CHAPTER SEVEN
Charley
I couldn’t believe deeply I had fallen for Nick in just one week. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t planning our wedding quite yet. But when he dropped me off at my place late Sunday after our weekend together, I had a hard time saying good night. Fortunately, Nick seemed to agree. As we kissed goodbye on my doorstep, his arms held me tight.
“This doesn’t have to end, you know,” I said as he trailed kisses down my neck. “My bedroom is just up those stairs.”
I felt a burst of air on my clavicle as Nick sighed. “I have an early breakfast meeting at the White House.”
“Oh, poor baby.” I slapped his arm playfully. “It’s so hard to be you.”
Nick grinned. “Yeah, yeah. I just meant I better not come in because we both know there won’t be much sleep happening and I need at least a few hours of rest if I’m going to deal with political matters that early.”
“Have it your way.” I shrugged nonchalantly to hide my disappointment. “I’ll just move on to the next senator on my list.”
Nick’s smile vanished. “You fight dirty.”
“I do a lot of things dirty.” Another lingering kiss, but this time I was the one to break away.
“Can I see you tomorrow?” Nick called after me as I stepped inside.
“You can see all of me tomorrow,” I replied with a slow smile. “I have a dinner thing after work but you should come by after.”
“Deal.”
It had been a long weekend and I should’ve been tired but my raging hormones had taken over. If I was going to get some sleep anytime soon, I had to find an outlet for my built up energy. I started a load of laundry and then pulled out my laptop and began sorting through my email.
The vast majority of the messages were spam– Nigerian princes, penis enlargements, and shopping deals. I had an invitation to a baby shower for an old college friend that I hadn’t spoken to in at least six months. Prior to reading the invitation, I hadn’t even known she was pregnant. Another email from my friend Anna asking how my weekend date had gone and one from Eva asking if I was available to travel to New York for some meetings on Tuesday.
I sent off some quick replies and transferred my laundry to the dryer. I was finally starting to feel tired, so I flipped on the television and scanned the channels until I found a marathon of my favorite crime drama. Somewhere around the shocking reveal of the serial killer, I drifted off to sleep.
I woke to the sound of my cell phone chiming merrily. It was somewhere near my head, so I fumbled around with my eyes still closed until my hand closed over the angry device.
“Hmm,” I mumbled into what I hoped was the bottom of the phone.
“Char, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Anna?” I peeled open one eye and looked for the closest clock. “What time is it?”
“It’s six in the morning. I just saw the news. You should’ve called me last night.” Anna’s breath came out in spurts and I suspected she was in the middle of her morning workout. “You know how much I like drama.”
“What drama? What are you talking about, Anna?” I sat up, hoping my head would clear enough for her words to begin to make sense.
“You and the dashing senator. It’s all over the news.” Anna continued to huff and puff. “Rumor has it the two of you have gotten very serious.”
“The people spreading those rumors are crazy. It was one wedding date.”
I heard a bunch of beeping as Anna punched the buttons on her elliptical or treadmill or whatever fitness equipment she was using. “Who takes someone to a wedding on their first date?”
“Second date, actually.” Our first spontaneous date night was less than a week ago, but it seemed much longer. “Why are they talking about me on the news? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“You do know that Senator Moore is probably going to be the President someday, right? That pretty much makes you a potential first lady.” Anna’s breathing was beginning to normalize. “This country needs a Camelot, Char.”
“You are ridiculous.” I made my way to the kitchen. As I filled the coffee maker with water I said, “Nick is not Jack Kennedy, and I’m definitely not Jackie.”
“Well, I’m not going to argue with that.”
I started to scoop the coffee grounds, but accidentally knocked the entire container onto the floor. “Shit. I’m spilling things. I gotta go, Anna.”
I cleaned up the mess and then I cleaned up myself. After I was properly showered and clothed, I filled up a travel mug with precious coffee and tracked down my purse. My phone rang again as I was about to open my front door– it was Nick.
“Hey, you.” I was surprised by the warmth in my greeting. Nick had a good effect on me. “Good morning.”
“Charley. Have you left your apartment yet?” Nick sounded distracted.
“Just about to. What’s up?”
“The media caught wind of our relationship. I just wanted to give you a heads up that you might hear from them today. They love tracking down dirt on politicians and you’ll be their newest target.”
I smiled at the amount of concern in his voice. “It’s sweet of you to worry, Nick, but I’ll be fine. I seriously doubt this is even an issue.”
I grabbed my keys and yanked open my door. Despite the early morning wakeup call from Anna, I was still somehow running late for work.
“Charley! Charley!”
I nearly dropped both my phone and my coffee as a swarm of photographers closed in on me.
“Well, shit.”
In the span of ten seconds, I managed to completely panic. I hung up on Nick, stammered at the cameras, and then slammed the door. Then I retreated to the safety of my apartment and called Eva to let her know I wouldn’t make it into the office. She was understanding, but she also grilled me for fifteen minutes about Nick. I hung up on her when she got to the really personal stuff.
“You hung up on me,” Nick said later when he called.
“Sorry about that.” I had tried calling Nick back once my panic settled, but the call had gone to voicemail.
“That’s okay. I was just worried about you.”
“How was your super important meeting at the White House?” Once it had been determined that I wouldn’t be going into the office, I had changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt and now I made myself comfortable on my couch.
Nick laughed softly. “Completely pointless. Everyone knows that nothing productive ever happens in those meetings.”
“I think everyone knows that nothing productive ever happens in Washington,” I countered.
“Can I come over?” Nick asked with a quiet urgency.
I crossed the room and peeked through my blinds. A couple of photogs were still milling around on my front steps. “That’s probably not a good idea. I have company.”
“Company? As in, unwelcome company?”
I didn’t answer.
“I’m sorry about this, Charley. I knew this would happen and I should’ve prepared you better. Or been more discrete.”
“It’s just a few photographers, Nick. I’m fine. I can handle it.” But that wasn’t really true. Five seconds in front of them had sent me into a state of panic.
“Yeah, well.” He sighed. “I’m still sorry.”
“Stop. I’m not a child.” I pictured Nick sitting at his desk in his office with his brow wrinkled in worry. “Come by later like we planned. I’m sure these guys will be bored by then.”
But the men didn’t get bored. In fact, in the next couple of hours the number seemed to grow exponentially. I watched them cautiously through a tiny slit in my blinds. When a dark car pulled up to the curb, the men scrambled to get the best shot. At the same time, my phone rang again.
“Meet me at the door, Charley. I need to move fast.”
I rushed to my front door and opened it just as Nick reached the steps. He charged through the door without stopping. I closed it firmly behind him and flipped the lock.
“Vultures,” he said, but he smiled at me. “I couldn’t wait until tonight to see you.”
He looked very serious and important in his dark suit, but his eyes held an undeniable sparkle. I understood that sparkle, and I felt the same. Before he could stop me, I threw myself on him. The force of my body colliding with his banged him up against the wall. Instinctively, he grabbed onto me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I leaned into him and wrapped a leg around him at thigh level. I raised my head up until my lips just barely grazed his and said, “I’m glad you didn’t wait.”
Nick’s lips, still touching mine lightly, curved into a promising smile and then they were locked onto mine. It was easily the most forceful kiss I had ever experienced. I could feel his hot breath as his tongue danced across my teeth before stroking my own tongue. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my hands in his hair, twisting it in my fingers. Nick’s hands slid under my shirt and caressed the skin at the small of my back.
“Now I’m really glad I didn’t wait to see you,” he said in a hoarse voice after pulling away just a fraction of an inch.
Every inch of my body agreed with him. “We can take this to the bedroom.”
“I would love to, but there’s actually something I need to talk to you about.” He reluctantly set me back on the ground.
“That sounds ominous,” I said, trying not to worry. “Are you sick of the media sensation caused by dating me? I can’t help how fascinating I am.”
“Funny.” Nick didn’t laugh. “Can we sit?”
“Okay, now you’re scaring me.” I frowned and led the way to the living room. “If you are going to break up with me, you probably should’ve just done that over the phone and saved yourself a trip.”
Nick waited until I took a seat on the couch and then he sat across from me. “I’m actually here to convince you to break up with me.”
“Okay…” I tried to think of a funny response, but I came up empty. This not only sounded serious, it was also completely confusing. “You want me to break up with you?”
“No. I don’t want that. But it’s in your best interest, so I’m hoping you’ll do it anyway.” He unbuttoned his suit jacket and leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. “The media figured out your name over the weekend when our picture started appearing on the internet. It didn’t take long for them to make the connection to your past.”
“Oh.” Somehow, I hadn’t thought about that. “They know about Danville.”
“They do.” He gave me a look that I had never seen. “This is what they do. They dig into my private life and when they find something juicy, they dig even deeper. You won’t have any privacy for as long as you are connected to me. If you can’t handle that, and I would completely understand if you can’t, it’s better for us to end this now.”
I wanted to immediately tell him that he was being ridiculous. I really liked Nick and I wanted to see where our relationship was going. I wanted to be with him. But I also wasn’t ready for my past to be exposed to the public, on display for everyone to judge. “Did you know this was going to happen?” I said.
“I knew that they would come after you eventually, yes, assuming that things worked out between us. But Charley, I didn’t know about your past back then. If I had, I would have warned you from the very beginning.” He gave me a defeated look. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, Nick.” I hated to see him looking so upset. “You couldn’t have known. Besides, I don’t regret anything about our relationship so far. Do you?”
“Of course not.” He gave me a tight smile. “Well, maybe I regret that part where we busted into that room at the wedding.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I’ll give you that one. But seriously, I don’t want things between us to end. I kind of like having you around.”
“I knew it! I knew you kind of liked me.” He grinned triumphantly. “I’ve still got it.”
“It’s that smile. Adorable.” My own smile faded when I heard several car doors slam outside. “You might have to give me some tips on how to deal with the press though. I haven’t had to worry about that in the last twelve years.”
“Number one tip– ignore them as much as possible.” He came over and sat next to me on the couch, putting an arm behind me. “Tip number two– stay locked away in a hot woman’s apartment as long as possible.”
“Not sure that second tip really applies to me,” I teased, loosening his tie. “But what should we do while we’re locked away?”
His smile turned wicked. “I have a few ideas.”