Madam President

by Cooper, Blayne

  Dev stopped and put her hands on her hips. "Mother, are you suggesting I take Lauren to bed?"

  "You love her, don't you?"

  Dev hesitated. "I don't know."

  "Devlyn Odessa Marlowe, don't you dare..." She waggled a finger in her daughter's face. "I can't believe you kiss me with those lying lips."

  Blue eyes rolled and Dev nearly stomped her foot. "Mom!"

  "Dev, you know I don't get involved in your life unless I think you're doing something really stupid." Janet's posture mirrored her daughter's. "I think holding back from Lauren is really stupid. She's good for you, honey. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that."

  "Mom..."

  "She's a very attractive woman. She's sweet and smart. Why I hardly knew she was pumping me for information when we spent the day together." Janet's voice was filled with honest admiration. "And in case you haven't noticed, your children adore her."

  "Mom..."

  "And she watches you with eyes that very nearly worship every move you make."

  Dev's mind flickered back to the kisses they had shared on Air Force One. "She kissed me," she admitted quietly.

  "Good for her! It her appears that her parents did not raise a chicken."

  Dev's jaw sagged. "Are you calling me a chicken?"

  "If the feathers fit, dear."

  "Funny."

  "Did you kiss her back?" They turned a blind corner and were now facing a large wood cabin, with a small attached porch and a pile of split logs for the fireplace lining the front wall.

  "I'm old-fashioned, Mom, not stupid. Of course I kissed her back!"

  "Then what happened?"

  "The plane landed. We came here and Dad told her the ‘stinky' story. She may never kiss me again, for all I know."

  "Oh, I wouldn't be to sure about that." Janet elbowed her daughter lightly in the ribs. "I think if you give her any sign at all, she'll do a lot more than kiss you, Dev."

  "Mom!" The President scrubbed her face hoping to remove some of the red from her cheeks.

  "You've been alone too long, honey. Let the past remain where it belongs and look to the future. You need someone in your life. I know you. You don't fall quickly and you don't take these things lightly. But wake up and smell the coffee, Devlyn. You're in love with that girl." Janet helped Dev up the stairs. "There was saying when I was a kid that I feel is most appropriate now."

  "Shit happens?"

  Janet snorted. "Hardly, dear. You snooze," she eyed her daughter seriously, "you lose."

  * * *

  David's wife, Beth, pushed herself off the cabin's sofa and plopped gracelessly onto the hard wood floor, causing her brown curls to bounce. Beth was a little shorter than Lauren, with wide hips and a scooped nose. She had a quick wit and a quicker smile and was a professor of early American history at Georgetown University. Beth and Lauren had instantly hit it off and the evening had already been filled with equal parts intellectual conversation, rambunctious laughter, and beer.

  "Well," Beth said cheerfully, "why don't we play a game?"

  "What kind of a game?" David wriggled his eyebrows and sank deeper into the soft sofa. "Strip checkers maybe?"

  Beth laughed and reached over and slapped her husband's knee. "Pervert."

  "And you married him," Dev reminded. "What does that say for you?"

  Beth took a long swallow of her beer while she pondered Dev's comment. "Good point," she finally admitted. She turned to Lauren. "I was thinking of something that could help us all get to know each other a little better."

  "Beth." Dev's tone was warning.

  Beth raised her amber-colored bottle, it's golden contents sparkling in the firelight. "We could play spin the bottle." She laughed again when her husband suddenly perked up. "But I don't want David to have a heart attack." Beth smiled sweetly at her husband, gleefully bursting his bubble. "He's right in the danger years."

  "I am not!"

  "Are too!"

  "So what were you thinking about?" Lauren asked, curiosity finally getting the better of her. She set her third bottle of cold beer down on the floor next to her chair and dropped down onto the area rug beneath it, mirroring Beth. The writer tucked her legs beneath her Indian style, enjoying a light buzz from the alcohol and the aroma of oak from the crackling fire.

  "We could always see how brave Madam President really is." Beth smirked at Dev. "How about truth or dare?"

  "Bring it on, Beth! If I can handle a Republican controlled Congress, I can handle three measly Democrats."

  Lauren snorted, nearly sending her beer through her nose. "Thanks a lot, Devlyn," she laughed. The blonde woman mentally cataloged her most embarrassing moments and most evil sins and then decided they would be worth sharing just to hear Dev's. "Okay, Beth. I'm in."

  David yawned. "You know me, I'm game."

  "You're all heathens, but I'll play along. I have a feeling I'm the good girl of the group."

  Beth rolled her eyes. "You forget who you're talking to, Devil. Lauren might believe that BS, but don't try it on me or David. We've known you for toooooooo long." She took another drink and emptied her bottle. Then she clapped her hands together and reached into the ice-filled tub full of frosty bottles that sat between the four people. "Dev, you're so cocky tonight. I think you should go first. Truth or dare, Madam President?"

  Three sets of expectant eyes turned towards Dev.

  "Well, let's cut the President of the United States bullshit for the rest of the week. And I'll go with truth."

  Lauren giggled when David made a loud honking noise, indicating that Dev had already made a tactical error with her selection of truth.

  Beth happily picked up the gauntlet. "Truth: How many people have you slept with?"

  "I'm assuming you mean in a sexual sense?" Dev sipped her beer and shot Beth a look that screamed ‘Bitch!'. "One," she said very softly.

  Lauren dropped her bottle in her lap then cursed as the icy liquid seeped through her jeans. "Jesus... Damn, that's cold." She turned wide eyes on Dev. "One?! As in one, single, solitary person?!" Maybe she means one at a time. God, I hope she's not interested in more than one at a time.

  David and Beth burst out laughing .

  "Yes!" Dev huffed. "What else would it mean?" Dev grimaced when she realized her voice had taken on an indignant tone that sounded a lot like her Aunt Myrtle. "I know it seems kind of pitiful and pathetic but... umm... well..."

  "It's not pitiful at all! It's really... err..." Lauren desperately searched for the right word, immediately throwing out ‘unbelievable' and ‘amazing'. "Sweet." There, that's a good word. ‘One?' She mouthed the word silently, clearly in shock as she reached for another beer. She's practically a virgin! Oh, please don't let them ask me that question. Please, please. Compared to ‘one' I look like a total slut! Pleasepleasepleaseplease.

  Dev exhaled and considered who should be her first victim. She was tempted to pick Beth to exact her revenge, but was far more curious about the writer. "Okay, Lauren, truth or dare?"

  "Dare!" Lauren blurted out, relieved she could avoid the question Dev had been asked.

  The trio burst out laughing at how quickly the writer had made her decision. They all knew that this meant she had something to hide and now they could work as a team to figure it out. "Okay," Dev grinned. "Give me your bra." She laughed and gestured casually. "The one you're wearing."

  Lauren's mouth dropped open.

  Beth leaned over and clapped her hand over David's eyes, causing the man to protest loudly. "Hush up, David!" she scolded.

  Lauren shook her head at Dev, loving the mischievous twinkle in the slightly glazed blue eyes. "You're drunk, aren't you?"

  "No." A little drunk. "I'm...happy. If you can't run with the big dogs, Mighty Mouse, just get up on the porch."

  A single pale eyebrow lifted and Lauren sat up to her knees. She turned until she was completely facing Dev. "It was my bra, right?" She lifted her hands to the buttons of her lightweight denim shirt and Dev stopped
breathing.

  The suddenly stillness in the room alerted David that something was happening and the man begin to squirm, trying to get a peek between his wife's fingers. They both began to laugh and Beth began to poke David in the belly. "No way!"

  Lauren slowly undid the first button of her top, keeping her eyes riveted on Dev's.

  Dev watched as Lauren paused briefly and then began to finger the second button. Oooo, now I gotta put up or shut up. But if she takes her shirt off, I'm gonna die. My brain is just gonna ooze out my ears. Dev knew she was grinning like a total idiot and blushing furiously, but she met Lauren's eyes and never wavered. "That's what I said. Of course, you could change your mind and go with truth."

  Lauren's fingers stopped. "Do you want me to change my mind, Devlyn?" she asked softly.

  David shook his head and was about to cry out ‘no' when his wife clamped her other hand over his mouth.

  Danger! Danger, Will Robinson! "I want you to do, what you want to do." The President licked her lips and sipped her beer, knowing she had firmly hit the ball back to the writer.

  Lauren nodded slowly. I want to ask you to come over here and do it for me. But since that's probably not a good idea - tonight - this will have to do. The writer unbuttoned the second and third buttons, sliding her hands inside her shirt to find warm skin. Her bra happened to unhook in the front, and with a quick twist the cups fell away. Her bloused shirt and hands covered the most crucial spots. She grinned as Dev began to fan herself but didn't look away.

  "Hurry up, Lauren," Beth called. "She said lose the bra, not perform a damn striptease!"

  David whimpered at what he was missing. This was so unfair.

  Dev finally bit her lip and glanced down at her beer just long enough for Lauren to pull away her hands and slip her bra out of one of her sleeves. She buttoned the third button but left the two highest buttons of her shirt undone, however. It was enough to a fair amount of cleavage, but not enough to get arrested for. Then she crawled over to Dev on her hands and knees and held the lacy undergarment in front of her face. "I believe you asked for this?"

  Dev took the garment and looked at it. Then she mopped her brow with it before sticking it in the pocket of her pants. "Yeah," Her voice cracked like a prepubescent boy. "Thanks."

  Beth finally removed her hands from David's face. "No more naked dares! How long do you think I can hold him?"

  "Well, hell, Beth, you've held onto him for nearly 15 years what's another 15 minutes? Okay, Lauren, it's your turn."

  Lauren didn't go back to her seat. Instead, she sat down next to Dev who had moved to the floor. The President lifted her bottle for another drink but just as the glass touched her lips Lauren snatched it from her hand and finished it off in one long swallow. "Ahhhh..." she breathed. "Thanks. It was getting hot in here."

  "I'll say!" Beth pressed her bottle against her forehead.

  David frowned and mumbled petulantly, "Not like I'd know."

  Dev retrieved her bottle and held it up to the light. "You stole my beer. Man, you ask a girl for her bra and you gotta give her a whole beer? For a whole beer I should get the panties too!"

  This time it was Lauren who blushed. Oh yeah. Dev's drunk. Nobody would believe I'm playing a teenager's game with the President of the United States.

  "Your turn," Beth reminded Lauren.

  "Okay." The very tip of Lauren's tongue appeared as she concentrated for a moment. She pushed her glasses farther up on her nose. "David..."

  The red-headed man sat up straight.

  "True or dare?"

  "Truth."

  Lauren grinned wickedly. "What's the last horribly embarrassing thing that Devlyn did that you kept out of the Press?"

  "She went out with Candy Delaney."

  "Hey! No fair," Lauren protested instantly. "I already knew that!"

  Dev made a face at her Chief of Staff. "Besides, dumbass, that was your fault. You set me up with her. Personally, I think the fact that I got my speeches mixed up last week was pretty good. I mean, when was the last time the President started to give a speech written for The National Cattlemen's Association to the World Vegetarian League?"

  Lauren sniggered. "That was embarrassing. But David really couldn't answer with that one." A beat. "Considering I read about it for two days."

  "David!" Beth chastised. "You're supposed to nip that kind of thing in the bud!"

  "I know you think I'm the great and powerful Oz-"

  "You mean you're not?" Beth asked with devastating innocence, just as David leaned over and stole a kiss.

  The tall redhead smacked his lips together happily when the kiss ended. "Okay, Dev, truth or dare?"

  "Truth."

  David grinned and grabbed a handful of popcorn. "How'd you break your pinkie finger, Devil?"

  Dev choked on her beer and flicked the cap at David's head. "You know how I broke my finger, you prick."

  "But I don't," Lauren pointed out happily. She grinned at Beth who grinned back. Oh boy. This should be interesting.

  Dev took a deep breath and then a big drink of her beer. "One night I got my hand slammed in a window..." She pretended to take another drink, hoping that would be a suitable answer.

  Lauren elbowed the President. "Annnnnnnnd?"

  "And it got broken when the window came down on it."

  David wiped his fingers on his jeans. "The part she leaving out is that she was naked and in the throws of passion when she did it. She grabbed the bottom of the window and pulled it shut on her own hand."

  Dev reached over and punched him on the shoulder. "Thanks, pal!"

  Lauren burst out laughing. She reached out and grabbed Dev's pinkie finger, holding it up for examination and giving serious consideration to kissing it. "And you know this how, David?"

  "Because she was running for office at the time and they called me first to tell me the window was jammed with her hand stuck in it and Samantha thought they were gonna have to call the fire department. They wanted me to keep it from hitting the papers."

  Beth began to howl. God, she loved this story! She knew David would be cruel enough to bring it up during the game. God, she loved David!

  Lauren and David joined in until Dev, who was sitting with her arms crossed over her chest, pouting, finally had enough.

  "Okay, fine. Laugh it up, you rat bastards. Truth or dare, Strayer?"

  Lauren jerked her thumb toward Beth. "It's her turn!"

  "That's okay," Beth said. "Since no one has bothered to ask me a question, I'll be happy to let Dev take my turn. Have at it, Devlyn. And make it good."

  Lauren stuck out her tongue at Beth. "Fine. I pick dare." You're not getting me on that sex question tonight, Devlyn Marlowe.

  "I'm betting good money you have a tattoo somewhere. If you do, show it."

  "No way! She is not the tattoo type. A hundred says she doesn't have one," David taunted.

  "You're on!" Dev leaned over and they shook hands.