Chapter Eleven #2
“I can feel his pain right here,” Sam said, hand over her belly. “I remember too well how dreadful the end of summer vacation always was.”
“Whereas I was sharpening all my pencils and filling my binders with loose-leaf paper and color-coded dividers.” Nick shuddered, as if in ecstasy.
“I can’t hear this.” Standing at the sink, Sam put her hands over her ears. “I knew eventually I’d discover something about you that wasn’t perfect. It was only a matter of time.”
“I like the smell of library books, too—sour milk and paper and the crunch of the plastic covers…”
“Stop! Or I’ll never have sex with you again!”
Laughing, he put his arms around her from behind and nuzzled her neck while settling his erection against her lower back. “Admit it, you think my perfect GPA is sexy.”
“I’ll admit no such thing,” she said even as she pushed her ass against him suggestively.
“Uh-huh… Whatever you say, babe.” His hands traveled from her hips to her belly and up to cup her breasts, his thumbs sliding across her nipples, which reacted to his nearness the way they always did.
She was powerless to resist him, not that she ever tried very hard to resist. “I hope no one hassles Scotty at school about current events. Do you think we ought to reach out to someone about that?”
“Might be worth a phone call. I’ll take care of it in the morning.”
“You’ll send the front office into a tizzy if you call.”
“A call from me will get their attention, which is what we want.”
“True,” Sam said, turning to face him. “A call from the sexy vice president would get anyone’s attention, especially the ladies that work in the school office.”
As always, he scowled when she commented on his sexiness.
Sam laughed and brought him in for a kiss. “Let’s get our son tucked in so we can have some time alone. I need it tonight.” A pang of anxiety reminded her that she could be called out to another homicide at any minute.
“I need it, too,” he said, returning her kiss and watching over her with love and concern.
They’d had another disappointment, but they still had each other, and that was more than enough to take the sting out of this latest setback.
Sam waited until the nine o’clock Secret Service shift change to go into Scotty’s room to kiss him good-night. “Lights out by ten, buddy,” she said as she adjusted the comforter around him.
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
“Try to look forward to seeing all your friends and not think about the school part.”
He smiled up at her. “Is that what you used to do?”
“Every year.” She kissed his cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning. Bright and early.”
“That last part was unnecessary.”
“Sorry,” she said, trying not to smile.
“No, you’re not.”
Laughing, she said, “Love you, pal. Sleep tight.”
“Love you, too.”
Sam closed his door and headed for the third floor, thankful to not have to sneak past the agent who stood watch in the upstairs hallway on the way to her booty call with her husband.
They were still getting used to having their house crawling with Secret Service, but at times like this, Sam tried to forget about the extra people in the house so she could focus exclusively on her husband.
Nick had already lit the beach-scented candles and put on the Polynesian music that reminded them of their trips to Bora Bora for their honeymoon and first anniversary. “There you are. I was about to send out a search party.”
“I waited for the shift change. I hate when they know we’re up here. It’s like they know what we’re doing.”
Laughing, he extended his hand to her, inviting her to join him on the comfortable double lounge chair.
Sam untied her robe and dropped it to the floor before she crawled from the foot of the lounger to curl up to him.
“Could I get a video of that performance so I can watch it anytime I want?”
“Absolutely not. My husband is a very important man, and if a video like that ever got out, it would ruin him. You’ll have to rely on memories.”
“Your husband,” he said, nuzzling her neck as he cupped her breast, “is a very, very lucky man.”
“Yes, he is, and he’s about to get even luckier.”
His low chuckle made her smile. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am to see you smiling and joking tonight, even though you’re aching on the inside.”
“I am,” she said, settling into his embrace, her head resting on his chest. “But the disappointments are easier to accept than they used to be before I had you and Scotty. When I was with Peter… We were both upset, but we didn’t go through it together the way you and I do.
I was always so alone with the disappointment. ”
“I hate to think of you lonely and upset and so close by yet so far away for all those years.”
“If I didn’t go through that, I probably wouldn’t appreciate what I have now as much as I do.”
“Yes, you would. You didn’t have to go through hell to know magic when you feel it.”
“It that what this is? Magic?”
“I’ve yet to find a better word to describe it. Whenever things get to be too much, all I have to do is think of you, and I feel better. That’s all it takes.”
His sweet words brought tears to her eyes. Sam pushed herself up on an elbow and gazed down at him. “I do the same thing. I’ll be in the middle of something hideous at work, and I think of you and Scotty, and you help me cope.”
He raised a hand to her face and brought her down for a kiss. “That’s how I know we’re going to get through whatever the next few weeks have in store for us. No matter what happens, we’ll always have this, and that makes the rest bearable.”
Sam nodded in agreement. “Exactly. What do we care if you have to become president if we can still run away to our loft?”
He groaned. “Mood killer, babe.”
“Will you build me a loft in the Lincoln Bedroom?”
“Shut up.”
“Shut me up.”
“With pleasure.” Nick rolled them over so he was on top of her and kissed the sass right out of her.
When they were together this way, there were no murderers to find, reporters to dodge, political crises unfolding or first-day-of-school woes to contend with.
Holding her hands over her head, he played her body like a maestro, like he was born to love her and only her.
He knew just where to kiss and touch and caress her to make her wild for him.
“Let me have my hands.” She tugged at his tight hold. “I want to touch you.”
He shook his head and ran his tongue over her nipple. “This time is all about you, my love.”
Sam trembled in reaction to his words and the tight tug of his lips on her nipple. In their second year of marriage, she’d come to understand that he needed to take care of her tonight, and she needed to let him. So, she let go and surrendered to him, giving them both what they needed most.
As he moved down her body, he released his tight hold on her hands, but Sam kept them where she knew he wanted them. With his lips and tongue, he drove her to a fast orgasm, and then took her up again, leaving her hanging at the brink when he entered her and sent her flying.
Her eyes fluttered open to find him looking down at her, the fierce look of love in his eyes the only thing she saw.
Then he began to move, and she wrapped her arms around him, needing him close to her even more than usual tonight.
He grasped her bottom and held on just as tightly while he made love to her.
“God, Samantha… I love you. I love you so damned much.”
“I love you, too.”
After that, there were no words, only more of the magic they created together, and it was exactly what she needed.