“So what gives?” she asked as they lingered over a second glass of wine after dinner. The sex, the food, the wine, him. The combination had mellowed her after the crazy day, even if the tabloid reporters positioned outside his house had rattled her on the way in. This is what had been missing from her life before he’d come into it. Balance. In the past, she would’ve been too focused on the case to take a moment for herself in the midst of it.

He sat back in his chair, suddenly interested in the play of his fingers over the stem of his wine glass.

“Uh oh,” Sam said, watching him. “This doesn’t sound good.”

“I haven’t said anything yet.”

“Exactly.” She noticed the tension had returned to his face, and her stomach twisted with fear.

“They want me to run.”

“For?”

“The Senate. In the general election in November.”

Sam sat perfectly still, processing what he had said. She didn’t allow an ounce of emotion to show on her face.

After a long moment of silence, he glanced at her. “Say something, will you?”

“You said a year. You said we can do anything for a year.”

“I know what I said. It was the truth at the time.”

“And what’s the truth now?”

“I don’t know yet. I guess that depends on you.”

“On me? Why on me?”

He reached for her hand, linked their fingers. “Because I promised you a year, and this would obviously be much more. Seven in fact. Much of this year campaigning and then six years in office if I win.”

“You’d win,” she said in a dull, flat tone. “That’s why they want you to run. No one can beat you.”

“So they said.” He scooted his chair closer to hers and brought their joined hands to his lips, a gesture so totally his that Sam’s heart ached with love. “Has it been so bad?” he asked with a cajoling smile. “This last month?”

“It hasn’t even really started yet. And the press. They’re outside your house and chasing me down the street.”

“I know they’re a pain, and you hate the intrusion. I do, too. But they’ll lose interest in us. Eventually.”

She pulled her hand free of his and got up to pace the kitchen. “They won’t, Nick. It’s only going to get worse.”

“I don’t have to do it. I can say no to them. There’s plenty of other stuff I can do that would simplify things for us.”

The statement stopped her in her tracks and served to clarify the debate—at least for her. She turned to him and studied the handsome, earnest face she loved more than anything. “Is that who we’re going to be?”

His eyebrows knitted with confusion. “What do you mean?”