by K. A. Linde
“Well, no one else does either.”
Professor Mires leaned forward on her desk, crossed her arms one over the other, and stared at Liz meaningfully over her glasses. “You are a very intelligent, charming, hardworking young woman. One of the very best that I have had the pleasure of working with. I cannot fathom that something like this would hold you back from achieving everything you set out to do. To be honest, I think it is an opportunity to see what more you can accomplish.”
“What do you mean?” Liz asked cautiously.
“You want to be a reporter for a large newspaper. Well, one chance is gone. What are you going to do now? Every door that closes leaves another one open,” Professor Mires said. “I’m not going to fail you just because you can’t go to New York over spring break, or keep you from graduating with a degree in journalism just because you don’t have a reporting job lined up. There is more to life than your job and your career. You never know. You might stumble into something else you like.”
Liz knew this all sounded logical, but her heart was too heavy to put much stock into it.
“You took the GRE, correct?” Professor Mires asked.
“Yes,” she said, nodding. She had taken the grad-school exam last semester at Professor Mires’s request. She’d had no intention of attending graduate school at this point in her life, but the scores were valid for several years down the road and it might not be a bad thing to keep in the back of her mind.
“If you’re interested, perhaps I could make a few calls and see if I could get you some late acceptances for graduate school programs. Would you be interested in using that as your plan B?”
Liz’s mood brightened marginally. A plan. Oh, God, she hadn’t realized until Professor Mires had said that how much she put into having a plan. Without one she had felt empty.
“Yes,” Liz said, making a split-second decision. “If you don’t mind making the calls, I would love the opportunity to apply to graduate school.”
“Then it’s settled,” Professor Mires said.
Liz stood to go and then stopped and turned back toward her mentor. “Ma’am?”
“Yes, Liz?”
“Why do you do all of this for me? The colloquium, the internship, the New York Times, and now graduate school. I appreciate it, but I just don’t get why you would help me so much.”
Professor Mires pulled off her glasses. “Because you do it all for yourself. You go out of your way to be better and you do it exceptionally well. I’d like to clone you just for your work ethic. In truth, you go above and beyond and it makes me want to go above and beyond for you. Because someone like you, Liz, deserves more than taking a necessary temporary leave of absence and a job offer withdrawal.”
Liz stared at her professor, slightly stunned. It was such a relief to hear someone truly believe in her and not judge her for her actions. It made the world feel like a better place, lighter, freer, worthwhile.
Before she made it out the door, she smiled back at her professor. “Thank you . . . Lynda.”
A ghost of a smile crept onto her professor’s face.
Chapter 10
LIKE A DREAM
Liz, Victoria, and Daniel flew to D.C. that Friday afternoon. They had received confirmation from Brady’s secretary that someone would pick them up from Security and were told to just look for a sign.
She was glad that Victoria and Daniel had gotten approval to visit the Johns Hopkins campus so they could come with her. Victoria calmed Liz’s jitters by cracking jokes the whole flight.
This was the first time she was going to be with Brady since he had agreed that they were going to be together. Sure, they’d had the few days after that, but he’d had a couple weeks to change his mind. Not that she thought he had. He would have been better off denying the allegations and letting their history fade into the wind than acknowledging her. It was just this nagging feeling. Maybe it was a result of Heather’s condescension. Maybe it was more innate.
Either way it left her on edge. It didn’t help that Brady wasn’t picking them up. She had known from day one the demands of his career, but she still didn’t want to take a backseat to it.
Their plane circled high above the Washington, D.C., metropolis. Lights shone bright from the city in the evening darkness. Brady was down there somewhere. She bounced lightly in her seat as they made their descent. She had been anticipating this trip all week, and she couldn’t get out of her seat quickly enough once they landed at Reagan National Airport.
“Would you chill out?” Victoria complained. “We’re not getting off of this thing any faster, and Brady isn’t even waiting.”
“Ouch, Vickie,” Liz said. “No need to rub salt in the wound.”
“Okay, Lizzie,” Victoria jeered.
Liz stilled at that. She didn’t like that Victoria used Hayden’s nickname. She really should be more careful about calling her Vickie, but habits were hard to break.
She needed to get Hayden out of her head before she landed.
“Enough,” Daniel said, wrapping an arm around Victoria’s waist. “No catfights on the plane, Vickie.”
“You always side with Liz. Why do I keep you around?”
He raised his eyebrows and smirked.
“I can get that anywhere,” she snapped, but a smile played on her features.
“That’s not what I remember you saying.”
“Okay,” Liz said, shaking her head. “My turn to say enough. I don’t want you two to start a play-by-play on the airplane.”
Victoria leaned into Daniel and giggled. Liz was sure they were whispering about what they were going to do to each other later, but she didn’t care as long as she couldn’t hear it.
Liz slung her bag over her head, hung her messenger bag on her shoulder, and exited the airplane. She waited impatiently for Victoria and Daniel to follow her through the airport, past Security, and out toward baggage claim.
She scanned the signs in front of her for the driver that was promised to collect them. No luck. She kept walking, hoping to catch a glimpse, but to no avail.
When her eyes reached the end of the line, she gasped and dropped her bags. Brady. He was here. He had come to pick her up. A million emotions hit her all at once. Her heart ached as it pounded fiercely in her chest. She had missed him so much. The weeks had stretched interminably long.
She caught his eyes and her stomach flopped.
Without a thought for Victoria, Daniel, or her discarded bags, she dashed across the airport. She felt as if she were in a movie as she rushed toward the man she loved. When she reached him, she threw herself into his arms. Her body thudded against his chest and she pressed her face into his shoulder. His arms pulled her flush against him and he hoisted her up so that her feet tucked up behind her. He smelled unbelievably masculine and delicious. The strength in the embrace grounded her, and everything felt right in the world.
“Hey baby,” Brady whispered in her ear.
“You said you were sending a car.”
“I have a car,” he told her with a kiss on her temple.
He placed her lightly back on her feet. She could do nothing but stare up at him with a dopey grin.
“I got out early to come see your beautiful face,” he said. She reached on her tiptoes and kissed him softly on the mouth once. She heard a flash behind her and turned just in time to see a few people stashing their phones and cameras.
“Should I not have done this?” she asked, concerned.
“No, Liz. I like you exactly how you are.”
“What are people going to say?”
“Whatever they want,” he said, taking her hand. “Try not to worry about it. You’re with me now.”
Somehow that did make so much of it better. Brady wouldn’t have let her throw herself at him if he had been concerned about consequences. He wasn’t one to forget himself in
these kinds of situations.
“Oh, I dropped my stuff,” Liz said, turning to see Victoria and Daniel walking toward them with her bags.
“I didn’t think you’d want to lose this,” Victoria said. She was shaking her head, but had a crooked smile on her face.
Liz reached out and took her bags. “Thanks. Sorry.”
“No, you’re not,” Victoria said. “So you must be Brady.” She eyed him up and down and then nudged Liz. “I see why you would say he’s good in bed. He’s really . . . tall.”
Liz covered her face with her hand and shook her head. “Wow. Worst introduction ever.” Brady was laughing softly. Liz had told him all about Victoria, but she didn’t think she could ever adequately prepare someone for her best friend. “Brady, this is my insane roommate, Victoria, and her boyfriend, Daniel.”
“Nice to meet you,” Brady said, extending his hand and shaking with each of them.
“Daniel, huh?” Daniel asked. “I’ve upgraded from Duke Fan for the visit?”
“She didn’t want to give you a reminder about how bad we beat you in basketball last week,” Brady answered. “It was really a way of saving you some embarrassment.”
“Geez, Liz, you’ve trained him already?” Daniel asked.
Liz couldn’t hide her amusement. “Didn’t have to. Brady played basketball at UNC.”
“Another one,” Daniel grumbled. “It’s going to be a long weekend.”
They all walked toward the baggage claim. Brady laced Liz’s fingers together with his as they walked, and she realized he had that same dopey grin on his face she’d felt on her own earlier.
She couldn’t believe how easily she had doubted on the plane. Now here she was in D.C., introducing Brady to her friends, holding his hand in public. She wouldn’t truly believe it if they hadn’t gone through hell and back to get to this point.
After collecting their luggage, they walked out of the airport and into the covered garage. The guys loaded the suitcases into the back of a shiny black Range Rover while Liz and Victoria got comfortable in the plush leather interior.
“This is top-of-the-line,” Victoria whispered when she shut her door.
“Yeah,” Liz said with a shrug.
“No. I mean, my dad was looking at these things and this has all the gadgets he wanted. I bet this is over a hundred thousand easily,” Victoria said appreciatively.
Liz shrugged again. Money didn’t matter. She had never really thought about it with Brady. She knew he had a house in Raleigh, a lake house, a Lexus, and that he had flown her to Hilton Head and put her up at a resort on a whim. She knew his parents had a mansion and a house in Hilton Head, Savannah drove a BMW, and Clay drove a Porsche. Yeah, she knew they were all wealthy, but she had never cared. She still didn’t.
It was just Brady.
“All ready?” Brady asked once he sat in the driver’s seat. He revved the engine and soon they were leaving the airport behind.
This trip to D.C. was already a sharp contrast to when she had come up here to visit Hayden. She had always enjoyed D.C. with him. It had been the first time he had admitted his feelings, the first time they had kissed, the weekend that had triggered Liz wanting more from Brady. Then there had been New Year’s with Hayden, hanging with his sister, Jamie, and her husband, James, going to Jamie’s art galleries.
So many memories washed over her at once. She hated thinking about them right now.
She glanced out the window as she collected herself. It was so easy to remember everything that had happened with Hayden. It hadn’t been that long ago that they had been together and happy, and then everything had spiraled out of control. She had no interest in going back to that, but it was so fresh, like an open wound. She knew Hayden had been in the wrong by putting her relationship with Brady in the paper, and she didn’t want to feel guilt about cheating and jumping right to Brady, but it crept over her with all the old memories.
“Liz?” Brady asked.
“Hmm?” she muttered, realizing she had been out of the conversation.
“We were just seeing if Italian was all right with you?”
Italian. Another Hayden memory hit her of going out to eat after that very first press conference. God, she didn’t need this right now while she was with Brady. That was where her heart was . . . where it had always been.
Time to make new memories.
“Sounds good to me.”
Brady dropped Victoria and Daniel off at a hotel on the Johns Hopkins campus that the university had reserved for them for the weekend visit. They would be coming with Liz and Brady to the banquet tomorrow night, but for now, she and Brady had the night free and to themselves. And they both desperately needed some privacy.
The trip back into the city took longer than expected due to traffic, and by the time they reached Brady’s building the air was thick with sexual tension. He parked in his designated space in an underground garage and they took the elevator up to the top floor. The doors had barely closed before Brady had her pressed back into the wall and his mouth was on hers hot and heavy.
Three weeks had been too damn long without him. Now that she had him back she never wanted to go this long again. He brought her down to earth and reminded her with just one glance exactly why she was going through all of this . . . why it was all worth it. Because Brady was worth everything.
What had happened to her career—or lack thereof at this point—might have been the exact opposite of everything she had wanted, but after spending the week talking with Professor Mires, she felt a little better about losing her position at the New York Times. Now with Brady’s lips on her, she was letting that get pushed further and further out of her mind.
His hands slid down her sides to grasp her hips and she squirmed suggestively against him. “God, I’ve missed you,” he groaned against her lips. “Do you know how long I’ve been dreaming about these hips straddling me again?”
“How long, Mr. Congressman?” she teased.
“Years, baby.”
“Is that all you’ve been dreaming about me doing?”
“You think my mind is that clean?” he growled, pulling her bottom lip into his mouth and sucking it in. She moaned and her eyes fluttered closed. “I’ve been dreaming about the noises you make when you come, the soft pants as I get you closer, the way your body flushes, the feel of your heated skin against mine.”
The elevator dinged open and Liz was left panting just as he had said, as he stepped backward. “I’m thinking after that show, we should just stay in the elevator,” Liz suggested.
A smirk appeared on his face and he stepped back inside the elevator. He slid a card into the slot at the top and pressed a button. The doors closed, but the elevator didn’t move. Locked.
Liz’s heart rate picked up, and she could feel her core pulse at the thought of what was going through his head right now. He just stared at her for a second, his eyes traveling from the top of her head down to her chest, over the curves of the navy dress, to her legs and then back to her face.
He crossed his arms and that damn smirk stayed in place. “Take off your panties.”
“What?” she asked, even though she knew exactly what he was asking.
“Do it. Now.”
Liz swallowed. Adrenaline kicked into high gear and she felt her whole body respond to being told what to do in a public place where they could so easily get caught. Without thinking more about it, Liz reached up and grasped the edge of the black lacy cheeksters she had worn specifically for him to see; then she dragged them down her legs. He watched with idle curiosity until she held them in her hand.
Brady stuffed them into his pocket, and then walked her until her back was pressed into the wall. His hand dipped beneath her dress until he found her most sensitive area hot, wet, and ready for him at the slightest of touches. He jerked her leg up around his hip and then s
tarted swirling his fingers through her wetness and then circling her clit until she was jerking in his grip.
“Brady,” she groaned. “We . . . could get . . . caught.”
“Just suggesting that makes your pussy clench,” he whispered huskily into her ear. “I think you like it.”
She really couldn’t deny that, because the way he was working her with his fingers had her trembling and already close to coming. And he didn’t let up, he kept his thumbs working circles around her clit all the while delving two fingers in and out of her until she dropped her head back and felt the first wave of her orgasm so close.
“Oh, God,” she murmured.
“Come for me, baby. You’re right there. I want to see you come,” he encouraged.
How did he do that? Her whole body tightened at his command, because his fingers had stroked her into submission. And she could do nothing but release at his insistence.
“Most beautiful thing in the world,” he whispered, kissing her on the lips as she tried to get her breathing under control.
Brady released her and then pressed another button on the elevator. Liz straightened her dress and ran her hands back through her hair. The sex had always been off the charts with Brady, but she thought it was incredible that every orgasm was better than the last with him. He took her to new levels with his fingers. She couldn’t imagine where the night would lead them.
The doors dinged open again and she saw a couple walking to the elevator. “Hold the doors, please!” the woman called.
Brady held the door for them and then led Liz down the hallway, on shaky legs. They shared a secret smile, knowing how close they had come to getting caught. Just what he needed to get in the papers for his upcoming election: “Congressman Maxwell Performs Sexual Acts in Public Elevator. Can This Man Help Run the Country?” Seriously, she needed to stop thinking about life in terms of newspaper headlines.
Brady stopped at the last door in the hall. There weren’t very many, which led her to believe that the apartments were huge. He swung the door open and she entered a modern chic bachelor pad.
