Chapter 9

RIVER

“I need to get going now,” Kimberly said with a hint of exhaustion in her voice.

They had been in the offices of Public Waves for over five hours. Both Mariah and Elizabeth took turns asking questions about River and Kimberly’s past and taking notes. It was essential that the firm know everything they could possibly know about the situation; River knew this, but it was still hard to talk about. Even with all their knowledge, Mariah had been very leery of promising they could prevent the story from getting out; River knew she was trying to keep herself safe just in case the news leaked.

Stories as big as this one tended to have legs of their own and often leaked out into the media, no matter how hard a publicist tried to prevent it. Mariah and Elizabeth could only do so much on their own, they needed River to work with them and be honest, he knew that. Knowing who your enemy was helped to preemptively stop them from letting information out. River knew he and Kimberly were going to have to think long and hard about everyone that could possibly have information that would hurt them.

“River, would you mind staying with Mariah and going through some of the details again?” Elizabeth asked as she walked Kimberly out.

“Please call me if you hear that the news has gotten out, I’ll need to prepare my son. I’m not going to tell him anything until that point,” Kimberly said.

“I can handle this,” Mariah said to Elizabeth. “After you walk Kimberly out, you can head home. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow morning. Go ahead and get some rest,”

At the absence of Elizabeth and Kimberly in the room, suddenly it was much more uncomfortable between River and Mariah. He felt the tension from her and didn’t know exactly what was making her feel so awkward around him. The meeting had gone very well over the previous several hours, but something changed the second they were alone. His body tensed up as he watched Mariah from across the table.

Mariah was so serious and professional throughout their meeting, it was different than how she had been the day before. Not that she hadn’t been professional, but she seemed much more at ease throughout the second meeting. Her confidence was high, and she made direct eye contact with everyone in the room.

River felt the energy between him and Mariah, and he tried to move just a touch closer to her. Being near Mariah was like being near a vibrant battery full of energy. He could feel the current coming off of her and flowing toward him. It took every bit of willpower he had not to reach over the table and grab her right there.

His willpower had been tested a lot over the last couple of days around Mariah, and River wasn’t sure he wanted to keep pushing the limits. His body throbbed with desire for her as he watched Mariah looking through her notes. She was intent on figuring out a way to help River, and he appreciated her intensity.

Then it dawned on him. Perhaps she was being so businesslike because she didn’t want to discuss what had happened between the two of them the night before. Maybe she was angry with him? Or hurt because he wouldn’t tell her the full story the day before.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you last night,” River said as he moved around the desk to sit next to Mariah.

“There are a few more questions I have if you don’t mind?” Mariah said flatly as she looked through her notes.

She didn’t look up at River as he sat down next to her, and instead, she seemed even more intently serious. River felt like he was being punished for not being honest with her.

“Sure, go ahead,” he said as he leaned back in his chair.

“Did you know Kimberly was married when you two were together?”

River hesitated for a minute as he thought about the best answer. He didn’t actually know that Kimberly was married at first. They had met at a charity event, and Kimberly gave him her number. She wasn’t wearing a wedding ring at that time or River liked to think he wouldn’t have let it move any further than flirting if she had her ring on. They spent several nights talking to each other on the phone until the early hours of the morning. River felt a bond with Kimberly like she might be the one for him.

Only when they finally met up for a drink did Kimberly admit she was married and thinking about leaving her husband. It was a bad decision on River’s part to continue to see Kimberly, but he certainly couldn’t take it back. They had made a beautiful son together, and they had cared about each other a lot at the time.

After their night together, Kimberly returned to her husband and told River she had made a mistake. She didn’t want to break up her marriage, and River respected her feelings and let things go. Until he received a call one night with the news of their baby.

“I knew she was married before we slept together,” River said with a straight face. “We had spent several nights talking and getting to know each other. I cared about her very much. But we both made a very poor decision.”

He could feel that the more questions he answered, the farther away Mariah felt to him. But he had to continue to answer her, it was for Jackson and Kimberly. River would do anything to keep them out of the public eye. Jackson didn’t deserve to have his entire life ruined all because of some tabloid story, and River was willing to do whatever he had to in order to prevent his son from being exposed.

“Do you love her still?” Mariah asked.

“No, but I care about her. She is the mother of my child.”

Mariah paused and appeared to contemplate his answer before she wrote down some notes. River tried to look at the notes but couldn’t see them as Mariah brought her hand up and covered her paper. He felt the distance continue to build between them, and it was becoming very clear that she wasn’t going to give in to his flirting. Mariah was in total work mode, and River finally sat back into his chair and relaxed.

“Do you see your son?”

Again, River had to think about what he should answer. Yes, he saw his son often, but no, Jackson didn’t know that River was his father. It wasn’t a typical relationship, and for some people, it might seem like River was shirking his parental duties. But River and Kimberly had worked closely to figure out a way for River to be involved with Jackson without exposing who he really was to his son.

“Jackson and I were matched up at a Big Brother technology club that his mother brought him to. Jackson and I are friends, but he has no idea I’m his father. Kimberly’s husband has raised him as his own.”

“Who is going to know that Jackson is yours? Besides your assistant, there isn’t anyone you identified as knowing all the facts. But in my experience, there are always people who know enough of the facts to be dangerous. Can you honestly tell me there isn’t another person on earth that knows this secret?”

Mariah obviously didn’t understand the level of scrutiny that was involved with presidential candidates. River felt himself getting frustrated at Mariah’s seeming inability to understand just how easily it would be to figure out that Jackson was really River’s son. It really didn’t matter if people knew any facts at all. They could simply have seen River and Kimberly together eleven years prior and use that information to start with a simple rumor. The rumor would grow, and the facts would have to come out eventually.

“Trust me Mariah; this is going to come out if her husband announces he is running for president. We need to put a plan in place to minimize the blowback on Jackson, Kimberly, and my business. Personally, I can handle it, but my business won’t be able to stick it out.”

Mariah took a minute to write down a few notes before she closed her notebook and stood up. She looked angry, and as much as River wanted to talk to her some more, he didn’t want to push things. There was a lot going on, and River knew he had to stay out of Mariah’s way if she was going to be able to work.

“I’ll be honest with you, River, I don’t know if you’ll make it out of this very well. The governor is very loved by his supporters.”

River grabbed Mariah’s hand and pulled her back into her seat. He needed to talk with her more. They had to figure out a way to keep the news from getting out. River felt the electricity between them again as his hand stayed with hers. There was no way to avoid it; River needed to have her. Somehow, someway, Mariah had to be his. He couldn’t imagine not feeling her body and his together; fully naked and in his bed.

For every moment that he thought he could resist Mariah, there was another moment where he couldn’t imagine ever being able to resist her. River hated that his complicated life was getting even more complicated by his feelings for Mariah. But as much as he hated the complication, his body urged him to continue forward with his interest in Mariah.

“Stay,” River quietly requested.

“River, I don’t know exactly what happened between us yesterday. But things have changed; I need to keep our relationship professional. No more dates, or business dinners, or whatever that was.”

In one swift movement, River pulled Mariah’s chair close to his and gently spread her legs apart so his could fit between them. He wasn’t about to stand for her line of crap. Nothing had changed, they were still extremely attracted to each other, and just because she knew the truth about his past didn’t change what was going on between them in the present. He couldn’t take it another moment, and that was all there was to it. River wanted Mariah, and he liked to get what he wanted.

“Stay,” he said again more demandingly.

Mariah looked at him, and River could tell she felt the same. She might try to hide it, and she might be able to pretend like she didn’t want him, but the energy between the two of them didn’t lie. Mariah’s breathing slowed as she held her breath in and looked at River. He loved the way she eyed him like he was some sort of villain.

“I need to get your case ready; you should go,” Mariah said as she looked down at River’s hands on her thighs but didn’t move them.

His body reacted instantly to the soft touch of her skin under his fingers. Only a few more inches, and his hands could have touched her delicious center. River lost all focus as he tried to figure out a way to convince Mariah to come home with him. She was putting up an act, and he had to figure out a way to break down her resistance.

He had spent most of the previous evening awake as he mulled over why he had actually left Mariah’s apartment. She was ready for him, she wanted him, and he denied her. It certainly wasn’t something he normally did. River had replayed his choice to leave her apartment over and over in his head. Sometimes he hated it when he was a gentleman. He should have stayed with her. They would have had a perfect evening together.

Somewhere deep down, River felt himself having an internal struggle on what was right and wrong with Mariah. It was by far nothing he normally even thought about. If a woman like Mariah wanted to invite him to her home, he had no reason to deny her. Certainly, he would welcome the opportunity to be with such a beautiful woman. Never had he walked away from such an invitation before.

The problem he was having was that on the previous night, River did refuse Mariah. A sexy, beautiful, smart young blonde had invited him into her apartment, and he had said no. Sure, he had convinced himself he couldn’t go in because they were going to work together and she had been drinking. But did that really matter? Surely, they could have worked together still, and Mariah had not drunk enough that she was unaware of what she was doing. She knew very well that she had invited River into her home.

River felt like he had missed the perfect opportunity, and now he was stuck trying to get it back. He was fine with them working together and sleeping together; if Mariah was alright with it, he would have been just fine with it. Nothing about his moral code gave him any qualms about it. There may have originally been concern, but after getting to know Mariah, River was sure he would have to have her.

“Come home with me, we can discuss your plans over a bottle of wine.”

Mariah laughed. It was that infectious laugh that she had where she looked up in the air and all River could think about was pulling her neck close to his and kissing it. She was more than beautiful, Mariah was enticing to River, and he couldn’t get her out of his mind. He worked through a variety of thoughts on how he could convince Mariah to come home with him. River wasn’t used to having to ask a woman more than once, and he certainly wasn’t used to her saying no.

“I’m not going home with you, and I’m certainly not drinking around you again.”

“Why not?”

River wasn’t about to take no for an answer. When he decided he wanted something or someone, he always got what he wanted. Mariah wanted to say yes to him; River just had to figure out what her weak point was. There was something about him that she couldn’t refuse, something that kept her sitting with him. If she really didn’t want to be there, she would have left already.

“Because I made a fool of myself last night,” Mariah said.

River noticed her face started to turn red at even the mention of embarrassment. He didn’t think she had made a fool out of herself the previous night. In fact, he thought everything about that night had been absolutely perfect. Up until River left Mariah alone for the evening, he had felt pretty damn good about their business dinner.

“I don’t think it’s possible for you to make a fool out of yourself.”

“Oh, please. I practically threw myself at you. I almost straddled you in the car on the way over to my house you know. What kind of businesswoman am I?”

River’s eyes widened at Mariah’s confession about almost straddling him in the vehicle. There had been a moment when his hand touched hers that he felt like she wanted to take things up a notch. He had pictured her climbing on his lap and sliding her skirt up; it was a shock that she had actually been thinking about that exact same thing. Instantly, he regretted not kissing her in the back of the SUV.

“You can try it now if you’d like,” River said as he leaned back in his chair.

“No!” Mariah said as she laughed and swung her notepad at River’s arm in protest. “I’m not straddling you. I’m definitely not going home with you. And I’m not drinking tonight.”

River had to laugh at the flustered look in Mariah’s eyes. She wanted to do all of those things with him, and he knew it. She wouldn’t have protested so much if they weren’t things she was already thinking about. River smiled a mischievous smile as he watched the internal struggle that was going on with Mariah. She wanted to say no; she knew it was the wrong thing to do, yet her entire body was saying yes to him.

Mariah got to him, and River loved it. He couldn’t get enough of her, and for a moment, he didn’t even care about the scandal that was going on. River knew that occupying Mariah’s time would take away from her ability to get prepared for the impending scandal. The problem he was having was that he was touching her. His hands on her body made it physically impossible for him to think about anything else but having her in his bed.

“Are you sure you couldn’t spare one night?” River asked as he finally pried his fingers away from Mariah.

“Nope, you need me to save you remember. If I’m at your house, then that means I can’t be working on your case.”

Her smile went from one side of her face to the other as she pushed her chair back and away from River. At least, Mariah had willpower because River certainly didn’t have any. She was going to have to have the strength for the both of them because River didn’t feel strong enough to walk away from Mariah at all. He wanted her so badly that his brain felt like it wasn’t even working like it was supposed to.

“Alright, I’ll let you go for now. We can talk more tomorrow,” River said as he got up and made his way to the conference room door.

He knew when he had been defeated, and there wasn’t anything else he could do to convince Mariah to come home with him. For the time being, River was going to have to admit defeat and leave Mariah to deal with the press dilemma that was his life.

It was better to let her work, he knew it. Mariah had to be prepared for any news or tips that came through about River’s scandal. The next few days were going to be really crazy, but River had to keep his hands to himself and let Mariah work. It was his only chance of saving his company.

“I’ll call you in the morning; I’m sure I’ll have questions after I go through all this information tonight.”

“Good night,” River said solemnly as he left Mariah alone in the room.

River made a point not to turn around and look at Mariah after he had left the room. His father had always told him not to give a woman the upper hand by looking at her last. For some reason, out of all the advice his father had given him, that was one of the things River remembered most.

He kept walking and didn’t turn back.