Rook (Political Royalty Book 2) by Evelyn Adams

how this works out, I want to thank all of you for the hard work you put in on my behalf, but I especially want to thank Haven. Even if we don’t win Virginia, it’s going to be close enough to change the narrative to one where we can take the nomination and the White House in the fall. None of that would have been possible without Haven’s brilliant strategy. Thank you.” He clasped his hands together and pointed them at her. The hands she’d felt pin her hips to the bed while he moved inside her. The hands she didn’t think she could deny.
    Fuck.
    Within rapid succession, they called Massachusetts and Vermont for Collins. Alabama took longer because of the time zone change, but it fell for Collins too. Not all that surprising, but it was still a bit demoralizing after the initial optimism. They went back and forth all night with Collins and Walker trading states, but the later it got, the higher Walker’s tally grew. Jenson pulled Arkansas and Simpson Oklahoma. Everything matched the projections Haven had been staring at for days. The only holdout was the Commonwealth.
    It was after eleven by the time they finally called Virginia, even after Estevan trounced everyone in Texas. Haven kept refreshing the Board of Elections webpage as the numbers between Walker and Collins pulled closer and closer together. The news agencies waited for some of the population-dense counties to verify their results before they finally called it for Walker. It was close enough for a recall and she didn’t doubt for a minute that the Collins campaign would ask for one. She would in their place, but for the moment at least, it was Walker’s name plastered all over the news as having won the Commonwealth.
    Haven wrapped her arms around Justin and pressed her cheek against his freshly shaved face, breathing in the familiar scent of his cologne. She didn’t know when he’d found time to sneak off to shave, but the fact that he had made her smile. She was still smiling when she glanced across the room to the senator. His smile of gratitude twisted something inside her and she clung a little tighter to Justin.
    “You okay?” He watched her as if he were trying to puzzle something out.
    She nodded, not trusting her voice.
    “I’ll take them back down to the ballroom if you want.”
    “I’ll do it,” she said, slapping on some bravado she didn’t actually feel.
    Walker needed to make a victory speech with Sandra by his side and then he needed to go upstairs and get in bed with his wife while Haven tried to hold the hole in her chest closed.
    “Come on, Senator,” she said, pulling away from the comfort of her friend’s arms. She plastered on a fake smile and turned to face the Walkers. “Let’s get you and Mrs. Walker in front of the cameras to claim your victory.”
    Walker’s expression shifted from ready to celebrate to something more intense, but Haven didn’t stick around long enough to spin it into something more.
    The crowd went crazy when the senator and his wife walked into the ballroom. The volunteers had been partying most of the night, but if the noise was any indication, they were nowhere near finished. The Walkers stepped out onto the makeshift stage looking poised, regal, and fit to rule. Sandra Walker’s icy-blonde beauty stood as a perfect counterpoint to her husband’s powerful dark good looks. Together they made the perfect couple and as Haven watched from the wings, something deep in her chest twisted.
    There was no place for her in this picture. She didn’t belong on the arm of the man who would be king. Sandra Walker did. Right and wrong, love and hate: it was all irrelevant. Sandra had her place and she knew exactly how to play it, waving to the crowd before casting an adoring look at her husband. Helping Walker win the presidency was the closest Haven could hope to get to the story. The only role she had any right to play. Every victory he had upped the stakes, made the risk too high. The closer they got