Page 59 of The Thorne at My Side
Unlike Maggie who couldn't get out of the room fast enough.
I was about to ask her to stay, to have a drink, to spend the rest of the night talking before we fell asleep in each other's arms but she cut off that line of questioning and jumped back into her clothes. I've never seen a woman move so quickly to get out of my bed.
And as painful as it is knowing my potential tabloid attention is the real reason they’re with me, it hurts more to have a woman I respect and admire jump ship after we share mind numbing sex.
I want Maggie Collins to like me. To respect me. To value my opinion. I want her to want me.
But since that doesn't seem likely in this lifetime I'm going to focus my attention back on SMS Connect and hope TalkShopGirl can wipe the hope of Maggie out of my brain.
DCFox:I can't seem to get you out of my mind. The figurative you. I'm almost dying here trying to guess what you look like, if your smile lights up a room like I imagine it does, if you hold your head high and speak clearly like the way your messages come across to me. If this connection we've built will engulf us when we meet in person.
So, what do you say? Can we meet in person?
Instead of turning the phone off like I usually do I leave it on the nightstand and mix a myself drink. I stare at it from near the window while I sip on my bourbon and finally throw back the final dregs of the liquor when an hour has passed without aresponse.
I climb into bed and stare at the ceiling until sleep takes over.
I’m jolted awake from a dreamless sleep when the SMS Connect phone pings next to my head. Sunlight is just starting to streak the sky and I grab it, and my glasses, at the same time.
TalkShopGirl:I'd love to set up a time to meet. Next week? Tuesday?
DCFox:Lapis in Adams Morgan at 8?
TalkShopGirl:See you then, I'll be wearing a red dress and I'llput this phone in a floral case on the table.
I grin from ear to ear. I have five days until I meet the woman who has built herself a home in my heart.
CHAPTER 18
Down Dog
MAGGIE
I'm sitting on the plane next to Sam as we fly back to D.C. by way of Chicago and Detroit. We added these stops as soon as the numbers from the debate came in.
Senator Quinn did really well which is the good news. The bad news, well for me at least, is the AI Media responses were her best received lines of the night.
Another blow to my ego? It was the responses Sam crafted that did the best out of the ones we wrote. Mine performed the worst.
I'm telling myself it's okay because the AIM responses were based off of the speeches I wrote over the last six months that got fed into the database. So really, it was my work plus a little computer magic that made them so good.
Sure Maggie, keep telling yourself that.
I feel like I’ve done a 180. Usually I am happy with my work life and grumbling about my dating life. After sex that rocked my world last night, and after I recovered from fleeing his room, I went back to mine and ran my hands over the body he used as he wanted to maximize both our pleasure.
Then today, Istarted my day with a text from DCFox asking to meet.
We're getting together next week at Lapis which is in my neighborhood. Could he live nearby? Could I have passed him on the sidewalk or at the bakery or the park before and not known it? Or is he just tuned into the dining scene and knows that it is one of the best restaurants to open in the last several years.
"So when we get to Chicago, Ben wants to have a meeting," Sam reports as she returns from the bathroom.
"Why can't we have it now?" I ask as I slide my legs to let her through. I lean into the aisle and see him sitting with the other top campaign people and realize, as Head Speech Writer, I should probably be in that conversation.
"They're working on the schedule for the next few days."
"Oh, I should tell them that I need to be back in D.C. Tuesday night, by like seven o'clock."
"Why? Hot date?" Sam asks jokingly but when she sees my smile grow and catches the tiny nod I give her she squeals. "Ohmigod really?"
