Total pages in book: 19
Estimated words: 17401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 87(@200wpm)___ 70(@250wpm)___ 58(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 87(@200wpm)___ 70(@250wpm)___ 58(@300wpm)
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
GARNER
My plan was more of a plea.
“I want to go public,” I began, anticipating a negative reaction.
Kenan didn’t even blink. “Okay. When?”
“Soon. Whenever the press secretary thinks is best, but soon. I don’t…” I moved my hands to the buttons of his shirt and began unbuttoning them slowly. “I don’t want to spend another night apart if we can help it, so…”
“So eventually, we’ll get found out anyway,” Kenan suggested with the merest hint of a grin. He moved his hands up to catch mine and stop me from undressing him. “Talk to me about what you’re thinking. How do you want this to play out?”
“I want you to be protected,” I admitted. “A Secret Service detail or whatever version of it they think is best, considering you’ll still be with me most of the time.” This was the part I was worried about. “That is… if you’re still willing to stay as my—”
“Yes,” he said in a rush, pressing a hard kiss against my mouth before I could take in a breath. “Fuck yes. I was worried you’d want me to—”
I replaced my lips with my hand to stop him. “No. I’m too selfish. I can’t imagine not having you with me every day.”
My hand lowered to press over his heart. “It’s going to be hard, Kenan. People are going to try and tear us apart.”
He nodded. “I know, baby. But it’s going to be hard no matter when we do it, and I don’t want to wait three and a half more years for people to know how much you mean to me. Besides, nothing anyone could say would make me turn away from you.”
Hearing him call me baby, I felt like I could breathe fully for the first time all day. “Same. Okay, so… you’re going to sleep in here with me now, right?”
A sexy-as-hell glint entered his eyes. “Fuck yes, I am. And you can go back to unbuttoning my shirt now.”
That night, the sex was carefree and easy. It was still steeped in meaning and hot as hell, but it was also filled with joyful celebration since we could finally be together without worrying about who noticed how long he was in my room or who heard any noises we made.
We were able to stay awake for several rounds of shared orgasms, and when I finally fell asleep, it was curled up against an already snoring bodyman.
The next morning, we woke up criminally early because of the jet lag. The extra time allowed us to linger together in my shower before finally separating to dress. For the time being, his personal belongings, including his clothes, were upstairs in a residential staff bedroom. Since he was the only staff member who lived here, we didn’t have to worry about anyone else seeing him return to his room in the early hours of the morning.
By the time we met back up in the residence’s breakfast room and rang for coffee, it appeared to be business as usual to my staff.
We ate quietly while I reviewed today’s agenda on my tablet. When we were ready, we made our way back to the West Wing and into the Oval Office.
Kenan busied himself with the usual early morning tasks. Preparing the ice-filled water bottle I preferred to keep with me. Setting out my daily vitamins and supplements and standing over me until I swallowed the horse pills down against my will. Stacked needed folders and documents on my desk within easy reach and let Rosa know when I was ready to start my official day.
While Rosa walked in my first visitor, I turned to Kenan and pointed at my tablet, where it clearly showed the press secretary meeting I’d requested had been wedged onto my schedule at 10:15 a.m.
I lifted an eyebrow at him, and he nodded.
Only three more hours before we would spill our secret to someone outside of the two of us.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
KENAN
The following three weeks passed in a blur of meetings, media training, and even several unexpected, supposedly “well-meaning” warning conversations with people I’d thought were friends.
“Don’t do this,” a well-respected member of the president’s senior staff had hissed at me after learning about my relationship with the president. “Are you fucking insane? This will ruin him.”
I’d bitten my teeth together and felt my nose flare. “Would you say that if I was a woman?”
“Of course I would,” he’d snapped back. “Sleeping with his bodyman? It’s tawdry and sensational, not to mention the Me Too people are going to have a field day.”
“President Ashley and I have known each other for a very long time,” I’d reminded him. “Long before he was ever the president.”
“If you truly cared about him, you’d stay the hell away from him.”
I’d seen Garner’s face peering at us from down the hall. He must have known from my body language what was happening, but thankfully, he stayed away.