two. The best, the future.â
âI feel like youâre avoiding giving details.â
Lydia let out an exasperated sigh. âIâm running against an institution. Not only that, heâs a man. It seems like the personal lives of women are always more scrutinized in these types of situations. I was single, which already made me somewhat unapproachable. I mean, people wonder why. They want to know if I even care about family. If I throw a quickie marriage and even faster divorce onto the pile...well, thatâs it. Iâm done.â
Sadie nodded slowly. âOkay. I see your point. So...whatâs the plan? You stay married to him forever?â
âNo. I stay married to him until I get elected. But, basically weâre just going to pretend to be married. I mean, weâre going to actually be married, but without the love, or the sex.â
Sadie frowned. âSo, marriage with all of the annoying things like compromise, cohabitation and having to eat what he wants for dinner, without the things that make it fun?â
âFor a limited time. Weâre going to be roommates. Roommates who donât like each other and who probably had sex and donât remember it.â
âWow. Good luck with that.â
âThat is not helpful to me, Sadie. Youâre an optimist. Youâre supposed to be optimistic about this.â
âSorry. Realist Sadie is the one who feels like weighing in. This is going to be a giant pain in your butt.â
It was Lydiaâs turn to frown. âI think Realist Sadie is a pain in my butt.â
âSheâs a pain in mine, too. Iâm just saying, you honestly think that youâre going to live with Colton West for the next few months and pretend to be his wife and that isnât going to be...awkward?â
âOh, itâs going to be awkward.â
âLet me rephrase. You arenât going to sleep with him?â
âNo,â Lydia said, feeling each and every one of her muscles begin to tense up. âIâm not. The situation is complicated enough. Weâre not going to mess it up further. Itâs a blessing that we donât remember what happened.â
âOkay.â
âYou donât believe me.â
âI believe that sex often overrules common sense.â
âWell,â Lydia said, âthat has never been the case for me.â
âExcept with Colton.â
Lydia set her cup down on the desk and threw her hands up. âI donât remember it. Itâs basically the same as it not happening.â
âExcept that it did.â
âIt isnât happening again.â She picked her cup back up again, then set it back down. âYou know what? I havenât had sex in four years.â
Sadieâs mouth dropped open. âExcuse me?â
âSo celibate, Sadie. So celibate. I donât think a couple of months sharing a very large space with Colton is going to undo my willpower.â
âExcept, you did... A couple of days ago. With him. He was
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