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Angela Winters is the national bestselling author of Back on Top, A Price to Pay, and Gone Too Far, among other titles. Angela, a leadership executive, is a member of several writers' groups. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area. Visit her at AngelaWinters.com.

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ALMOST DOESN'T COUNT

Dafina Books

Chapter One

"Mah!" she yelled.

Sherise broke from her trance and looked down at her fifteen-month-old sitting next to her on the sofa. She had that adorable little frown on her perfect chocolate brown face. Her tiny nose was turned up and her little lips pressed together. She was not pleased.

"Sorry, baby." Sherise smiled and leaned down. She kissed her on the forehead.

"Play," Cady added, handing her mother a tiny stuffed panda bear.

Sherise took the bear and did what she thought her baby wanted. She gently pressed the bear's face against Cady's and Cady made a kissing sound.

"Is this your baby?" she asked. "Do you love your panda baby?"

Cady nodded and giggled. She pressed a tiny squeeze ball in her hands. This wasn't one of her toys. It was a stress ball her mother used to use when work got to her and she needed to calm down. But Little Grabby Hands, which she called Cady, had gotten her hands on it and never let it go.

Didn't matter much, Sherise thought with a sigh. She didn't need it anymore. Except for dealing with the adorable little handful sitting next to her, life was not terribly stressful for her anymore. Six months ago, a series of near-disastrous events urged Sherise to make the hardest decision of her life. This go-getter, who was born to compete and achieve, quit her job, turned her back on a powerful promotion on the Domestic Policy Council for the White House, and became a stay-at-home mom.

She was only twenty-eight. Her life was not over. She was still married to the man she loved, Justin Robinson, a powerful lobbyist, despite making every mistake possible that could cost a woman her husband. In fact, saving her marriage was the reason she decided to give up the career that she had often put first in her life.

Known as a relentless competitor, someone who excelled in office-place politics and games, Sherise had dreams of reaching the top of the power circles in DC. Having come from one of the worst neighborhoods on the southeast side, she fought hard against the odds to make it to assistant director of communications for the Domestic Policy Council.

Sherise had also sought out the perfect husband with great connections. Justin was a recent Georgetown law grad when she met him, but she knew he was already connected and would do wonders for her career in DC. She also knew that although she was very attracted to the tall, handsome, bookish brother, he wasn't so overwhelming that she would lose her head when it came to him. He was trustworthy and controllable.

After having Cady, Sherise had reluctantly taken six months off, instead of the usual twelve weeks, to please Justin, who had actually wanted her to stop working altogether. Although she loved her daughter more than anything, it was torture for Sherise to be out of the loop and not in control. When she finally went back, Sherise was so caught up in the game and a chance to take over when her boss announced he was leaving, she wasn't careful. She made a terrible mistake and fell into the bed of a sexy and powerful man, Jonah Dolan. A man who turned out to be as vindictive and hateful as he was tantalizing and seductive.

Almost getting found out was what made Sherise decide to give everything up and refocus her life on what mattered. When her friend Erica's boyfriend, Terrell, had discovered them and threatened to expose their affair in order to extort Jonah, Sherise was reminded of how much she loved Justin and couldn't live without him. Justin never found out, but he'd known something was wrong. He'd wanted his wife back and she'd given up everything else to be a better wife to him and a mother to their baby.

Looking down at Cady as she mumbled incoherently in a conversation with a tiny plastic pink horse, she smiled from ear to ear. She loved this little girl more than anything and couldn't imagine depriving her of a life without a father. That was the life that Sherise had and she didn't want that for her baby. Justin loved Cady and Cady needed him.

Yes, it was true that Cady might not even be his. Jonah wasn't Sherise's first infidelity. She had allowed herself to get too close to Ryan Hodgkins, a successful architect. She had been trying to make her way into the black elite social circles, but had found herself unable to fight her attraction to this married man. They'd spent one night together before Sherise came to her senses and ended it. She found out she was pregnant a month later, but had always been too afraid to find out if Ryan was Cady's father.

But things were worse now. After six months of trying for a second baby, something she and Justin wanted very much, she wasn't pregnant and Sherise was beginning to wonder if Justin could even get her pregnant. It broke her heart, but with every month that passed with no pregnancy, Sherise was becoming more convinced that Cady might not be Justin's, and she was afraid of what would come out if Justin started to suspect as well.

This was all made worse by the fact that Justin was starting to get so disillusioned with the whole situation that he wasn't initiating sex the way he used to. It was as if he was losing interest in her, and that was a foreign concept to Sherise. She was an exceptionally beautiful woman by anyone's standards.

A little taller than the average woman, but not too tall, she was a stunner. She had flawless, golden caramel skin, silky dark brown hair that went a couple of inches below her shoulders, high cheekbones, full, sultry lips, and piercing green eyes. She was fit and trim, but had killer curves that made her look incredible in the expensive designer clothes she always wore. Everywhere Sherise went, women and men looked ... more than once. Most men wanted her and most women hated her for it.

She had always been able to control Justin and he could not resist her. The problem was that after being out of the career game for so long, Sherise was losing interest in most things, except her daughter, so she wasn't sure if she was the reason their sex life was cooling down, or him.

"Dooce!" Cady yelled. She squeezed her fingers together and smiled up at her mother with those large eyes that always got her what she wanted.

"No juice," Sherise said. "Too much sugar. Water?"

Cady pouted, seeming to understand that she wasn't getting any juice. She folded her tiny arms across her chest, looking almost edible in her little pink and white polka-dot dress. But Sherise wasn't going to give in. She wanted only the best for her daughter and that didn't just mean healthy food and drinks. She wanted a life for her daughter that included a happily married mother and father.

She had to figure out how to get pregnant. Sherise had spent a lot of time in the last six months convincing herself that if she got pregnant she wouldn't miss the world of power brokers and fast-paced deal making. She would have a baby to take care of and another to plan for. Eventually, she would go back to work, but in the meantime, two babies would keep her more than busy and satisfied. At least that was what she tried to convince herself of. It wasn't really working.

"So sorry. So sorry." Jackson Snow apologized to the other two people at his lunch table at Birch & Barley restaurant on Fourteenth Street just as he got off the phone....