~DONNA'S POV~
I hear the connecting door click open softly and glance over at the
clock. Took him long enough. For crying out loud, I almost fell
asleep over here! Cathy's not coming back to our room tonight. She
was meeting up with friends and staying with one of them tonight. So
I got a room to myself, for tonight at least. I had to push Josh's
jaw shut when he realized what Cathy taking the night off meant. She
had that look about her though, so I have a feeling she was meeting a
guy. I have my suspicions about her and a guy from Advance.
But really, who cares? I have a room to myself tonight. A ROOM my
friends!
Josh and I haven't had any actual significant time alone since we
started this....whatever this is. We are, however, magnetically drawn
to each other as soon as we realize we have been left alone. I've
lost count how many closets and bathrooms I've been pulled discreetly
into. Josh has actually talked about renting us a separate room and
paying for it out of his own pocket so that we can escape to it. When
I asked him whose name he was going to book it under; he told
me "Billy Shears." He said it right off the bat, too. Makes a girl
wonder, quite frankly. The idea has merit though. I got a raise when
we started getting paid by the DNC. It's a pretty nice raise, too. I
could totally split the cost of the room with him.
I roll towards him when he slides into the bed with me. When I meet
his eyes, my breath catches, and I feel that rush of heat that I
always get when he's this close. The intensity of his gaze catches me
by surprise. He says nothing, but leans down and kisses me. He's the
most amazing kisser. I don't know if I think that because I'm, quite
honestly, crazy in love with him, or he's just done a lot of kissing
in his life, but he makes my toes curl. No one's ever done that to me
before. For someone who needs a lot of ego stroking to survive, he's
certainly giving when he's like this.
And I like him like this.
No. I love him like this.
He pulls away and props himself up on his elbow. His hand is gently
running up and down my hip. It looks like he's got the same unspoken
comment that I've got stuck in my head, too.
So, we've got this bed here....
The first time we've, you know, HAD a bed without the threat of being
interrupted...
He gives me one soft kiss on the lips and I respond.
By pulling his t-shirt over his head.
Well, now that we've got that question out of the way. He's been okay
with waiting. Part of me says to wait, and that maybe we're moving
too fast. That maybe I only want this to win, to beat Mandy. But the
rest of me says that this is the moment. When he's looking at me like
he is, I can see the emotion laid bare in his eyes.
I run my hands across his flawless chest. Not too muscular, not to
squishy, just the way I like it. I'm going to enjoy resting my head
on this later.
God, I hope he stays at least most of the night with me.
He, of course, wastes no time taking off my shirt. He pauses a moment
to let his gaze travel down the upper portion of my body. I have to
tell you, I've always thought that I was lacking in the breast
department, but he doesn't seem to think so as he lowers his lips to
introduce himself. I hiss softly as they seem to come alive. David
never paid particular attention to them. And the few before him were
always just like, "Woo-hoo! I get to touch some breasts!"
But Josh, Josh seems to appreciate a woman's body.
"Josh," I say softly. "What about Sam?"
His eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. I love when I surprise him
like that. "You think we should ask him to join us?"
I smack his arm and roll my eyes.
"He's right next door. What if he notices you're gone?" I amend, even
though I know he knew exactly what I was asking the first
time....jackass.
"Donna, I'm SURE he's going to notice I'm gone at some point."
My eyes widen. Well, that's not good. "Do you think he'll say
something?"
"To anyone else? No. He's my best friend. To me? Yeah, probably." he
shrugs.
"What are you going to say? Are you going to tell him where you were?"
"I'm not going to lie to him."
"Josh."
"Donna, listen to me," he says, propping himself above me again. I
really like him in this particular position. "This," he continues
with a hand wave between us, "isn't what I've been after. I haven't
been trying to get you into bed this whole time. We can wait."
Holy crap, he's so sweet.
"Do I want to take advantage of the fact that I can actually spend a
night with you? Finally? Yes, absolutely." he continues. "But, Donna,
what I feel..." he drifts off and is looking in the darkness. He's
trying to figure out how best to phrase this, I think.
"It's okay." I nod, bringing my hand up to his face and his attention
back to me.
"I don't know how many times I can say it. You're not a campaign
fling." he says adamantly.
"I'm not?" I smile. I may sound too relieved. I don't care. I've seen
people on this campaign hooking up. They call it "coming onboard."
Get it? Others get the luxury of being more open about it. The
proprietariness, if that's even a word, of it doesn't get called into
question, since they're not in the same positions as he and I are.
"No. Of course you're not. Have you still been thinking that?"
It's kind of hard not to, to be honest. Between Mandy and all her
crap, and that Erica girl that was on the Hoynes campaign, plus all
the negative comments about staffers hooking up on the campaign
trail, it's just kind of hard not to wonder if that's all this is to
him, the romance of the campaign, the thrill of getting caught at any
second.
"I don't know what I've been thinking. We've hardly had a chance to
actually talk about what this might be."
"I don't know what it is." he whispers.
Well, at least he's honest about it.
"Well, maybe we should put it this way." I suggest. "The convention
is over in two more days. What if we lose? What happens to us in
three days?"
"You don't want to be doing this in three days?" he asks exploring my
collarbone.
"Josh. Be serious for a second."
"Maybe I should be asking you if I'M just a campaign fling." he
tosses back dropping back onto the mattress.
That's it.
I scurry up to a sitting position, yank my tank-top back over my
head, and smack him in the head.
"Ow!" he yelps rubbing the offending spot. "That hurt!"
"So did you what you said!" I growl in return.
I take aim for another whack, but he grabs my wrist and gently
tangles his fingers with mine. I like the way his hand feels holding
mine, and I'm wondering now if he's prepping me to break my heart.
David pulled this crap on me, too. Set me up to turn me into this
loyal, little, pathetic puppy, then played on my deluded notions to
get what he really wanted out of me. A sugar momma.
But Josh is different. Or I thought he was different.
"I don't know what this is." he says again. He sounds a little more
earnest about it, but that might just be me needing to hear
that. "But I know that you're really important to me, Donna. I know
that I like having you around me. You're funny, and caring, and you
make me smile, and you're smarter than three-quarters of the people
on this campaign."
"Really?" I ask. He thinks I'm smart?
"Really what?"
"Really you think I'm smart?"
He stares at me for a long moment and his expression changes to
something I can't quite put my finger on. "God, Donna." he says
bringing his hand to my face. "What did that guy SAY to you?" It
takes me a second to realize he's talking about David, the same thing
I was just thinking about. I shrug and drop my eyes down to my lap.
I came to the campaign to find my sense of self-worth, to find my
confidence.
I found Josh.
Josh has always made me feel needed and valuable, but not necessarily
smart and confident. Don't get me wrong. He has NEVER made me feel
stupid or worthless. But it's always him teaching ME about politics.
I don't teach him.
"Donna." he says softly. But I can't bring myself to look at him.
He's so amazing, and what he sees in me beyond the quirky young
blonde on the campaign, I often don't know. He means everything to
me, more than David ever could have. And if I am just a campaign
fling, I can't bear to let him see that I thought he was more.
"Donna, look at me." he says more firmly and I drag my gaze up to
his. His eyes are warm, but there also seems to be anger there,
too. "How can you think you're not smart?"
I shrug. "It's always you teaching me."
"You think you haven't taught me anything?" he's almost laughing
now. "Donna, spending 24/7 with you is like a perpetual game of 20
questions, and I love every minute of it. You absorb information like
a sponge and repeat it with meticulous clarity. Why do you think I
give you all that stuff to read on the bus and plane?" I shrug again.
I thought it was to give me something to do, quite frankly, like busy
work. "Because you're so thorough and retain information like no one
I've ever met, except maybe the Governor. You read all that stuff and
spit it right back out at me, and I didn't know it before you briefed
me, and I like hearing it from you a hell of a lot more than I like
reading it in a binder. You're one of the most intelligent people I
know. And you HAVE taught me things. You've taught me a lot. You've
taught me to keep things in perspective, you've taught me to remember
why it is that I want this man to be President. And you've taught me
how to be close to a woman without fear that she's going to suck my
blood when I'm not looking. Donna, I can be myself around you, and I
can't do that around anyone else."
"But it all changes after the election," I whisper back. See that,
he's got ME convinced we're taking the nomination now, too. He sighs
deeply and looks back up at me. I'm asking all the tough questions
that he doesn't have answers for. That's all right. It'll at least
make him think about it. "If we lose, Josh, I live in Wisconsin and
you live in Washington DC. If we win, you work in the White House,
and..."
"You work with me." he finishes. He looks like he truly believes
that. He's adorable. He's deluded, but he's adorable.
"How can I possibly work with you if we're involved like this? Leo
would never allow that." Doesn't he see what's happened? What we
started by doing this? He thinks I can go back to the way we were?
All he's talked about was the long days we'd have to put in, in the
White House. So if I didn't work for him, I'd never see him, and if I
worked for him, I couldn't be with him. And he's always wanted to
work in the White House. It's his Emerald City. I could never ask him
not to.
Suddenly, I'm very depressed. Win or lose, I lose him. If we lose the
election, what would I possibly do in Washington DC? I'm not
qualified to do anything. I always assumed that if we lost, I'd go
back to Wisconsin, but then I let Josh in and I can't live half-way
across the country from him, I just can't.
"I don't know what to tell you to make you less worried." he says
softly. "All I know is I've finally been given an opportunity to hold
you all night like I've wanted since the day we met, and I don't want
to spend it talking in circles. We're not going to get any answers
tonight. I just want to be with you, and cherish every minute,
because that, I know, will end tomorrow when Cathy comes back. Can't
we have tonight and start trying to figure out the rest tomorrow?"
When he says things like this, it makes me think he loves me, too.
That there really are no thoughts of Mandy, or Erica Lee, or some
other woman. It makes me think that changing my life again for a man
ISN'T a bad idea this time, that this time, it might actually be
worth it.
I start to move towards him and he meets me half way, easing me back
down onto the pillow. I know he cares about me, and I know David
didn't. I'm not talking about getting married and living happily ever
after over here. But I've heard CJ talk about campaign flings and the
opinions she has of the women who get involved like that. I can only
imagine the opinion of me would be lower since Josh is technically my
supervisor. I don't want to be remembered by everyone as Josh's ditzy
blonde assistant who hopped into bed with him as soon as he smiled.
But he's kissing me now, and he's more gentle than any man I've ever
been with, and that has to mean something, right?
What I do know, as we slowly divest each other of our clothing, is
that I cannot work for him in the White House after this if we're not
involved personally. I cannot last day in and day out watching him
date other women. I cannot pretend that I don't love him. And as he
makes my body come alive now, my heart breaks because I just don't
see the happy ending for us. I either have a boyfriend I never see
because he works 14 hours a day....or I have nothing.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
~JOSH'S POV~
I think of last night and grin like an idiot. She was amazing. How
could someone so young be so GOOD at that?
Wait a minute. I don't want to know.
And she slept in my arms all night. Last night was the first time a
woman has spent the night in my arms. Mandy would always move to her
side of the bed. I used to half-expect her to say, "thank you." And
before her, well, they were never serious relationships. Just dating
that made it to the sex stage (the now infamous Erica Lee, to name
one), and some that were just sex that never made it to the dating
stage.
My body responded to Donna like its never responded to another woman
in my life. I know she's sad because she doesn't see a happy ending
for us. Not that I think she's thinking about getting married or
anything, although the prospect of spending the rest of my life with
Donna isn't an unpleasant one, but she doesn't see how Leo can let us
work together. Between you and me, I'm not sure how that's going to
shake out either. I meant what I said to my mother. If I keep her
with me, more doors will open up for her. But if I keep her with me,
I'm not sure I'd be allowed to be with her, and after last night, I'm
not sure that's an option. Before I thought it was, this morning I'm
thinking it's not. There's NO way I can stand by and watch her date
some gomer, some beneath her peon that's going to treat her like Dr.
Free Ride.
That guy really did a number on her. Why didn't I knock him out when
I had the chance? Probably because I didn't see the full weight of
the damage then. I was just so relieved to be in her presence then
that getting amped up on behalf of the damsel in distress didn't
really occur to me at that moment. But after how defeated she looked
last night when she thought I thought she wasn't smart...let's just
say I'm not finished with Dr. Free Ride Daley yet.
Asshole.
There was a lot I didn't tell her last night that I should have. I
probably could have alleviated half her fears if I had told her I
loved her. But I didn't want her to think that I was only saying that
to get her to sleep with me either. That's what HE did. Her self-
confidence is nothing. The only way I can really make her see how I
feel about her is to make things work out for us.
And stay as far away from Mandy as I possibly can. I've been trying
to. But Mandy always seems to find me. I'm not even sure if it's me
Mandy wants or just to win and beat Donna. Even if Donna wasn't in
the picture, there was just NO way I would have gone back to Mandy.
Besides being an uber bitch, Mandy is entirely too controlling. I'll
admit that I often cave with Donna when she smiles, or she's upset,
but I think that's because of Donna's genuineness and not any
attempts she may have made to be controlling.
If we take the White House, I know I'm tapped for Deputy Chief of
Staff. Leo told me that when I joined the campaign. I'm on the fast
track to a lot of power in Washington. I'm also going to be a lot
more visible than most. I will be held to a higher standard. I will
be scrutinized for what I do, who I date, and how I spend my "free
time"; though I don't predict having too much of that.
If we don't win the White House, well, I think I could be happy
living in Wisconsin for a bit. I mean, I have to at least go back
there to knock out Dr. Daley.
She shifts in the bed and I'm drawn to her. She has an amazing body.
And her body does amazing things. I swear, I could just lay here and
look at her all day. I mean, she's that hot.
Her arms are crossed in front of her chest with her hands resting
under her cheek on the pillow. I can't see her perfect breasts at the
moment, but her position is allowing for some cleavage that's making
my mouth water. But as beautiful as that particular part of her
anatomy is, there's other parts of her that I find far sexier.
For instance, her long slender neck, her smooth collarbone and the
delicate flare of her hip, and her endlessly long legs, the feather
light touches from her fingers, and her silky hair. I don't know what
kind of shampoo she uses, but I could spend hours letting her hair
slide through my fingers.
I reach over and lightly trail my finger down her side and her eyes
flutter open.
Oh yeah. Her eyes.
Well, crap. They haven't looked at me like THAT yet. That's one damn
sexy gaze she's got working over there.
"Good morning." she smiles.
Oh dear Lord! Add her husky morning voice to the list, too!
"Morning." I smile back. I slide my hand around to her back and slide
her to me, then brave the morning breath for a first kiss that turns
out to be a lot sweeter than I anticipated.
I have to tell you, I've never been this enchanted by a woman the
morning after before. But then again, I've never confessed to being
in love with a woman before either, so I suppose that's par for the
course.
"I have an idea." she says, running a light finger down my cheek that
sends a shiver all the way down to my toes. My body seems to be
supersensitive to her this morning. It's really cool.
"What?"
"Why don't you sneak next door, grab some stuff and we'll conserve
water by taking a shower here?"
Hear that noise? That's my head exploding, friends.
I grin like an idiot. "You're brilliant."
She smiles brightly and I literally feel warm all over. Making her
smile feels really good. It's been a while since I've made someone
feel good and I've felt good about it. Coming through for her is
really rewarding, you know? She's got a charisma that I'm completely
captivated by. I'm screwed when we get to the White House if she
keeps smiling at me like this. Can you just imagine how many long
lunches I'll give her?
"I'll meet you in the shower." she smiles seductively and rolls out
of the bed. I'd get up, but I'm hypnotized by the sway of her hips.
Again I ask you, how is someone so young this incredibly sexy?
That's another issue I'm having at the moment. She's so young. She's
only 24. Not that I have a problem with her age, but don't you think
she should be able to DO more before she gets serious with a guy? I
mean, Dr. Free Ride was all ready to turn her into some modern day
June Cleaver and she was okay with that.
Well, until she found out he was really an asshole.
I don't want to do that. But part of me wonders if maybe she
shouldn't be given the chance to explore things in life and see what
she can do standing on her own two feet. Of course, the selfish part
of me says that after an amazing night like that, I don't think I'm
going to be too anxious to see her do that. Maybe she can do both,
right?
I hear the shower start and it propels me off the bed, into my
boxers, and towards the connecting door. Quietly opening the door, I
can hear Sam snoring. I creep around the room grabbing everything I
need and then hurry back to Donna's room. I pull off my shorts as
soon as I get into the bathroom. Donna hears me come in and pokes her
head out from behind the shower curtain. She crooks a finger at me
and disappears again.
Have mercy.
I'm surprised I didn't break my neck vaulting over the side of the
tub, but as soon as I close the curtain, she turns and pounces on me.
Her lips are everywhere. Last night was all about her. It looks like
the shower is all about me.
I'm okay with that.
She's kissing her way down my chest and all thoughts of bathing have
now been evicted from my head. Soap's overrated anyway. I mean, I'm
getting wet.
She's kissing lower...lower...lower...
Oh.
My.
God!
I'm vaguely aware of the shower wall against my back now. When did I
lose the strength to stand?
She's spending some quality time down there, let me tell you. I'm not
sure I'm ever going to be able to take a shower again without
thinking of this moment.
I can feel myself teetering on the edge, and rather than wake the
hotel with what promises to be an amazing orgasm, I pull her up off
the tub floor with a strength mustered from who the hell knows where,
turn her around, not so gently shove her up against the wall and push
into her. She makes a noise that sounds like it came from her stomach
and hooks a leg around my waist.
I drop my head into her shoulder. I need a moment to regroup here.
When I pick my head back up, she kisses me. How does she know? How
does she know exactly what to do? How does she know exactly what it
is that sets my heart racing and my mind spinning?
She breaks the kiss with a gasp. She clutches my shoulders and I feel
her fight for control. It's incredibly erotic and it's all I need to
join her. She's holding onto me like she's afraid to let go. I don't
know why she's so freaked out, it's not like I'd ever let her fall.
"Not a bad way to start the day." I smirk at her when my breathing
comes back under control.
"I did promise to keep you calm during the convention." she replies
still a little breathless, and that, of course, turns me on.
"Hell of a way to go about it."
"I do what needs to be done." she says with a blasé shrug.
I'm pretty sure she was kidding around there, but it brings back what
she said last night about being surprised I thought she was smart.
Suddenly, I think there are some things I need to get to the bottom
of here. Things are starting to point to the fact that Dr. Free Ride
may have been a bigger asshole than I originally suspected.
"Donna..." I start.
"Water's getting cold." she says, cutting me off. She shuts the
shower off and hops out of the tub. Never mind that we didn't
actually, you know, bathe in there. Never mind that I don't think
it's actually possible for a hotel shower to lose hot water. She
wraps a towel around herself and turns around in front of the vanity,
where I trap her. I was meaning to corner her to continue the
conversation I was going to start, but either she's using
misdirection or misunderstood my intention because she hops up on the
vanity and pulls my face to hers.
I suppose that conversation could wait a few more minutes. After all,
who am I to deny her when she's insatiable like this?
I've just dropped to my knees before her. I've got one leg over my
shoulder when there's a knock on the bathroom door.
"Donna?" calls CJ's voice from the other side. I fly back up against
the wall and Donna, wide eyed and generally looking terrified, hops
off the vanity.
"Yeah?" she calls.
"Cathy gave me her key!"
Duh.
"I gathered." She says. And I'm mentally reviewing my job description
to see if I have the power to fire Cathy. This is a bad habit she's
getting into here.
CJ's knuckles rap the door on the outside. "Hey, can I come in?"
Now, you may be asking yourself why the hell CJ would ask that. But
there's not much privacy on the campaign trail. And we're painfully
finding out that there's a lot less than we originally thought. It's
REALLY early! What the hell is she doing up now? Thirty minutes
earlier and she would have seen something that would have lit her
hair on fire...namely me in my assistant's bed...naked.
Donna opens the door a tad and pokes her head out. "I'm not dressed.
I just got out of the shower."
"Oh. I'm looking for Josh." CJ says.
"Well, he's not in here!" Donna says with a laugh. It's supposed to
sound joking to CJ, but it sounds incredibly nervous to me.
"Well, no. I didn't think that he was," CJ scoffs with what sounds
like a forced why-the-hell-would-you-be-with-him-in-the-shower-
tone. "But Sam said he already went downstairs and I didn't see him
down there."
Well, thanks for attempting to cover for me, Sam.
"Oh. He probably got sidetracked calling his mother." Donna lies.
That just rolled right off her tongue.
"Oh, is everything all right?" CJ sounds concerned.
"Sure." Donna nods. "He's just afraid he'll get all wrapped up in the
convention and forget to call her."
That's actually true.
"All right. I'll try downstairs again. If you see him, tell him I'm
looking for him." she says and Donna closes the door.
Donna turns back to me and leans up against the door. I hear the
outside door close and she pauses for a moment.
"CJ's looking for you." Donna says.
I bust out laughing. It's sort of that end of your rope kind of
laughter. "No shit!"
She's smiling at me again and my heart rate is starting to return
back to normal. I'm just starting to relax when a horrifying thought
creeps into my head. I've got clothes in Donna's room. How far in did
CJ go?
Shit.