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Rogue Ever After (The Rogue Series Book 7)
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Rogue Ever After
Tracey Livesay
Hudson Lin
KD Fisher
Chace Verity
Sionna Fox
KK Hendin
Ainsley Booth
Tamsen Parker
About This Book
Love never dies. Hope never ends. The Rogue series wraps up with eight brand new romances for dreamers who know "happily ever after" is an opportunity for a new beginning.
Contents
Tracey Livesay
For Love and Country
About This Story
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Thank you!
Other Books by Tracey
Acknowledgments
About Tracey Livesay
Hudson Lin
Ipso Facto ILU
About This Story
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Epilogue
Thank You
Also by Hudson Lin
About Hudson Lin
KD Fisher
A Little Rebellion
About This Story
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Also By KD Fisher
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chace Verity
The Blundering Billionaire
About This Story
The Blundering Billionaire
Acknowledgments
Also By Chace Verity
About Chace Verity
Sionna Fox
Good Service
About This Story
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Also By Sionna Fox
Acknowledgments
About Sionna Fox
KK Hendin
Love You Like That
About This Story
Love You Like That
Also by KK Hendin
Acknowledgments
About KK Hendin
Ainsley Booth
Love Your Love
About This Story
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Other Books by Ainsley Booth
About the Author
Tamsen Parker
Starlet Struck
About This Story
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Thank You!
Other Books by Tamsen
About Tamsen Parker
For Love and Country
Tracey Livesay
About This Story
Zora Lewis grows disillusioned as her boss, US Senator Ethan Humphries, a man she admires and secretly loves, bows to familial and party pressure to back the current Republican president's agenda. Frustrated by his continued willingness to keep quiet, she decides to hand in her notice.
Ethan is stunned by Zora’s resignation…and the realization of his own feelings for his deputy chief of staff. He can’t bear the thought of losing her and doesn’t want to let her go. Will he stand up to political obligation and do the right thing or follow the party line and risk losing Zora’s respect, and, ultimately, her love?
To my husband, James. The man I’ll always choose to have by my side, whether we’re having fun, saving the country or surviving the apocalypse.
My ride or die bae.
1
About Tracey
Tracey’s novel, Love Will Always Remember, was the winner of the 2018 Emma Award for Best Interracial Romance. She writes smart, sexy and emotional contemporary romances where strong, successful heroines find love with powerful, passionate heroes. She’s been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly and on CBS This Morning. A former criminal defense attorney, she finds crafting believable happily ever afters slightly more challenging than protecting our constitutional rights, but she's never regretted following her heart instead of her law degree. Tracey lives in Virginia with her husband--who she met on the very first day of law school--and their three children. When not answering the call of wife, mother or author, she watches planner videos on YouTube and daydreams about her next designer purse purchase.
2
“And that’s the last pair of tickets! The fundraiser in two weeks is officially sold out!”
Senator Ethan Humphries, the Republican senior senator from Virginia, looked up from the final version of the bill he would vote on later that day. “That’s great, David,” he said, smiling at his exuberant chief of staff. David Whalen’s blue eyes were faded with age, but still sharp with almost thirty years of knowledge gleaned from working in DC.
“It’s more than great. It’s fucking fantastic!” David exclaimed, pumping his fist like Tiger Woods, circa 1997. “You may have been appointed to this seat three and a half years ago, but you’ve taken to fundraising like a champ.”
At the mention of his Senate origin story, Ethan fought to keep his smile in place. “My father told me what to expect.”
David unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat down in one of the two leather club chairs situated in front of Ethan’s desk. “Your father was an expert at parting people from their money.”
“That he was,” Ethan said, inhaling deeply.
“I know it galled you to do it—”
“I’d only been in office a month. Hard to ask people to donate when I hadn’t yet proved my worth.”
“—but you did a great job jumping right in, squeezing robo-calls and fundraisers into your busy schedule. And it was all worth it. We projected you’d need fourteen million to effectively implement our election strategy. With the proceeds from the fundraiser, you’ll be at ninety-five percent of that goal and we still have another year before the campaign kicks off in earnest.”
Determination fortified Ethan’s will. He’d do whatever it took to win the election. He had to. He’d been unable to secure a seat on the powerful and prestigious Appropriations committee during his initial term. He needed more time. He’d made a vow to get that coveted seat, and he always upheld his vows.
“Feel free to add to my schedule whatever fundraising opportunities it’ll take to meet our goals,” he said, then quickly added, “I refuse to be defeated because we didn’t have enough money.”
“Lack of money isn’t going to be our problem.”
Ethan narrowed his eyes at David’s switch of tone. “I wasn’t aware we had any problems.” Earlier, his chief of staff had raced into his office with the air of a mighty conqueror. Now he seemed hesitant, unsure. “Something you want to tell me?”
David scooted forward in his chair, ignoring Ethan’s question. “We’ve got to nail down a strategy for your campaign so we can start laying the groundwork for it.”
Ethan nodded, letting his worry go. David would share his concerns sooner or later. “Other than the upcoming vote, I had Alex block off
the rest of the afternoon for us meet.”
“Great timing. Larry Greer’s on his way over, anyway.”
Larry was Ethan’s legislative director, in charge of keeping him apprised of pending legislation and helping develop policy positions and legislative initiatives. His input on campaign strategy would be valuable.
“Perfect. And let’s get Z in here,” Ethan said. David was one of the top politicos in the city and Ethan knew he was fortunate to have inherited him from his father. But while David may be the brains of this operation, Zora Lewis, his deputy chief of staff, was its heart.
And so much more.
Ethan no longer questioned the usual zip of energy that skimmed his body when he thought of the woman who held his entire office together. Zora had started off as a legislative assistant but rose through the ranks by exhibiting her intelligence, her alternate viewpoint, and her innate political savvy. And in working her way up to her current position, she’d somehow worked her way under his skin. In a good way.
Not that she knew it, or that he’d ever acted upon it.
David grabbed the attention of a passing staffer. “Is Ms. Lewis back yet?” When the staffer nodded, he quickly directed, “Please tell her we need to see her.”
Ethan frowned. He hadn’t realized Zora had been out of the office. “Back? Where did she go?”
“She had an appointment with her great aunt’s lawyer,” David said, opening the cover of his iPad. “She asked for a few hours off this morning.”
Damn.
Zora had been close with her great aunt; the woman’s death had hit her hard. Ethan leaned back in his leather executive chair and drummed his fingers on the surface of the highly polished antique walnut. Why hadn’t she told him about the meeting with the lawyer? He knew from experience how emotional such meetings could be. He’d insist Zora take a couple of days off when she met with him, Larry, and David.
“Did you read through the morning’s editorials?” David asked, his brisk motions and direct gaze demonstrating his inclination to get back to work.
“No. At this point, they’re all repetitive.” Ethan knew the stories would only be about one topic: President Thayer, the unwanted gift that kept on giving.
“Today’s coverage was all about the White House holding firm to its stance on tougher immigration reform, despite the massive protests.”
“Is that what sixteen hundred is calling racism these days?” Zora asked, bursting into the room.
Ethan straightened in his seat and released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. His nerve endings stood at attention, zapped into compliance by her warm, husky tone with its slight hint of a Southern accent. Her smooth chestnut brown skin glowed over high cheekbones and a confident chin, and her thick dark hair was drawn into a sleek bun on the crown of her head. In a deep purple dress that nipped in at her trim waist, skimmed her hips and ended just below her knee, she looked both professional and sexy as hell.
As usual.
Zora didn’t look at him, instead heading over to the couch and sitting down, an unusual departure from how she usually perched on the edge of his desk during informal meetings. She crossed her legs, drawing his attention to her shapely calves…and her footwear. How she ever managed to walk around in those things he’d never know. She was naturally tall, and four-inch heels put her several inches shy of his own six foot two. She called her shoes works of art; he preferred the term torture device. Either way, she loved them, and she had a vast collection. Today she was wearing black velvet ones that looked like little boots.
Disappointment at her unexpected aloofness knotted in his belly. He pointed a finger at her. “That’s the type of statement that cannot leave the four walls of this office, Z.”
Zora sighed and flicked a glance at the ceiling. “I know.”
It was a refrain he and the rest of his Republican colleagues lived by. They all knew the current president and commander in chief—Ethan still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that had happened—was an egotistical, crazy, and unethical blowhard who sullied the office with his mere presence, but none of them dared say it in public.
United front, good of the party, and all that jazz.
“Although the four walls of the White House can’t seem to contain him. He’s heading to his Midwestern estate this afternoon,” David said.
“Of course he is.” Ethan wished he could prevent the bitterness that burned the back of his throat. “Why should the President of the United States work a full week? If only everyone could take off on a Wednesday and retreat to their twenty-thousand-square-foot ego massager.”
“And don’t forget the weather.” David’s tone dripped with amusement. “It’s been raining for the past several days. He doesn’t do well with the rain.”
“Does he think he’s made of sugar?” Larry Greer asked, finally sauntering into the office, his hands shoved in the pockets of his pants. He plopped down in the vacant chair next to David. “Remember when he almost knocked over the Canadian prime minister to get back in the building when it started to rain during the G7 summit?”
Ethan’s laughter escaped him before he could contain it, though his effort to do so would’ve been marginal in the face of his legislative director’s nod to the infamous video that had sparked numerous gifs, memes and even a Saturday Night Live skit. But when he glanced at Zora and noticed she didn’t appear to be in on their joke, his smile gradually flatlined. She stared off into the distance, chewing on her lower lip, her attention clearly elsewhere. He frowned. What was going on with her? Had something happened at her meeting?
“Ah, we could play this game all afternoon,” David said.
Ethan cleared his throat. “But we won’t. I’m not going to give that man more of my attention than is necessary.”
“Right.” David looked at his iPad, all business once again. “We need to decide how you’re going to run. That choice will inform the rest of our election strategy. Essentially, you have two options: you either align yourself with President Thayer or run against him and his administration. There’s no middle ground.”
“The answer seems obvious to me,” Zora said, animated once again, as if her spirit had returned to her body.
David narrowed his eyes. “Then you’re not looking at it properly.”
“I’m well aware of the nuanced political issues at play here,” Zora said, arching a regal brow and tilting her head slightly. “Maybe I think some considerations are more important than the politics of an issue.”
“What’s more important than the politics?” David scoffed. “That’s our job!”
Ethan squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Would anyone happen to have a pair of ruby red sparkly shoes lying around?”
“Kinky, sir,” Larry said, his eyes lit with interest at the back and forth between the two top people on Ethan’s staff.
David sighed. “I’m afraid to ask why.”
“Because I’d give anything to click my heels and go back in time to when being a Republican meant low taxes and limited government, not nativism and idealized ignorance.”
“Those days are over,” Zora said, finally gracing him with the power of her full-on gaze. Her light brown eyes gleamed with intensity and her lip curled with disdain. “At least, they’re over in this current political climate. Virginia has changed quite a bit since you were appointed to replace your father.”
She was right. Four years ago Virginia had been a purple state, voting either Republican or Democrat depending on whether the candidate played well with the more conservative base in the western part of the state or the progressive population living in the northern suburbs that bordered DC along with the Tidewater area.
But after the stunning election of this president, Virginians had turned out in droves to voice their disapproval. They elected a Democrat as their governor and another as their US Senator along with waves of Democrat state delegates, turning the state from a fluctuating purple to a solid blue
.
“If I run against his message—”
“—you’ll be primaried,” David said, finishing Ethan’s thought.
Ethan didn’t look forward to the prospect of having to run in a primary election against a member of his own party. “Most likely. But if that happens, will I win?”
His chief of staff shrugged. “That same uncertainty is what’s keeping a lot of Republicans from speaking out against the current president. GOP primary voters tend to be more right-wing than their general election counterparts, and that’s his base.”
“It’ll be tough, sir,” Larry said. “The conservatives weren’t happy with you after you abstained from the censure vote last year.”
Ethan winced. He hadn’t wanted to get involved in efforts to publicly reprimand another member of Congress. “Are they ever?”