After checking in to their hotel in Texas, Eli immediately headed for a meeting with his speechwriters. But as much as he wanted to focus, his mind constantly wandered to thoughts of Meredith. Mostly of the moment they'd shared in his hotel room.

He'd never imagined she was still a virgin.

And he hadn't expected her to be willing to give it up to him.

Part of him was flattered. But a larger part, for some reason, was scared. Touching her would mean he'd have to take responsibility for whatever happened next. And he wasn't sure he was ready for something like that.

But damn! A woman in her twenties, still a virgin? Dude, that’s rare, he thought, making him shake his head.

Meredith herself was rare. He must have been out of his mind for turning her down.

But if he'd had sex with her that night, it would have been his first time taking a woman's virginity. He'd never slept with a virgin before. He wondered what it would be like.

Just the idea of how incredibly tight she must be started to make his dick hard.

Fuck.

“Are you okay?” Lea asked, looking concerned. She was his head speechwriter.

“Yeah,” he answered, wiping away cold beads of sweat from his forehead.

“You can leave everything to us, Elijah. Don’t worry too much. Get some rest. You’re looking a bit pale,” Lea said, looking worried.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yep! I'll call you if we need anything,” she answered. He shot her a grateful smile.

Relieved, he headed back to his room, fully intending to get some sleep. Everything had been so hectic lately, and he'd been getting less sleep than normal.

But when he passed by Meredith's room, he was knocking on her door before he could reconsider what a terrible idea this was. He just wanted to see her face. When the door swung open moments later, he found himself stunned into silence.

Meredith was wearing a pink tank top and denim shorts. She wasn't wearing any makeup, and she looked like she'd just finished drying her hair. Even like this, he found her incredibly beautiful.

“Hi,” he said stiffly, feeling awkward.

They hadn't talked since that night – he'd suspected she'd been avoiding him. He felt like a giant asshole for the way he'd treated her.

“Hi,” she answered, lowering her head as her cheeks grew tomato red.

“Do you want to get something to eat?” he asked, thinking he could have done better than that.

She blinked.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said hesitantly.

“Relax. Everyone will come with us. It'll be a group outing,” he responded, disappointed by this turn of events. He hadn't really thought this through at all. And of course he wanted to be alone with her. But he didn't have a choice.

Being seen alone together would only prompt rumors.

“Fine,” she said, then shut the door in his face. Well, at least she'd agreed, so that was something at least.

Heading down to the hotel lobby, Elijah called Sosie and instructed her to make the necessary arrangements. Sosie sounded irritated, but did as he asked.

It didn't take long before everyone was gathered in the lobby. Meredith was now wearing a pair of jeans and a white shirt, but she still looked stunning as usual. Sosie was running late, and texted him to say to go ahead without her, but to save her a seat next to him.

The only place able to accommodate their group on such short notice was more casual than he'd had in mind, serving mostly fried foods and cheap beer. No one seemed to mind though, and Eli was more than happy to sit next to Meredith.

When the food was served, he thought Meredith would politely decline. But to his surprise, she was one of the first to dig in.

“Sorry I'm late you guys,” he heard Sosie say behind him. “I had some things to wrap up,” she added, trying to pull up a chair between him and Meredith.

It didn't escape Eli's notice when Sosie grimaced after seeing the assortment of fried foods on the table. Like Meredith, Sosie came from an obscenely wealthy family. But she was acting like she'd rather drop dead than eat any of this food.

“I never thought you'd like this kind of food, Miss Fields,” Sosie said in a loud voice, drawing everyone's attention to Meredith.

“Oh? How come?” Meredith asked cautiously.

“Because you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth,” Sosie said, and everyone stopped to stare. “I just assumed you only ate foods prepared by your own personal chef.”

Meredith blushed furiously. She looked flustered and humiliated. She'd been working hard to keep a low profile from the start. He knew she never mentioned her family or anything about her background if she could help it.

“Of course not,” Meredith answered cheerfully, putting a smile on her face, but he could tell it was forced.

“Really?”

“How rich?”

“How come you never mentioned anything?”

“Tell us about it!”

Everyone flooded Meredith with questions. As expected, Sosie appeared to be the only one enjoying this. It looked like a deliberate attempt to put Meredith on edge.

“Come on everyone, let's talk about something else. Meredith's personal life is her own business,” he said.

He didn't like the way Sosie was acting. And he especially didn't like it when he saw tears in Meredith's eyes.

Everyone resumed eating and soon things reverted back to the relaxed atmosphere they'd been enjoying before Sosie had joined them.

Eli was distracted when Sosie clapped her hands, gathering the attention of the crowd once more. She looked happy, but waited until the table was silent before she spoke.

“I’ve got good news!” she exclaimed.

He didn't know what she was about to say, but he had a feeling it wasn't anything truly important. But Sosie loved making a big deal out of everything.

“What is it?” Ava asked.

“Eli's leading the polls! Isn't it great?” she said, throwing her arms around him as everyone clapped.

Everyone stopped when Miriam made a “pffft” sound.

“What’s wrong?” Meredith asked.

“Everybody knew that Mr. Scott was leading in the polls. He’s got the highest approval ratings, you know. I thought it was something better,” Miriam answered.

“Like what?” Sosie questioned.

“Like, you know… You two, finally getting together,” said David from the far end of the table that made everybody oooh and aaaahh.

Especially flattered, Sosie tightened her arms around his neck, squirming closer to him as if there was really something going on between them. But Elijah’s eyes were glued to Meredith, who didn't say a word, but lowered her head instead.

“Come on, guys. It's not like that,” Sosie said. “Eli and I are just friends,” she added before leaning in closer.

He wanted to pull away from her and tell everyone she was full of shit. But he didn't want her to lose face. And if he denied everything, he knew it would just lead to more gossip and rumors.

Looking at Sosie, he saw her glaring at Meredith. It was incredibly absurd and childish.

After a few minutes later, Meredith and everyone else called it a night, saying they were going back to the hotel to finish some work. But he knew the truth.

By now they were reporting to their editors about him supposedly dating his campaign manager.

When he was alone with Sosie, he said, “What the hell is all this about?”

Her eyes narrowed. He knew she was doing it on purpose.

“You know damn well what this is all about, Elijah. Despite me telling you to stay away from her, you've been flirting with Meredith Fields. And maybe even more than flirting,” she said accusingly.

“I have not been flirting with her, okay?” he said.

She rolled her eyes. “I'm not an idiot, Elijah. But clearly you are. I'm firing her first thing in the morning,” she said.

“You can’t do that,” Elijah murmured, his hands clenching into fists.

“Actually, as your campaign manager, I can. A big part of my job is making sure you keep the squeaky clean image that's going to get you elected. No more jailbait, no more temptation,” she said in a mocking tone.

“No!” he said firmly, a little too loud, which startled Sosie into silence.

It took her a couple of moments to react. But her expression remained shocked and confused.

“I was right. You like her,” Sosie concluded as tears welled in her eyes.

She was hurt.

But there was no point in trying to reason with her. He knew she'd never hear him out.

“Meredith will stay. Her father is too important. We can’t fire her,” he said, not even bothering to deny Sosie’s accusation.

She eyed him angrily. She knew he was right. It was the very same thing she'd told him from the start.

It was impossible to fire Meredith Fields.

“I promise. I’ll stay away,” he said, raising his hands in the air, to end the conversation.

He hoped he could keep that promise.

But he seriously doubted it.