CROWDS
Matt
“My intention to pass a carbon tax for all carbon emissions is unwavering. The very air we breathe has been polluted for years. That’s not happening anymore.”
“Mr. President.” Coin is at the door, interrupting my session with one of my advisors. “There’s been an incident.”
He leads me to the adjoining room and turns on the TV.
I watch Charlotte walk out of the Virginia elementary school to a crowd of reporters and fans, the Secret Service struggling to keep the area secure.
A little boy tries to break through the security line. He’s pushed back, falls, and the line breaks, the crowd engulfing Charlotte.
I see her duck protectively over the little boy that fell, while Stacey fights to open up room to pull her out of there.
“Where is she now?” My tone sounds menacing, even to me.
I lost my father—in the blink of a second.
I see the pool of blood. Hear the damn phone call. See the damn news all over again. Feel the damn loss.
“On her way, sir,” Wilson tells me after checking into his speaker.
“I want to see her when she gets in.”
I head back to the Oval and stare down at my desk, clenching my hands together as I try to breathe. I’ll lose my shit if I ever lose her. I’ll lose my shit if anything happens to her or our children. I spot the FBI file for my father. A reminder of how justice hasn’t been served to one out of hundreds of thousands of evildoers in this country. I grab the file and toss it into my drawer, the frustration of Charlotte being careless suddenly getting to me too fucking much.
* * *
Charlotte
Well, that wasn’t supposed to happen.
I’m still in shock over the number of people coming to my visits. It seems the crowds only keep growing, their obsession with me nearly rivaling their obsession with Matt.
“Charlotte, please, a picture with me!”
“Charlotte, would you please intercede for my boy, he was suspended—”
“Charlotte, do you know what you’ll be having?”
I’m heading back to the White House, and a doctor is tending to some scrapes on my arm in the back of the state car. I caused them myself. Well, maybe. A little boy—he couldn’t have been more than four—was getting trampled as he tried to reach me, and I threw myself forward to try to protect him.
I’ve already been scolded by Stacey and the rest of my detail, the men shooting each other concerned looks, and I’ve already heard them speaking into their mics. Explaining what happened to the president.
The fact that this has already reached Matt’s ear and possibly worried him makes me feel worse about it all.
I’m exhausted when we get back to the White House. I reach my room and remove my pumps, exchanging them for a pair of pretty ballerina flats, and the floor is quiet—except for the staff. I find myself heading to the West Wing.
I just have to see him. I crave him like air. He’s the anchor that holds me down in this new and frightening, exhilarating experience, and he’s the reason I want to do better than well. He’s the reason I even have this opportunity in the first place.
I also want him to know I’m fine.
Dale Coin intercepts me on the way to the Oval Office entrance.
“Charlotte. I want to touch on the fact that the president is taking no prisoners during this administration—”
“Coin.” The word is bit out from the door.
The command makes Dale stop speaking—both our eyes flying to Matt, standing at the door of the Oval.
My heart stops when I notice the steely admonishment in his eyes that he sends his chief of staff’s way, as if he has no right to talk to me like that.
I think my knees are knocking together, or maybe it’s my heart.
I’ve never seen Matthew angry. Not really angry. Not like this.
Dale nods at him and whispers to me apologetically, “The president has enemies. All focused on finding his weakness.”
Matt’s vexation is so evident, I can feel it like a tumultuous ripple in the air, though he fights to keep it under control as he waits until Dale Coin moves away from me.
I glance at Matt. Stare at his tie and the thick column of his throat as I walk inside. I close the door behind me as Matt rounds his desk, then leans forward, his arms braced on the desktop as his eyes meet mine disparagingly and he slowly rips out the words, “You’re my first lady. You cannot act like you’re a normal twenty-three-year-old out there. You can’t risk your safety. You will NOT risk your safety. Do you understand me, Charlotte?”
His stare drills into me, and we stare at each other across the ringing silence.
“Matt, he was getting crushed. He was just a boy trying to give me a drawing he made for me.”
He grits his jaw so tight, I can see a muscle flexing angrily in the back, his glare burning through me. “You want to make your mark and I’m proud of you for that,” he growls, clearly struggling for control. “But for all that’s holy, baby, do not ever—ever—put yourself in danger again. Do you fucking hear me?”
His voice is deathly low, deathly quiet.
Suddenly angry and frustrated, because I know Matt doesn’t seriously want me to stand by and watch a boy come to harm, I spin around, open the door, and start heading down the hall, wordless.
Wanting to cry for some reason.
Matt catches up with me, taking my arm and leading me up the stairs and to the residence.
He releases me in my bedroom, exasperated, his frustration evident on his face.
“What the hell was that?” he growls.
“I’m sorry I scared you!” I yell. “I was scared too! I didn’t want to make a scene in the Oval—that’s like sacred space. But all the attention was on me, Matt, everybody trying to save me—nobody thinking of the little boy.” My voice breaks and my lips begin to quiver. I purse them.
His eyes darken as he looks at me. He works the back muscle of his jaw like there’s no tomorrow.
Matt looks clearly tortured, torn between wanting to hug me and shake some sense into me. “You did a brave thing, Charlotte, but for the love of god,” he rips the last word out, trying to sound patient but failing as he takes my shoulder in his hand, squeezing, “think of what could have happened to you. You’re over four months pregnant and you’re pushing yourself too much—too fucking much. I don’t like it.”
“I’m just keeping busy, Matt! Trying to do my part the best I can. I like what I do, and with the baby on the way I’m trying to do as much as possible before it’s born. You’ve been so busy, and I don’t like it when I start to miss you . . .”
I drop my gaze to his throat, my voice quieting over my confession.
“I keep waiting at night to see if you come to bed and I always fall asleep before you do. I want to make a difference, and there are so many things that I don’t have time for them all, but sometimes instead of thinking of that I’m thinking of you and when I’ll be with you . . .”
“Go on,” he says, thickly, squeezing my shoulder.
I swallow. “I won’t. I’ve said enough.”
Silence.
His tone turns gruff with emotion as he tugs me closer. “For what it’s worth, you’re doing an incredible job out there. I’m proud of you.” He runs his knuckles down my cheek, his expression so intense, I’m weak-kneed. “I’m so damn proud of you.”
He grabs the back of my head, pressing his forehead to mine.
“I think of when I’ll be done so I can come and lie next to you. And by the time I get there you’re asleep. I sit on the chair in my room, just like the one you have here in yours, and I watch you, and I watch you dream—not always good dreams, sometimes you’re restless, and I do this . . .” he strokes my hair, “and you settle down. And I don’t want to catch some sleep because those hours are the only hours when the demands aren’t pressing on me, and the few hours I have you to myself, and I don’t want to miss any of it. Not a second.”
I grab him by the tie and kiss him. He grabs the back of my head again and takes control of the kiss, deepening it.
“I love you,” he husks out, taking me by the back of the neck as his eyes blaze down on me. “You can’t pull a stunt like that again. Not ever, not even when we’re out of here—do you hear me? You’re every fucking thing to me. You don’t need to keep exposing yourself like that—understand me?”
“It’s just that I miss you. Doing things that make a difference is all that can fill some of the void of missing you. Sometimes being here, with all these amazing people, I feel alone.” I drop my head. “I can’t explain it. I don’t want to feel it.”
I squeeze my eyes closed and cover my mouth. God, I can’t believe I just said that.
Here I am, being selfish. I want him all to myself. He’s the fucking president. What do I think I’m doing?
He looks slapped.
Oh god.
I probably sound like his mother did when his father was busy, and I never want to sound like that.
How could I be so selfish and say that aloud? This man is giving his all to his country, his whole life.
“I didn’t know you felt like this,” he says. His voice is gruff and low.
I turn away, but he stops me, raising his voice. “Don’t pull away from me. Jesus!” He lifts my chin and turns me to meet his eyes, and his fingertip sears my skin. His touch sears my heart. “I’ll do better.”
“No, you’re already doing so much. I’m sorry I said that. I want us, now and in the future,” I admit.
Regret and frustration swim like dark shadows in his eyes. “You’re my future.”
I place my hand over the one holding my chin, my palm against his knuckles. “Let’s not fight.”
He clenches his jaw again. “You’re not alone. Ever. Do you hear me?” he says sternly. “You have me.”
I nod, and he places his hand on my stomach, drawing me with his other arm to his chest. His voice becomes gruffer and his eyes darker when he notices the scrape on my arm. “Has this been looked at?”
“Yes, it’s got ointment—I just didn’t want a Band-Aid. It’s fine.”
Matt just stares at me beneath drawn eyebrows.
“It’s fine,” I groan, pulling free.
He continues to stare, stroking his thumb down my face. “I’m going to get back to work, and you’re going to put a Band-Aid on that—and tonight I’m going to take you out for a walk and dinner somewhere.”
“It’s such a hassle to move the team of hundreds so you can take me out to dinner. We could have dinner here outside. Like a picnic.”
A glint of light touches his eyes. “You, worrying about everyone.” He shakes his head. “Worry about yourself and our child.” He pecks my lips. “It’s a date tonight. Wife.”
* * *
We end up having a picnic in the most secluded area of the gardens, under the trees. I had the chef make sandwiches for us, and vegetable chips—healthy leader, healthy lifestyle—and we then lie down and look at the stars, our bodies sort of naturally fitting together, our hands slowly roaming, our lips slowly finding each other’s.
“I want you to take it easy, Charlotte,” he says, nibbling on my lower lip.
I kiss him back. “I can’t take it easy. I’m starting the Kids for the Future campaign to inspire children to step outside the box and use their talents.”
He eases back, frowning, his eyes stern under drawn brows. “You control your schedule. Pace yourself.”
I don’t know how he does it. Even when it’s thick with arousal, he still manages to make his voice sound commanding.
“I’d hate to cancel.”
“I’ll cancel,” he says.
I laugh, loving how protective he is, especially now with me expecting. “By order of the president?” I tease.
And when he only stares at me with an unreadable and unrelenting expression, I simply kiss him, swooning when he firms the kiss and massages my tongue with his. Breathless, I slide my hands up his hard chest and feel his hand curving around my stomach, then around the small of my back, easing me to his lap.
My breath hitches as he guides my legs to straddle him and whispers, “Come here, beautiful.” I close my eyes, arching wantonly.
“Matt.” A plea.
“You want me, my love,” he says against my ear.
“So much.”
He moves his fingertips over the sides of my rib cage and into the front of my waistband. I inhale a shaky breath.
“Close your eyes,” he coaxes. “Let go of everything but this moment. Me. You. This.” He dips his fingers between my legs, where I’m wet and aching, and with his other hand, he draws me to him by the back of the head, kissing me senseless as he then swiftly unbuckles and unzips and lowers me down on him.