11. Chapter 11
Chapter eleven
E liza was doing her best to focus on the task at hand, but laying out all her father’s tasks for the day was not nearly as entrancing as her memories of the scandalous things Judas did to her last night. She simply couldn't process a single coherent thought without quickly flashing to the memory of his body against her, his skin on her skin. His lips on her in places she should not be thinking about at work. She could feel the blush overtaking her fair skin just with the memory. This was all so unlike her and the weight of it was overwhelming.
Right as she took a steadying breath to calm her inappropriate urges, an arm snaked around her waist and she gasped in shock. In one fluid movement, the arm spun her around and she saw his perfect face smiling down at her. She melted into him instantly. With his arms tightly wound around her, Judas felt complete. Seeing her smile back up at him made everything in the world right.
“What has you blushing so much this morning, Harzr Shli?” he asked, knowing the answer already.
His words sent a shiver through her, even though they were completely foreign to her. “What does that mean?” she asked.
“It’s Hebrew. It means, my treasure,” he responded with no hesitation because that was what she was to him. She was the only treasure he had ever felt the need to possess.
She smiled at him, "You speak Hebrew?"
He tilted his head as he contemplated how much he should reveal, "I speak many languages. Someday I will tell you how valuable you are in every one of them."
Warmth filled her soul from top to bottom. As he brought his mouth down to meet hers, that heat morphed into scorching flames. Their tongues danced. Their hands roamed. He slid a leg between her knees, opening her to him.
He broke their kiss and slid his cheek against hers to whisper in her ear with a laugh, “Maybe you should start wearing skirts to work after all.”
Eliza laughed out loud and squeezed him tight against her, nuzzling into his neck. She breathed in his scent, committing it to memory for possible candle buying later. She wanted to smell his sultry skin at all times.
Judas slowly began to move his thigh against the warmth between her legs, knowing without doubt that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He knew they were at work, but she was a temptation that was almost too much to resist.
“I want to be right here,” he said as he slid a hand down to touch her.
She moaned as the friction of his touch against the thin fabric of her suit aroused her to the point of losing rational thought.
His free hand grabbed her hair and tilted her head back to look at him, “I want to worship your body for as long as you’ll let me.”
Eliza licked her lips moaning,“I would let you for a thousand years.”
Judas smiled down at her, “Don’t tempt me.”
They were both lost in a haze of newfound desire with one another. When they touched, the rest of the world fell away. Reality disappeared and they forgot that the bubble they were sheltered in could be easily broken. Popped in an instant.
That realization came quickly back into focus as the latch to the office door clicked just before the door swung open wide. They both scrambled to move as far away from one another as possible, but the evidence of their heated exchange was still written over every inch of their faces. Thankfully, Georgia was the first to walk into the room and she immediately read the chemistry.
“Oh, my!” she exclaimed with a giant grin on her face. She quickly shuffled backward bumping Paul back into the corridor before he could enter the room. “Oh, sir. That office is a mess! I wouldn’t dare let you work like that. Let’s head to the conference room while I let the cleaning staff know that your office needs a clean up ASAP!”
Eliza dropped her head into her hands in relief. She needed to remember to cut Georgia a check later. That woman was a godsend.
Once the voices of Georgia and Paul faded down the hallway, Judas and Eliza stared at each other from across the room for a long moment. They burst into laughter coming to meet each other in the center of the room. Judas slid an arm around her waist as she stood on tiptoe to kiss his face.
He looked down at her as they embraced, stars in their eyes, “Where were we?”
Eliza shoved at his chest and pulled out of the hug, “We were getting to work. Save it for later. You’re going to be the death of me.”
He smiled and leaned against the desk she was attempting to straighten once again, “I can’t help it. You have me under a spell, Eliza.”
She gave him a playful glare but loved his words.
“You make me feel young again,” he confided as sentiment had been plaguing his mind. She made him feel like life was brand new, like all the years of aimless wandering were worth this time in his life.
She felt a warm tingle his words always inspired and smiled at him but continued re-composing herself. She shot him a coy smile, “You aren’t even that old.”
Judas laughed internally. If she only knew.
She shoved his shoulder, “Go do something useful, you sex fiend.”
Judas chuckled but held his hands up in surrender, “Yes, ma’am.” He bowed to her and he exited the room.
Once he was gone, Eliza walked around the desk and collapsed into her father’s chair. She held her head in her hands and thought about how close they just came to being caught. Her father would want to have Judas killed if he knew. She was certain her father was actually that hateful and crazy. She didn't care one way or another how her father felt about who she chose to have in her bed, but she knew how much his knowledge of their relationship would complicate Judas's life. God, what was she doing? How did this happen?
Then she remembered what he does to her body and her mind and laughed hysterically. She couldn’t resist that man if she tried.
They were going to need to be more careful, but she knew there was absolutely no going back.
Thirty minutes later, Eliza walked into the conference room to greet her father. Seated at the long table usually reserved for meetings and mergers, he grumbled a greeting as she came through the door.
“You’re in a wonderful mood this morning,” she tossed back.
He waved her off and went back to reading the local paper.
Eliza glanced over his shoulder and met Georgia‘s gaze. She mouthed a ‘thank you’ . Georgia smiled in response then pointed at Judas and mouthed ‘oh my God’ while giving two thumbs up. Judas caught this interaction and couldn’t help but laugh, quickly disguising the sound as a cough.
Paul glanced around the room, sensing he was missing something. Everyone plastered on a perfect poker face. He scowled but returned to his paper as he grumbled, “Everyone has lost their damn minds today.”
“So, what exactly has you so chipper this morning, Dad?” Eliza asked, voice dripping with tension, “Did you finally realize what a mistake yesterday was?”
Paul glared at his daughter now seated across from him, “Yesterday would have been an absolutely perfect day if those damn yahoos hadn’t decided to protest and make a big scene out of it. It was supposed to be a peaceful gathering of conservative minds.”
Eliza, quickly losing all patience for her job and father, barked out a sardonic laugh, “The conservative minds were the violent ones! Dad, you can be conservative without pandering to fools who live life with nothing but hate inside them. Those are not the real people of your party. Just the loudest.”
“Puh-tay-toe, puh-tah-toe. You see it your way and I see it mine,” Paul snapped as he returned to his newspaper, violently flipping the pages. Once he had made it through all the pages, he slammed it down on the table in disgust.
Eliza had entered the room in a delightful, Judas-fueled mood, but recalling the events of yesterday afternoon soured it quickly. Her father’s inability to hold people accountable only made Eliza want to fight, “What in God’s name is wrong with you today?!”
Paul yelled at her across the table, “Damn it, Betsy! Don’t you take the Lord’s name in vain with me! You know very well how I feel about that nonsense!” His skin flushed bright red with anger and a vein throbbed out of his forehead in ways that made Judas fear the old man may have a stroke.
Eliza rolled her eyes, relenting, “Sorry. Let me rephrase. What is wrong with you today?”
An obviously fake smile painted across her face.
Paul stood from the table and stalked over to the large windows overlooking the city. Staring out, he seemingly contemplated every last inch of the horizon before speaking quietly, “I wasn’t even mentioned once in the article.”
Eliza’s brows drew together and a line formed between them. Judas took note and reminded himself to take extra care in gently rubbing away that little line later. He never wanted to see anything but relaxed bliss written across her features and would do anything to achieve that.
She stared at her father’s back and reached for the newspaper as she spoke, “What are you talking about?” Her eyes scanned the pages as he just had with understanding dawning, “Oh.”
Eliza walked the paper over to the other staff members in the room and pointed out an article taking up a large portion of the front page. The headline called out the drama from the rally yesterday. Not even one time was the hopeful senator, Paul Arthur, mentioned, even though the article continued on for several pages. Eliza stood next to her father, giving him the silence he needed to process his next words.
“I was there, Betsy. I stood right there on that stage when all hell broke loose. I was a part of all of it from start to finish, for goodness sake. Yet, not even one time does that article say my name. It’s a disgrace. How am I ever going to get the votes I need if the local paper doesn’t even feel the need to say my name?” His voice cracked with emotion at these last words.
Eliza looked at him and told him the truth but in a way that would make sense in his worldview, “That article is not the kind of place you want your name spoken. That article is the ugly side of politics and prejudice.” He began to quarrel with this, but Eliza silenced him with a raised hand and calm demeanor. “We will get your name mentioned, Dad. That’s what we’re all here for, but let’s try to do it in a way that makes you look like the old-fashioned, upstanding Texan that you are. Not for being a bigot. That’s not the press you want and that’s not the reputation you want to establish for yourself. Can we agree on that?”
The older man stared out the window for a long moment before nodding his head and looking toward his daughter, “I suppose you’re right, Betsy.”
She smiled at this small victory and placed an arm gently around her father’s shoulders, “Good, now let’s all sit down and brainstorm some ideas.”
Judas watched as she guided her father back to the table and took control of the situation. As beautiful as it was to watch her work on any given day, this scene felt a little like a preschool teacher talking to a tantrum throwing toddler. He didn't know or understand where that woman got her copious amounts of patience, but he knew he admired it tremendously.