by Hamel, B. B.
“I know.” I lean forward on my desk, rubbing at my eyes. “It’s a messed up situation. You don’t know me, you don’t know what my intentions are. But I hope this… I hope you’re willing to see this for what it is.”
“And what is that?”
“I’m trying to win the woman I love. I want to be with her, Linda. For real.”
She just shakes her head again. “I’m sorry. I can’t really believe this.”
“If you run that story, it’ll never happen. I’ll not only lose whatever political capital I have, effectively ending my presidency, but I’ll lose the woman I love. I’d rather lose my job than Maggie.”
She stares at me. “Do you really mean that?”
“Yes,” I say softly.
“Then go public.”
I sit there, watching her for a second. “Are you serious?”
“I’m serious.” She leans forward suddenly, eyes fierce. “If you love that girl, tell the world. Admit to it, be honest. Don’t hide behind your power like so many other men before you have.”
“What about my privacy?”
“You don’t get privacy anymore.” She sighs, shakes her head. “If you want me to believe this, go public. Prove it to me. Prove you love her.”
I slowly sink back into my chair.
It’s an impossible choice. I know what she’s asking me to do, but worse, I think she knows it, too.
If I go public, I’ll lose it all. I’ll be a laughingstock. Even if people believe me, and they really might not, I’ll still be that pervy old President that fell in love with a younger woman. They’ll think I’m pathetic.
They won’t understand. Healthcare reform will be dead and gone.
“Okay,” I say. “But I have to ask her first.”
She smiles slightly. “Good. That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”
She pushes her chair back and slowly stands up. I watch as she turns away and hesitates.
“Go public, Mr. President. Tell the world how you feel. Because if you don’t…” She trails off and shrugs. “Good luck, sir.”
“Thank you, Linda.”
She leaves my office and I sit there, completely wrecked, completely stunned.
But there’s a sliver of hope.
Maybe my presidency will be a failure. Maybe I won’t get to achieve any of the things I set out to achieve. I’ll have to settle for lesser measures, half steps on the road to a better country.
But if I do this, at least I might not lose Maggie. Otherwise, if I just let this story run, it’ll doom her and I’ll never let myself get over it.
I know what I have to do. The answer is obvious, even if it means giving up something incredibly important.
I may never get another chance at this. I may never get it back.
But it doesn’t matter. I’ve made my decision, and I have to follow through.
19
Maggie
I keep waiting for the world to come crashing down around me.
That article is going to come out sooner or later. Linda Torres is going to ruin Adam’s presidency, and it’s going to be all my fault.
I hate myself for it. I hate that Adam isn’t speaking to me.
I’m so angry, I can barely speak. I can barely do my job.
It’s like I’m in a fog. I come into the office and drift through the day, barely able to focus on anything. Iris tries to talk to me at first, but I barely even acknowledge her.
I don’t want to get up for lunch. I don’t want to talk on the phone. I just want to sit at my desk and sulk.
“Maggie?”
I glance over my shoulder. Roger’s standing there, looking concerned.
He’s probably about to fire me.
“What?”
He winces. “Maggie, someone’s here to see you.”
I frown. “Who?”
“The President is waiting in my office for you.”
I stare at him. I half stand, sit back down. “What?”
“The President. He wants to see you in my office.”
I shake my head. “That’s not possible.”
“He’s really in there. Please, don’t keep him waiting.”
I stand up slowly and look past Roger, down the hall, and into his office.
Sure enough, Adam’s in there, sitting at the edge of the desk.
I take a step closer, glance at Roger. He nods at me.
“Go ahead,” he says.
I turn away and walk down the hall. I open the office door and step inside.
Adam’s sitting there. My Adam, my President, my Daddy. He’s all alone.
His smile almost hurts.
I shut the door behind me.
“Thanks for coming,” he says softly.
“Of course, sir.”
He winces at that. “Maggie, listen—”
“No, you listen,” I say suddenly, glaring at him. “You abandoned me. You stopped talking to me, started firing everyone. It scared the hell out of me. I didn’t know why you were ignoring me, why you were getting rid of your staff, what was going on. You abandoned me, Adam.”
I take a step toward him. I can see pain on his face, clear in his eyes.
“I’m so sorry I made you feel that way,” he says. “I never wanted this to happen.”
“Then why? Why put me through all of this?”
“I thought I was doing what was right,” he says softly. “But I was being a coward. I was making the wrong choice.”
“What choice?” I ask.
“Linda Torres. I was distancing myself from you. I thought if I could do that, maybe I could protect you when the story came out about us.”
I blink. “There was nothing you could do,” I say.
“Actually, you’re wrong.” He cocks his head. “I can tell the world that I’m in love with you.”
I stand there, very still, for what feels like a long time. His words slowly reverberate along my spine.
“In… love with me?” I finally manage to say.
He stands up from the desk, steps closer to me. “I love you, Maggie. I’ve loved you from the start. My only mistake in all this was not telling you sooner.”
I stare at him, unable to feel my own hands. My heart’s beating so fast, I might throw up, might pass out.
“Are you okay?” he asks, looking concerned.
“I love you too,” I blurt out.
He grins, comes closer. I throw myself at him.
He grabs me, pulls me against him, and kisses me.
I know the office can see it. He knows it, too. But clearly, he doesn’t care.
I love him. I’ve loved him from the start, and he loves me too. I feel like everything I’ve been thinking, been working toward, suddenly clicks into place. Everything I’ve been feeling is real. Everything I’ve been thinking is real.
I love him, and he loves me.
We slowly break off the kiss, the best kiss of my life. I look into his eyes.
“I’m still annoyed with you,” I say softly.
“I know,” he answers, grinning.
I kiss him one more time. “You asshole.”
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I’ll never let you out of my sight again, okay?”
“Okay.”
He smiles, hugs me, and lets me go. “But we have a decision to make, and I want to make it together.”
We sit in Roger’s chairs and he explains the deal with Linda. He tells me about how she’ll keep her story to herself, but only if he admits that he loves me publicly.
“Your life will change,” he says. “Even more than it already has. I don’t know what things will be like for you at first, but it could be bad.”
“I can handle it.”
“I don’t know if you can.”
“Adam.” I take his hand, his strong hand. “If we do this, you’ll lose it all. Healthcare reform, everything. The public might turn on you.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. I should’ve taken it earlier. I shouldn’
t have needed Linda Torres to force this.”
“Linda didn’t force anything. She just made our life harder.”
He smiles sadly. “That’s why I love you.”
I grin at him. Those words. They drive me wild.
I kiss him. “Let’s do it,” I say.
“Are you sure?”
“If you are, I am.”
He nods once. “Okay then. Just so long as I get you, I don’t care what else happens.”
“You have me.”
I kiss him again, slow and deep. He looks into my eyes.
“I love you, Maggie. And I can’t wait to tell the world.”
I grin at him. “I love you too, Adam.”
He stands. I stand up next to him. He takes my hand.
“Come on. Let’s go to my office and discuss this with Charles.”
“Okay.” He leads me from Roger’s office.
Everyone’s staring at us. Iris looks like she wants to scream.
I grin at her and shrug.
I follow Adam down the hall. He slows and looks at me before taking my hand. We walk like that together, people staring at the two of us.
“What do you think?” he whispers to me. “Weird, right?”
“Weird,” I agree. “But good.” I lean closer to him. “Daddy.”
He grins, kisses me.
We head into the Oval Office together.
My Daddy, my President. The love of my life.
I know nothing will ever be the same. I know everything’s going to change from here on out.
My life is never going to look like I thought it would.
And that’s okay. Because it’s going to look better, so long as I have him.
20
Maggie
One Year Later
The door to the Oval Office opens and Charles comes storming in.
I look up from the couch, frowning slightly. “Ma’am,” he says, nodding at me.
“Hi, Charles,” I answer. “What’s up?”
He grunts the way he does. “Did you hear?”
“Hear what?” I put down the folder of data that I’m going over.
It’s all recent polling stuff from the polling office. My people are getting some really interesting results lately, and I’ve had them double down on certain collection practices that I think are pretty promising.
“It’s the vote.”
I wince. “That’s why I’m in here, Charles.”
“I know, I know. You just…”
“Charles,” I say. “Come on. I really can’t handle it.”
“Just look.” He hands me his phone.
It’s the Fox News website. I stare at the front page for a second, not moving, not breathing.
The headline reads, HOUSE PASSES UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE BILL.
I stare at it for what feels like an hour. Charles is grinning at me like a maniac.
“He did it,” he says. “Can you believe it?”
“I can,” I say softly, laughing. “I really can.”
“We’re not out of the water yet. The Senate needs to make their changes, do that song and dance, but it’s going to go through. We all know it. The Senate’s the easier hurdle.”
“My god,” I whisper to myself, practically laughing. “I can’t believe it.”
“Believe it. Your bill’s about to pass.”
I never thought this day would come. Not over the past year, not with everything that happened.
We came out publicly the day after Adam said he loves me. He held a press conference and announced it, straight up. The press went apeshit, heck, the whole country went insane.
Linda Torres didn’t publish her story, just like she promised.
She didn’t need to. Everything came out, slowly but surely. Adam was called to testify about our relationship in front of the Senate, which he did.
We thought that was the end for him. We really thought he was screwed.
But the data told a different story.
At first, there was a huge dip. People thought he was just another womanizer, just another asshole. Bill Clinton all over again, people were whispering.
But the hearing changed everything.
He told the story, how we met, how we fell in love. He talked so passionately about me but I felt myself falling for him all over again.
And the country fell for him, too.
Headlines changed. He wasn’t the predator anymore. Suddenly, he was a President in love.
We got married six months after it all started. It was a Presidential wedding, absolutely over the top, but perfect.
And I became the First Lady.
Things died down after the wedding. There wasn’t much of a story anymore. I mean, we were just married. Sure, I’m the youngest First Lady ever, but still. It doesn’t make a difference.
But his approval rating didn’t dip. If anything, it continued to rise, slowly but surely.
People liked that he went for what he loved. People liked that he risked it all to be with me.
So we used that. We took healthcare and we wove it into the story.
We painted Adam as a man that goes for what’s right even when it’s hard. And that’s how we sold Medicare for All.
One by one, Adam flipped congressmen. One by one, he got votes.
Six months of that. Day in and day out. Meanwhile, I worked on the actual bill with a team of lawyers, crafting the language, creating the framework.
Now, it’s real.
I stand up, not sure how to feel. I’m shaking a little bit with excitement.
“Where is he?” I ask Charles.
“He’s on his way back.”
“There’s so much to do. I need to make calls, get data—”
But Charles just grins at me. “Or you could be happy.”
“I could try that.”
He laughs, and just then, the door opens again.
The President steps into the room. He looks a little winded.
“Maggie,” he says, grinning huge.
“Did you run back here?”
“Sure did.”
“Come here, you moron.”
He walks over and gathers me up into his arms.
In my mind, everyone else in the room disappears. His security, Ramirez and the others, even Charles. They all disappear. I can’t see them, not at all.
We’re alone, whenever we’re together. Even in a room full of people.
It’s like the first time when he kisses me, except we just made history together.
“Thank you,” he whispers. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”
“No, you’re the one that made it happen. I just helped.”
He laughs, kisses me again. “The fight isn’t over.”
“I know. But we’ll get there.”
“Yeah, we will.”
I hug him tight before letting go. We grin at the room. Charles and Adam shake hands, congratulating each other.
“Okay,” Adam says. “Everyone out. My wife and I need to strategize.”
The agents melt away. Charles hesitates.
“You could always take some time off, you know. Gather yourselves for the fight ahead.”
“No way,” I say.
“We have a full head of steam. Can’t stop now,” Adam adds.
Charles shakes his head. “You two are terrifying together.” He leaves the office.
I turn to my husband. My President.
“Daddy,” I whisper. “You’re all I ever need.”
He grins, kisses me again, this time deep and slow.
It feels good. So damn good.
We’re going to make this country better together. And when it’s all over, we’ll have each other.
I don’t know what else I could possibly need. I have the man I love, the man that takes care of me, gives me what I need, gives me more than I could possibly ever imagine.
I have him and so much more. He’s my Daddy, my President.
The man I love.
&n
bsp; We’ll make history together.
THE END
* * *
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Also by B. B. Hamel
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Dark Daddies
Yes Daddy
Doctor Daddy
Coach Daddy
Hate Love
Hating My New Boss
Hating the Rich Bastard
Rock Hard
Hating the Rock Star
Marrying the Rock Star
Miracle Babies
His Miracle Baby
His Dream Baby
His Perfect Baby
His Wonder Baby
His Amazing Baby
Big Daddies
Possessive Daddy
Small Town Daddy
Your Daddy
Virgin’s Daddy
Man of the House
Second Chance
Best Friends with Benefits
Second Chance Husband
Hating the Rock Star
My Brother’s Bad Best Friend
Barone Mafia Family
Step Bride – Book 1
Bastard’s Baby – Book 2
Kissing the Killer – Book 3
Packing Heat – Book 4
Bow Down – Book 5
Big Daddies