by K. A. Linde
Whatever had happened this weekend was over. She needed to be in the here and now. Present. When she was with Easton, it was so easy. Effortless.
His hands slid down her back, over her ass, and down to her thighs. He hoisted her into the air and wrapped her legs around his waist. She held on to him as he walked them back into their bedroom. The one that definitely needed to be broken in again.
Monday morning dawned bright and early. Nerves pricked at Savannah as she took the Metro to the K Street stop and exited into the sunshine that brightened Franklin Square. She took a deep breath to calm herself and followed the crowd toward the gold revolving doors of The Washington Post.
It felt surreal to walk across the black-and-white tiled floor and see the high marbled walls all around her. She’d dreamed of this moment for so long. Reporting had been her goal from a young age. Even when people tried to push her to news broadcasting, claiming her pretty face should be on a television screen, she’d been enamored with newspapers. She’d read them religiously, growing up, and she refused to believe that they were a dying market.
She crossed to the row of brass elevators and followed the instructions she had been emailed last week. She stepped out of the elevator with ten other people who all clearly knew where they were going. Savannah glanced down at the email once more and turned a circle.
“Newbie?”
She turned to see a woman with shoulder-length, curly brown hair and full red lips. She wore black pants, a floral blouse, and stiletto red pumps.
“Uh…yes. That obvious?”
“Always.” She held her hand out. “Dylan Gonzalez.”
Savannah took it. “Savannah Maxwell.”
“Ohhh,” Dylan said, dragging the word out. “The Maxwell chick. Yeah, I’ve heard of you.”
Savannah grimaced. Great, her name had preceded her. “Oh dear.”
Dylan laughed. “Come on. I think you’re McAllister’s assistant. He’s a hard-ass and way old school. Good luck with that.”
“I’m up to the challenge.”
“That’s what the last three said. He kind of rides you into the ground.” Dylan contemplatively pressed a finger to her lips. “Metaphorically, of course.”
“I’d hope so.”
Dylan snickered. “Definitely.” She knocked twice on a large corner office. “McAllister, your new girl is here.”
“Send her in.”
Dylan squeezed her shoulder once reassuringly. “Give ’em hell, Maxwell.”
Savannah stepped forward into her boss’s office. He was a tall, fit man with pale skin and a slightly receding hair line. He looked like the kind of guy who used to play football in high school and hadn’t quite let himself go. He shot her a blank look and absentmindedly gestured around his office.
“Miss Maxwell, come in. I’m Rich McAllister.”
She stepped in carefully. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
“Your office is the cubicle across from mine. Mitch can help you set up. I like my coffee with cream and two sugars, and I like them regularly.” He waved his hand again. “Welcome to the team.”
Savannah opened her mouth to respond, but he had already turned back to his computer. So much for making a great first impression.
Mitch had the cubicle next to her and sighed when he saw her. “Maxwell?”
“Yes. Savannah.”
“Great. I like my coffee with hazelnut creamer and two Splenda packets,” he told her. “Just throw your stuff down and head over to the coffee station, stat.”
“Oh…okay.”
Halfway to the coffee station, she took two more orders. She tried not to curse anyone as she made all the drinks as best and fast as she could. She put them in a carrier. But when she wound back through the cubicles, she found the office empty.
“What the hell?” she mumbled.
Then, she saw the conference room. Great.
She eased the door open with her toe and came in to a spatter of laughter. Everyone was looking at her and laughing. Her cheeks bloomed red, and she tried to cover it by walking forward to pass out coffee.
“You’re late for the morning meeting,” McAllister said. “Hurry and pass that out and take your seat.”
She gulped and hastily handed everyone coffee. Then, she dropped into the nearest seat and pulled a notebook toward her. She took notes through the entire meeting but was back on coffee duty by the afternoon.
While she was sinking halfway under an ever-growing pile of paperwork that had materialized on her last coffee run, a familiar face appeared.
“Hey Maxwell, ready to quit yet?” Dylan asked.
Savannah grinned. “No way.”
“They make you get coffee all day?”
She nodded.
“Yeah, sounds right. It’ll get better. They just don’t think you’re qualified.”
Savannah’s eyes rounded. “Uh, why?”
“Because you’re a Maxwell. Everyone thinks daddy got you this job,” Dylan told her.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Dylan shrugged and leaned against her cubicle. “Why not? No one else is honest. And if it’s true, then you’ll scrub out in a couple of weeks anyway. If it’s not, maybe you’ll prove everyone wrong.”
Savannah glanced back at the stack of paperwork. This wasn’t what she wanted to be doing. But everyone had to start somewhere.
“You think my dad would have gotten me a position where I had to get everyone coffee?” she asked with a smirk. “If he had it his way, I’d have McAllister’s job already.”
Dylan snorted. “I like you. Let’s get drinks sometime.”
“Done.”
“Maybe after you crawl your way out of that hole,” Dylan said, pointing at the stack of paperwork.
“Yeah…no kidding.”
“I’ll be waiting,” Dylan said. She fluttered her fingers in Savannah’s direction as she departed.
“Me too,” Savannah muttered under her breath.
Savannah stayed well past close. It was a couple of hours later when she pulled herself out of the paperwork long enough to see the time and that she had missed several calls from Easton.
She called him back. “Hey, so sorry I didn’t answer. I’ve been swamped.”
Easton laughed on the other line. “I was actually calling because I’m still at the office.”
“Oh,” she said with a laugh. “Well, at least we’re on the same schedule.”
“Pretty much. Brady wants me to go back to North Carolina with him this weekend.”
“Ugh! Already?”
“I ran that office for him. It’s good for me to travel with him.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled.
“Maybe you should see Liz while I’m gone. I know you two haven’t gotten a chance to catch up.”
“That’s actually a great idea.”
“See you at home later?”
Savannah grinned. “I’ll leave a spot for you in bed.”
“Don’t steal all the covers.”
“Psh,” she muttered. “As if that’s me.”
Easton laughed. “That’s absolutely you, love.”
“Fine. Just try not to wake me up when you come in.”
She could practically see Easton’s wolfish grin through the phone. “Oh, I have every intention of waking you up.”
“Don’t start that with me, or I might just have to come home before I finish this paperwork.”
“All right, all right. Get your work done, and I’ll see you in a few hours. Love you.”
“You too. Bye.”
Savannah hung up the phone with a pleased smile on her face. Since she’d walked away from Lucas, things had been so good with Easton. She already felt like they were back where they were supposed to be.
Before she forgot about it, she dialed Liz’s number.
Her sister-in-law answered on the second ring. “Savannah! Oh my God, I was just thinking about you.”
“Well, good timing then. I hear the boys are going out of town th
is weekend.”
“Ugh! Is Brady dragging Easton along too? I swear, they plan these things without us on purpose.”
“Tell me about it,” Savannah said. She leaned the phone between her head and shoulder and clicked over to the next document she was working on. “But since we have the weekend free, I was thinking we could hang out.”
“I would love that. How about dinner Friday night? I know this Indian place downtown that is to die for. I’ll make Brady get us a reservation.”
“Oh God, no,” Savannah said quickly. “As much as I’d love a fancy dinner, I really just want laid-back girl time and maybe a beer. I think I’m going to need one at the end of this week.”
“Is it that bad?” Liz asked with concern.
Liz knew what it was like. She had been Savannah’s editor at the college newspaper that they had both ended up running. But after a scandal with Brady, she’d never fully recovered her love of journalism. Now, she was at Maryland, getting her PhD.
“You have no idea. I’ll tell you all about it when I see you Friday.”
“Okay. I’ll pick something more low-key, and maybe we can do Rasika another night.”
“Put me down for it. I can’t wait to catch up.”
“Me either! There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
“Bad?” Savannah asked.
“Of course not. It’s nothing. We’ll talk about it Friday.”
“All right. If you’re sure.”
“Completely.”
Savannah hung up the phone, but she wondered what Liz could have to talk to her about. Hopefully, it actually wasn’t bad. Because she could not handle something else going wrong in her life. She surveyed the enormous pile of paperwork she had to get through with a sigh. Better get cracking.
7
Surprise, Surprise
“I hate that we keep missing each other every weekend,” Easton said. He tugged Savannah closer and leaned his foreheads against hers. “One of these days, we will both be home all weekend and actually get to spend some time together.”
“One day. If I ever get caught up on work.”
“Don’t let them intimidate you.”
“Oh, I’m not intimidated,” she told him. “I’m pissed. I didn’t think I’d be top dog by noon or anything, but I thought someone would at least take me seriously.”
“Stick with it, and someone will.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, waving her hand. “I know. That’s what Dylan says too.”
“I think I need to meet this Dylan. You’ve talked about her all week.”
“Well, when she’s the only person in the entire building who is nice to you, it’s easy to talk about her. Plus, she’s gorgeous, funny, and brilliant.”
“Maybe you should date her instead,” he said with a laugh.
“Maybe I should. She speaks Spanish too.” She winked at him.
“Well, that definitely beats out my tennis skills.”
Savannah giggled. “You’re ridiculous. Now, hurry up before you’re late. Brady doesn’t like to wait.”
Easton grinned and pulled her in for a kiss. “Don’t have too much fun with Liz. She’s a troublemaker.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Okay, maybe that’s just my imagination when I think about you two together.”
She swatted him. “Oh my God, Easton!”
“A guy can dream!” he said, ducking out of her reach. “I love you. Have fun!”
She shook her head with a grin on her face and watched him leave out of their apartment. She loved that man and all of his ridiculousness. She wished that he could be here this weekend. But work always came first for both of them. At least she had Liz. It would be nice, catching up. They hadn’t spent nearly enough time together since Liz had moved to DC two years ago.
Savannah checked the time. If she was going to beat traffic, she needed to head out too. Of course, beating the traffic in DC was like saying the sky was green and the grass was blue. It was always horrendous, even at odd hours. Not to mention, all the drivers were insane. She’d thought The Triangle was bad, but it was nothing compared to DC drivers.
She probably should have taken the Metro, but she didn’t want to get stuck if they stayed out late. And since the place was closer to Brady and Liz’s, she figured she might end up crashing there anyway. Especially since her brother was gone for the weekend.
It took a solid forty-five minutes of cussing out the traffic to get to the sports bar that they had chosen for its excellent selection of craft beer. Savannah wasn’t the world’s biggest beer fan, but after her week, she needed it. And maybe something stronger.
The place was crowded already when she entered. It had wall-to-wall big-screen televisions with an enormous horseshoe bar at the center. Booths lined the restaurant and high-top tables took up most of the center of the space. It was loud and a bit overwhelming. She was wondering if it would have been better to pick a quieter place, so they could chat.
But then she saw Liz at the bar and decided it didn’t matter.
She hurried over to her friend and grabbed her tight.
“Look at you, all grown up,” Liz said with a laugh. “I remember when we were in college, and you wouldn’t even drink around the other journalists.” She held her at arm’s length. “Now, you’re requesting a bar for dinner.”
“Ugh! I drank in college.”
“Just not around us.”
“Sometimes. But you know how it is. It’s easy to feel like your every move is being watched.”
Liz nodded. “I absolutely know that feeling. Senior year was kind of a disaster because of it. And I was just joking anyway. I’m glad you’re here. I can’t believe we have you, Brady, and Clay in the same city. The Maxwell siblings have arrived.”
Savannah plopped down next to her. “I feel lucky. I always thought that I’d be far from my brothers. Clay has been here forever since he was working for the Supreme Court. And then Brady was elected to the House. It kind of felt inevitable that I’d end up here. But, of course, I had no idea it would be The Washington Post. Most journalists have to pay their dues in a small-town newspaper. I apparently have to pay them at a huge newspaper.”
“Aww,” Liz said sympathetically, “is it really that bad?”
“You have no idea.” She shot her an exasperated look.
“Tell me about it. I was hoping that you’d have good news about the job.”
“Let’s get something to drink first.”
Liz waved her hand at the cute bartender, who hustled over. “We’ll take an order of chips and salsa. My friend here wants a Blue Moon, and I’ll just have…” She scrolled the menu and then glanced up at Savannah. “Will you kill me if I have a Coke? I’m really not feeling up to a beer.”
Savannah waved her hand at Liz. “Whatever you want. I just really need a beer.”
“Great. A Coke and a water with lemon.”
“Got it. Coming right up.” The bartender gave them both a dimpled grin and then filled their drinks.
Savannah took a large gulp of her beer. “I really, really needed that.”
“Okay. What’s going on?” Liz drank her Coke. “This isn’t like you to be so stressed out. Actually…I don’t think I’ve ever seen you stressed out.”
“Well, I also wasn’t forced to be the coffee girl for the entire department. I’m all for paying my dues. That’s fine by me. But they’re doing it because they think my dad got me the job, and if they push me hard enough, I’ll scrub out.”
“That’s absurd. Why would your dad get you a job where you get everyone’s coffee?” Liz asked with a laugh.
Savannah threw her hand out. “I know! That’s what I said. He’s a freaking senator. He has more sway than that. I got this job on my own merits. Not that anyone seems to care.”
“And the boss?”
She shrugged. “He’s fine. I’m filing paperwork, sending emails, and answering phone calls. I don’t mind it. Being his assistant could get me
another job in the department if I work my way up. And honestly, he’s not even that bad. He just expects me to leave. He’s had three other assistants, and they all left.”
“Well, there you go. You’re not going to leave. Give it some time, and he’ll see that you’re different.”
“I just wish that my name hadn’t done this to me.”
“What? Open doors?” Liz asked with a chuckle.
“Make everyone hate me because I’m a Maxwell.”
“Shush,” Liz said, taking another long sip. “All you Maxwells are charming, confident, and hard-working.”
“Even Clay?” Savannah asked. She bit down on her lip to keep from laughing.
“Especially Clay! And anyway, Brady and Clay had to prove themselves to get to where they are. You will too.”
“You’re right. Of course you’re right. I’m just a stress ball. At least there’s one person I like at work.”
“That’s progress.”
“Yeah, her name is Dylan. I think you’d like her. She’s very…blunt.”
Liz snorted. “Blunt like Victoria?” she asked about her best friend from college.
“Maybe not…that blunt. But I like her. It’d be nice to have a friend. Or at least an ally.”
“That it would. You should invite her to hang out with us sometime. Brady is putting together a party next weekend. She could come with you.”
Savannah reached for their chips, which the cute bartender had just brought over. “I’ll see if she’s interested.”
Even though Dylan had said that they should get drinks, Savannah hadn’t thought to invite her today. Mostly, she needed a vent session. But maybe Dylan could come along to Brady’s.
Actually, now that she thought about it, she should probably get drinks with Dylan solo first. Savannah’s family was intimidating. And she didn’t want her only friend to think that she was trying to show off or something. Savannah couldn’t help but constantly be conscious of all of this. She wished she weren’t, but bringing new people into the fold was always a bit more like brain surgery. It wasn’t like everyone fit so seamlessly into the Maxwell family like Liz.
“No rush, ladies,” the cute bartender said, swiping his brown hair out of his eyes. “But if you’re ready to order…”