Chased - A Titan Novella (Titan (Novella)) by Cristin Harber Page B

the Maxwell file. He clicked the e-mail open and downloaded the picture. No one he recognized. The file didn’t share any new information either.
    Asher looked at Jenny. She snoozed quietly. Looked so innocent, though last night had proved that wrong. He would’ve whistled if he didn’t have to explain why. The woman’s sizzle was almost too much. Almost. But he’d take it. He smiled. Yeah, he’d take it every minute of the day.
    He scrolled through the rest of his e-mails. Campaign team, more campaign team . More scrolling. A lot of e-mails overnight. Then again, he hadn’t checked his e-mail since he’d jumped off the train. There was an e-mail from Molly, subject line, “Heads up.” Nope, not in the mood for bad news. It could wait. Scrolling through more e-mail, finally, press clips .
    Typical headlines. News on his opponent. News on the poll numbers. Typical. Everything that would be addressed on the conference call—well, whoa. What was, “McIntyre and Mystery Brunette”? Jenny. Guess Ricky hadn’t gotten all the pictures taken care of.
    That was also what Molly had probably e-mailed him about. His sister was sure to have press clips and a Google Alert set up to track his name.
    He clicked the link open and scanned. Nothing overly interesting. A cell phone-snapped picture and references to Jenny’s attractiveness and reluctance to leave.
    He bet the “reluctance to leave” line would be fodder for gossip blogs and that his campaign team would say things like they should jump in front of the problem. Maybe issue a statement that Asher McIntyre respected women. The reactions sometimes were worse than just explaining the truth. His girl didn’t want to leave the party in her honor, but some people had been dicks and ruined the night for her. Glad I made it better, though .
    He chuckled, taking it more in stride than he should, then leaned over and kissed her shoulder. “We’ve been ousted.”
    She shushed him and nuzzled into her pillow.
    “There’s a picture.”
    Jenny slowly propped up on elbows. Her eyes were sleepy and hair disheveled. All in all, a great look on her, minus the annoyed pinch of her brows. “Picture? From one of the cell phones?”
    He handed the phone over.
    “Oh, this is bad, isn’t it? For you? Politics isn’t my thing, but this isn’t great, right?”
    He shrugged. “Seen worse.”
    She scrolled down and back up again. “They make you sound like a caveman, yanking me out of a bar.”
    “They said you were hot.” He took the phone and tossed it toward the end of the bed. “Can’t fault them for the truth.”
    “God, if I’d just walked out, none of this—”
    “You can’t second-guess yourself, and you know that everything I do is tracked by the local news.”
    She rolled her eyes then tried to smooth her hair. “Yeah, the man who hits every eligible bachelor list in the United States is tracked by just the local news.”
    Shit. What was he thinking? This picture pinpointed exactly where Jenny was and that she meant more to him than just his little sister’s best friend.
    His phone rang, but he ignored it. A gut feeling said nothing good was on the other end of that call.
    “Hey.” Jenny rolled to face him. “You okay?”
    The phone rang again. He rubbed his face. Everything he did was calculated, but last night was not, and the sudden realization of the repercussions made his stomach sink. He grabbed the phone. Caller ID showed FBI Agent Murphy. He accepted the call and closed his eyes.
    Asher took a deep breath. “Think I have a problem.”
    Jenny’s face fell, mumbling, “Guess not.”
    “Yeah, I’ll say,” Murphy grumbled. “You didn’t mention that Jenny Chase was more than your little sister’s best friend. That changes a few things.”
    “It’s a recent development.”
    Murphy laughed. “Yeah, well, guess those things happen. You also didn’t mention that Jenny Chase is the sister-in-law of Jared Westin.”
    Asher’s mind stumbled, and he