Page 27 of Primary Season
I raised up and took off the sweater, then followed it with my bra. Both landed somewhere further down the conference table, and I barely noticed as I hiked up my black suede skirt, revealing a pair of blue lace underwear. “Do you want me naked?”
Patrick shook his head. “I want you like this. Lie back.”
Following his command, I relaxed onto the table. I closed my eyes as he bunched my skirt around my waist, then slipped my underwear down over my hips and past my knees.
“You’ve been a good girl lately,” he said before he kissed me again. “Very good. I want to please you the way that you’ve pleased me.”
Patrick raised up and spread my legs apart. His mouth found the apex of my thighs and he teased me with his tongue, tasting me. Pleasure washed over me, and I begged him for more as he took me to places with his mouth I hadn’t been in a long time. He drew his tongue in and out of me, and I gave myself over to him.
Until I heard the conference door click open.
“What’s going on?”
Kathryn walked a few steps into the room and crossed her arms as we scrambled to straighten up, and I grappled for my clothes.
“Probably a question I know the answer to,” she said as Patrick and I struggled to give her a response. I’d never been so mortified, and a hot surge of embarrassment pulsed through my body.
She sized me up and arched her eyebrow. “So this is the new flavor?” Kathryn directed all her attention and questions to Patrick. “I thought you’d be more creative than this, Patrick. A staffer on the campaign? Really?”
“Kathryn, I…” Patrick glanced from her to me and back again. “It’s not…”
“What?” Kathryn stalked closer to us. “Not what I think? Not what I should expect? Not a big deal? I know about what happened with that other girl on your staff—”
“Things got out of hand,” I said as I put on my sweater. “That’s all. Nothing more.”
“You don’t have to make excuses, sweetie.” Kathryn laughed to herself. “I just hope he’s told you the truth.”
“He has.” I glanced over at Patrick, who cleared his throat.
“She knows this is an arrangement. She’s aware.”
“Good.” Kathryn nodded, but her expression began to remind me of a Cheshire cat with some new prey in her sights. “But does she know exactly what that means?”
“Your father financed a huge chunk of this campaign and talked his buddies into doing the same thing. We wouldn’t be here without the help of the Van der Loon family, and in exchange, you all want power. I get it.” Smoothing my shirt back into place, I shrugged so she would think that none of this bothered me, even though it did. “Cost of doing business when you are in politics. These kinds of deals get made all the time.”
“And that’s why this”—Kathryn made a circular gesture encompassing all three of us—“isn’t going anywhere. No one finds out about this—development. At all. As far as I’m concerned, and as far as everyone else is concerned, this never happened, and that means it’s never going to happen again. Do you understand?”
“Or what?” I whispered.
Kathryn narrowed her eyes at me, then turned her attention to him.
“Or I’ll release the photos. The ones you don’t want anyone to know about. The ones that could ruin your career forever.”
