His urge to tease faded, and he touched her hand. “I got a little carried away last night. You’re all right, aren’t you?”

“More than all right. But thanks for asking.”

He stroked her palm with his fingertips, urged himself to tell her the truth right now . . . right this minute . . .

Believe me, I know more about getting around journalists than you can imagine.

He visualized those beautiful blue eyes—as blue as the sky on an American flag—clouding over when they heard what he really did for a living.

He reached across the table and touched the very tip of her finger. “Tonight . . . if things start going too fast for you, I want you to say something.”

“So you can stop?”

“Are you kidding? I want to hear you beg.”

She laughed, then slipped her hand under his and stroked his palm. A rush of heat shot through his bloodstream. He reminded himself that it wasn’t as if he’d been keeping this a secret from her for weeks. He’d learned who she was less than forty-eight hours ago.

“I didn’t know it could be like this.” Her voice held a husky note that no news footage had ever captured. “Lusty and crazy, but still funny.”

“It can be whatever we want it to be.”

“Sex has always seemed so serious to me.” She withdrew her hand. “So . . . difficult.”

He didn’t want to hear about her relationship with Case, not when he hadn’t told her the truth. “You probably shouldn’t tell me too many secrets.”

She didn’t like that. “What are the rules here, Mat? I don’t have your depth of experience with casual affairs.” Like the skilled politician she was, she’d leaned on the words so he’d feel their sting. “Maybe you’d better spell out what you want to say.”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with rules. It’s . . .” His deception was eating away at him, and he tried to ease into the subject. “What if you were to confide in me about something? Something you don’t want the world to know. Like the fact that you’re thinking about running for office.” Like the fact that your husband was gay, but he didn’t say that. “How do you know you can trust me to keep your secrets?”

“Because you would. You have the most overdeveloped sense of responsibility of anyone I know.” She surprised him by smiling. “You charge through life like a bull, butting at people with your horns, intimidating everybody with your size. You paw the ground, and snort at the wind, and roar at everybody who displeases you. But you always do the right thing. And because of that, I trust you.”

She was ripping a hole right through him. He had to tell her.