Page 10 of Seduce

“That couldn’t have been easy,” Crystal said.

Tessa shook her head. “My father was running for Congress while I was getting my bachelor’s degree. I hated the attention we all got. My brother loved it.” She loved her brother, but their personalities were so different. “Allen loved being in the spotlight with our father. I preferred to stay in the background, but I wasn’t allowed.”

“Why do I have a feeling it’s nothing like what we see on TV?” Sierra said.

“Not even close. You see the put together stuff. I hated the back room fighting, the constant press intrusion, and the others vying for my father’s attention.” Her stomach twisted. The pressure had been on her to be the perfect daughter. She almost snorted at the thought.

“Is that why you left?” Crystal asked.

“Partially.” They deserved to know the whole story. “While I was getting my master’s degree, I went to work at a local library in Baltimore near where we lived. Luckily, it was pretty much back room stuff so people didn’t see me or associate my last name with a local congressman.”

Sierra shifted and touched the back of Tessa’s hand. “What happened?”

“I met a man.” At the time, she hadn’t realized how desperate she was for someone to love her for simply being her. “Jack was the sweetest, nicest man.”

“You fell in love.” Crystal sat forward with a frown on her face.

“Head over heels. In retrospect, I should have taken things slower. I wasn’t a kid. I was old enough to pay attention.”

“What happened?” Sierra’s voice was soft.

“I skipped an important part of the story.” Tessa shook her head. “Sorry about that. Let me back track for a moment. When I started on my bachelor’s degree, I met a group of people. We hung out together, and one night, they invited me to a get-together. It was a munch.”

“What was it like?” Crystal asked.

“It was a simple get-together in a banquet room of a restaurant. Everyday normal people.” Tessa held back a laugh. Her reading tastes had always leaned toward the erotic, and meeting people at the munch had been eye-opening. “I talked with people, and my friends made sure I was introduced to everyone. It was fun and informative. At the end of the night, my friends told me about a small house party, if I wanted to go.”

“And you did?” Crystal sat forward.

“I did. It was my first foray into the lifestyle.” Tessa smiled. “I was so naive about it all, but I learned. I had really good teachers. As both of you did.”

They laughed.

“Anyway, I hung out once a week in the community. I didn’t play a lot, but I learned.”

“No one hurt you, did they?” Sierra asked.

Tessa shook her head. “Everyone was into consent. When I was comfortable, my friends helped me find a Dom. He was older, but he understood I was new to the lifestyle, so he led me through things very slowly.”

“But something happened.” Crystal commented.

“As my father’s political status continued to grow, it got harder and harder for me not to be noticed by the press, even in Baltimore. My father insisted I be with him and the rest of the family at certain events. Because every event I attended ended up with pictures in the paper, people started treating me differently. It revealed those who were true friends and those who weren’t.”

“That sucks,” Sierra muttered.

“It did. Then Jack came into my life.” Tessa shook her head. “Curly chestnut hair, brown puppy dog eyes, always smiling, and working his way up at a brokerage firm.”

“He sounds ideal,” Crystal said.

“You’d think. We dated. It was nice. I was falling hard and fast. He was the perfect gentleman. Even when he met the family, he wasn’t fawning over my father or anything. I thought I’d finally met a man who saw me.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask what happened,” Sierra said.

“I slowly introduced Jack to kink. He seemed receptive. We went to a party. Jack was uncomfortable, so we didn’t stay long. I could understand that. But in our bedroom, he was more comfortable. Anyhow, we moved in together and were seen more and more with my family. The press started writing articles about us. I wasn’t happy about it, but I was learning to ignore it.”

Well, ignore it as much as she could. The press could be intrusive at times. “Eight months before I graduated with my master’s degree, Jack asked me to marry him, and I said yes. It was going to take time to get the wedding together, so we planned it for two years out.”

“You married him?” Crystal asked.

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