Risky Business of Love

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Ciara smiled at her younger sister. Poor thing couldn’t dress worth a darn. Rachel was more comfortable in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt than in Ciara’s high-fashion wardrobe. Rachel was wearing a pair of old sweats and her long hair hung in a ponytail.

Rachel returned several minutes later carrying two glasses of red wine and sat beside Ciara. “Mine wasn’t any better. My professor ripped apart my psychology paper.”

“Guess who I saw today?” Ciara asked, taking a sip of wine.

“Please don’t tell me it was Diamond,” Rachel guessed correctly. Ciara nodded. “Asking for money no doubt?”

“Which I don’t really have, but…”

Rachel turned and glared at her sister. “Please tell me you didn’t give it to her?”

Ciara shrugged her shoulders. “Why do you let her do this to you, Ci-Ci?” Rachel called Ciara by the nickname she’d come up with when she was two years old and hadn’t been able to say her name. “You let Diamond run a guilt trip on you every time because she had a hard life. Well so did you, sis. That woman dragged you around the country. You don’t owe her anything.” Rachel had seen Diamond come time and time again to Ciara for a handout and she was sick of it.

“I know, I know,” Ciara said. She hadn’t forgotten being kicked out of their apartment because Diamond couldn’t pay the rent or doing her homework in the back of some scummy bar. All because Diamond refused to grow up and keep a job. “But I can’t just leave her hanging in the wind. She’s my mother.”

“Yes, she is. But she’s a grown woman and quite capable of taking care of herself,” Rachel replied. Every time Rachel saw her, Diamond had another man on her arm. So why was she always looking to her daughter for a handout? “I’m tired of seeing her use you, Ciara. You have to stand up for yourself and stop letting her walk all over you. She only does this because you let her get away with it.”

Ciara stood up and walked over to stare out the window at the passing cars. “I know you’re right, Rachel. But you just don’t understand the bond Diamond and I share. Despite her shortcomings, we’ve always been there for each other through all the ups and downs. I don’t know how to walk away from that.”

Rachel jumped up, came over and squeezed her sister’s shoulders. “Ci-Ci, I’m not asking you to walk away from Diamond. I just don’t want to see Diamond continue to take advantage of you.”

Ciara patted Rachel’s hand and pulled away. “I know you mean well, Rachel, and I thank you for your concern, but I’m going to have to deal with Diamond myself.”

Rachel threw up her hands. “Okay, okay. It’s your funeral. I’ve spoken my piece. I told Dad I would have a talk with you and I did.”

“So Dad put you up to this?” Ciara inquired. “I should have known.” Diamond was Robert Miller’s least favorite person, which was surprising considering they’d once had a grand love affair. But then again, her father had been young and naive and maybe somewhat of a risk taker. And of course now after twenty-five years with her stepmother, Pilar, Robert had become somewhat of a stuffed shirt. “Well you can tell him that I’ve been properly warned, but that I’ll take it from here.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Rachel couldn’t resist delivering one final comment.

“Duly noted,” Ciara said.

Jonathan began his Friday clashing with his father’s expert opinion even though he’d rather have spent a leisurely morning making love to Ciara. He’d already prepared himself to hear about the dangers of dallying with the press because his father would have had overnight to think of an appropriate lecture.

True to form, when he arrived at his campaign headquarters, Zach, Reid and his parents were already huddled together in the conference room.

“Good morning,” Jonathan said to the elderly woman serving as his receptionist. A retiree, she’d generously volunteered her time as a contribution to his campaign and she just so happened to make the best cup of coffee Jonathan had ever had.

He was dropping his briefcase in his office and walking toward the conference room when Dorothy handed him a mug. “Thanks, Dorothy, you’re a doll.”

Dorothy returned a generous smile right back at him. She just loved it when the young man showed his pearly whites.

Jonathan knocked on the door before entering. “Can anyone join in this conversation? Or should I make myself scarce?”

“Come on in, Johnny boy,” Zach said, rising from his seat and shaking his best friend’s hand, “because we have a lot to discuss.” As Jonathan entered, Zach closed the door behind him.

His father didn’t waste any time laying into him. “You can’t get involved with a member of the press. Do you have any idea the damage you could do or might have already done? And the campaign hasn’t even started yet.” Charles Butler shook his head.

Jonathan took a seat at the head of the table. They must have thought he had never been in a campaign before. “I’m well aware of my actions, Dad. I’m not five years old.”

“Then you must know how precarious this situation is.”

“Jonathan, you know we only want what’s best for you.” His mother tried the maternal approach. “Perhaps you should end things with this Ciara Miller before it begins.”

“So you know her name,” Jonathan said. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. But what all of you need to know is I won’t be interrogated by any of you. This is my life and I choose how to live it.”

“Once you become a politician and are in the public eye,” his father said sternly, “you give up all rights to life solely as you see fit. I urge you to reconsider this behavior. It could be detrimental to your campaign.”

“I have to agree with your father.” Zach looked at Reid, who was sitting next to Jonathan. Reid stood up and moved to another chair down the table. “Listen, to me, Jonathan.” Zach scooted his chair next to his friend. “How do you know this Miller woman isn’t setting you up for some sort of scandal? That she hasn’t been paid off by the opposition to bring you down?”

“I don’t, but I will keep my eyes wide open,” Jonathan said defensively. He didn’t know why he was fighting so hard to maintain contact with Ciara; he barely knew her. Could it be because Ciara had completely surprised the heck out of him? Sure, they’d had great sex, but it was more than that—she excited him more than any woman ever had.