“Ellie! Ellie,” she heard as she stirred in her sleep. Henry? His voice sounded so small and pitiful, she couldn’t tell if she was dreaming it. Slowly, wakefulness washed over her and she could hear his voice clearly in the room next door. Is he having another attack?

She rushed out of bed, not taking the time to pull something with a little more coverage over her. Ever since the illness, she hadn’t felt up to doing laundry and didn’t have many clean clothes left. She’d resorted to sleeping in boy short underwear and an admittedly see-through white tank top.

“Henry?” she asked, approaching his door. It was barely dawn. Was she allowed to enter at this time? For the first time, she felt truly sorry for him. He was still calling her name, but sounded like he was on the verge of tears. She hesitated, but turned the knob.

“Henry!” she exclaimed, finding him handcuffed to the bed. His eyes were closed, and he was whipping his head from side to side.

“Ellie,” he murmured in his sleep.

She approached his bed cautiously. It was a shock, but what could he possibly do to her tied up like this? Any fear of a sudden PTSD attack was subdued. “Henry,” she said again, trying to wake him. As she neared him, she put a hand on his chest and shook him gently. Even like this, she noticed the bulk of his shoulders and the mounds of his biceps. Pure muscle. She still couldn’t get over how much of a man he was. “Henry,” she said, “I’m… I’m going to take these off, okay?” Spying the little key on the bedside table, she snatched it up and climbed onto the bed to unlock him.

Nearly on top of him, Ellie struggled with the lock. This wasn’t a plaything like Sam had given her as a joke back in college, with those pink fuzzy handcuffs for her twenty-first birthday. This was the real deal.

Henry’s eyes snapped open. “It’s you. You’re safe.” His voice was low and gravelly. Was it really him, or was this some kind of waking sleep for him?

She didn’t know what to say. Before she could even respond, he lunged up like an animal and kissed her with so much passion she sucked her breath deep into her lungs. Any touches or little kisses they’d shared in the past were nothing compared to this—they weren’t even a tease or a hint of what was possible. His tongue invaded her mouth, filling every crevice and flicking across her teeth. She’d never tasted something so addictive before, making every inch come to life.

How could he manage such passion, and yet so much control, even when he was in cuffs? Henry pressed himself up against her as she was straddling one of his thighs. He was rock hard, pushing against her hip. “Ellie,” he moaned between kisses, and her name between his lips gave her chills.

“Henry, I—” she began, but they were interrupted. A massive dog bounded into the bedroom, sniffing and slobbering loudly. “Arliss!” she yelled. “What—oh, God. Meredith?!” she yelled. “Eli? Are you guys here?”

“Holy shit,” Henry muttered. “Get these off me, Ellie. Now,” he demanded.

“Fuck, are they here?” she whispered, digging for the key she’d dropped in the mountain of pillows when he'd kissed her. “How the hell did they make it up the mountain?”

“I don’t know, Ellie,” he whispered back. “Just hurry.”

She finally found the key and got it to click the cuffs open.

“Ellie!” Meredith’s voice rang from downstairs. “Are you here?” Ellie’s eyes widened as she climbed off of Henry. Scrambling off the bed, grabbing one of Henry’s T-shirts on the way, she raced downstairs.

“Mer, hey!” she said, finding her sister-in-law in the kitchen putting on a pot of coffee. “What are you doing here? Is Eli here?” she asked as she hugged her.

“There’s my little sister,” Mer cooed, wrapping her arms around Ellie. Meredith was polished as always, a look she’d been grooming since the notion of becoming first lady arrived. Perfectly coiffed hair in a French twist, crisp white button-up shirt, and dark denim skinny jeans. “No, Eli couldn’t make it, but he told me you were here, and I figured I’d check in since I was passing through. Especially with the weather and all.”

“How did you make it up the mountain?” Ellie asked.

“Being first lady has its perks,” Meredith said with a wink. “Starting with access to some seriously hardcore four-wheel drive vehicles. Hey, why are there two cars in the driveway, anyway?”

A thump came from upstairs, and Meredith arched a brow. “Do you have company?” she asked in a lowered voice. Excitement flickered through Meredith’s eyes. Since falling in love with Eli, and especially after moving into the White House, Meredith had played her role well. However, there was still a big part of her that missed the excitement of her wilder days. Still, she had a role to fulfill and an image to maintain.

“Kind of…”

Henry emerged in the kitchen, rubbing his wrists. Ellie noticed that he’d put on jeans and a clean shirt. “Mer, hey.” He’d put on his most cheery, professional voice. “Here, let me take care of the coffee, you two take a seat in the living room.” He widened his eyes at Ellie as she and Meredith headed to the hall.

“Ellie!” Meredith whispered, linking her arm through hers.

“Nothing happened!” Ellie hissed back.

“That’s not what it looks like,” Meredith said, looking back into the kitchen.

The two of them huddled close together on the couch, and for a moment it felt like years ago. Meredith was the first girlfriend of Eli’s that Ellie had ever felt close to. Even though she was older than Ellie, she’d almost instantly felt part sister and part friend—truly the sister Ellie had always wished for.

“You better marry that one,” Ellie had told Eli after meeting Meredith on the campaign trail.

Eli had just laughed, but that was exactly what he had done. Ellie had been one of Meredith’s bridesmaids. They’d grown close, and Ellie had always looked up to her. Meredith was gorgeous in her own unique, yet classic way. Trim, slender and tall, she made grace look effortless.

However, as Eli’s chances of being elected president began to blossom and it was clear he was going to win, Meredith had a choice to make. Did she want to be the president's wife? Her own career aspirations complemented Eli’s well. Meredith had been a journalist with the New York Tribune when she first met Eli, assigned to his campaign trail. After putting her journalism career on hold temporarily, she'd become involved with a major national nonprofit serving homeless youth. It was what had gotten Ellie interested in fundraising in the first place. Now, as first lady, Meredith had made homelessness her primary platform.

Ellie loved Meredith something fierce, but they hadn’t seen each other much since Eli’s inauguration. Arliss jumped onto the couch with them, wiggling to get between them. “Arliss!” Meredith said with a laugh, stroking the shaggy head without a care whether he got white fur on her designer jeans or not. “You just love being the peanut butter in a threesome, don’t you?” she asked him with a wink to Ellie.

“I don’t know how you handle such a big dog!” Ellie said. “He’s adorable, but I think he’d be the one walking me—and I don’t think I could keep up!”

“Well, every president needs a White House pet, you know,” Meredith said. “That argument is the only way I could convince your brother to let us have a dog finally! Besides,” Meredith said with a smirk and glance toward the kitchen, “it seems like you have your hands plenty full with your own wild thing in there.”

“Pervert,” Ellie said with a laugh. “Seriously, nothing happened. He’s just been here a few days, came in the night of the big storm. Then I got sick with the flu… he took care of me. It was a bad one,” she said.

“Oh my God! Why didn’t you call me?”

“I thought you guys were in South Korea,” she said.

Meredith shook her head. “I didn’t go on this trip,” she said. “Are you okay now?”

“I’m on the mend,” Ellie said. “So, are you staying?” she asked. Part of her was thrilled at the idea of a little sister time, but another part of her wanted Meredith to go so she could flesh out what was going on with Henry.

“No, sorry babygirl,” Meredith said. “I wish I could, but I can only stay one night. I just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay.”

“No!” Ellie said. “You should stay, please.”

Henry walked into the room, placing two mugs of steaming coffee on the table. “Ladies.” He gestured to the mugs.

“Thanks,” Meredith said, picking up her cup.

“There’s plenty of room,” Ellie continued, trying to catch Henry’s eye. He avoided her gaze and headed through the French doors onto the porch.

“Isn’t he going to be cold out there?” Mer whispered, watching Henry sink into one of the chairs and put his legs up on the railing. “He’s not even wearing a jacket!”

“I don’t know,” Ellie shrugged, warming her hands on the coffee mug. “He’s kind of strange, you know,” she said, nudging Meredith with her elbow.

“Yeah,” Mer said. “Eli told me the war changed him. I didn’t know him before he enlisted, though.”

“I was too young to really know him,” Ellie said. Why was she trying to make excuses to Meredith? They’d always told each other everything—well, almost everything.

Meredith shook her head sadly. “Poor guy,” she said. “War. I can only imagine.”

Ellie wanted desperately to tell Meredith what was really going on. Besides Sam, Mer and Eli were the only people who knew she was a virgin. Meredith had been pure gold when she’d told her, reassuring her that waiting until she was ready was a good thing. Going into college, Ellie had been kind of embarrassed, especially when so many of her friends in high school were quick to share their stories about losing it.

“You do what feels right for you,” Meredith had told her. “Trust me. It’s worth waiting for.”