At the Pleasure of the President

by Shayla Black

  How would she feel if she found out that he’d suspected her of working against him? If she knew he still had the slightest bit of doubt? That he’d simply decided he wanted her far too much to care what her true allegiance might be.

  “I think it will be incredibly amusing to see how my sister handles this. I’ll feel much better knowing she’s in protective custody.” Gabe got his serious face on. “But let’s talk about how we’re going to fix this situation because she can’t stay there for too long. I think we should break up the research. Connor and I were talking. Collectively, we can handle this if we each take a piece.”

  Gabe continued on, but Roman tipped his head toward the house, an obvious request for a private word.

  He’d been ducking Roman and all the man’s questions since he’d walked into the kitchen with Liz to find the whole group eating lunch. Yep, they’d missed breakfast, and it had been impossible not to notice how badly their friends wanted to ask all the pertinent questions. He’d ignored their pointed stares and thanked his lucky stars that Gus had been in Sara’s cabin because she wouldn’t have been polite. He would bet Liz was getting interrogated at that very instant.

  “We’ll be right back.” Zack stood because he wouldn’t be assigned to do research. He hated that his friends would have to do work that should have fallen to him. Then again, he had a very stressful day job.

  Roman followed, closing the door behind them. “Are you sure this is the right move?”

  “Nope, and the sad thing is that’s my answer for everything you’re asking, whether that’s pursuing the blackmailer, bringing Mad to the White House, or being with Elizabeth.”

  Roman’s hands fisted on his hips, like he was squaring off for a fight. “I’m definitely talking about Elizabeth.”

  Of course he was. “It’s private, and you should stay out of it.”

  “It’s not private. Nothing you do is private, and we’re not sure she isn’t in on the Russians’ plans. You might be giving her the very access she’s been waiting for.”

  “I don’t think she’s in on it.” He’d thought about it while he’d watched her sleep this morning. She’d cuddled close to him and he’d woken sweetly tangled up in all that honey-colored hair of hers. He hadn’t slept so well in years, and he’d felt a deep peace at seeing her look so serene lying there in his bed. He didn’t want to believe she was anything but exactly what she appeared to be. “I watched her carefully while Mad was explaining everything yesterday. She was genuinely shocked. She was hearing all of that information for the first time.”

  “Or she could be an excellent actress.”

  Elizabeth could play her cards close to the vest, but not when she got emotional. “No. She can handle a press conference and anyone who wants to come at her work-wise, but she’s never been able to hide her feelings in private. You know that.”

  Elizabeth often told Roman exactly how she felt, and in no uncertain terms or language. She and Roman frequently faced off over how to handle important issues. They were his two closest advisors, Elizabeth being the voice of his conscience, while Roman was the voice of his ambition.

  “It could all be a mask, Zack. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. If she’s a sleeper agent, her whole personality is a setup. And if you let her get too close, she’ll know how and when to play us all.” Roman glanced back out at the guys, who seemed to be giving Mad some serious shit. “I don’t think we should trust anyone who isn’t family.”

  “Says the man whose fiancée is literally family.” He wasn’t giving Elizabeth up, not to feed Roman’s paranoia. Roman got to go to bed with Gus every night. It was easy for him to tell Zack to push aside the woman he wanted.

  If Roman heard the hard edge to his words, he didn’t show it. He merely sent Zack the steely gaze he knew meant his chief of staff was digging in for a long fight. “I’m only trying to protect you. I know how you feel about her, but we have to be careful.”

  Zack loved her. He hadn’t told her that yet. He wouldn’t. They needed time to figure a few things out, but he knew the feelings that beat in his heart for Elizabeth Matthews.

  Still, his niggling suspicion played at the back of his head, twisting his thoughts. She’d been the one to bring them the blackmailer’s demands. The order to change the FAA investigation's status into Mad’s plane crash had come through her office. How could all that be merely a coincidence?

  Ruthlessly, Zack pushed the thoughts aside. He couldn’t think about that now. He was going to put some faith in her, but that didn’t mean he would be a complete idiot.

  “I’ll tell her about the meeting tonight.”

  The day before, he and Roman had decided to set Elizabeth up with a test of sorts, some disinformation about a secret meeting with his energy director on Friday to discuss the pipeline. Only she would know about the supposed talk. Zack thought it was an excellent way to get Roman off his back because Elizabeth knew how to keep a secret. But if word somehow spread, they would have another clue. And he would know for sure that Elizabeth was a beautiful traitor.

  Chapter Eight

  Sara looked around the Presidential Emergency Operations Center and prayed she wouldn’t be down here for long. The White House, with all its elegant rooms and rich history, was right above her. “Is there a reason I can’t just hole up in the Lincoln Bedroom? I promise not to give birth there or anything.”

  She understood that she needed to stay out of sight while everyone was investigating this global conspiracy. Yes, it was international espionage, so it was dangerous. But PEOC seemed to be nothing more than a series of sterile conference rooms and an endless collection of locked doors. It was a little intimidating.

  “Ma’am, this is where President Hayes ordered me to bring you.” Thomas held out a hand, gesturing for her to continue down the hallway.

  It was a crappy way to start a shitty week after the rollercoaster ride of a weekend. They’d spent all day Saturday and Sunday at Camp David going over everything they knew about the Russian plot to manipulate Zack. Not that they’d spent all their time working. There had been hours of playing cards and catching up, when she’d forced herself to not stare at Mad, to not listen to the deep timbre of his laughter and think about how long it had been since he’d held her.

  This morning, they’d all come back to DC. She’d managed to avoid a long good-bye. Mad had merely told her he would see her soon. That was it. He hadn’t even tried to kiss her or sneak into her room once. He’d kept a polite distance, just as she’d asked. Why did that rankle? Apparently he wasn’t going to try terribly hard to win her back.

  It was for the best.

  “It’s not that bad down here.” Gus touched her elbow and led her down the long hallway. “I’ll bring you books and movies. Hopefully, you won’t be down here for long.”

  “The other women aren’t being sequestered in the bunker,” Sara grumbled.

  When she’d agreed to protective custody, she hadn’t imagined it would be quite this isolated. She’d hoped they might put her up at a luxury hotel with some guards or send her off to the Maldives. Nothing bad ever happened there. That was a rule; she was sure of it. But plenty of bad stuff must happen down here since the bunker was a war room of sorts.

  “The other women used more effective birth control,” Gus pointed out in her matter-of-fact style. “I assure you if Lara pees on a stick this month and ends up with a plus sign, you’ll have company here. Seriously, don’t sweat this. I’ll be nearby most days. Liz, too. I promise you won’t be completely alone.”

  The crappy part was, while she’d chosen to be alone for the last few months, she was finally coming out of her mourning now, feeling ready to face the real world. Being with her friends over the weekend had shown her how much she was ready to interact and smile again. And now she was stuck in a cage for the foreseeable future.

  Where would Mad be?

  She’d watched him climb into the car with Connor, Dax, and Freddy, but she had no idea where they’d
intended to drop him off. He would be out in the world again, fighting what he saw as the good fight. Sure, he’d changed in the last few months. He was no longer the billionaire whose only worry was whether the caviar was fresh enough. He’d come back with the heart of a warrior. But Sara still worried. These were dangerous people. Who would protect Mad?

  She wasn’t going there. She couldn’t worry about him. She’d wasted months mourning his death—which hadn’t even been real—while he’d been out there playing bad guys and spies. When he’d dumped her and lied, he’d given up all rights to her consideration and care.

  “I’m not sure Liz will have time to visit me. The president seems to need meetings with her all the time now,” she commented with a ghost of a smile.

  It was better to concentrate on the happy couple, especially since it seemed as if Zack had learned something from Mad’s idiocy and finally admitted his feelings for Liz.

  “You mean he has a lot of meetings with her vagina.” Gus was the queen of snark. Even normally stoic Thomas choked at that, though he went right back to his usual badass glower.

  “I’m glad they’re happy.” She followed as they turned down the hall.

  “Me, too. But I’m worried. I’m almost positive Roman is plotting something,” Gus admitted. “I don’t like the way he looks at those two. He’s worried, and when that man is anxious and itchy like that, he can do truly terrible things.”

  “Why would he be worried about Liz?” Zack’s Press Secretary hadn’t grown up with the guys the way she and Gus had, but she’d been part of their group of friends for a long time.

  “My man always worries about everything, but he’s veering close to paranoid now. I have to watch him like a hawk or he’s likely to do something stupid. I haven’t schemed and plotted all these years to get Liz and Zack together just to have Roman rumble in and destroy everything.”

  “Schemed?”

  Gus waved a hand grandly. “Totally. I’ve been pulling strings for some time so that Liz and Zack can reach happy coupledom. I take credit for Dax and Holland, too. I didn’t exactly get them together, but I did send them a gift that kept them alive. Gemma, the bodyguard, kicked ass on my behalf, so technically that’s a win for me. And I often talk Lara out of doing crazy shit that would drive Connor off the deep end. Though I didn’t manage to talk her out of chaining herself to a tree he wanted to cut down on their property. She said it was a squirrel’s home or something. I’m pretty sure that’s why he wanted to cut the sucker down.”

  “She chained herself?”

  “Yeah, so Connor got creative. I’m glad whatever security footage he keeps around his perimeter didn’t see the light of day.” She stopped in front of the door that marked the end of the hallway. Like all the rest, it looked large, utilitarian, and unwelcoming. “And I’m definitely responsible for that little nugget there.”

  Gus put a hand on her belly. Sara didn’t mind since it was Gus. Besides, the touch made her feel like she wasn’t alone in caring for her daughter. But she did have some questions. “Why? Did you supply Mad with the incredibly breakable condom?”

  Gus grinned. “No, but I totally scared off the other applicants for your job and persuaded Gabe not to flip his shit about you taking the job at Crawford. I actually even convinced Gabe that Mad would never sleep with you out of deep and profound respect for their brotherhood. It was a good speech. I swear I could almost hear the music swelling behind me.”

  Sara shook her head because Gus was incorrigible. “I don’t know if I should thank you for that or not.” But her baby was fluttering inside her as if she had her own opinion. “But I can’t be too angry. I got something good out of it. I know you need to go. It was nice of you to come down here with me. Thomas can be very grim.”

  “It’s a requirement of the job,” Thomas offered almost apologetically, swiping his keycard over the door. The light turned green and the lock clicked open. “This is the only living quarters we have available. I’ll let your roommate show you around.”

  “Roommate?”

  She walked in. Then her purse fell from her numb fingers and onto the ground.

  There sat Mad, lounging on the comfy-looking sofa, his dress shirt opened just enough to show off his new, outdoorsy tan and the beginnings of what she knew to be a spectacularly muscled chest.

  “Hey, baby. These are some nice digs,” he said with a heart-stopping grin. “Don’t you think?”

  Nope. This wasn’t happening.

  Protective custody, my ass.

  She turned to insist Gus take her from here because she was not staying.

  Instead, her friend waved as she began to shut the door. “I had absolutely nothing to do with this. Bye. Have fun, you two. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  Sara watched in horror as the door closed and locked behind her.

  Was this a joke? It had to be. She stood, blinking. Waiting for Gus to open the door with a giggle and deliver the punchline.

  It didn’t happen.

  Holy cow, this wasn’t a joke. She was really stuck here with Mad.

  She turned on him, her eyes narrowing. “You planned this. Now I know why you seemed so passive this weekend. You knew all you had to do was be patient and you’d have me cornered.”

  He didn’t even try to look innocent. “I couldn’t take the risk that I’d run you off before I closed the trap door behind you, baby. We’re stuck here for our own protection. At least for a few days. Maybe weeks…”

  “No. This”—she gestured between them—“is not happening. I won’t stay here with you.”

  His gaze turned calculating. “So you’re going to react emotionally and put yourself and our daughter at risk. I factored your safety into this plan. Last time, you were angry that I left you and kept you in the dark about all the deep, dangerous stuff. You can’t say that now.”

  “Those are two completely different situations, you massive ass.” She should have known he would pull something like this. It was a perfectly Mad Crawford thing to do. The man was never going to grow up. “I’m sure my brother will be more than happy to find me a place that’s safe, preferably on another continent. So whatever you intend to say, get it all out now, Mad, because I’m leaving here in the morning.”

  “Gabe knows,” Mad replied, patting the couch beside him. “He’s happy with this plan because he doesn’t have to worry about you while he and Everly are doing some hands-on investigation in Moscow.”

  Her heart flipped in her chest. “He’s going to Russia?”

  “Yes, he plans to talk to some people there about records we need. He’s also in discussions with a company there about selling them private jets. It’s a good cover.”

  “But he’s not a spy.” The idea of her brother walking into the lion’s den terrified her.

  “Except for Connor, none of us are. But we can’t bring in outsiders. I managed to survive and I didn’t have my own personal security expert, who also happened to be my wife, by my side. Gabe is smart. He’ll put his hands on the information we need, and Everly will help him. She’s really good. The one thing that could trip him up, though, is not knowing his sister is safe.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest because it was obvious he was fighting dirty. “That’s emotional blackmail.”

  Mad simply shrugged. “No one ever said I played fair, and you should know it. Now, there’s no TV in this place. Whatever shall we do?”

  Sara scowled. He couldn’t possibly be serious, right? Then again, this was Mad. “I am not having sex with you.”

  “I don’t see why not. You know I can make you happy in bed, and there’s absolutely no risk of further consequences now. You can’t get more pregnant than you already you are. Consider me your pleasure slave. Use me all you like.”

  She ruthlessly shoved aside the dirty thoughts rolling through her head. Following the first three months of her pregnancy, which had been nothing but nausea and fatigue, she’d been horny, wracked by her aching body with no one on
whom to release all her pent-up need. The idea of using Maddox’s virile, muscular body as her living vibrator held a twisted appeal. But then she remembered what that incredibly talented cock was attached to. “No consequences? You know what you could give me? A big old STD. Nope.”

  He frowned as though he hadn’t expected that. “Sara, I’m perfectly clean. You should know that since you made me take a test before you’d go to bed with me. Not the most romantic way to start a relationship.”

  Did he think she was stupid? “We’ve been apart for months, and you dated some of the skankiest models on the planet.”

  By skankiest she also meant beautiful and sexy and not carrying a soccer ball where their abs used to be. She knew Mad. He never went without. Sex was his drug of choice, and since he hadn’t been getting his fix from her, he’d been getting it from someone else.

  Mad stood and crossed the room to her, hovering in her space but not touching her. He reached up as though he wanted to touch her, then forced his hands back down. “Sara, I haven’t touched another woman since the day I realized I might actually have a future with you. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved and I did not cheat on you. I wouldn’t do that.”

  He sounded so sincere, and she wanted to believe him. Despite his reputation, Mad had never been a liar, especially not a skilled one. That was one reason she’d believed him when he’d texted those awful things to her. Damn it. It was the reason he’d texted rather than broken up with her face to face.

  “You coward. You knew you wouldn’t be able to say such horrible things and break up with me if you’d come to my apartment that day, so you texted all that vile shit.”

  He shrugged. “I also knew I couldn’t be near you and not tell you everything. You don’t understand how much I needed you that night. I know it doesn’t sound manly, but I was scared and I wanted you so much.” He paused, obviously trying to find the right words. “I know you think I made a mistake, but if I did, it’s because I love you so much. We’re stuck here for a while and yes, I trapped you here with me, but we have some things to work out because you were right about something else. Our daughter has to be our number-one priority now. She is everything. We have to find a way through the mess I made for her sake.”