by Mary Whitney
Late that night, my doorbell rang. When I opened the door, Nicki leaned against the doorjamb with slumped shoulders and bedraggled hair. She smiled and sighed. “Hi.”
There she was, in all her beauty before me, but I wasn’t going to let her get off so easily. “So have you come to shag me senseless, tell me you love me, and then abandon me again? That seems to be your M.O.”
“Very, very funny.” She placed her hand on my chest and pushed me aside as she walked in.
After I closed the door, I wrapped my arms around her. “Well, that is what you did last night—especially the shagging.”
“So I was a little forward.”
“A little?”
“Okay. Maybe I jumped you. I’d say we both crossed a line.”
“We crossed it a few times.”
“We did, which is why I had to leave. I—”
My kiss stopped her from talking, and she didn’t seem to mind because her body responded immediately. She pressed into me, and I wasn’t about to let her go.
Eventually, I said between kisses, “So you admit you wantonly seduced me, but you claim you were forced to abandon me?”
“Pardon me,” she said and pulled away, “if I had to go tell my boss, the leader of the free world, that I’m fooling around with a member of the press.”
“We more than fooled around last night, but let’s sit down, and you can tell me what happened.” I grinned and kissed her forehead before offering her a drink.
After we were situated on my sofa with a beer for me and a glass of wine for her, I had her tell me everything that she’d done since she’d left me.
“Start at the beginning. What did you do this morning?”
“Well, I woke up—hung over. That sucked.” Then she kissed me on the cheek. “But I was with you, so that was nice.”
“But you left…” After finally getting back together, I really didn’t like that.
“I didn’t wake you because it was really early, and I had to get back to my hotel room without being seen in the same clothes that I wore out the night before. Luckily, I don’t think anyone saw me.”
“Ah…the Walk of Shame. I forgot about that.”
“Yes. Something to be avoided in our situation.”
“Indeed.” I found her hand and squeezed it. “I should tell you that I got more than one look from my colleagues and also a nasty comment from Dan about our dancing.”
“Yeah, I figured as much. I got a lot of comments, too. Oh well. We can’t do much about that now.”
“No, we can’t, so tell me more about this morning.”
“After I left you, I got cleaned up, packed, and did some work before I went to talk to Melba to get on Logan’s schedule.”
“You didn’t want to talk to Matthew first? Or Juan Carlos?” I leaned back, evaluating her strategy. I was the last person who wanted Nicki to spend time with old JC, but it was odd that she wouldn’t contact him. He had been her boyfriend for all appearances, regardless of their actual status. Some might think he deserved to hear things first since many people would assume she’d cheated on him though she really hadn’t. No one knew how things had broken down between them.
“I thought about it, but after last night, I decided I needed to just go straight to Logan. He’s been like a dad to me for so long. He deserved to hear things first.”
“So when did you talk?”
“Not until we were on the plane. Logan thought I was going to resign so I could get married, so I first had to tell him I wasn’t marrying Juan Carlos.”
“What did he say to that?” God, I hoped Logan wasn’t upset.
“He was surprised, and then when I hemmed and hawed, he asked that I just tell him everything.” She sipped some wine like she needed a breather and then said, “So I told him our story, starting at the very beginning after Lauren died.”
“You started back in high school? Really?”
“It seemed easier to tell him that way, and frankly, I think it was more compelling. I said after over fifteen years, we’d found each other again, and over the last few months, we’ve fallen back in love.”
Nicki’s synopsis made me feel like an eleven-year-old boy who has just been told the girl he really likes, likes him as well—and like a boy, I responded by teasing her. I tousled her hair to show my appreciation and asked, “Well, what did he say?”
“Professionally, he’s disappointed in me. I’ve caused a headache for him. But he’s still very fatherly and happy that you and I reconnected. Matthew, on the other hand, was a little pissed and taken aback when he did find out, but not totally surprised.”
“I have to say I’m feeling a bit guilty you’re taking all this heat.”
“Don’t feel guilty.” She winced and took a breath. “But I do have to ask something huge of you. I understand if you don’t want to do it. There are other ways out.”
“What’s that?”
“Logan, Matt, and I talked through our options. Of course, you and I can’t be in our current roles together anymore. The fairest option is that you and I both quit our jobs. The problem with that one—and the reason Matt doesn’t like it—is that it looks like there was some wrongdoing on our part.”
“I can see that,” I said, kissing her hand. “If we’re both going to lose our jobs in shame, I’d like to have been shagging at least more than one night.”
“Amen to that.” She laughed before continuing. “But actually, that’s why Logan doesn’t like the idea either. We really haven’t done anything grossly unethical yet.”
“So what does he want?”
“Well, honestly, Adam, it looks the best for Logan and makes the most sense if you resign, and I stay working at the White House.” She looked at me guiltily. “I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be. I already told you I’d resign. I meant it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. And their political calculus is correct—I wish I’d thought to argue from that angle before. You keep doing what you’re doing, and I move on. When it comes out that we’ve been dating, people will question the timing, but because you’re still in your position, it shows the president has faith that nothing untoward happened between us. No state secrets were released, and I didn’t go easy on the administration over something. And if I resign now, our relationship is never an issue in the future. It all makes sense.”
“But your career…” Her brow knit in concern.
“My career? I don’t give a fuck. With Dad so ill and…well, when he’s gone…” My throat tightened, so I took a drink to get some composure. After a few seconds, I said, “I’m going to need some time off. I’d take compassionate leave regardless.”
I felt the touch of her hand, comforting me as she nudged closer. “I’m so sorry, Adam. This really isn’t good timing, is it?”
“I don’t think there’s ever good timing for something like this.” Taking her into my arms, I kissed her cheek. “But considering that I’ve got you back, I’d say the timing is as good as it gets.”
She stroked my hair and kissed me. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” It was a lovely moment, but I needed to hear more of her story. I leaned back and asked, “So if you talked to them on the plane, why did it take you so long to get here?”
“I figured I owed it to Juan Carlos to let him know immediately. I went to see him.”
“You did? What did he say? What did you say?”
“I was honest about everything, and he was angry…really angry.” She frowned. “I deserve it—even if he and I were on the outs. I deceived him.”
“He must despise me.”
“Pretty much. He said something about Felicity being a ruse.”
“I assure you, she was not a ruse.”
Well, that was a whopper. Yet I wasn’t ready to lay it out there that I’d led Nicki on about Felicity. In the end, I was a prideful bastard. Plus, it was true Felicity had her talons in me to some degree, and she was jealous of Nicki.
It wasn’t like she’d been completely out of the picture.
I took a breath before I said, “She may even be a bloody pain in the arse later, but we’ll worry about that when we have to.”
“Will she say something?”
I searched for a relatively truthful comment. “Even though we’ve seen relatively little of each other in the last six months, the break-up didn’t go very well. She immediately brought up your name.”
“What did you say to that?” she asked fearfully.
“I said, ‘Nicki and I are close enough friends that I’ve realized what’s missing in our relationship.’ That’s it.”
“Oh, that must not have gone over well.”
“No, it didn’t. Felicity has never thought herself lacking in any way. To hear otherwise was quite an insult to her.”
“Will she talk publicly about you?”
“I don’t know. I hope not.” I had two saving graces. Felicity’s highborn upbringing dictated silence in matters involving another aristocrat such as myself, and she had a professional duty not to do anything to besmirch the BBC. But I worried about what a scorned, short Latin bloke might do in a situation like this. “Will Juan Carlos?”
“Never. He’s too loyal to Logan. If he gossips about me, Logan looks bad. But I also think he’d be too embarrassed by it.”
Even I felt a bit badly for JC, but thank God Nicki hadn’t been with some apolitical Wall Street arse who’d happily trash her. “I’m sorry about that, but overall, what a stroke of luck.”
“Yeah, finally.”
“I realize things can still go sideways pretty quickly, but right now I think we’re doing okay.”
“Right now, yes.”
Leaning down to kiss her again, I whispered, “I’m very happy.”
“I’m happy, too.”
She met my kiss, and we snogged on the sofa long enough that I started to get hard. In response, I murmured, “Let’s go to bed.”
“I want to, but I shouldn’t.” She then sat up straight with excitement and began to speak in double-time. “Shit. I’m not done. I need to tell Lisa…and my dad. Before they hear it anywhere else. But I’ll call my mom while I’m on the road this week. For any reservations she may have had at the beginning, I know this news will make her very happy, so I don’t have to talk to her immediately.”
“That’s right. There’s another trip.” I’d forgotten the president was touring the West that week.
“We leave tomorrow night, remember?”
“We don’t leave tomorrow night. Only you now.”
She frowned. “No more trips together.”
“Hardly.” I pulled her back close to me. “Many more trips together. Just the two of us, though. No fucking Dan Roark along.”
Giggling again, she asked, “Where should we go first?”
Feeling both joyful and randy, I whisked her into my arms and announced, “To my bed, of course.”
“Adam, I just said—”
“The night is young. You’ll see Lisa soon enough, and your parents can wait until the morning.”
“But you haven’t resigned yet.”
I smiled at her pathetic attempt at protest. Carrying her back to my bedroom, I said, “No, I haven’t resigned yet. I’ll do so tomorrow morning, but I’ll text my boss right now if it finally gets you in my bed.”
“No need for that,” she said, kissing my neck.
By the time we reached my room, though, the bed had become obsolete. We kissed along the way, and I couldn’t get our clothes off fast enough. When Nicki was naked, I had to listen to her usual nonsense about her body. Women will never learn that men are simply happy that they’re naked. After I told Nicki she wasn’t allowed to criticize a body I loved, she rewarded me with a forceful kiss. I grabbed her bum, and she kissed me again with a giggle before jumping up and wrapping her legs around me.
She was so close to me that it made the head of my dick feel like there was a homing device in it. The position must’ve unleashed something similar in her as well. She asked with a smile, “Shall we stand?”
Feeling her wetness against me, I practically hissed, “Why yes, thank you,” and my lips met hers for another kiss. As our tongues tangled, it struck me that I now had a far more verbal partner in Nicki than before. I wondered what I could say that would be…inspirational. Sadly, I knew my limitations. I wasn’t like my cad cousin. I was far too proper and reserved to talk dirty. So I decided to say exactly what I wanted. “Put me inside of you.”
The direct approach seemed to be just as good for her because she gasped, “God, yes.” She took my dick and, after a nice rub, placed me right where I wanted to be. I groaned before maneuvering her against a wall. It was the perfect position to watch her unravel, and I loved every second of it.
Afterward, I curled up next to her on the bed and pulled her to me. She placed her hand on my chest and smiled. “Nothing’s changed…”
“No, it hasn’t. Though I do hope I lasted a little longer than before. I remember not doing too well your first time. I believe you lost your virginity in the blink of an eye because I couldn’t control myself.”
“Neither one of us was good at controlling ourselves back then.”
“Some would say we aren’t very good at controlling ourselves now.”
We spent the next hour planning out the rest of the week—how I’d resign, how she’d tell her parents, and when we’d see each other again. She wasn’t returning from the president’s tour of the West until the weekend, but I planned on going back home to see Dad on Wednesday. And since I wouldn’t be working anymore, I realized I should make my trip home open-ended.
When she heard I wasn’t coming immediately back to DC, she asked, “Do you want me to fly to see you on Sunday? I could take a few days off.”
“You’re wonderful,” I said, so happy with her offer. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“We’ll talk this week, though, right?”
“Every day, I hope.”
As Nicki got dressed to go home, I threw on my boxers to see her out. I scowled at her buckling her belt. Was she always going to be leaving me?
I grumbled, “I don’t like it.”
“What? This belt?”
“No. The fact that you’re leaving.”
“We just discussed this,” she said, then kissed my cheek. “I need to talk to some people, and so do you.”
“But when we’re both back in DC for good, I won’t like that you’re not here.” It was all falling into place in my head. We were finally back together after sixteen years. I’d already told the woman I wanted to marry her. Why on earth would I start dating her like she was some girl I was just getting to know? It seemed like a bloody waste of time.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
I took her in my arms. “Well, I know we haven’t been together again for very long—”
“Like maybe a day.” She laughed.
“Yes, but given our history, can’t we skip the going-out stage?” I gave her a pleading kiss on the forehead. “I know that’s where my heart is.”
“What do you mean?” she said again.
She was probably bracing for another spontaneous marriage proposal. But even I had to acknowledge there was too much uncertainty in our lives for me to go on bended knee just yet. For all my eagerness, I wasn’t any readier for that than Nicki. “Will you move in with me? For now. As a start…”
“We haven’t even gone on one date, and you want to live together?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s get through the drama around your resignation and our relationship first. Let’s see how that goes.”
I couldn’t argue with that. “And then?”
“I agree we need to make up for lost time,” she said and sealed it with a kiss.
With sleep still in my eyes the next dawn, I lay in bed as I sent an email to the BBC Washington bureau chief, Ben Keller, and more importantly, to Kent in London. I only told them that I urgent
ly needed to meet with them that morning. They were reporters. I didn’t want to give them any hints with which they could start to do their own research.
When I got to work as early as I could, I went directly to Ben’s office. He looked up from his computer.
“Adam. Good morning. You wanted to see me?”
“Hello, Ben. Yes. First thing, if possible.”
“Fine,” he said with a quizzical look. “I’ll get Liz to get us set up with Kent on a video conference.”
Once we were situated in the conference room and with Kent on the large flat screen, I opened the meeting. “Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice. I appreciate it.”
Both men nodded in silence, eager to hear why I’d called such a meeting, so I forged ahead. “I’m resigning from the BBC immediately.” I handed Ben the letter I’d written that morning and looked at the screen. “Kent, I just sent the same letter to you by email.”
Ben’s mouth gaped as he read the short letter. Kent’s expression was impassive as he pulled up the email on his laptop. His voice was flat. “This is a surprise.”
“I know. And I’ve given you no time to plan. I apologize for that, but there are extenuating circumstances.”
“Is this about your father, Adam?” Ben’s head cocked in curiosity. “You know that you can take as much time as you need off. I imagine that with his health and the family estate there are a number of things that must be done.”
“No, my father’s health isn’t a reason for my resignation.” I took a breath and said, “I have a personal matter that means I can no longer work here—at least in the Washington bureau—at this time.”
“What’s that?” Kent asked. He squinted like he knew something was coming.
Kent always was a step ahead of everyone else, so I was quick. “I’m in a personal relationship with Nicole Johnson.”
“You’d mentioned you knew her at school,” said Ben, leaning back in his chair. “So the old friends are now new friends? A little chummy, are we?”
“Yes,” I said sheepishly.
“Well, that would require a resignation. I suppose I should thank you for doing something I would’ve been forced to do,” Kent said with a dark laugh. “Does the White House know?”
