***
“I’m going to have Kayla work with me on a project, she won’t have other time to help out for awhile,” Matthew said to Alex as he got into the office.
Alex quickly followed Matthew into his office and I could hear them talking loudly, but I couldn’t hear exactly what was being said. It didn’t sound like Alex was happy with Matthew’s decision to have me work on a project with him.
“You better be careful. Like I said before, he will fire your ass anytime he wants,” Sarah said as we sat and drank our morning coffee.
“Well, technically he could fire me anytime even if I didn’t work with him on this project, right?”
“Yes, but fucking him will make him get tired of you faster.”
My eyes got big and I did my best shocked face that I could. Whether what she was saying was true or not didn’t matter. I wasn’t about to have the office thinking I was fucking my boss; even if I was.
“I am not going to sleep with him.”
Sarah just smiled and looked down at her papers and tried to ignore the statement. But there was no ignoring it. I didn’t want that rumor to get started at all because them Matthew would get nervous and might just decide to fire me to squash the rumors.
“Seriously, Sarah. It won’t happen. I’ll be nice to the guy, but I’m not going to fuck him. He’s not my type.”
I reached over to her hand and touched it so she would look at me. I needed her to understand that I wouldn’t sleep with Matthew just to get a job or assignment in the office. I was perfectly happy to make copies and sit in the corner all year if that’s what they wanted me to do.
“Ok,” Sarah said half-heartedly as she looked up from the desk. “I’m just saying he’s got a way with the ladies and if he wants you, it will be hard to resist him. Then he’ll get rid of you when he’s done and you’ll be out a career. Be careful.”
I chose not to respond to her final message, but I heard every word of it. She seemed genuinely worried about me and that was nice of her. I needed a friend in town and in that moment thought that she might be the perfect person for the job.
“Kayla,” Matthew said from his doorway. “Come with me.”
I stood up quickly and followed him out the door. He walked so fast that I had to almost run to keep up with him.
“What’s going on?”
“Alex is pissing me off. But anyways, we are going to try and set up a meeting with Senator Masson. He typically refuses me, though, but I need to try again.”
“How do you normally ask?”
“What do you mean? I just ask if I can have a meeting with him.”
“Ok, how about you let me go in there and be your assistant. I’ll get the meeting set up,”
“You’ve been in Washington for less than a week and you think you can get me a meeting with Senator Masson?”
“Yes,” I said confidently.
“Go for it.”
Matthew stood with his arms crossed and leaned against the wall outside of Senator Masson’s office. He motioned for me to go in and I smiled and walked into the small office.
“Good morning,” I said with my huge fake smile.
“Morning, how can I help you?” The woman with a nameplate saying Marge said.
“Hi, I’m sorry I’m really new to this. But I am the new assistant to Senator Storm and he was talking about how great he thought Senator Masson was. I thought it might be nice to write a short article for my alumni paper about Senator Masson and all his great work.”
“Which school honey?”
“University of Illinois,” I said with a big grin.
“Oh, yes. Senator Masson’s school. Yes, I’m sure he’d be happy to meet with you. How does lunch sound today?”
“That would be so perfect. Thank you so much, Marge. I’ll just meet him down in the cafeteria so he can eat while I ask a few questions.”
“Sure thing sweetheart. I’ll tell him after his meeting, he’ll be excited to meet with you.”
I turned and walked toward the door, leaving it opened as I said one last goodbye.
“Thanks, Marge, I appreciate your kindness.”
With that, I turned around and shut the door behind me. Matthew stood near the wall and had uncrossed his arms in anticipation.
“You didn’t?” he asked.
“Oh, I did. I can be very persuasive.”
“You got old Marge to give you a meeting? Holy Fuck Kayla. When is it? I’ve got to get prepared. Next week? Two weeks?”
“It’s in three hours.”
“What the hell!”
“And technically it’s a meeting with me, but you can come along,” I smiled and walked down the hallway.
Matthew grabbed my arm and pulled me into the corner of one of the side hallways. His body pressed up close to mine and I felt his desire growing for me.
“How the hell did you convince old Marge to give the Senator a meeting with you?”
“Psychology my dear man. It’s all in the psychology of what people want.”
“I better fucking be careful around you then,” he laughed.
“Yes, you should.”
Matthew leaned down and kissed me briefly and then pulled me out into the hallway so we could walk back to the office.
As I walked down the hallway with Matthew I felt the power of Washington and the allure of that power. It was exciting to be involved in making laws and getting change done in our government and I felt that excitement in the hallway of our office building.