by Radclyffe
“Well, I’m sure whichever doc is around will see that we’re
appropriately staffed.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much. They all know what to do.” Evyn
sipped her coffee and watched Wes pull on her socks. The bed behind
her was rumpled, the sheets and blankets askew. They’d given it a
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workout. Thinking of the way Wes had made her come, more times in
a row than she could ever remember, made her stomach clutch. The sex
had been great—awesome—but the sleeping together had her out of
sync. She didn’t usually do that—even when she spent the night with
someone, she didn’t curl up with them, didn’t turn to them in the night
and need to be closer. Didn’t need to be inside them the way she’d been
crazy to be inside Wes.
“You okay?”
“I’m sorry, what?” Evyn was aware she hadn’t heard a single thing
Wes had said for the last few minutes. Wes looked great in faded sweats
that hugged her ass and thighs. Evyn fought the urge to tackle Wes and
pull her on top of her. She wanted Wes’s hands on her, wanted to be
under her, wanted to come for her. That wasn’t her either. She was all
turned around and—
“I asked if there was anything I could do—you’ve been taking
point all morning, it seems.” Wes’s gaze traveled over Evyn’s body,
glinting with a hunger to match Evyn’s.
“Probably quite a few things, but we’re good for now.” Evyn
glanced around the clean but shabby room, searching for a way to put
on the brakes. She needed to grab the controls, get her head back on
straight. “At least there’s TV. Hopefully it works. News okay with
you?”“Do we need to talk about last night?”
Evyn stopped on her way to check out the TV. The space between
the bed where Wes sat and the dresser with the TV on top was tight. If
she took two steps forward she’d be standing between Wes’s legs. She
mentally nailed her feet to the floor. “You don’t run from the hard stuff,
do you?”
“I don’t see any point.”
“Last night was great. If I think about it much more, I could
probably scare myself, and I’d rather not.”
“I understand.” Wes cradled the cardboard cup between her hands
and watched the coffee swirl around the rim. “If I knew enough to be
scared, I probably would be too.”
“So,” Evyn said. “Since neither of us really scares easily, this
should be simple. I don’t have a problem with last night.”
Wes heard the emphasis on last night. Sounded a lot like past
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tense, as in over and done. Okay. She could accept that. The pain in her
chest didn’t mean anything. Her turn to step up and make this simple.
“Neither do I. My number one priority is to be sure we can still work
together—that there’s no disruption to the team.”
“I don’t see why what happened should interfere with anything,”
Evyn said quickly. Wes was giving her a graceful way out of a potentially
sticky situation, just the kind of exit she usually wanted. She didn’t
feel all that happy about it, but her emotions were screwed up and she
couldn’t trust them anyhow. Better to ignore them. “We’re both adults,
both professionals.”
“Yes,” Wes said, counting on Evyn to be rational and in control.
Especially now, when she didn’t really feel that way herself. “We both
have jobs to do. And considering the circumstances, we can’t afford
any distractions.”
Evyn stiffened, hearing what Wes wasn’t saying. “You know about
the problem with POTUS.”
“Yes.”
“You have me on the short list of suspects?” Evyn had to ask, even
as her body went cold thinking Wes might consider her capable of such
betrayal.
“No, Evyn,” Wes said softly, “I don’t.”
“Why not? You should.” Evyn knew she sounded angry. She
was angry. The whole situation made her crazy. The president was at
risk, and it was her job to protect him. She couldn’t do that effectively
when someone she thought she could trust was a traitor. Her impotence
stoked her fury. “You don’t know me. A roll in the hay isn’t exactly a
great judge of anything.”
Wes jolted. She didn’t run from reality, she never had, and Evyn
was making their reality very clear. Last night was a physical encounter
and nothing more, and really, why would she think it was anything
more. “So we keep doing our jobs.”
“No reason it can’t be that simple.” Evyn shrugged, relieved to
settle back into her comfortable pattern again. “We aren’t the first two
people to spend the night together and then go back to business as
usual the next day. In fact, around here, it’s more business as usual than
not.”Wes might not have indulged in battlefield trysts, but she knew
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plenty did. Evyn apparently had. “No reason for last night to change
anything.”
“Right.” Evyn quickly turned to switch on the TV. “None at all.”
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chapter twenty-three
Senator Russo received a text in the middle of breakfast. The
alert read HK1. He’d been waiting two days for this update.
Setting his fork aside, he swiped his thumb over the banner alert and
read the five words that sent a swell of satisfaction streaming through
him. The item is in hand. He deleted the message, wiped his mouth
with a pressed linen napkin, and said to his wife, “I’m sorry, my dear,
I need to return this call. The car will be here in half an hour. You’ll be
ready?”
He wasn’t really asking, but his wife seemed to do better with
the stresses of campaigning when she could cling to the trappings of
civility she’d been raised with. She wasn’t fond of public appearances
under the best of circumstances, and even less so now that his speeches
increasingly drew protesters from some liberal leftist group or another.
He’d assured her this was expected when someone with his strength of
conviction and popularity engaged the people and spoke the truth. Her
Southern belle sensibilities would have annoyed him more if her family
name wasn’t helping him to carry the Deep South.
So he played the game she needed, as long as she did as he wanted.
She understood she had to be by his side during these events—he was
running on a family-values platform, and she was the figurehead of his,
naturally. Thus far he’d managed to keep the whole issue of his eldest
daughter’s absence from the campaign trail in the background. Nora had
spun Jac’s history as a war veteran into some very positive press while
simultaneously downplaying her sexual escapades and questionable
choice in partners. Since Jac had made it plain she wouldn’t take part
in his public appearances, that was the best they could do in terms
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of damage control. Fortunately, he had another daughter, a y
ounger,
feminine, wholesome daughter who didn’t have any choice about
participating.
“Yes, of course I’ll be prompt,” his wife said quickly, an altogether
artificial smile failing to erase the anxious shadows in her eyes. “I’m
looking forward to it.”
“Wonderful.” He smiled. “Wear the blue suit. It looks good on
camera. And goes so nicely with your eyes.”
“Thank you,” she said, her attention on her plate. “I will. Yes.”
He strolled toward his study, mentally reviewing his remarks for
the town meeting Nora had scheduled later that morning in Nevada. He
wanted to use the community forum to demonstrate his solidarity with
the American people and distance himself from the recent emphasis by
members of the press on his private wealth. He might live differently
from most Americans, thanks to his wife’s family money, but he was
still one with the people. He unlocked his study door and walked in,
pleased with the way things were going for the moment.
Once behind his desk, he unlocked another drawer, removed a
disposable cell phone, and called Hooker. “I got your message. No
problems, I take it?”
“I made the exchange for the amount we agreed upon. I’ll have it
tomorrow. None too soon either.”
“You’re certain of its authenticity?”
“As certain as I can be,” Hooker said. “It’s not like I’m an expert
on this sort of thing. I’m mostly the courier here.”
“Courier or not, I’ll hold you responsible for any malfunction.”
“You’re not the one who’ll be sitting with this stuff in his
refrigerator. It gives me the creeps,” Hooker snapped. “You hired me to
broker the deal and run interference between the players. I fulfilled my
contract. Once this is out of my hands, I’m done.”
Russo clamped down on his temper. As insubordinate as Hooker
could be, he had excellent contacts, he got the job done, and he was as
trustworthy as any man in his profession. The election campaign was
just getting started, and he’d need Hooker’s services again. “You’re
right, of course. What news do you have from DC?”
“Not much. So far the transition hasn’t been a problem.”
Russo grunted, irritated by the unexpected speed with which the
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usually slow White House bureaucracy had replaced the WHMU chief.
“The inevitable disruption may work to our favor.”
“If we move fast.”
“Then by all means, let’s move forward.” Russo glanced at his
desk calendar. December was more than half over. Soon the holidays
would be in full swing. “You have his itinerary?”
“Updated as of this morning.”
Russo smiled. “We might want to advance the timetable.”
“I just need time to brief the deliveryman.”
“Very good. I’ll be in touch. And nice work.” Russo disconnected
and locked the phone back in his desk. His plan was bold and some
would say extreme, but they lived in extreme times. The American
people had become complacent, with economic woes taking center
stage in the public’s awareness and fading memories of a terrorist attack
smothering patriotism. The public needed a wake-up call, and nothing
stirred national fervor like an attack at home. The time was ripe for the
right leader to lead them on the path to moral redemption and renewed
power. He was ready.
v
“Please fasten your seat belts, we’re beginning our descent into
Washington Reagan National Airport,” the flight attendant announced.
“Hey,” Evyn said softly. “Wes, we’re landing.”
Fuzzy-headed, Wes opened her eyes and concentrated on orienting
herself. Airplane. Cramp in her shoulder. Her cheek on Evyn’s shoulder.
She pushed up quickly. “Sorry.”
“That’s okay. You went out fast as soon as we were airborne. You
needed the rest.”
“I slept most of the morning.” Evyn had booked them a late
afternoon flight, and after they’d taken turns showering, Wes had fallen
asleep watching CNN. She’d awakened after noon on top of the bed with
a blanket over her. Evyn had covered her while she slept. Remembering
that small gesture made her shift in her seat until their bodies no longer
touched. She wasn’t used to relying on anyone, and discovering she
liked the feeling of being cared for wasn’t entirely welcome. Especially
when the caring came from Evyn.
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“How are you feeling?” Evyn asked.
“A little stiff,” Wes said, stretching out in the cramped space. She
didn’t want Evyn to worry—or to think she needed looking after. Evyn
had done enough. “I’m okay. I think the downtime this morning really
helped.”
“You were shivering this morning—still chilled?”
Wes couldn’t answer that question. Physically, she felt warmer—
the pervasive cold that had lingered in her body long after Evyn had
pulled her out of the ocean had finally disappeared, but a glacial
throbbing had taken up residence in the center of her being. She ached
inside in a way she never had, even when she’d been a child uncertain
of the future, even when she’d been physically and psychologically
depleted after weeks in the desert. The closer they came to DC—the
nearer the moment when she and Evyn would go back to being only
professional colleagues—the more pervasive the sense of loss. She
didn’t regret the decision. They couldn’t work together and be anything
more than colleagues, even if they’d wanted to be more. And Evyn had
made it clear what they’d shared had been an isolated occurrence.
Wes had made hard decisions all her life and accepted the
consequences, even when they hurt. Pain wasn’t deadly—even though
this hurt as much as anything she’d ever experienced. “Thanks for
handling everything. I owe you.”
“No, you don’t.” Evyn’s voice shook. “I wanted to do everything
I did—including last night. You know that, don’t you?”
Wes covered Evyn’s hand where it rested on the armrest between
them. “How could I not know? You speak beautifully with your
body.”Evyn caught her breath. “You always surprise me in the most
amazing ways. No one has ever said anything as wonderful to me
before.”
“Then they weren’t paying attention.” Wes smiled, steadfastly
refusing to think of the other women Evyn had known. Jealousy was
a foreign sensation and, rationally, totally unfounded. Irrational or
not, she still didn’t want to imagine anyone touching her. She seemed
to have lost the ability to reason when she’d first become aware of
wanting to kiss her.
“Maybe I was the one not paying attention.” Evyn searched her
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memory for a time she’d felt this connected—and feared it so much. She
gripped Wes’s hand. The lights of DC came into view. A wave of panic
slid over her—she couldn’t help feeling as if they were running out of
time, as if she was about to lose something vital without even knowing
it. “Wes—I don’t want you to think last night wasn’t special.”
“I don’t think that. Why would I?”
“I know you must think I do that sort of thi—”
“Whoa—hey. What I think is that we both wanted last night to
happen.”
Wes’s hand was so warm, so damn perfect in hers. Evyn wanted
to reverse the clock—start the last few days over. She wanted to keep
Wes safe, she wanted to take her out to dinner when they weren’t both
exhausted, she wanted to make love with her when they weren’t hurt or
displaced or scared of losing their fragile connection. Hell. She wanted
to date her, maybe more—something she hadn’t wanted with anyone,
possibly ever. “I think I fucked this up.”
“No, you didn’t,” Wes said. “You gave me everything I needed.”
The lights of the tower flashed red across the sky. The runway
lights glowed brighter by the second. Another minute and they’d be on
the ground. Evyn willed time to slow. She needed a little more time—
when had everything gotten away from her? “We’ll have to get a cab—
the team will have taken the SUV back to the House. We can share one
as far as your hotel, and then I’ll go pick up my car.”
“That’s okay,” Wes said. “We can head straight to the House. I want
to spend a few hours at the office. I’ve been away more than I’ve been
there since I’ve arrived, and it’s time I got some things organized.”
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” Evyn wouldn’t mind the few extra
minutes together, but Wes was pale. “You’re still looking pretty beat.”
“We’re coming up on the holidays. We’ll be working doubles
between now and after New Year’s so everyone can have time off. I
need to review the duty rosters and the travel schedules—and about a
dozen other things.”
The plane touched down and the engines whined into their
deceleration.
Please remain seated until the captain has taxied to the gate and
turned off the seat belt sign.
“What are you doing for Christmas?” Evyn asked.
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“I’m the new guy, remember? I’m working.”
“You’re also the boss.”
“Half the team has kids—they need to be with family.”
“What about yours?”