by Carly White
She was right. It was just a party and just a dress. I would have jumped at the chance before. Maybe I was just looking into it too much. Or maybe I saw him for what he was, dangerous.
As the sky grew dark and after a few drinks, I was reconsidering going and I went back to the hotel to change. I knew that the plane was leaving in an hour, which didn’t give me much time to get ready. Fingering the gold dress, I knew that it might be the only time I had somewhere to wear it and it did seem ungrateful to let such a pretty dress go to waste. When I put it on, it fit me like a glove.
I couldn’t wear a bra in the dress, so I wore a pair of pasties instead. There was a hint of the swell and cleavage, but at least that time around my nipples weren’t showing. Keeping my hair down and putting on very little makeup, I looked at myself in the mirror. My green eyes were sparkling and I knew then that all I could think about was what happened when I got there. Would it be like last time, keeping our distance or would it be something else? I wasn’t sure, but after talking to Dana, I really wanted to know. She was right when she said there was something about George. Not only was he nice to look at, but he had a great wit about him that made me want to know more.
Chapter 7
I just made it on the plane and I almost second-guessed my decision when I saw the look on Senator Johnson’s face. It was pure need and it made me look away. “Maggie, that dress.”
I looked down at it and smiled. “Do you like it Sir?”
“Yes. I am starting to think there is a whole other side of you.”
I took my seat, making sure that it was away from his. He was looking at me like he was a starving man and I was the last morsel of food. It made me more aware of what I was wearing and who had given it to me. Steve came and sat down with me.
“So I want to talk to you about tonight Maggie.”
“Yes Sir?”
He shook his head. “You are still calling me that. It’s Steve. I want us to get to know each other better Maggie, especially if we are going to be working together so much.”
“Sorry Steve. So what did you want to talk about?”
“It’s about the party.”
I could tell he was stalling. It probably meant that I was not going to like what he was going to say. I had a feeling it was going to upset me, but I waited, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“I was hoping that you could mingle a bit more with the business men. They are all there to get away from their wives and a woman like you, dressed like that, could easily bring in all the funds that we need for the rest of the year. I saw the way George was looking at you. He has taken a liking to you, which is unusual for him and I am just asking you to capitalize on it.”
There it was. It was worse than his ‘be nice to him’ speech and it made me nervous. I didn’t mind mingling and talking to people, but by the way he said it, I didn’t think that that was what he was talking about. I was a writer after all, not one of the hired bimbos to make the men feel young again. He must have seen something on my face because when he looked at me, his eyes had softened.
“Sorry if that came out the wrong way. You are just so beautiful tonight Maggie and with a face like that, no man could tell you no.”
It wasn’t much better, but it was as good as it was going to get. I kept reminding myself that he was going to be a great President, even if he was just another sexist man in a business suit. Sometimes I just had to shut my mouth, knowing that everyone had their faults. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to use everything in his arsenal to get ahead, even if one of those things was me.
“I will try to get some mingling in tonight Senator.”
He thanked me, but all I wanted to do was punch him.
***
We got to the party and like before, there were tons of people there. I started to feel strange being there after a few minutes. I didn’t see George anywhere and I figured that he had found something else to occupy his time. Instead I did what the boss asked and did the rounds with the business men. Many of them I had looked into when they were making such large contributions and most had their eyes on my chest most of the time. It was disheartening, but I knew that a few of them were there for the right reasons. He was meant to be President and he was going to make most of the men in the room a lot of money.
“Maggie. How long have you been here?”
I turned around to his voice, forgetting the old man I had been talking to about public policies on taxes. “Mr. Billings. Nice to see you again Sir.”
“The dress Maggie, oh my. I knew that it would be perfect for you, but my word woman.”
He made me smile and then I looked down a bit embarrassed. I still had a bit of a buzz and with the glass in my hand, he made a gesture. “I thought you didn’t drink?”
“Well I guess I have changed my mind. Which is just as well with the looks I am getting in this dress.”
“I have been thinking about you Maggie. It’s strange that you have been on my mind so much. I never think about a woman for this long.”
“That’s kind of sad Mr. Billings, because it has only been a few days. But a man like you has many options to keep your mind off of things I would assume.”
“There is that fire again. Let me get you another drink and you can tell me about my options.”
“With me? There are none.”
“I don’t hear no very often.”
“I bet you don’t, but now you have.”
“Are you always this hostile with the donors?”
I turned red. I wasn’t trying to be hostile, but he had turned my brain to mush and it felt like I should say something about it. Did he know how much I had thought about him or wished that I had done more that night in the bathroom? Maybe just a kiss would let me get him off of my mind.
“I’m sorry Sir. I don’t know what has gotten into me. Maybe I shouldn’t have another drink. The Senator thanks you for your contribution.”
“So what is it with you two?”
“What do you mean?”
He gestured over to Steve who was looking at me in such a way again. I told him it was the dresses fault and he just kind of chuckled.
“I bet that you could walk around here in a potato sack and still make the same impression.”
I laughed with him from the mental image. “You are too kind Sir. Thank you for the drink.”
I started to walk away and he stopped me with a hand on my arm. “Say my name Maggie.”
“George. Thank you George for the dress and helping me out the other night.”
He shivered visibly and I had a moment of naughtiness run through me. Moving closer to him, I put my ear to his lips and said his name low and like I would in the midst of passion. When I pulled away, he was slack-jawed and I laughed at the face he made. Taking the drink from me, he took a sip. “You’re right not to drink at these things because you are dangerous.”
I giggled and took the drink back, walking away. I didn’t look back, even though I wanted to very badly. There was no way that I wouldn’t regret it in the morning, but he wasn’t even on my radar. He was so far above it, it really didn’t matter.
The Senator called me over to a group of men and I moved to say hello as he introduced them. They were all very nice, but I still caught myself looking for George in the crowd. Excusing myself from the men, I went upstairs to the bathroom and dabbed my face with water. I was overheated from the champagne and I just needed a few minutes to myself.
There was a knock and for a moment I just knew that it was George. I opened the door, but it was the Senator instead.
“Sir, did you need something?”
He pushed his way into the room and shut the door hard behind him. He had been drinking again, I could tell from the look in his eyes and he didn’t say anything as he advanced towards me. “Sir?”
“It’s Steve that I want to hear you calling out Maggie, Steve.”
Calling out? The hairs went up on the back of my neck and his intentions bec
ame clear as he took in the rise and fall of my breasts. He was practically licking his lips and I felt coldness run through my body. The last thing I had been expecting was to deal with him like that.
“Senator, I think you’ve had too much to drink.”
He moved closer and I backed up until I felt the marble sink behind me. He kept advancing and I cried out when he grabbed my arm. He was stronger than I could have imagined and it hurt, the grip he had on me. “Stop Steve, you are hurting me.”
“This is what you want, it has to be. Look at the way you are dressed.”
It all came back to the dress and I wanted to curse it. I pushed back, my hands feeling tiny on his chest and when his lips moved to mine, I couldn’t stop him. His lips felt cold against me and I bit his lip to get him away. He pulled back and slapped me across the face. “You stupid little bitch.”
He came back towards me and I screamed as loud as I could. I wasn’t trying to get anyone to help me, but to scare him long enough to get away. It didn’t happen that way. He actually seemed to like me yelling and he just laughed as he came closer. I had been so wrong about the man and I knew then that I had messed up badly.
“Steve, stop. You’re drunk and you are not thinking clearly.”
As he came closer I started to yell, but he just yelled with me. “No one can hear you Maggie, no matter how loud you scream. They are all down there having a good time and that is what we should be doing. You work too hard.”
I started to cry, the tears burning my face as he came closer. The sink was hard against my back and then he hauled me up on the sink. I tried one last time to get away, kicking him as hard as I could in his stomach. It only seemed to make him madder and his arm came back to strike me again.
“Touch her again Senator and there will be hell to pay.”
Steve squinted at the tall man in the doorway. As he moved back, I ran towards the door and then passed the man standing there. George was there with flashing dark eyes and I didn’t want him to see me crying. I wanted to thank him, but no words came out. I was stuck, no wanting to go downstairs in front of all those people. Steve was yelling that I was fired and it literally couldn’t get any worse. I didn’t want to break down, but I knew I was going to. It had been too much and my mind needed time to think of it all.
“Maggie? Here let me help you.”
I was sitting at the top of the steps. The dress was ripped and I couldn’t go downstairs without showing off more of my body than I wanted to. There was nothing I could do and I didn’t know where the Senator was.
Looking up at George, his pity made it even worse. “I’m fine George. Why don’t you go back to your party? I called a cab. Do you have a back exit so that I can get out of here without everyone seeing me like this? Please.”
He bent down and touched my cheek. “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up Maggie. I won’t have you taking a cab. When you are ready to go, I will take you wherever you want to go.”
I kind of laughed bitterly. I needed to go back to Ohio and find another job. It was going to be close to impossible by the way things had ended with my first job. But at the moment, I really just wanted to wash the feel of him off of my skin and cover myself up better.
I let him help me up and followed him further down the hallway to his room.
Chapter 8
George sent me into his closet after he washed the bit of blood off of my face. Steve had split my eyebrow when he hit me and I could already tell it was going to swell. It hurt too bad not to. I had never been hit by a man before and it was not what I had expected. He was so much stronger than I would have given him credit for, but it seemed like I had been wrong about so many things. I had been horribly wrong about my boss, the great Senator that I now hoped never made it to the presidency. Our country could do better and there was no way to separate the man, from the deeds.
“Thanks George. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come in.”
“By the looks of it, you would have stopped the Senator from having any more children.”
He was trying to make me laugh, to lighten the mood and while I appreciated it, it was hard to laugh when my face hurt. Grinning and then grimacing, I saw a moment of fury in his eyes.
“Let’s find you something to wear, shall we?”
“Please, nothing too revealing.”
George had a solemn look on his face and I wondered what he was thinking. Opening the closet, he gave me one of his shirts and a pair of shorts. I looked at him kind of strange, my eyes questioning his choices.
“Take a shower and you will start to feel better. I will send someone out to find you something appropriate to wear. I don’t want you to have to go down there and worry about him. He’s been asked to leave. Just take a hot shower and I will bring you up something when you are done.”
I wanted to ask him to stay, but I couldn’t get the words out. Instead I pulled him back to me and kissed him softly on his lips. “Thank you.”
***
The shower felt amazing and I was almost feeling better about everything until I got in front of the mirror and seen my face. It was swelled to twice the size and my head was killing me. Walking out of the bathroom in the clothes he had given me, I walked right into what must have been his bedroom. I called his name, but he didn’t show up. Looking around, I saw a couple of pictures of a smiling boy that looked a lot like George. After a time, I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes. The pounding in my head stopped as I drifted off to sleep, trying more than anything to forget about what had happened. There were so many loose ends to tie up, but in the end, I just needed some sleep.
I didn’t wake up till the next morning, the light streaming in the windows. I looked over and saw George sleeping on top of the covers. It gave me a few minutes to look at him with him unaware. His face was calm and more handsome than I remembered. I tried to move quietly out of the bed, pushing the covers away that he had covered me with.
“Good morning Maggie.”
I looked back a little shyly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. I was just going to get a taxi or something. I can’t thank you enough for last night.”
He sat up still in his clothes from the night before, like he had been protecting me. I wanted to ask about what happened to the Senator, but I knew that it didn’t matter. I was fired and that was that.
“Well at least have some breakfast and pick something out to wear.” He gestured towards several bags that were on the floor. He really had sent someone out to help me get something to wear. It was too much, he was too much and I didn’t know how to thank him. There were no words to fully encapsulate what I felt for him.
Moving towards the bags, I found a pair of jeans and a shirt to wear. It wasn’t really my style, but it fit better than his clothes that swamped around me. They smelled like him though and I didn’t want to take them off. I wanted to keep them as a reminder, sure that I wouldn’t see him again, but instead I folded them up on the sink in the bathroom before I went back out. He was already up and had breakfast waiting. We talked for a while before he called me a car to take me to the airport. I kissed him once, quickly before I left and I knew that whatever happened next, I would always remember him.
***
I got back home and Ana was surprised to see me. I gave her a rundown of what had happened and though she looked shocked, I knew that she had seen it coming. I had seen it coming too, if I hadn’t been so full of myself. It never was my writing that got me the job, just the pretty face. I figured my career in politics was over and maybe that was just as well. It seemed that I wasn’t cut out for what was involved with it.
Through the next week I couldn’t stop thinking about George. I no longer had anything to remember him by except the memory of his lips on mine. As I started looking for work in my field, it became clear that I had been black-balled from every other candidate. It looked like I was going to be back to writing speeches for small town mayors, but at least I still had my dignity.
Getting back home after another day of being turned away like a leper, I called out to Ana who should have been home. The door was unlocked and it made me wonder where she was. She was always good about locking up after she left. “Ana? Are you here?”
“She will be back in a little while. I hope you don’t mind, she let me in and told me to wait.”
Stopping just inside, I couldn’t believe who it was. “George? What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk.”
I looked down at my suit and smoothed it down nervously. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Us.”
I was confused. “Us?”
“Sounds good doesn’t it?”
It did, but I wasn’t going to admit that. “I don’t understand George.”
He sighed and moved towards me. “I can’t get you out of my mind Maggie. There should be an us. I have spent all this time running around with women and never once did I wake up next to one still clothed. Hell, I don’t remember wanting to wake up next to any of them.”
I remember being with him for those short moments and I had felt something to. I had felt something the first time I saw him and everything since then just made me love him even more. I paused with the thought and though it hadn’t been said out loud, it affected me the same way. There was no denying how I felt about him any longer.
“So, I thought that there should be an us.”
“What makes you think that I want you in the same way George?”
“A man just knows.”
As he got closer to me, my heart started to slam in my chest. Here I was worried about a job and a career, when all the time, the only thing that moved me to silence was him. He stopped right in front of me, so close he would touch me if he only leaned in. I looked up at him, waiting for him to kiss me, dying for it.
“Are you feeling better?”
His hand went to my face, turning it to see the last of the black eye that I had. I nodded that I was fine, finding it hard to meet his gaze. “Can I kiss you?”
