Madam President (9 page)

Lauren nodded dumbly as Ashley, Christopher and Aaron raced in past their mother without giving the writer a second glance. They headed straight to Gremlin, who managed to jump to the floor with no problem whatsoever and began basking in their attention. "Faker," the blonde woman mumbled.

"I told you I heard a dog, Ash!" Aaron exclaimed excitedly, his hands fighting with the other children's as Gremlin lay on his back, enjoying his belly scratching with orgasmic delight. He even groaned.

"I hope he didn't disturb you." Lauren approached Dev, relieved beyond measure that she didn't seem to be angry. "He's only been here a couple of hours and wasn't too happy about me leaving him so soon."

Dev smiled at her kids and spoke to Lauren without turning her head. "Why didn't you just bring him along then?"
God, I know they're going to want their own dog now. Maybe I am the meanest mother since 'Mommy Dearest'.

Lauren almost laughed. She looked past Dev to Michael, who was still hovering in the doorway. "Gee, what a great idea."

Michael turned on his heel and left in a huff, but by that time no one was paying any attention to him anyway.

"You look like you're settling in," Dev commented. Actually, the room looked exactly the same as it always did, except for a few boxes sitting on the desk.

Lauren glanced around the room and gave a slight nod. "I am." She extended her hand toward the sofas. "Won't you sit down?"

"Absolutely." Dev flashed Lauren a smile. "You know how much I love to relax. But I believe introductions are in order first." Both women looked down to find the children on the floor with the dog, giggling as he licked their fingers.

Without thinking, Lauren lifted her camera and crouched down, effortlessly snapping off several quick shots.

"I'm sorry." Dev sighed. "They were supposed to wait by me and be introduced."

"Please." Lauren waved a dismissive hand and chuckled, setting the camera on the coffee table. "If I were them, I'd be far more interested in Gremlin, too."

Oh, I don't know about that. You seem pretty interesting to me.
"Kids?" Dev raised her voice just a hair, and three sets of little eyes immediately snapped up.

"Uh oh," Ashley mumbled, pushing up to her feet. Christopher and Aaron quickly followed, although the youngest boy's attention remained firmly divided between his mother and the dog.

"We forgot to wait at the door, Mom," Ashley admitted honestly, her toe twisting its way into the carpet.

"I know you did. We'll work on that later," Dev promised, but the words were tempered by an indulgent smile. "Kids, this is Lauren Strayer. Ms. Strayer is going to be writing a book about my time as President. We talked about how she's going to be staying with us for a while."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Strayer," Ashley said politely, hoping she could make up for her earlier mistake. Her brothers just nodded.

Lauren smiled. "It's nice to meet you, too."
She's a carbon copy of her mother, except for the brown eyes.
She gestured toward the floor. "And you've already met Gremlin."

Christopher was smiling so broadly that Dev feared he would fracture his cheeks. He unconsciously pulled at the stems of his glasses, his gaze riveted to Lauren's glasses.

Lauren caught his obnoxiously pleased look and laughed gently, moving over to the children. Gray eyes twinkled. "Yours are just like mine," she needlessly informed Chris.

Chris nodded, mesmerized.

Lauren chuckled again and ruffled hair the same color as her own.

The little boy's face turned brick red, and he suddenly ran for Devlyn, burying his head in her legs.

Lauren blinked. "What did I...?"

"He's just a little shy." Dev patted the boy's back. "No worries," she assured, amused by the startled look that flickered across Lauren's face.
She hasn't been around children. Oh, boy. This is going to be interesting.

Aaron walked over to Lauren and tugged on her pant leg, causing Lauren to drop to one knee so she was level with his bright blue eyes. "I have a very important question to ask you."

Lauren swallowed, suddenly apprehensive. "You do?"

He nodded solemnly. "Can we pet the dog again?"

Lauren burst out laughing. "Umm..." She had barely dipped her head into a nod when the kids, including Christopher, threw themselves down to the floor to pet Gremlin. Bemused, the blonde woman stared at her pet. She stuck out a tongue at the lounging dog. "Spoiled."

"I'd pay good money to any PR firm that could get me a greeting like that," Dev commented wryly.

"Oh, yeah."

Dev knelt down alongside Lauren. She held her hand out to the dog. "Why, hello... Jesus Christ!" She snatched her hand away when Gremlin growled unexpectedly, showing two rows of tiny, uneven teeth.

"No. That name was already taken," Lauren deadpanned.

Then, as though Gremlin didn't have a care in the world, he yawned widely. His mouth clicked shut, and he innocently resumed playing with the children.

Lauren's voice turned scolding as she glared at her four-legged friend. "Gremlin!"
You are in so much trouble, you little shit.
"I'm so sorry, Madam President."

"Devlyn, remember?"

Lauren ducked her head. "Right. And I am sorry. That's so strange." Pale brows furrowed. "Grem loves everybody." Seeing Dev's scowl, she realized how that must have sounded and added, "But he has had a really stressful day. But he's totally, one hundred percent safe, I swear. He's usually afraid of his own shadow."

Dev suddenly growled back at the dog and he jumped, scooting under the bed with a loud yelp just as fast as his tiny legs would take him. "Okay, I'll buy that," Dev agreed amiably, quite pleased with herself.
Mental note: consult David about finding the best dog bribes for dogs more chicken than canine, who obviously hate me.

Dev pushed herself to her feet, groaning. It had been a long day. And she'd been looking forward to relaxing. Reluctantly, she roused the kids. "I think we should give Ms. Strayer her privacy now."

"Don't go," Lauren heard herself say, a little bewildered by the urgency in her own voice. She could feel her cheeks tingling with heat.

"Okay," Dev replied immediately, a grin forming. "Wanna chat while the kids play?"

Lauren nodded, and the women moved to the sofas. The younger woman sat down first, and Dev fought the urge to plop down next to her, moving to the opposite couch instead.

"That's a pretty skirt." Lauren's gaze swept down Dev's legs
. She should wear them more often. Fantastic legs.
The thought might have been startling, but for the fact that it was so undeniably true.

Dev's voice called her back to the moment, and now it was the President's turn to blush as she picked nervously at the material. "Thanks." Devlyn rooted around in her pocket until her hand emerged holding a foil wrapper. A sweet aroma drifted toward the writer.

"Wanna share my Hershey Bar?" Dev passed over a piece of chocolate.

"Sure!" Lauren reached out happily.
A Hershey Bar? Oh, boy. Thank God we're not on a bus.

CHAPTER II

February 2021

Tuesday, February 23
^rd

L
AUREN PAUSED IN her writing and pushed away from her desk. She tilted her head to the side in deep thought, her fingers absently twirling a pen as she read over her latest journal entry. This wasn't a private journal, although her personal thoughts were woven around her professional observations. She would extract them later. Or not. Depending on exactly what they were and how they related to what she was trying to convey. This was her collection of handwritten notes about her 'subject'. And they already filled a single, heavy-duty, three-ring binder.

The writer had to admit that her first month as Devlyn's biographer had been little more than a blur. A whirlwind of motion and activity. Pledges and compromises. Deals and sacrifices.

It had taken every single one of the last twenty-nine days for her to begin to become accustomed to rising at five in the morning so she could start the day with Dev. Lauren had actually groaned out loud when she found out that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays the President and a flock of Secret Service Agents went jogging. She smirked to herself as she began scratching out a few more thoughts. That wasn't quite true. They didn't
jog
. They
raced
the three miles around south lawn jogging trail as though their feet were on fire. Their blistering pace kept press corps participation to a bare minimum, and Lauren already knew Devlyn well enough to know that was no accident.

The President approached her workouts with the same single-minded intensity with which she approached everything. Dev wanted to sweat. She didn't mind if some good conversation took place while she was doing it though, which was the only reason Lauren could make herself attend. But President Marlowe wasn't going to slow down to let it happen.
She
set the pace. And that made Lauren even more determined than ever not to fall out. After the first week she stopped wishing Dev were dead and started wishing she was. But then, begrudgingly, grouchily, as the days ticked by, her body began to accept this new demand.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays Dev worked out in the White House's private gym for at least an hour and a half, which was something Lauren found infinitely more palatable than the running. In this arena she had even shown the President a thing or two. Sunday was 'family day'. And Dev, 'the no good, lazy whelp' – Lauren underlined the words, drawing a wickedly smiling devil's face, complete with horns and flames shooting from her nose – didn't 'officially' exercise. But the woman got twice as much of a workout as normal because she always gave Emma the day off and took to chasing after Ashley, Chris and Aaron herself.

Dev even slept in until seven thirty or eight on Sundays, unless something crucial required her attention. Which, so far, had happened four Sundays in a row. But to Devlyn's credit, she usually wrapped up her business before the children even woke up and didn't pick back up with it until they were tucked safely in bed.

The blonde woman quickly discovered that Devlyn was always working, even when she wasn't. And while Lauren could sneak back to the privacy of her room and collapse on her bed, Dev was always in a series of meetings or just one more phone call away from a little time to herself. Many nights Lauren would lay awake in bed, listening for Devlyn's quiet footsteps as she slowly padded her way from her office to her bedroom... well after midnight. Lauren privately wondered if anyone could keep up the maddening pace established in this first month. And more importantly, why would they want to?

But, despite what she'd come to call the 'grind', there were still a heaping handful of pleasant memories that stood out in her mind and made her smile just to recall them. She had discovered that Dev was at her most Presidential
away
from the White House.

Lauren got a surprising thrill when she traveled with Devlyn in the Presidential motorcade. It wasn't the motorcade itself.
Well, okay,
she admitted privately,
it is a great ego trip to feel like the world is spinning just for you.
But what was even better, was that it gave her the opportunity to sneak a few moments alone with Devlyn. And although she wasn't positive, she suspected that Devlyn felt the same way. The older woman's sly grin, as she would shuffle them toward the waiting car, gave her away.

It was at times like these, alone in the back of Dev's limousine, that they enjoyed some of their best conversations. In the past, Lauren had always prepared questions on note cards for her other subjects, stuffing them into her pockets to be used at a moment's notice. So far, with Devlyn, she hadn't even bothered. Dev was always willing to talk. She was honest and funny, and Lauren wasn't sure how it happened, but one day she heard herself laughing and telling Devlyn about her own college days, her research long forgotten in the wake of genuine smiles and a growing camaraderie.