Candidate: A Love Story by Tracy Ewens Read Free Book Online Page A

in those eyes, behind them, that spoke to Kate far more than his beautiful face. She had clearly not been a good judge of men in the past, but this one did seem like a decent guy. She was about to ask where he was yesterday, when a blonde in a bright dress with a sizable slit took Grady’s arm. He looked awkward for the briefest moment, but Kate was prepared and doing her best to be gracious.
    “You must be Maddie, that’s quite a dress. I’m Kate from Bracknell and Stevens.”
    “Oh, you work for Grady? For a minute, from the look on his face, I thought you were moving in on my guy.” She giggled; there may have been a little snort, and Grady’s cheeks actually tinted. This was going to be fun. “How did you know my name? Have you been talking about me?” She made some weird pouty face at Grady and he started to say something, but Kate jumped in.
    “It’s part of my job to know who Mr. Malendar is with during the campaign. Maddie Brinks, you are twenty-four, your family has been close friends with the Malendars for years. You went to UC Santa Barbara, majored in fashion design, and you currently own a little boutique in Los Angeles. Um, “Madly Chic,” yes that’s what it’s called. You and Mr. Malendar have been dating for approximately five hours, so it’s super cute you’re already keeping an eye out for him.” Kate smiled her best girlfriend smile. Grady began to smirk and turned toward Little Miss Mile High Slit.
    “Wow, you’re good. She’s good, isn’t she, babe?” she said.
    Grady was now into a full warm and wonderful smile. He looked right into Kate. “She certainly is. She’s the best.”
    “It must be great to have such good employees looking out—”
    “She’s not an employee.” Not looking away from Kate.
    “Grady, it’s fine. I’m sort of an employee.”
    He turned to his date, as if she were a toddler, and explained. “Maddie, Katherine works for one of the largest PR firms in the country. We are her client, I’m her project.”
    “Oooh really? Katherine—”
    “Kate, please call me Kate.”
    “Kate, where’d you go to school? Have you worked with a lot of celebrities or only politicians?”
    At this point Kate was distracted by the drinks being passed around, as the senator and his wife were about to toast and welcome their guests. Grady should probably be down there, at least available to his father. He must have read her mind because they started walking toward the main table. Kate liked work and was more comfortable with speeches and guest lists. Work didn’t have a lot of hand kissing and she liked it that way. As they took a seat at their table, Kate answered Maddie, who still wanted to know about the celebrities.
    “Columbia, I went to Columbia, and I’m not at liberty to discuss our clients. Maddie, it was a treat meeting you, but if you’ll both please pardon me, it looks like the senator is about to toast.” Kate smiled at Grady, who looked perfect and poised, and she moved toward the center of the room.

    Grady had schmoozed and even spent a painful half hour talking with Senator Grafton about his new parrot. After surviving that, and the rubber chicken dinner, Grady managed a dance with Samantha and even sat with his mother and her bridge friends for a while. Maddie tagged along, but after all of the talking heads had finished talking, Grady had driven her home, telling her he was heading home too. She had offered to tuck him in, which was the farthest thing from his mind. He kissed her on the cheek and knew he would wait maybe another week before making a clean break. It was explained that his father wanted him to have a “significant other” during the campaign, but Maddie was not that other. Grady was restless after dropping Maddie off, so he returned to the fundraiser. Sam and Peter would still be there, and Kate. Kate would still be there and, well shit. He wanted to see her.
    By the time he got back things were winding down. Most of his