Chapter Thirty-Two
The trip home was uneventful; no one was waiting for us at our end of the airport. I was hopeful that no one would know where we lived or even which state we were in. Her father was still going to limit press access to her as much as possible.
By the time we got back to our apartment, it was after two in the afternoon. Anna immediately headed off saying she wanted a nice, long soak in the bath, and I headed to the lounge and flopped on the sofa, exhausted. I hadn’t slept well at all in the last couple of days, and my body was definitely feeling the ill effects of that now. My nerves finally settled, and I relaxed now that we were home. It was so much easier when we were on our own and could behave like ourselves rather than putting on an act for her parents so that they wouldn’t look at us strangely. As far as they were concerned, they thought I was doing my job and playing the role of attentive loving boyfriend, no one knew that it carried on when we were alone. Dean had some idea. He’d certainly shot me a couple of looks that suggested he knew how I felt about her. That didn’t matter though; the only one I wanted to know how I felt was still entirely oblivious.
After ten minutes of me sitting in silence and fighting my stinging eyes, my cell phone started to buzz in my pocket. As I pulled it out and looked at the screen, I groaned. I was too tired to be dealing with this already.
“Hey, Nate,” I greeted, putting it to my ear. “I know what you’re gonna say.”
He laughed excitedly in response. “Fuck me, Taylor; you’re dating the President’s daughter? I met the President’s daughter and saw her semi-naked! I drank and flirted with the President’s daughter!” he chirped.
“He’s not President yet, but yep,” I agreed tiredly.
“You’re all over the papers. Every channel I put on the TV, the two of you are on there.” I could just imagine his face, shocked and amused, one eyebrow raised like he did when he tried to tease the life out of me.
“I know, man, weird huh?”
“So seriously, what’s he like? Is he a nice guy? Did you know who Anna was when you met her? How come the papers said you had been together for a year and three months?” he fired off the questions, one after the other.
My breath caught in my throat at the last one. Nate knew we hadn’t been together that long, but we had to say that because of her college. “I don’t know, that must be a misprint, it’s three months,” I lied. “And no, I didn’t know who she was when I met her. She didn’t tell me at first. But yes, I have met the President-elect. He’s a good guy,” I said, trying to answer all of his questions briefly.
“Why didn’t you tell me who she was? Her dad was Senator when I met her, you could have told me.”
I sighed. He was such a good guy, he wouldn’t even mind when this was over and I told him about my assignment. He’d understand, I knew that, but I still didn’t like lying to him. “Nate, I couldn’t. I wanted too, but she had to try and blend in for her security and stuff. I’m not allowed to do anything without her bodyguards say so.”
“Yeah, I get it, bud, don’t worry, I thought it was something like that,” he admitted. He made a strangled laugh. “You do know that if you screw up and hurt her, he has the power to have you killed,” he joked.
A tired grin covered my face. Trust Nate to think of it that way! “Lucky I’m not gonna screw up and hurt her then.”
“I saw you two getting interviewed outside the hotel. I didn’t realise you were so serious about her. I knew you were in love with her, that much was pretty damn obvious by the love-sick puppy eyes you shoot her, but I didn’t realise that you wanted to marry her. It came across on TV like you were trying to make a joke, but I know you too well, Taylor. You were serious, weren’t you?” he asked.
I smiled. Nate always had known me well. “Yeah, but I don’t think she’s up for it yet. I’m working on it though. Listen, Nate, I need to go, I haven’t slept in forever and my head is killing me.”
“Sure, I’ll speak to you in the week, say hi to Anna for me when you see her, okay?” he instructed.
“I will. See ya,” I disconnected the call and switched on the TV, flicking onto the news channel, only to see me and Anna plastered all over the screen. There were clips of us leaving the hotel and answering questions. They still loved us as a couple and were talking about our nicknames for each other. A proud grin slipped onto my face when they played the bit of her pulling me in for a kiss. Admittedly, it looked just as hot as it had felt.
In my hand, my cell phone rang again. My body jerked in my seat when I saw the number that was flashing on the screen. I answered the phone with wide eyes.
“Hi, Agent Taylor. Please hold for the President-elect,” Maddy stated formally. I swallowed the lump that was building in my throat. No doubt Anna’s father was calling to reprimand me for what I’d said about wanting to marry her outside the hotel.
Moments later, his firm voice greeted me. “Agent Taylor, I just wanted to check how Annabelle was holding up after the reporters hounding you two at the hotel.”
“She’s fine, sir. She was shocked and nervous about it, but she’s fine now.”
He sounded like he breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s great. Melissa and I were concerned that she’d be under too much pressure with everyone thinking you were dating,” he said.
I grimaced, knowing this was where he was going to warn me to do my job and to keep my hands off his daughter. “She’s fine, sir. You don’t need to worry.”
“Good. At least people still aren’t aware that you’re an agent. The boyfriend cover seems to be working well so far.”
I smiled. Well, it definitely works well for me. “Yes it is.”
“Well, call me if you have any problems on your end, or if you need to up the security and I’ll make the arrangements,” he suggested easily.
I frowned. Okay, where’s the speech? “I will, sir. Don’t worry about Anna, I’ll take care of her,” I promised.
“I know you will, son,” he replied as he ended the call.
I stared at the phone, my tired brain not quite able to work out what just happened. I’d expected at least a warning that I should back off and do my job properly, but there had been nothing at all. He hadn’t even mentioned the fact that she kissed me in front of the reporters.
I sighed as I pushed the phone onto the side, deciding to give up trying to second guess everything. People never seemed to react the way I thought they would lately. When my eyes started to get heavy, I rested my head back on the sofa.
Just as I was about to fall into slumber, the sofa dipped next to me, so I forced my stinging eyes open. Anna smiled sadly at me, her hair was still wet and scraped back into a bun. She was wearing one of my T-shirts again. “Lie down,” she cooed, pushing her hand under the back of my head and pulling it towards her gently. All that came out of my mouth was a strangled gargle as she pulled a little harder and smiled. “Lie down, Ashton.” I gave in fighting and twisted, lying down and setting my head in her lap as I swung my legs over the arm of the sofa and fell into a peaceful sleep.
~ Anna ~
When my alarm sounded in the morning, I cracked my eyes open, wincing as the light from the window made my eyes sting. I squeezed my eyes closed again and rolled over to cuddle into Ashton; I was actually pretty surprised he wasn’t all over me already. I rolled onto his side of the bed, instantly noticing that the sheets were cold against my skin. I pushed myself up, frowning at the empty space beside me.
The alarm was still beeping loudly, so I turned it off, wincing because I was still tired and didn’t want to go to college today. My heart sank when I remembered that this was the first day since the party so the cat would be out of the bag about who I was now. Things were going to change today, no doubt.
After slipping on a bath robe, I headed out of the room and made my way to the kitchen, needing a strong coffee. My eyes settled on Ashton sitting there with both Dean and Peter. I frowned as I poked Peter in the back as I walked past. “Shouldn’t you be in bed? Don’t night shift workers usually sleep during the day?” I teased.
“Hey, Anna. Yeah I should, but my boss is a real hard ass,” Peter answered jokingly, motioning towards Ashton who was sitting there with a pencil and paper and a stack of notes and diagrams in front of him.
I waved my hand dismissively. “Don’t listen to him, he’s a pussy cat. Just go to bed.”
Peter laughed, and Ashton rolled his eyes. “We’re just going over some stuff for today as a precaution,” Ashton explained.
I had to scoff at that. “Just chill, will you? Everything’s fine. Jeez, you’re going to work these two to death. Nothing’s going to happen. Maybe I’ll have a couple more people talk to me today, or maybe they’ll all avoid me like the plague. Nothing to be dramatic over,” I shrugged, genuinely not knowing what to expect.
Ashton cleared his throat loudly and turned back to Peter and Dean. “Ignore the interruption,” he stated, waving dismissively at me.
I laughed incredulously. “Interruption? Wow, rude much?”
A smile twitched at the corner of his lips as he carried on planning with the agents, obviously trying to ignore me and not react.
“Anyone want coffee? I’m making eggs if there are any takers,” I smiled wickedly as I interrupted again on purpose.
“No thanks. We’re working,” Ashton replied tersely before the other two could answer.
I grinned. Wow, serious Ashton is here today! I waited for him to start talking again before I spoke, “Orange juice, Dean?”
Ashton sighed dramatically. “Seriously, Anna, are you trying to annoy me?” he asked, raising one eyebrow in warning.
I nodded, smiling sweetly. The idea of Ashton getting annoyed with me was actually pretty funny; I didn’t even think he would. I could see Dean and Peter trying to hide their smiles. Ashton shook his head at me, obviously trying terribly hard not to smile and turned back to them, starting to plan again.
“Cereal anyone?” I asked, laughing wickedly.
Ashton jumped out of his chair so fast that I barely saw him move. He grabbed me from behind, wrapping one arm tightly around my waist, pinning my arms to my sides and covering my mouth with his other hand. I laughed against his hand as he shushed me and pinned my body against his so I couldn’t move.
“Right, we’re done now anyway but just to recap, Peter, you’ll come meet us at the end of school. Dean will move a little closer, and if I call, then you’ll adopt near guard position and ignore me completely,” Ashton ordered. I squirmed in place as I started to find it incredibly sexy the way Dean and Peter were hanging on Ashton’s every word. I could see the respect for him and it made me practically overflow with pride. “I’ve already spoken to the school office this morning and told them that additional arrangements may need to be taken, and they were fine with it. There should be no problems, it’s just business as usual, but Dean can show his presence from now on seeing as everyone will expect Anna to have a guard with her now.” His grip loosened slightly around my waist, but I didn’t move away from him, I liked having him this close; I shifted my weight to my other leg and discreetly ground my ass across his crotch. His arm immediately tightened back up again, pinning me against him. “If there are any problems at all, I need to maintain cover, so you take her away. Don’t wait for me to make the first move, I’ll only move if I have to because I need to look like a boyfriend and not an agent. Right, well, Peter, you’d better go get some sleep,” he said sternly.
Dean and Peter nodded, both standing to leave. “Got it, boss,” Peter answered, nodding as both of my far guards left the apartment.
After the front door shut, Ashton kissed the side of my neck softly, still holding his hand over my mouth. “Now, Miss Spencer, you need to stop interfering with my job, or else,” he growled sexily in my ear. My whole body started to throb at the sound of his husky voice as he held me tightly against him. When he bit the back of my neck playfully, I whimpered with desire and instantly regretted teasing him because now I was going to be fantasising about him all day. “Is that understood?” he whispered against my neck, sending his hot breath blowing down my back. I couldn’t answer; my mouth was dry and my body practically vibrating with excitement. “I said, is that understood, Miss Spencer?” he whispered in my ear. I grinned against his hand and nodded. “Hmm, good,” he purred as he moved his hands from their restraining positions and rested them on my hips gently. I didn’t move away from him, I couldn’t. I loved the feel of his body against mine, I would be quite happy just to stand here like this all day. “How about I make you breakfast?” he offered, his voice still thick with lust.
How about we skip breakfast and school and go to bed? It was on the tip of my tongue, but somehow I held it back. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the lustful thoughts that seemed to come to me so frequently lately. “No, it’s okay. Thanks for the offer though, I thought I would make something hot today,” I said, finally able to drag myself out of his embrace. “You hungry?”
“Of course,” he grinned, watching as I pulled out a packet of bacon from the fridge. He nodded eagerly. “You know you’re the best girlfriend anyone ever had, don’t you?”
I smiled. “Well, I do now that you’ve told me,” I replied, shrugging. I did already know that actually, he told me a lot.
When we arrived at school, the whole parking lot seemed to turn in unison to watch us. A hushed silence settled over the crowd, and I shrank into Ashton’s side, already wishing I was somewhere else. This was going to take a lot of getting used to.
Ashton’s arm tightened around me as the excited whispering started. “Relax, Baby Girl, it’ll die down,” he said, squeezing my waist affectionately.
As we made our way to the building, my eyes settled on Rosie and the rest of our friends that were standing in a little huddle outside the front entrance. I sighed, feeling my shoulders slump in defeat. I knew this would happen; clearly they would all treat me differently now that they knew who my father was. It was inevitable. However, the wide eyes and tight lips that looked back at me made my insides ache. I should have taken more time to prepare myself for this kind of public rejection, I wasn’t ready at all.
But as we got to the last step, a cheeky grin broke out on Rosie’s face as she produced a pen and paper from behind her back. “Can I get Annaton’s autograph, I heard they’re going for ten bucks on eBay,” she teased, before bursting out laughing.
My shoulders relaxed as she shook her head grinning happily. Maybe I’d underestimated them a little. I smiled, grateful for their acceptance. Rosie York was an incredible person, and an even better friend, I would have been extremely sad to lose her because of this. We’d gotten incredibly close.
“Ten bucks, really? Maybe we should sign a load and sell them ourselves?” I joked, turning to Ashton. He laughed in response.
Serena smiled. “I can’t believe your dad is going to be the next President. My dad’s a paint salesman,” she said, grinning.
I shrugged, wincing apologetically. “I didn’t really want to announce it to everyone. People can be a little standoffish when they find out your father’s running for office.”
Rosie nodded and stepped forward; linking her arm through mine. She gave me a little tug away from Ashton and made me start walking up the hallway with her. “On to more important things,” she whispered, looking over her shoulder at Ashton conspiratorially. “I saw you two get interviewed. Do you think he’s going to propose?” she asked, grinning excitedly as her eyes sparkled happily.
I chuckled awkwardly. “I hope not. We’re too young.”
She sighed and nodded in agreement. “True, but he’s so yummy. Imagine being married to that,” she said, fanning her face dramatically as she winked at me. “You should accept if he does.”
I dropped my eyes to the floor. I hated marriage talk, it made me uncomfortable and brought back feelings and memories that I tried extremely hard to bury. “He won’t,” I assured her. I didn’t want to plant false hope there for her by going along with her excited chattering; after all, he was just a bodyguard who had become my friend, nothing more.
For the rest of the day, a few people came up to speak to me, most seemed a little intimidated. A rare few asked for autographs or a photo, which was more than awkward considering they were in my classes and had been talking openly to me for the last couple of months.
By the time the end of day came around, I was grateful to be out of the spotlight for a little while. As we stepped through the door to our apartment, I breathed a sigh of relief that the day was over and done with. There were only a couple of weeks left of school anyway, and then the semester was over. Hopefully, by the time we came back in the New Year, everything would have settled and people would be used to it even more and not bat an eyelid at me.
I flopped down on the sofa while Ashton headed to the kitchen to make coffee. When he set my cup on the side next to me, I smiled. “Thanks. I’m glad that’s over with,” I admitted. “Just another couple of weeks and then we can get away from all of this for Christmas.”
I frowned as I said it. I wasn’t actually looking forward to Christmas at all. Of course, I was looking forward to not getting up for classes and not having assignments to finish, but I wasn’t looking forward to being away from Ashton for two weeks. Because this one was a scheduled school holiday, he got the two weeks off, so I would need to brave it on my own with my parents at the Lake House.
He nodded thoughtfully and sat down next to me. “Yeah, Christmas. I wanted to talk to you about that actually, but there never seems to be the right time because we’ve been so busy lately.”
I nodded, already knowing what this would be about. “Yeah, we can go tomorrow or something. There are still a few bits I need to buy, but I’ve got most of mine already,” I stated, pre-empting him suggesting we go gift shopping soon. I’d been very organised and had already arranged the more important things that I wanted to get – like Ashton’s gift that Maddy had arranged for me.
“Go where?”
I smiled, confused. “Shopping. Weren’t you just about to say that you needed to buy gifts?”
He shook his head. “No actually, but I do need to do that,” he admitted. “Actually, I was going to ask what we’re doing about Christmas itself.” He frowned as if he was trying to work out a complicated algebra problem.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, picking up my coffee and blowing it gently to cool it before taking a sip.
He shrugged. “Well, I’m guessing that you’ll want to spend Christmas day with your parents. But maybe we could spend New Year in Los Angeles. What do you think of that?”
I almost choked on the coffee as he spoke. Spend New Year in LA? With him? “What? I don’t…” I stared at him, waiting for him to say something that made sense.
“If you don’t want to come to my place again, that’s fine, I just thought that you liked it last time and figured I’d suggest it.”
I smiled gratefully. “That’s a really nice thought, Ashton, but you should just go out with your friends. That way you won’t have to worry about me, and you can just have a good time.”
He frowned, looking a little angry at my answer. “I’m not going without you.”
I raised one eyebrow in question, confused by the turn in the conversation. “What are you going on about? I’m totally lost, Pretty Boy,” I admitted.
He sighed dramatically, as if I was missing something that was obvious. “What exactly do you think is happening at Christmas?”
I frowned, setting my cup down and tucking my legs up underneath me. “Well, I’m going to the Lake House with my parents and the house guards, and you’re going home...”
He shook his head. “Not happening, Baby Girl.”
“What’s not? I’m freaking confused! Ashton, will you just spit out what you’re trying to say already?” I grumbled, starting to get annoyed because I didn’t like being confused.
He laughed wickedly at my outburst. “I love it when you’re feisty,” he teased, smirking at me. I rolled my eyes and waited for him to explain what on earth he was getting at. “Okay, so I’ll put it simply. I want to spend the school break with you. If you want to spend the time with me, then we just need to figure out what we’re doing,” he explained, shrugging.
I gasped as it clicked into place. Mr Overprotective strikes again! He doesn’t even trust his job to anyone for two weeks. “You’ve got two weeks off, Ashton. Stop worrying about me, I’ll be fine!” I snapped, frowning.
He laughed and shook his head at me. “Anna, I’m not talking about my job. I’m talking about wanting to spend Christmas with you,” he said simply. I recoiled at the honest revelations, too shocked to speak. His smile fell from his face. “You don’t want to spend Christmas with me?” he asked, looking hurt and embarrassed.
“I… I, Ashton, of course I do, but…” I shook my head because that couldn’t happen. They wouldn’t let me go with him, not now that my dad was President-elect. Dean and Peter would have time off so we couldn’t stay here, and I couldn’t very well invite him to spend Christmas with my parents because they would certainly read something into that.
His hand brushed across my cheek as I stared at him, lost for words. “Anna, just forget everything else for a minute, okay? If you could, would you want to spend your winter break with me?” he asked, looking at me a little pleadingly.
Damn, I would love that. “Yes,” I managed to get out; I was still shocked that he even wanted to do that in the first place. This was his first scheduled break away from me; he could hang out with his friends, laugh and joke around. Yet, he was telling me that he’d rather spend time with me. My heart was aching in my chest because of how much that meant to me.
A dazzling grin stretched across his face. “Okay, great. Well, I want to spend my two weeks off with you too. So now we just need to figure out what to do.” He took my hand, playing with my fingers gently. “So would you prefer to go to LA or stay with your parents?”
I frowned. “Um… I don’t really think either one is possible, is it?”
He sighed. “I know it’ll be hard to convince your father to let me take you to LA again, but maybe he’ll go for it. Or I could come home with you,” he shrugged as if the thought of spending Christmas with the next President of the United States was something he did every day. I closed my eyes and thought about it; I honestly didn’t care where I spent Christmas. If I could spend it with Ashton I’d go anywhere. “There’s a third option,” he added, sounding a little excited.
I opened my eyes. “What’s the third option? Because LA doesn’t seem likely, and going home sounds like it would be uncomfortable with my parents watching our every move and smiling at us all the time,” I admitted.
He pursed his lips before speaking. “Well, how about we go away?”
“Like a vacation?” I asked, a little confused.
“Yeah, like a vacation. Somewhere where people don’t know you. Maybe I’d be able to convince your father to let me take somewhere where there’s no risk to you and no one knows who you are.”
Excitement suddenly bubbled up inside me, but I tried hard to contain it. A vacation didn’t sound like something my father would consent to. “I like option three,” I admitted quietly.
“Hmm, what a coincidence, I like option three too,” he grinned, tucking a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. “Hot or cold then? What’s your preference?” he asked, smirking at me excitedly. “Beach or snow?”
“I don’t care. What do you want?” In all honestly I would follow him anywhere he wanted, it didn’t really matter.
“Well, I like the idea of snow for Christmas and maybe you’d get cold and would cuddle up to me,” he mused, smirking at me.
I rolled my eyes at his train of thought. “Right, Pretty Boy, because otherwise that wouldn’t happen,” I stated sarcastically. We hugged all the time; it didn’t need to be cold for that.
“I also like the idea of the beach, because you’d be wearing a bikini a lot,” he continued, waggling his eyebrows at me.
I raised one eyebrow teasingly. “I guess… unless I went topless.”
His back stiffened as he nodded eagerly. “Beach then, definitely.”
I laughed and slapped his arm playfully. “Pervert!”
“Only around you,” he replied, winking at me. He stood up quickly, fumbling in his pocket and producing a cell phone. “So that’s what we’ll try for first then? I’ll ask to take you away somewhere hot,” he said, looking at me hopefully.
I frowned, wanting to check he wasn’t doing this for the wrong reasons. “Are you sure you don’t just want to go hang out with your friends on your own and get drunk every night? I’ll be fine with the temporary guards if that’s what you’re worried about,” I protested.
He sighed deeply and bent, pressing a soft lingering kiss on my forehead before standing up again. “I want to spend the holidays with you. It’s nothing to do with work, trust me.” The way he looked so deeply into my eyes made me feel like I was the only girl in the world.
“Okay,” I replied breathlessly.
He smiled, already thumbing through his contact list. “I’ll see what I can do then, okay?” He turned and headed into our bedroom, closing the door tightly behind him so that he could speak to my father about it and reason out his case for wanting to take me away.
I smiled broadly. Worst case scenario, he would come and spend the holidays at the Lake House. At least then I would still get to see him every day. The thought of seeing him open his gifts on Christmas morning made my stomach quiver with excitement.