"I'm guessing you didn't like it."

He looked at her, his eyes dark and unreadable. "Not my style. The thing is, I don't want to be involved. But I am involved. If this screws up the campaign…"

She shook her head. "Sorry. I already have that guilt sewn up. You're going to have to find something else to feel bad about."

"You have nothing to do with the campaign."

"Oh, please. I'm being tracked. So far the American people are delighted to know about me. What happens when that changes? What if I say or do something I shouldn't? I'm really not the right person for the job. I have a past."

He smiled. "Not much of one. I know. I had you investigated."

"How comforting. So nothing about my life is a mystery to you?"

"I know broad strokes. Not details."

That was something. "Would you be impressed if I told you some of the details are really juicy?"

"I'm already impressed."

Oh my. "Good to know," she murmured, then sipped her wine.

He set his glass on the low table in front of them. "Dani, you need to know that as the campaign moves forward and you become a public figure, you may hear from people in your past."

She was so stunned to hear the words "public figure" associated with herself that she nearly missed the second half of the sentence.

"Like who?"

"I don't know," he said. "Maybe Hugh."

"You mean because he'll want something?"

"He might want you back. Being married to the daughter of a president is a big deal."

She immediately flashed to Fiona, then pushed the image away. "Hugh isn’t that stupid," she said. "He knows it's totally over. I won't forgive the cheating and I don't want to go back. I've mourned the marriage, listed my regrets and moved on."

"Just be aware that it could happen."

She thought about the other men so recently in her life. Gary would never bother her but Ryan? He was stupid enough to try.

"What are you thinking?" Alex asked.

"About who else might suddenly show up."

"Are you going to name names?"

His voice was low and teasing. Sexy. He made her want to spill state secrets, or make them up if she didn't have any on her own.

"After Hugh, I got involved with a guy at The Waterfront. It's one of the family restaurants."

"I've eaten there. Good place."

"Thanks. We hired a new general manager. Ryan. He was funny and charming and really good-looking."

"Jerk."

She laughed. "Actually, he was. He said and did all the right things. I decided he could be my rebound guy."

"Was he?”

"That and more. Just when I thought he might be someone I could really care about, his wife and toddler showed up. Literally. She came in looking for him and had the kid with her."

"Ouch."

Alex stared at her and she met his gaze directly. She had nothing to hide. She might still be dealing with a few regrets for being such an idiot, but there weren't any secrets.

"The thing that got me the most, more than the lies and betrayal, was what he said. He told me he was sorry I had to find out that way. It was stunning. How did he want me to find out? The point was he was upset I had the information, but not the least bit remorseful that he'd been a cheating weasel dog.”

"Some guys are like that."

"Did you ever cheat?”

"No."

His gaze was steady, his voice calm. She believed him.

"I didn't think so." She set her wineglass next to his. "So my Ryan relationship was dumb on my part."

"Why? How could you know?"

"I could have asked more questions. He was playing me. Shouldn't I have sensed that?"

"You don't play people, why would you expect others to play you?"

"You're right. I just felt so stupid. I vowed to never get involved with a guy again."

"But you did anyway?"

"Oh, yeah. His name was Gary. He's a quiet, unassuming, sweet sort of guy who made me feel safe."

"Did I mention he's a jerk, too?"

"That was Ryan. Gary is fairly jerk-free. I liked him but there wasn't any chemistry. I thought that might be a good thing, what with chemistry getting me in trouble with Ryan. For a while I thought he was gay."

Alex chuckled. "Not exactly what a guy likes to hear."

"Tell me about it. Still, he handled it all with grace and style and when he asked me out, I said yes." She paused, not sure if she should have started down this particular conversational path. It was one thing to have secrets, it was another to spill the details.

"What happened?"

She drew in a deep breath. "We went to a lovely little neighborhood restaurant he knew about and before we were even seated, this woman walked by and called him Father."

Alex looked confused. "You got mad because he had kids you didn't know about?"

"No, I got upset because he used to be a priest"

Alex started laughing. Dani narrowed her gaze.

"It's not funny," she told him.

"It is. Come on. A priest? Were you his first date?"

"No, he'd been out before, but I'm not sure he'd… you know. I couldn't deal with it. I'm sure it shows a lack of moral fiber or character on my part. But the second I figured it out, I knew God was giving me a message from the great beyond. I was not supposed to be with Gary, so I left. Ran, actually. Like the wind."

He laughed again and this time she joined in.

"I almost feel sorry for the poor guy," he admitted.

"Almost?"

"I wouldn't want you with him."

Right, she thought, her mind going fuzzy with possibilities. Because then she couldn't be here…with him. That's what he was talking about, right?.

"So that's my sorry love life, the recent years, anyway," she said. “Tragic and funny and nothing I ever expected."

"It's been interesting," he said, reaching for his wine. "Better than boring."

"Oh, I don't know. Boring sounds good. Now you know all my secrets. What about yours?"

His eyes darkened slightly. "No one since the divorce. A few dates that didn't go anywhere."

Did he count seeing Fiona as dating? Was he seeing his ex-wife? "What ended the marriage?" she asked, knowing it was an intensely personal question but figuring he'd seen hers, so he could show his.

"She cheated," he said flatly. "I walked in on her screwing some guy." He frowned. "I don't even know who he is. I never bothered to find out."

Dani stared at him. She couldn't believe she and Alex had cheating in common. "I'm sorry. I know how that feels. I walked in on Hugh. It's how I found out."

"They were doing it on the dining room table," he said.

"Hugh and his groupie were in his office. Equally tacky." She shook her head. "I hated the betrayal of it. If we hadn't already started divorce proceedings, I would have left him then."

"That's what I did. Once Fiona broke my trust, it was finished. She wanted to talk things over, to give the relationship a second chance. Like your Ryan, I suspect she was only sorry she'd been caught."

Dani drew in a breath. "So you're not seeing her?"

"Hell no. Why would I?"

"I ran into her recently and she implied you were getting back together, or at least talking about it." As had Katherine, although Dani didn't want to go there.

"She's one of those people I told you about," he said. 'The kind who want to be close to the seat of power. She's interested now that my father is running for president."

"Okay. Good. Thanks for telling me."

There were only a few lights on the covered patio. In the dimness, Dani's eyes looked more brown than hazel. Still, Alex could read a lot of emotions flashing across them, the last one being relief.

Had she been worried about Fiona? God knows what the bitch had said. Fiona would do just about anything to get what she wanted. At one time he'd admired her single-minded determination. These days-not so much.

Dani was different. There was an honesty about her that he appreciated. She seemed to lead with her heart, which could get her into trouble if she wasn't careful. Not with him-he had no plans to hurt her, although he wouldn't mind getting to know her better. Especially if that involved them being naked.

His body tightened as the image filled his mind. There had been a couple of casual sexual relationships after he and Fiona had split up, but they'd been little more than a way to scratch an itch. He hadn't thought he was looking for anything more, but maybe he'd been wrong.

"What are you thinking?" she asked. "You have the strangest expression on your face."

"That you've changed everything in a very short period of time."

She sighed. "That's not a good thing, is it?"

"Why not? Maybe we needed a change."

"What your mother needs is a vacation," Dani said. "I hate that this has upset her. Dealing with the reality of me can't be easy for her. She's so fabulous. I want to be her when I grow up."

"You're grown-up now."

"Don't say that. Then I can't have her as a goal."

He liked that Dani respected Katherine and that she was sensitive to what his mother was going through.

But talking about his mother wasn't how he wanted to spend his evening.

"Are you hungry?" he asked. "Want me to start dinner?"

She stood. "You mean heat dinner?”

"Whatever works."

"Sure."

She led the way back into the kitchen. As she put her glass of wine on the counter, she turned and they bumped.

He held out his arm to keep his wine from spilling. She reached for it at the same time, but instead of grabbing the glass, her hand ended up on his chest.

Desire hit him with the subtlety of a bomb blast. Need consumed him, made him hard and threatened any self-control he’d learned in the past thirty-plus years. Her eyes widened, her breath caught and he would swear she was just as interested as he.