Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 124971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“I am.” She turned toward me, flashing some serious leg through her gray pencil skirt. She had that whole sexy-secretary look down to a T. “Aren’t you going to ask how working for the White House is?”
“How’s working for the White House?” My voice was so flat you could use it to cut a fucking salad.
“Great.” She leaned into my arm. “Wonderful. POTUS is a real gem. Such a lovely man. So mild. And he sings my praises.”
There was no nice way of telling her I didn’t give a crap if POTUS was going to divorce his wife and marry her, so instead, I steered the conversation to where it mattered. “So what brings you to New York?”
“Meetings, back to back.” She wiped invisible sweat from her brow. “One of my meetups got canceled, so I thought we’d catch up. We haven’t spoken in weeks! Why is that, remind me?”
“Because you’re a bitch?” I offered, remembering how she’d treated Poppins. “Also, because we only speak when one of us is in town and wants to screw the other.”
She nodded, motioning toward her body with her hands. “And here I am.”
I blinked at her before throwing my head back and laughing. It took me two full minutes to calm down. And in those minutes, she sat there and stared at me, wearing an expression of confusion and annoyance.
“You wanna fuck?” I asked, finally.
She pressed her lips together. “Don’t act like we haven’t been doing it for years, Bates.”
“We had.” I took a swig of my beer. “But aren’t you forgetting a teeny, tiny detail?”
She tilted an eyebrow up. “Enlighten me?”
“I’m married.”
“Married!” Now it was her turn to laugh. “Please, Riggs. We’re both married by name only.”
“But you do recall falling to your knees, begging me to marry your assistant, correct?”
I was starting to lose my patience. We hadn’t discussed her little showdown with Duffy in all the weeks since it had happened, and now she wanted me to fall into bed with her?
Gretchen batted her long eyelashes, and all I could think about was how her eyes were boring blue and not exotically purple. “Yes. As an arrangement.”
“Well, it’s been arranged.”
“Not to save my ass, that’s for sure.” She was starting to drop her sweet charade and show her true colors. “Something else made you say yes. You made it clear you didn’t care about me or my career the night she caught us.”
“The why isn’t important. The fact that I did it is.”
“Again.” She sipped her wine through pinched lips. “How does it matter? The marriage isn’t real!”
“It matters because I’m not going to cheat on my wife, who is waiting for a US visa, just to wet my dick,” I bit out.
Now that I’d verbalized it, I realized I hadn’t screwed anyone other than Duffy since that night she caught me with Gretchen. Not that I thought that the US government was the moral police. Half the politicians had affairs, drug scandals, sex tapes, and DUIs. But there was no need to pile more difficulties on Operation: Getting Duffy a Visa.
Meanwhile, Gretchen’s face looked like it was about to melt into her wineglass. Abhorred didn’t begin to cover it. She looked like I’d just informed her that I’d given her gonorrhea.
“Don’t tell me . . .” She touched her neck delicately. “That you’re having an affair with her?”
“Can you have an affair with someone you’re married to?” I wondered aloud. “Kind of like being a fuck buddy with your girlfriend, no? It’s all baked into the cake.”
“So it’s a yes!”
“It’s a ‘no fucking comment,’” I corrected. Then, realizing Daphne might expire if she thought her boss knew she was sampling her leftovers, I added, “I should be so lucky.”
Gretchen flew up from her seat, shaking her head, her eyes wide. “No, no. Don’t give me that. There’s no way you’re not having sex with her. Are you two living together?”
Feeling a little concerned Gretchen was going to out us, I stood up too. I grabbed my wallet and threw notes onto the bar, covering both our bills. “Don’t forget this whole mess started because you were afraid Duffy was gonna run to the press and rat us out,” I warned.
“You didn’t answer my question.” She blocked my way out with her body. As if that would help if I wanted to bulldoze past her.
“You didn’t answer my unspoken one,” I countered.
Her nostrils flared, and she took a step back. “Are you asking if I’ll do something to hurt Daphne’s chances of being granted a visa?”
“I’m making sure.” I folded my arms over my chest.
“Well, no. I’m not that person. But now that I have a government job and rules to abide by, I can’t chance a scandal. I reserve the right to—”
I raised my hand. “Stop it right there. You have no rights. None whatsoever. You lost your rights when you decided to fuck someone who wasn’t your husband. You’ll keep your mouth shut and stay out of our life.”