None of them were vulgar, but the picture they painted was clear. She read the blog’s headline: Has The Senator Whose Slogan Reads “Fight for Finn” Finally Found A Girl Worth Fighting For?
The article itself was short and nowhere near as damaging as it could have been. In fact, it was flattering. It mentioned her local upbringing, her business, her citizenship classes and even quoted a few of her friends from the LGBT parade brigade. They approached her sexuality with a tongue-in-cheek reference to a BDSM book that had been so popular they’d made it into a movie, instantly removing the stigma she’d assumed would be attached to her kink.
She wanted to bake the author cookies. After she hit him with a frying pan for posting these pictures in the first place.
But maybe Ken was right. As soon as she saw them, she’d called to ask him to use his powers for good and crash the site, and he’d said, “But this is perfect, Tasha. All Burke’s leverage is gone. Any pictures he posts now would make him look like a classless copycat. He can’t control the narrative and create a scandal because they got out in front of him. Now the story is everywhere. This is why I love the Internet.”
If that was true, she definitely needed to bake that blogger cookies. Which she would bring to him if the sea of people waiting to ask her about her relationship with Stephen would just give up and go home.
A sudden increase in the decibel level brought her back to the window. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Brady Finn was walking around the hood of a black sedan. He had on his Marine face, making him look thoroughly intimidating. Not that he needed help with that. His muscles were practically exploding from his snug black t-shirt as he opened the passenger door.
Stephen was here.
The crowd parted and circled them, calling out questions as they headed toward the front steps of her building. When Stephen turned and held up his hand to ask for silence, the voices faded.
As quietly as she could, Tasha lifted her window a crack. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what he had to say, but she needed to.
He smiled. “I’m guessing we all read the same article.” The crowd chuckled. “I had no idea a few pictures on one small blog would cause this much attention. I hear it even got a twitter mention from a Kennedy. You might have to be Irish to understand exactly how proud my father is right now.”
They all laughed again.
“How long have you been dating Miss Rivera?” a reporter shouted.
Stephen glanced at him, but didn’t respond. “I apologize for making you wait. I would have been here sooner, but I’ve been working hard to close the book on some of the unethical activities my fellow senators have been engaged in. A few representatives of the people have been giving away their votes and your voice in our government for the basest of reasons. Greed.”
The buzz of the crowd was growing again. “Today should be a big news day for you. Two state representatives will be resigning from office in the next few hours. They’ll announce their decision on the steps of the capitol building.” The crowd began to shout and he held up his hand again. “And…Mr. Philip Burke is already in the custody of the FBI. At this moment, no doubt in the hopes of leniency, he is cooperating with the agency by handing over vital information on those politicians who have accepted money to alter the language of bills, change their votes and actively participate in the kind of stonewalling and obstruction that creates most of the division and dysfunction in our system. In our country.”
Tasha placed a hand over her pounding heart. It was over? Burke was in custody?
She watched as more than half of the crowd dispersed, phones pressed to their ears as they confirmed what Stephen was saying and left her yard for more newsworthy pastures.
But not all of them went away.
“Is it true that Miss Rivera’s father was deported from this country due to his family’s affiliation with terrorists?”
She glared at the reporter, but Stephen just smiled. “He was deported because he was unable to get his work visa renewed and the woman he loved turned down his marriage proposal. I can tell you from experience that those Rivera women can be stubborn.”
Another reporter caught the hint he’d thrown. “Did she turn you down, Senator? Are you back on the market?”
“Theresa, good to see you. And to answer your question, Miss Rivera has said no in word and deed to most of my propositions for years. But Finns can be stubborn too, particularly when it’s important. I can’t say this crowd on her lawn is helping my cause, but I understand you’re just doing your jobs.”