Disclosure of the Heart (The Heart Series) (8 page)

The night that had started with me dying to get my boyfriend alone so I could pounce on him ended with me dreading my bedroom. With no place in DC yet, Juan Carlos always spent his nights in town with me. Lisa’s apartment had three bedrooms and two baths, so we had ample privacy and could be as loud as we wanted. There I was, though, silently going through the motions of sex with my beloved boyfriend and hardly enjoying the moment. Adam had ruined it for me, or I had ruined it for myself. Both were true.

When it was over, Juan Carlos curled up behind me. Despite the intimacy, my mind was elsewhere. I looked out into the darkness and remembered again the night before Adam had moved back to England. The second part of our conversation came back to me—a promise I’d clung to, though it would’ve been better forgotten. Deep down, I had always admitted I would be mortally crushed if it never came true.

“But what if…what if I was thirty-five and still single? Could I contact you then?” Adam asked.

What he described seemed unimaginable. I couldn’t really comprehend what it would be like to be thirty-five. And the idea that he would ever be single was ridiculous. I said yes. “In the highly unlikely event that was the case, I’d say sure.”

“Really?”

“You’ve got to admit, it’s probably not going to happen.”

He happily kissed my nose. “Maybe, maybe not.”

Of course, life hadn’t worked out that way. We weren’t thirty-five yet, and neither of us was single. Instead, we’d been thrown together sooner than expected—too soon, or maybe too late. Adam might have had a hand in making it happen, but his intentions weren’t clear, not even to him. The situation wasn’t what we’d imagined, and it could end badly. Most of all for me.

The following morning, Juan Carlos and I took a shower together as I tried to rally myself for him. He didn’t seem to notice I was out of sorts. Either he was distracted by the sex or the flight he had to catch to Seattle at noon.

After he caught his cab to Dulles, I went upstairs with my plan to give Lisa the sorry-I-gotta-run-goodbye and then flee to the safety of the office. She wouldn’t hear of it.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said as she blocked the path to my room. “You stay right here. We need to talk.”

“Tonight.”

“No way. I’m dying to know what you and Adam talked about when you were dancing!”

“I’m kind of dying to know also.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was odd.”

She pointed to the living room. “Sit. Tell me what happened, for once, between you and Adam. Word for word.”

“Okay…”

After we plopped down on the sofas, she said, “Now, don’t leave anything out.”

“All right.” What a fib. I retold her everything we’d said, but not what I’d felt. I left out the moments I had wanted to kiss him and all that. No need to go into details that would only get me in trouble.

After I finished, she twisted her mouth as she appeared to mull it all over. Finally, she said, “So he says he’s not sure why he took the job? Like it could be you or it could be the work.”

“Yup.”

“But he wants to be friends.”

“That’s what he said.” I frowned and muttered, “Not my idea.”

“You still don’t want to be friends with him?”

“Honestly, I don’t know if I’d be good at being friends with him.”

“Well, that’s a warning sign…”

“Warning of what?”

“That you’re still interested in him, silly.”

“Well, yeah, in a way,” I mumbled. My tone strengthened. “But I have Juan Carlos, and he’s great.”

“Juan Carlos is a good man who is good to you. Not to mention he’s gorgeous. Hell, even his name is sexy. Any woman would want to be with him.” She waggled her finger at me. “Don’t you forget that.”

“Believe me, I won’t. I love him.”

“Good.” She looked out the window for a moment, then shook her head. “But Adam…he’s still interested in you, though he has a girlfriend.”

“Let’s not get too carried away with his level of ‘interest.’ The guy says he wants to be my friend.”

“Hmm.” She tapped her fingers against her lips. “Maybe this is all one big test for him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he has a girlfriend, but he’s still interested in you. He wants to see if there’s still anything there between you. The girlfriend is his safety net. She’s the control group in the experiment.”

“You are such a scientist.”

“But I’m probably right.”

“Huh? You really think he’s calculated it that way?”

“Maybe not fully consciously, but it kind of looks that way.”

“Maybe.” It did sort of make sense, but I was wary. “You realize our jobs are at stake here. Nothing can really happen between us. It’s highly unethical, especially for him, and for me, it’s a political scandal.”

“Yeah, your boss
is
the president of the United States,” she said, pointedly stating the obvious.

“I can’t be screwing around with the press, but you think I should be friends with him?”

“Of course. Otherwise you’ll never know.”

“But Adam has never even flirted with me, never even paid me a compliment.”

“Really? Not even something like, ‘You look good’?”

“Nope. He’s been very professional.”

“That’s a good thing, right? You don’t want him hitting on you and further complicating things.”

“True.” I smirked. “But maybe it’s because I’m not a Nubian princess.”

She covered her eyes with uncharacteristic drama. “Don’t get me started with David. That guy is crazy.”

“Crazy but cute, and Rachel and I can vouch for him.” I punctuated it with a wink.

“Don’t remind me,” she grumbled.

Chapter Five

F
OR
T
HE
N
EXT
F
EW
W
EEKS
, Adam and I were friendly when we saw each other, but no more than when we interacted with anyone else in the briefing room. As curious as I was about him, I was happy not to have my workweek thrown into emotional upheaval. Maybe he felt the same way.

I often pondered on what his life was like outside of work. Did Felicity visit him often? What was she like? When I was on the phone with Juan Carlos, was Adam talking with Felicity? And what did she know of me? Everything or nothing? The ruminations never lasted too long, as the stomach-churning jealousy made me physically sick.

One Saturday morning, I was at work again when Juan Carlos called to tell me his flight had been canceled. There was a late winter storm headed east, and he’d already gotten caught in it in Chicago. As I resigned myself to a weekend of work instead of fun, my phone buzzed again with a New York number I didn’t know. Working with the media, that happened all the time, so I figured it was a reporter.

“This is Nicole,” I answered.

“Nicki? Hello. This is Sylvia Kincaid.”

At first my eyes bugged out in surprise, but then I smiled. I’d always loved Adam’s sister. “Sylvia! It’s so good to hear from you. How did you get my number?”

“Adam gave it to me. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all.” The thought of Adam giving my number away, even to his sister, struck me as sort of funny.

“Oh good. So listen. I’m sure your weekend is already packed, but I’m on the train right now heading to DC. I have some work there on Monday and Tuesday, and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t delayed by the storm. Could you squeeze me in for brunch tomorrow or even coffee sometime?”

For a moment I wondered if she would bring Adam along, but on second thought, I doubted it. Sylvia had always been very careful to keep our friendship separate from my relationship with her brother.

“I’d love to see you, and yes, brunch would be fine. Where should we meet?”

The following morning, I met Sylvia at a Belgian restaurant near Dupont Circle. When we were in high school, she was a shy little Goth with more fashionable clothes than anyone else in Bellaire, Texas. She still had black hair, though the dye job was better now, and she was still the best-dressed woman in the restaurant. The French waiter was all over her because she flirted with him
en français
.

When he left the table, I said, “He’s a hottie.”

“He is.” Her eyes lingered on him as he walked away. “I have a thing for waiters. Half of them are artists and actors.”

“Are you seeing anyone?”

“I’m dating, but no one seriously.” She smiled. “Tell me about your bloke. Adam mentioned you’re dating someone.”

In a way, I would’ve loved to have heard that conversation, and in a way not. I made the best of it by smiling. “His name is Juan Carlos Jimenez.”

“His name is fantastic. Do you have a picture? Adam said he’s famous, but I don’t really follow politics. Sorry.”

“That’s okay. I’m not sure I’d call him famous, but he’s been very successful lately.” I pulled my phone from my bag and showed her my favorite photo of Juan Carlos and me.

“Aw…what a lovely couple,” she said, leaning across the table to get a better look. “He’s quite handsome. Have you been together for a while?”

“Not that long. We met on the campaign last year.”

“It’s good to see you happy.” She nodded. “I hope you know I mean that.”

“I do,” I said, touching my heart. “You’ve always been understanding.”

“I just never wanted what happened between you and Adam to end us being friends.”

“I appreciate that.”

“Of course, Adam has moved on as well.” She waived her hand. “Now with that Felicity.”

“What about her?” I had to know what she meant.

“Well, I’m not betraying any confidences in saying Mummy and I don’t like her. She’s gauche.”

That made me laugh. “I distinctly remember your father not liking me, probably for the same reason.”

“Now, that’s not true. He liked you. He just didn’t think you were right for Adam, especially when you two were so young. Regardless, he’s very impressed with you now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Since Daddy’s been so ill, he watches a lot of television. He never misses Adam, so he sees you often when you speak at the White House. Daddy thinks you’re very accomplished.”

Admittedly, I was a little bitter about Adam’s father. It’s not like he’d broken us up, and both my parents had also let me know Adam and I were too young. Yet I’d always gotten the feeling that I wasn’t quite good enough to date the son of a viscount or whatever his title.

Still, I smiled and said, “That’s nice to hear.” Then I couldn’t help myself. “What does he think of Felicity?”

“Daddy? Oh, he’s a little indifferent. He’s still upset with Adam for breaking up with Muff.”

“Ah, Muff. He was with her for a while wasn’t he?” Like I didn’t know…I’d spent countless hours online stalking Adam’s relationship with Lady Mary Selbourne, a.k.a. “Muff.” I had always liked to call her Twat whenever I read about them together. They had dated for years but then broke it off.