“Are you complaining?” His soapy hands roamed down her stomach. “I only whip out my cock in front of you.”
“No complaints,” she whispered.
“Good.”
She moaned as his fingers pressed between her legs, very subtly pushing them apart.
“This part of your body might need a little more attention too,” he murmured.
Caroline pressed her palms against the wet tile in front of her, trying to keep her balance as she widened her stance. “You’re very observant.”
Jack let his hands slip back up to her waist. He turned her around slowly. “I want to get you off again.”
She laughed. How predictable. “What about you?”
“I’m fine.”
He wanted her to reciprocate at some point, she was sure. “Right,” she said.
“I mean it,” Jack insisted, his hand between her legs again. “How about when we’re done showering we enjoy a romantic dinner out?”
Caroline eyed his cock, already starting to harden under the steady stream of the showerhead. “How about we order in?”
* * * * *
Jack lit a candle in the corner of the dining room. Always the romantic, even with a pizza box and paper plates on the table. At least the wine flutes were real glass.
“What do you say we spend the night in Georgetown tomorrow?” he asked. “We could go out to dinner and head to the townhouse after we’re done with work.”
Caroline felt more at home in Rockville, but driving to the suburbs after a long day on the House floor sounded like wasted time since Jack would leave for Pennsylvania the next morning. They hadn’t spent much time in the brownstone lately. Unbelievably, there were rooms they hadn’t christened. She wondered if Jack was thinking the same thing.
“Sure,” she said. “You’d better make it count.”
“Oh, we will.”
He had the same idea she did. She opened the pizza box, pulling out a giant slice slathered in cheese. “Do you think people can tell?”
Jack uncorked the bottle of Moscato, setting it on the table. “Tell what?”
“That we’re a couple of giant horndogs.”
“Does it matter?”
For a man who had a very complicated love/hate relationship with the media, he was rather carefree about the recent coverage they’d received. “I’d like to maintain some dignity when we’re in public together,” she said.
He poured two glasses of wine. “I think our little display of affection at the Fairmont gave people a rough idea of where we stand.”
Caroline cringed as he handed her the glass. That fucking elevator and its fucking cameras. “Don’t remind me.” She lifted her glass to his. “Did you check to see whether a sparkling white wine was appropriately paired with thin crust pizza?”
Jack took a sip from his glass before glancing at the back of the bottle. “Label says it goes with Italian food. That’s good enough.” He took two slices of his own and sat down at the table across from her. “You don’t spend a lot of time worrying about stuff like that, do you?”
“I’m mostly worried I’m going to slip and say something stupid whenever anyone asks me how we’re dealing with the stress of the campaign.”
“What would you say if given the chance?”
She blushed. “That we rip each other’s clothes off and screw our brains out all night.”
His eyes widened, but Jack kept his voice detached. “I don’t see how that’s inappropriate,” he said. “Truth is a defense.” He refilled her glass. “A more accurate statement would be that you let your husband fuck you so hard that you can’t walk the next day.”
He couldn’t stay detached for long. The dirty talker had returned. “That would be terribly uncouth,” Caroline said.
Jack took another sip of wine. “Again, truth is a defense.”
She stretched her arms wide. “I’m still up and walking around now, smart guy.”
He looked at his watch. “It’s early.”
“If I can’t walk, will you carry me onto the House floor tomorrow morning?”
“Only if you’re slung over my shoulder.”
What an amusing picture he painted. “Not a chance. Maybe I’d let you do that if the Capitol was on fire and you were hauling me out.”
“Would you do the same for me?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” Caroline said. “I might grab your wallet first. For safe keeping.”
Jack chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect anything else.”
She enjoyed the lightness of the meal but something had been nagging at her ever since he’d woken her from her nap. “I feel like we should talk more when we’re enjoying our limited time together.”
He looked confused. “We do, sweetheart. We’re talking now.”
“Dirty talk and flirty banter don’t count.”
“They absolutely do,” Jack said. “I wish you could feel what it does to me when I can see you physically respond to the sound of my voice.” He shifted in his chair. “Jesus.”
Caroline was tempted to crawl under the table and check his situation to see if she could coax a laugh out of him. “Calm down, Monty. We need to take a little break before we run back upstairs.”
“We don’t have to go upstairs,” he said.
Her husband was impossible sometimes. “You know what I mean.”
Jack heaved an unnecessarily huge sigh. “I know. I’ll be patient and let you eat your dinner. I may even let you keep that robe on.”
Caroline had slipped on his navy blue robe when she’d gotten out of the shower, just because she knew it drove him crazy when she wore his clothes. “That’s nice of you.”
“Might have to untie it first. It hangs well but looks much better undone.”
She suspected he wouldn’t be happy with anything other than total clothing removal. “I’ll get cold.”
He poured himself another glass of wine. They were tearing through the Moscato so quickly that it was bound to be a two bottle night. “You won’t have to worry about that,” he said. “Nor do you have to worry about any lack of communication between us. When we’re apart we spend hours on the phone with each other.”
A valid point. She’d run her battery out more than once during late night calls with him. “I guess there’s that.”
Jack got up from the table and knelt down by her chair. “Sweetheart, it’s hard for me to be away from you. Maybe you don’t realize that. When I’m with you I want to show you how much I’ve missed you. Is that so wrong?”
“No,” Caroline whispered, stroking the stubble on his cheek. “It’s not.”
“Then don’t worry about it. And don’t worry about the reporters. Just be yourself. It’s worked so far.”
“Okay.” She smiled when he grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. “Finish your dinner.”
Jack stood up and saluted her. “Yes, ma’am.”
Damn. He’d had perfect posture and everything when he’d said that. How sexy. “Ooh, I like the sound of that. Can we use that later?”
“Maybe.” He sat down in the chair across from her, his expression serious. “Caroline, you’re not on the payroll but you’re my most trusted advisor. Everyone else on the campaign knows that. You understand people. You connect with them. You’re great with swing voters and women. And you’re really fucking smart.” The grave look evolved into a smile. “You’re so much more than a sex goddess.”
Caroline choked on her pizza. “Oh, that one’s good. You’d better write it down and save it for future reference.”
“Maybe pull it out the next time you’re pissed at me?”
“Maybe.”
Jack reached across the table and took her hand. “I don’t ever want to take you for granted,” he said quietly. “Or forget what I have with you. If I start to do that, I want you to call me on it. Understand?”
He was being unusually reflective. “Is that why you came home early?” she asked.
“Partly,” Jack said. “There’s an important vot
e tomorrow that I need to be a part of.”
Some clarity. He did have to save some political face when it came to his congressional seat. Caroline gave him a mock frown. “To cancel me out, I suppose.”
“It’s more than that. I missed you. You’re my best friend, Caroline. This campaign is wearing on me. Sometimes I need to see you in person.”
She could do something about that. “How about I get up to Philadelphia more often?”
“That sounds exhausting for you.”
It was worth the effort. “I’ll start doing those ‘Meet the Candidate’s Wife’ town halls too, if you want.” Jack’s campaign manager Greg had been hounding her about them for weeks, even though the idea was slightly unorthodox.
Jack beamed. “Really?”
His reaction made her heart swell. “See, there’s one area where you have an advantage over Murdock. He has to pay women to say nice things about him. And I’m willing to bet none of them could hold a town hall.”
“You think I don’t pay?”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “Watch it.”
“I’m kidding,” he said. “But if you’re going to be doing that, I want you to spend a good chunk of your time making joint appearances with me.”
She’d prefer not to fly solo. Hanging out with large numbers of Republicans without him as a buffer gave her a headache. “We can make that work. I like being alone in hotel rooms with you.”
The smile had yet to leave her husband’s face. “I noticed. But you’ve been resisting heavier involvement in the campaign. What changed?”
Caroline downed the rest of her Moscato. “I want you to win,” she said quietly.
“I know that. So?”
“So maybe I should give in and admit this is something I need to do for you.”
He refilled her glass, finishing off the bottle. “I like when you give in, sex goddess that you are.”
She laughed. “With talk like that, I may take off this robe before dinner is even over.”
“If anyone takes that robe off, it’s going to be me,” he said. “It is mine.”
Caroline rubbed her cheek against the soft terrycloth. “It’s comfy. I might keep it.”
“I will readily concede that it looks a hell of lot better on you than it does on me.”
The look on her husband’s face was enough to bring her reflective side to the surface as well. Or maybe it was the Moscato talking. “I miss you too,” she said abruptly. “It’s hard for me to talk about. I don’t want to take you for granted, either.”
“You haven’t and you won’t.” He stared down at his half-eaten pizza. “I’m sorry I’ve been away from you so often. I know how hard this campaign has been, and we haven’t even gotten to the most stressful part.”
A frequent topic of their discussions. She kept reassuring him that it was okay, that she could deal with their temporary separations, that it would get easier once November arrived. But she couldn’t push all of her insecurities to the side. “This is all so new, darling. I guess I’m afraid one of us is going to get bored.”
Jack frowned. “You mean me.”
“No,” she said quickly. “I just – this has all been a dream so far, and I don’t want it to end.”
The presents, the trips, the attention, the affection, the weekends spent in bed…they all seemed like they were happening to someone else. Caroline felt like she was spying on another woman who had a life in which, at least temporarily, everything had gone completely right.
“Maybe it’s time for you to admit this is something that could last,” he said. “You don’t have to be looking over your shoulder terrified that something is going to happen.”
“I’m sorry, Jack. I know my hesitance bothers you. I don’t want you to take it personally.”
He shoved his plate out of the way and took both of her hands in his. “I know why you feel the way you do. But you need to let it go. You can’t spend your entire life wondering if your happiness will be taken away from you. You worry too much. Nick wouldn’t want you to feel that way, nor do I.”
It was hard to change who she was, even though he was doing his best to help her. “I know.”
“Indulge yourself. Revel in it. It doesn’t mean you’re taking advantage of it.”
Easier said than done. She’d had her fair share of sadness and should have been more willing to appreciate the happy times when they came. Much harder in practice than in theory. The clock was always ticking.
“We won’t have this much alone time once the fall campaign kicks off,” Caroline said. “Nor can we get busy on the living room floor when the girls come back from camp.”
“I know that,” Jack said. “When I think of how good we have it, the sex is only part of it.”
After their romps in bed and in the shower, he could say that with a straight face? “Really?”
“Caroline, I married you for much more than your libido. You know that, don’t you?”
“I guess so,” she mumbled. “It’s not like you weren’t able to get laid before you met me.”
Jack squeezed her hands. “Now I get much more than sex. It means more. You mean more.”
“Does this count as us talking more?” she asked.
He laughed. “I doubt it. You’re the one who complained that all we did was flirt and have sex. And here we are eating pizza at home because we can’t keep our hands off each other, flirting and talking about sex.”
“Point taken.”
He pulled his chair back from the table, patting his knee. “Come here.” Caroline got up and sat on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. “What’s really bothering you?” he asked.
She had a thousand thoughts bouncing around in her head at any given time, so she picked the one that had been bugging her the most. “What if you lose?” she whispered.
“Everything looks good so far. Do you really think that’s a possibility?”
He sounded a bit too sure of himself. Caroline found that hard to believe. “You aren’t worried at all?”
“Maybe a little,” he admitted. “Polls aren’t always accurate. But we’ll be fine if that happens. We have other things we could be doing. Why would it bother you if I lost? You’d have plenty of ways to keep yourself occupied.”
“I worry that it wouldn’t be enough for you going back to being an executive or having to put up with me on a daily basis.”
He sighed, which meant that a speech was coming. “Caroline-”
“I mean it, Jack. So much of our life revolves around the political game. Around campaign events, putting on a show, playing to crowds, talking about policy. Being scheduled and routinized. What if we don’t have that anymore?”
“You don’t think we have more than just sex and politics keeping us together? Hell, Caroline, you barely agree with me on anything. We spend much more time talking about any number of things that have nothing to do with public policy.”
His logic would get him nowhere. “I know.”
“Then what’s the issue?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think I’m too shallow to sustain a normal day to day relationship?” Jack asked quietly.
“No,” Caroline said. “I just – wow, when you phrase it that way it sounds pretty horrible.”
“Do you think I only married you because of my ambition?”
“Definitely not.”
“I wouldn’t have asked you to marry me if I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with you,” Jack said. “With you and your children. If I lose, I lose. We’ll find something else to do. It’s not like either one of us would have any trouble finding a job.”
“I could be Jenny’s chief of staff,” she joked.
“You’re too disorganized, sweetheart. You’d drive her insane.”
Both Jen and Kathleen had done a phenomenal job at helping to fool the public into thinking that Caroline knew what she was doing, when half the time she felt clueless. “You’re probably right. Maybe Ch
rissy would hire me as an opposition consultant.”
“I wouldn’t hold out for that,” Jack said. “Also, I’m undefeated so far in my career.”
“You’ve only run for office once. I’ve got three under my belt.”
“We’re both undefeated. I’d say that’s a good omen, wouldn’t you?”
Caroline didn’t think that meant a damn thing but didn’t want to discourage him. “I guess so.”
“Then stop worrying.”
He made it sound as if she could snap her fingers and make her troubles vanish. “I can’t help it,” she said. “I have a friend who’s an operative in western Pennsylvania. He says it’s only a matter of time before Murdock uses my speech in an ad against you.”
“You have an informant?”
“More than one. In case you haven’t noticed, the Democratic Party hasn’t been pouring money into your race, and I don’t expect that to change come fall.”
“That’s because you’re my lucky charm. You’ve been racking up the endorsements for me, too.”
Caroline had appeared on Jack’s behalf with a slew of law enforcement agencies and unions, several of which had agreed to endorse him or stay neutral. An impressive and quite unusual feat, but Murdock hadn’t exactly endeared himself to them. Both Jack and Caroline had a track record of support for police organizations.
“It’s because they don’t want to piss me off,” she said. She assumed that was what it was. Even though she wasn’t running for re-election, she cultivated significant goodwill among some party loyalists and had several contacts who would bend over backwards for her if she asked. Which brought her to her next point.
“I want to do an ad for your campaign,” she said.
“No,” Jack said bluntly. “Absolutely not. I don’t care what Greg says.”
She kissed his cheek. “I see he talked to you, too.”
“Yes, and it’s a terrible idea.”
Curious for him to refuse her offer outright, though she suspected he’d need some convincing. “Why?”
“I just don’t want you to do it.”
“I’m all over your family friendly literature,” Caroline said. Not that she was thrilled about it. She had never put her children on any flyers or used them in any ads and Jack’s staff had done it without her knowledge. She hadn’t taken it well but eventually came to the conclusion that it was for the good of the campaign.
The Bellator Saga: The First Trilogy (Dissident, Conscience, and Sojourn) Page 79