Page 75 of Kissing Kayley
That wasn’t something I was happy about, but it wasn’t within my control, either.
Now I was on duty, awaiting President-Elect Bardales to emerge from his kids’ school with his wife. They’d stopped by this morning to listen to reports the kids were giving on plants or something in their biology class. Not just their own kids, but to listen to all the kids read their reports.
I was… struggling.
Kayley and I had spent two days together, mostly in the bedroom, but it felt…
Wrong.
I’d texted her good morning, but she hadn’t replied yet.
She’d seemed happy when I told her I now had a definite retirement deadline. Or sooner.
Realistically, it’d probably be sooner. But I knew I could spend at least the first term as lead agent, barring any unforeseen circumstances.
I walked down the motorcade to check in with the other agents, speaking into the microphone concealed at my wrist under the cuff of my blazer to make sure everything was going according to plan.
Thiswas what I needed to focus on in this moment, not my private life.
Still, it was nearly two hours later when Kayley finally returned my text and I breathed a sigh of relief.
This was exactly why I hadn’t set up protocols for us yet. I didn’t want there to be a miscommunication and we ended up in a fight over something inconsequential. She had a busy schedule, too.
I thought I’d be able to spend time with her at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, but with the transition planning and the Bardales’ family travel schedule, ironically I was in California for all three holidays with them while Kayley was in the White House with her family.
We managed phone calls on those holidays, but the busier my schedule got the closer to Inauguration Day, the more often I found myself checking my personal phone at the end of the day to realize I’d missed texts and hadn’t replied.
Or that she hadn’t replied to one I’d sent her.
The busier I got, the less sleep I got, and the more stress I bore under the weight of my new responsibilities, and…
Well, I’ll admit I didn’t keep up my end of texting.
It was two weeks after Inauguration and I was at the White House, in the residence, when Elliot, Leo, and Jordan arrived.
I hadn’t expected them to come up here, although I knew they were supposed to visit the West Wing for a photo opregarding an environmental conservation program from Elliot’s term that President Bardales was continuing.
Leo walked over and shook hands with me. “So. Looks like you’re still alive, huh? Haven’t dropped off the planet, or forgot how a phone works?”
I’m sure I looked confused. “Uh… what?”
“Don’t ‘what’ me,” Leo said. "How long are you gonna keep being a dumbass?”
That confused me even more. “What are you talking about?”
“He means about Kayley,” Jordan said. “Why haven’t you dropped to your knee and proposed yet?”
This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to get into. Not when I was at work.
And doubly especially with the two men Elliot Woodley would do anything to please.
Like asking President Bardales to nuke me where I stood.
Not to forget that one of them was the insanely protective big brother of the woman who owned my heart, the other man beingthatman’s viciously overprotective and wildly underestimated pet.
“I’m…” I didn’t have a good answer and realized now I sounded like a douchebag. “I’ve been busy, and so has she. I won’t ask her to quit working,” I added. “I refuse to do that to her. She loves her career.”
“Who says you have to do that?” Leo asked.
