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Oh god. It was gonna be bad tonight because obviously, no one was in the mood for civility. Fuck my life times three. Plus, there was the usual crowd of hangers-on and a scrum to push my way through.
“Mr. President!” the dude representing Al Jazeera called. “What’s your rationale behind moving the embassy?”
He was shut down by Daniel.
“We won’t be discussing that,” interrupted my aide. “The President is here to enjoy himself tonight, and we hope you will too,” he said with a pointed look.
Finally, I was escorted to the first table, right in front of the stage. A practiced smile wreathed my lips, and I hoped to god that there was something edible. But unfortunately, Daniel leaned forwards once more.
“Sir,” he murmured. “Remember, there are cameras trained on us at all times, so no eating. We’ll get you a real meal once we’re back at the White House.”
I nodded in understanding, smile still firmly in place. Fuck my life times four. I was set to starve on top of all this.
And finally, the dinner started. There were the speeches. The introductions. Even my talk went off without a hitch, with people laughing during all the pre-assigned pauses. So when it was time to leave, I was plenty relieved. Nothing had gone wrong, and I couldn’t wait to be alone in my office once more.
But suddenly, there was a commotion by the door.
“Thomas, Thomas!” came a woman’s cry. I started for a moment. No, couldn’t be. She was up in NYC, leading a completely different life. Our paths were never supposed to intersect. So what was she doing here?
But I had to know because images of the curvy brunette have been ruling my mind ever since our hot encounter two months ago. So I shook off the Secret Service, turning to where the woman stood.
And it was her. Susie Hemphill aka Pearl Evanesence. Out of place, yes, because she wore a plain sweater and skirt, nothing like the glitzy ballgowns that graced the other attendees. Yet she was a thousand times more beautiful with those big brown eyes and curvy figure.
“Hey,” I said in a low voice. “Is everything okay?”
There was a crowd forming around us, and Daniel went to step between us.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry but you can talk to me,” he said in a firm voice. “The President is very busy. He has another function to attend right after this, and he needs to ….”
But Susie held a piece of paper in her hand towards me, eyes pained.
“Why did you ask me to sign this?” she said in a broken voice. “I never meant you any harm.”
What? I took the paper from her and scanned it quickly. This was no place to get into the fine print, but the title itself said enough. “NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT.” Hmm, what in the world? Who had prepared this thing?
I flipped to the last page, and sure enough, there was the signature of my personal attorney, Josh Cotton. Fuck that guy. What was he doing, sending something like this over to Susie without my knowledge?
Quickly, I grabbed the woman’s arm and escorted her into my limo.
“Sir,” panted Daniel, eyes practically bugging out. “This is not the time! Ma’am, please step out of the car.”
But I merely slammed the door in my staffer’s face. This was the time because what the hell was going on? And once in the privacy of the limo, I turned towards Susie.
“Hey sweetheart,” was my raspy greeting. “I’ve missed you.”
She didn’t move, merely looking at the ground. But then those brown eyes snapped my way.
“What is this piece of paper?” she asked, brandishing it at me once more. “What’s behind this?”
I took it from her, again shaking my head.
“I have no idea, sweetheart. Can you give me a minute to look at it? Just hold on a sec.”
And using my lawyerly training, I scanned the document more thoroughly this time. Evidently, it was a non-disclosure agreement which offered Susie a hundred thousand dollars in order to keep mum about her encounter with me.
I looked up at her, fingers still paging through the document.
“I swear, sweetheart. I’ve never seen this NDA before.”
