She smiles, cups my face and strokes my jaw. “Only a man in love would be that confident that I can. It’s gonna be hard as hell.”
“Hard as hell is your default setting, Tru. It’s not my love for you that tells me that. It’s your track record. It’s who you’ve always been.” I pull her into me, stroke down her back and kiss her temple.
“I wasn’t thinking about having a baby right now,” she says, laying her head on my chest. “I’m not sure I want to focus on that if I need to focus on Ruiz’s campaign.”
“Can you do both?”
“I don’t know. I can take the things the doctor has recommended to restart my period.”
“They can do that?”
“Sometimes. If they can, there’s a chance I can have a baby, but I don’t know that I want to just because someone says it has to be now. I could adopt later.”
We could adopt later.
That’s what I hear. Noah doesn’t even know Aiko and I have broken up. There is a lot of transition ahead and we have to handle it carefully, but there’s no doubt in my mind I want to spend my life with Kimba.
“It just felt wrong not to tell you,” she says. “I didn’t want you to think I was keeping it from you or hiding anything.”
“I’m glad you did.” I pull her closer, wishing I could shield her from every threat to her happiness, her peace of mind. “We’ll face this together.”
She feels small nestled against me. The humanity of naked skin and shallow breaths reminds me the woman the world sees as so powerful is also vulnerable. The privilege of intimacy has shown me that, and I fall asleep dreaming of ways to keep her safe.
Chapter Forty-One
Kimba
I’m still in bed when my phone rings on the nightstand the next morning. Ezra’s humming in the bathroom. He’s such an early bird and is already up. I’ve been receiving notifications ever since the CNN spot from friends and colleagues congratulating me, but the number flashing across my screen is the only person I actually hoped to hear from.
“Congressman Ruiz,” I say, sitting up in bed, heart in my throat and phone to my ear. “Good morning.”
“Good morning, Kimba,” he says. “Hope I’m not calling too early.”
“There is no too early in this game. You know that, sir.”
“Good. Well, I wanted to call and tell you that was a brilliant audition the other night.”
I grin, but keep my voice even. “I’m sorry? Audition?”
“You were trying to prove what a valuable asset you’d be in the fight against Colson come November.”
“Is that what you think?” I ask, unable to keep the smile from my voice.
“That’s exactly what I think,” he chuckles. “It worked.”
I leap out of bed and allow myself a fist pump and a quick body roll before replying. “What exactly are you saying, sir?”
“I’m saying, let’s meet this week to talk about what it’ll take to win this great state of Georgia. You ready for that?”
“Oh, I stay ready.”
“That’s what I hear. Good work on Colson. Looking forward to winning with you and your team.”
Ezra walks in from the bathroom as I’m hanging up. “Everything okay?”
I practically skip across the room and throw my arms around his neck. “Ruiz just hired me.”
“Tru, that’s amazing.” His strong arms tighten around me, the perfect hold. “I’m so happy for you. Proud of you. You did it.”