SEAL of Approval

by Lynn Faye

  “Ok.”

  “I’m serious. Mr. Storm doesn’t take kindly to slowness. You need to get the job done quickly or he’ll fire you and have a new person in here by tomorrow. He’s all business while he’s in the office and doesn’t appreciate any distractions.”

  “Alright.”

  The way Steven talked about Matthew was not at all like the man I had spent the night with. I couldn’t even imagine Matthew being as tough of a boss as Steven made him out to be. I figured he was a tough boss at least, but not someone people would be afraid of.

  “Kayla, look at me. If he even smells weakness on you, he will eat you alive.”

  I snickered.

  Not because I was afraid of Matthew, Senator Storm. But because Matthew had literally already eaten me. His mouth had been all over my body, tasting every inch of it. Oh, how Steven would flip his shit if he knew I had fucked his beloved Senator Storm already. But of course, that wasn’t something I was about to tell anyone. It was going to have to be my little secret for as long as I worked in the office.

  “I’m sorry for laughing. Um, does the Senator work out of his office very often?”

  “This isn’t a game Kayla. It’s serious. We work at least eighty hours a week and there’s very little thanks involved in this job. As a first year employee, you can expect to file, order food, and do other errands. But you’ll need to do it with a smile. And yes Senator Storm works out of his office here a lot.”

  “I’ll make sure I do everything I’m asked to do.”

  “Now that we have that clear, I’m going to have you join some of the interns and first years on a tour of everything. It’s a lot to take in, but you should at least get the basics down after the tour.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  We made our way back downstairs where Sarah was talking to the crying girl. It didn’t seem like she was going to be coming on the tour. Her makeup was running down her face and she was almost hyperventilating she was crying so hard.

  I knew how she felt. I desperately wanted to just sit in the corner and cry, but that just wasn’t a possibility. That kind of weakness wasn’t my thing. I was more interested in pushing forward to the next big adventure.

  “She’s definitely not going to last,” Steven said as we walked across the road to the capital building.

  “Why is she crying?” I asked, knowing that Steven didn’t have the answer either.

  “A lot of students aren’t prepared to be away from their family and stuck here for the whole semester. Usually, it takes them getting yelled at by Senator Storm before they break down, though.”

  “He yells?”

  “Let me put it to you this way. Stay on his good side. If you get on his bad side, you’ll be gone by the end of the day.”

  “Wow, he sounds like an ass.”

  “Oh, he is.”

  That did not sit well with me. My brain couldn’t get around the idea that Matthew was really a jerk. That wasn’t the guy I had met. The man I met on the street in Chicago went out of his way to make sure I was safe. He was kind and gentle and certainly not even close to being a jerk.

  Steven left me with all the other new employees and interns so I could get the in-depth tour of the capital building. It was fascinating for me. I had visited once before when I was in high school. But now, as my career was getting started in the political world; the tour took on a whole new meaning for me.

  Every room, every hallway, it all seemed bigger than life when I was in high school. Now, as I walked through the capital building, my thoughts turned to the power that was held in each of the rooms. The men and women that worked in Washington were among the most powerful in the country. They had the power to vote bills into laws and change how we as citizens function in our day to day life. I wanted that power someday.

  ***

  “How was the tour?” Steven asked as I finally made my way back to the office.

  “It was exhausting. I didn’t know there were so many rooms, my tour in high school only covered a few,” I said as I sat down in exhaustion.

  My feet hurt horribly bad and all I could think about was how great it would be to take my shoes off and put my feet up. But I suspected that would not be a very professional thing to do on my first day of work. Perhaps on my second day, I laughed to myself.

  “Sorry, no time for resting. I need you to go into Mr. Storms office and unload those boxes of books onto his bookshelf for him.”

  At the mention of Matthew’s name, I perked up right away. I still hadn’t seen him yet and I was eager to get my explanation out of the way about why I was there. I was sure it would be very uncomfortable, but as soon as I assured him I was there to work I was sure we would be alright with our arrangement.

  “Is he here?”

  “Mr. Storm is still out at committee meetings. I don’t expect he’ll be here much today. There will be plenty of time for meeting him later, don’t worry.”

  “Sure, I understand.”

  I made my way into his office and started to unload the boxes. As I placed them on the shelf, I looked back at the office door to make sure he wasn’t coming. The last thing I wanted was to meet him with my ass up in the air while I was unloading the books from the boxes.

  My heart pounded at the thought of getting to see Matthew again. I don’t know why I was so excited. That night when I left him I was terrified of this moment, of this day, and now all I could think about was looking in his eyes again. My heart thumped with a desire to see him and I felt my face turn flush red just thinking about Matthew.

  The memory of his body naked on top of mine, still sent chills through my body. I had wanted him so badly that I almost orgasmed the second he slid inside of me. His body was filled with muscles and his eyes peered down at me with such command. Even days later I could remember the look in his eyes as he watched me orgasm. The pleasure it brought him was evident for sure.

  As I finished the first box, I felt the presence of someone behind me. I paused, I knew it was him before he even said a word. His smell was specific. I didn’t know what cologne he wore but I knew it was Matthew before I even heard him or turned around.

  “Looks like you’re working hard. I like that in a new intern,” I heard Matthew say from behind me.

  Slowly I stood up and turned around to face him. My heart fluttered with desire. It had only been a few days, but I had forgotten just how weak in the knees he made me. I smiled and looked into his eyes as I tried to find the right words to explain why I was standing in his office. Surely there was a better way to explain the situation, but my words just wouldn’t come to me.

  “Hi,” I said as I tried not to make eye contact with him anymore.

  My plan to explain everything went right out the window when I was faced with him right in front of me. I lost my words and just stood there. His eyes penetrated through me and even though I had looked away, I still felt them.

  “I’m Matthew Storm,” he said as he put his hand out for me to shake. “Are you the new intern?”

  Didn’t he know who I was? My mind swirled with what the hell was going on. Why was he introducing himself to me? Of course, he knew who I was. Was he playing a game? I didn’t know what to say.

  “Um, hi,” I said as I reached my hand out to shake his.

  “So you’re the new intern?”

  “No, I’m a first-year aid, or assistant, or whatever you call us. Names Michaela,” I said jokingly.

  Surely he knew who I was. Perhaps he just wanted to keep things professional at work. Or maybe he was playing some sort of game. Either way, it made me feel pretty shitty to think that he really didn’t recognize me.

  “Great, it’s nice to have you on board,” he said as he turned and walked to his desk.

  I had no idea what was going on but embarrassment seeped into my cheeks and I wanted to get out of that room as fast as possible. My expectation was that I would have to explain why I was there. I did not expect for him to have no idea who the hell I was
.

  Did he seriously sleep with so many women that he didn’t remember having me in his bed only a few days before? It baffled me. Then it infuriated me. I had never met a man who could anger me and excite me so quickly.

  All of my lovely thoughts about my night with Matthew were now gone. Instead, I stood there filled with anxiety and self-doubt about why I had slept with a man who cared so little about who he had in his bed. How could he seriously not remember me? I had felt like we had something special, a special connection between the two of us. But maybe I had imagined it all. Maybe there was no special connection at all. I didn’t know. Nothing made sense in that moment.

  Nothing about the moment was comfortable at all either and I needed to get out of that room as fast as possible.

  I finished putting the last few books onto the shelf and then stormed out of his office and back to my small desk in the other room.

  “Well, I see you met Senator Storm,” Sarah said as I sat at my desk with tears forming in my eyes.

  “He’s an ass.”

  “You’ll get used to him. He’s just efficient. Don’t worry about it too much. He’s got an assistant who he works with most of the time, Alex is his name. Even Steven and I don’t work with the Senator all that much. So you’ll be safe out here. We will give you most of your tasks anyways.”

  “Okay,” I said as I tried to calm my anger.

  There was no way I could explain to Sarah exactly why I was so angry. She didn’t need to know that I had been naked in Matthews bed only a few short days before.

  “I’ve got a list of errands we need done before tomorrow. How do you feel about doing them?” Sarah asked as she handed me the list.

  I knew she wasn’t really asking me, it was more like telling me. But I was happy to get out of the office for a little bit. I certainly didn’t want to have to talk to Matthew again, especially since he seemed to not have any idea who I was.

  “Sure, I can handle a few errands.”

  “Just pick this stuff up and get it back here and you can head out for the night.”

  “Sounds good. Thanks, Sarah.”

  I grabbed my jacket and made my way out to the main hallways. As I looked through the list, it didn’t seem too difficult. The problem was I had to leave my car at the park n’ ride about ten miles out of town. Surely I could find most of the items at the stores around the capital, though, or at least I thought I could.

  It was much tougher than I thought it was going to be. As I made my way around town, I desperately searched for a store that had all the supplies I needed, but I didn’t have much luck. All the stores in the downtown area were specialty stores.

  One store had the paper I needed, another the notepads, but none of them had the red pens I needed to find. I lugged around my purchases from one store to the next trying to find the last item on my list.

  Finally, about two miles away from the capital, I found a store that carried the red pens I needed. It was well past six o’clock when I made my way back to the office. Again I felt the exhaustion of the day.

  My arms hurt from carrying everything for the last several miles and I was utterly exhausted. This job was turning out to be much more work than I had expected. But perhaps I was just exhausted from all the first-day stuff.

  “Hey, are you Michaela?” A man in a suit said to me as I came into the office.

  “Yep.”

  “Hi, I’m Alex. I’m Senator Storms assistant. I was getting a little worried about you. Sarah said you left a few hours ago to get the supplies.”

  “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t really know where I was going.”

  “No problem. I just wanted to make sure I had the chance to introduce myself before you left for the day.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Alex.”

  “You too. Well, I’m going to head home and get some sleep. You should too. Everyday can last forever here if you don’t make it a priority to leave.”

  “I’m right behind you. I just need to put these things away.”

  As Alex left, I slumped into my chair out of exhaustion. It had been a really long day and I couldn’t wait to get back to my little apartment and get some sleep.

  The place I was renting was a little ways out of town, and not in the best neighborhood, but it had a bed. Oh, how I wanted my bed so badly at that moment.

  I finished putting the first sack of items away and then I heard a noise coming from Matthew’s office. My stomach churned as I realized who was there.

  Crap he was still there!

  I kept my eyes on the door as I hurried to finish putting the supplies away so I could leave before he came out of his office. I absolutely didn’t want to have to deal with him again. And I couldn’t bare the embarrassment of him not knowing who I was again.

  Just as I had finished putting everything away and I was about to leave, Matthew came out of his office. My luck just never quit worked out how I wanted it to.

  He looked at me and then looked around the room like he was making sure no one else was still around.

  “Is everyone gone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well we should get out of here also I suppose,” Matthew said with a smile.

  I couldn’t figure out if he smiled at me or if he just smiled because he wanted to leave the office. But then again, he didn’t even recognize me so he certainly wasn’t going to start smiling at me.

  “Yes, I was just heading out.”

  “You really shouldn’t leave alone this late at night. Washington is pretty dangerous.”

  “I’ll try to leave earlier next time.”

  It was driving me nuts that he didn’t know who I was. How was it even possible that we had spent a whole night together and he didn’t remember me? My mind swirled with the possibilities and none of them seemed good at all.

  He could have been so drunk he didn’t remember me. He could have been on some sort of drugs. Or worse yet, Matthew could sleep with so many women he couldn’t keep them straight in his mind.

  None of those possibilities seemed like they were true though. I knew he remembered me. I just knew it. But I didn’t know why he was pretending like he didn’t know me.

  But then I started to think about the fact that I had left him that morning without saying goodbye or giving him any way to reach me. Maybe he was still angry about that? I had no idea. He didn’t seem like the type of guy to hold a grudge, but perhaps that was what was going on at that moment.

  “Let me walk with you to your car. Are you parked near here?” Matthew said as we got into the elevator.

  Standing alone with him in the elevator I could feel sexual tension like I had never felt before. It might have only been one-sided sexual tension, but I certainly felt it between us. There was a power that sat in the air between our bodies and it wasn’t going away.

  “I took the train in. My car is up north a few miles,” I managed to say.

  My brain wasn’t thinking straight. Every fiber of my body wanted Matthew to put his hands on me again. But he wouldn’t even look at me. His eyes were focused on his phone and he only half paid attention to the fact that I was even in the elevator with him.

  “The train? Where are you staying?”

  “I got a good deal on a studio apartment up north.”

  “North as in the worst neighborhood in town? Where the shootings happen, every night and even my security guard wouldn’t go alone?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. He had described my new neighborhood exactly. I was terrified to live there and really hoped I wouldn’t have to stay for very long. Luckily the apartment I rented was in a building owned by an elderly couple and the people in my building seemed nice. The problem was coming and going from my building scared me to death.

  “Yep, that’s the right neighborhood,” I said as the elevator opened I turned right toward the subway station. “See you tomorrow.”

  There was no way I wanted to continue our conversation. I felt an unstoppable urge to wrap my arms aroun
d him and kiss him. Yet he didn’t even remember who I was. I felt like I was only moments away from making a total fool of myself and I couldn’t risk that. Nothing about the current situation was good. But the fact that I hadn’t embarrassed myself by kissing Matthew was at least a decent start.

  This was going to be a really long year of working with Senator Storm. I couldn’t think of anything worse than having to work with him and he didn’t even remember me. He certainly wasn’t going to remember anything good I did around the office. Or remember any details to give me a letter of recommendation.

  “Where are you going, Kayla?”

  “To the train.”

  “Come this way. I can’t let you take the train to that neighborhood at this hour.”

  I hesitated for a minute but then followed him out the other side of the building. While we were walking, I played the conversation back in my mind. He called my Kayla instead of Michaela, he knew who I was. There was no way he didn’t. Even if he was a womanizing jerk, he couldn’t have forgotten me already. But why was he acting like he didn’t know me at all?

  I didn’t know what kind of game he was playing and I was exhausted and didn’t really care about his games anyways. I just wanted to make it to my apartment and crawl onto my mattress on the floor. Then I wanted to sleep all night long without hearing any gunshots in my neighborhood. It was a simple idea, but none of it would happen until I got my butt home soon.

  We walked into the parking garage and I followed a few steps behind him as we made our way to his car. It was a black BMW with black leather inside. It seemed perfectly suited for Matthew.

  He opened my door for me and let me inside. It was a chivalrous thing to do considering he was pretending like he didn’t know me at all. It was driving me crazy.

  I wanted to scream at him. To yell and call him names for pretending like he didn’t know me. It was crazy. Why would a grown man act like that? I didn’t know, but I could hardly hold in my anger anymore.