Chapter 1

I'd been working for the Congressman for one year when my crush first developed, and two years when I found out his secret, but I should back up.

For starters, my name is Kelsey Clark. Out of college, I snagged my break when I received notice that J Peter Richards IV's office had been impressed enough with my resume to bring me on staff. Simply put, "the congressman" as his office referred to him, was something of a rock star. At only age 32, he ascended to his position after winning an upset for his rural Wisconsin district. Over his first four years on the hill, he'd already been marked as a rising star in the body. The type of person who would someday be a Senator, or hell, even a cabinet member or future presidential contender if things broke right for him in the next couple decades. Of course, like all aspects of his life, his blessed circumstances had helped him out.

Born to Wisconsin's oldest moneyed family, he was the sole descendant of the family that owned the state's largest shipbuilding company, and, as such, was known to be worth many hundreds of millions of dollars. He had lived a charmed life, studying at an ivy league school, spending ten years traveling the world under the auspices of a microfinance NGO, and then coming back to his home district and winning a congressional seat 4 years ago. Along the way, he got married to his wife Rachel, a doctor in Wisconsin who may as well have been a model. Having divested from ship building long before he was born, he was a cosmopolitan living in an admittedly blue collar area, and yet, he kept winning reelection. Perhaps it was his family's storied name, plastered on University buildings and hospitals, perhaps it was his charismatic demeanor that played well on TV, or perhaps he was just good at politics.

At a little over 6 feet tall, with a lean muscular body that fit well under suits, his dark black hair was slightly longer than the average DC helmet hair that people were used to, and certainly kept in a more contemporary, but still political, style.

My life had been, to admit, much different. Growing up to a single mom in the Hamptons, I thought I had known, and adjusted to, his type. We'd lived in a fancy zip code, but were on the other side of the divide. My Mom cleaned vacation houses for a living, and I grew up in a small apartment. My Dad had never been in the picture, and I grew up constantly on the edge of poverty. However, I'd done well in school and gotten a scholarship at one of the less prestigious universities in DC, allowing me to get closer to my dream of working on capitol hill. I was lucky enough to secure an internship in a different congressman's office. I hit it off well with my boss, who noted that I was a hard worker, but had no openings. However, without knowing it, I had already secured my future in the city. After I graduated from college, the chief of staff from that office had put in a good word for me to be a staff aide with Congressman Richards, and I found myself staffing one of the hottest names in congress.



The first time we had ever interacted was in a routine meeting where his chief of staff introduced me to him, and said what issue areas I'd be working with. He was quicker in person with a joke than I expected, and had an ability to put his staff at ease. As a boss, he was great. He expected his staff to work hard, and wasn't content with just being a back bencher, but he was fair, and certainly lacked any of the horror stories that got shared about other bosses on the hill. Simply put, he was normal, or, at least, I thought.

After a year working together, he had become looser with me and the professionalism slipped. He'd never made any suggestive moves on me, but he started calling me by my nickname, "Kels," and got a bit more candid. If I had to slip him a note while he was in a committee, it may come back with a smile, or a quick message like, "Kels -- get me out of here!" or "$1,000 raise if you can get this speaker to stop talking :)" While it was never his intention to lead me on, unfortunately, I realized I was falling for him. At first, it was just a smile I hung on to after we talked. This led to me constantly talking about him to my roommate Sandra, and then realizing I had developed a crush, and then progressing to thinking about him when I had a moment alone in the shower.

For about a year, I kept this to myself. What was the point? He was married, and would never jump on it. For starters, while I knew I was cute, I wasn't a knockout like his wife. And also, he'd never risk his promising career over an office romance. So, I spent most of the next year navigating the DC social life. I've always known that I'm cute, but I quickly learned the joke about being "hot, hot" or "politics hot," and, as a 23 year old with sharp features and brunette hair to go along with my 5'4, 120 lbs body, I got to be known as the hot girl in Peter Richards' office. So, my social life was what you'd expect. A date here, a hookup there, all well suppressing any feelings I had toward him.

However, that changed after a year.