Scandalous: The Senator's Secret Bride (13 page)

“Oh God, John, what are you doing? We can’t right now…” But my body didn’t understand “can’t.” It had taken over for me, seeking out the drug of his touch, his skin, that thick, painfully perfect cock. I moved my hips, grinding against his hand, groaning softly.
 

“Stand up. Take off your panties. I need this before I go. Before I see you again.” I stood and slipped the panties down. I was stupid, stupid and foolhardy. Completely ridiculous… and growing wetter by the moment.
 

“What now… Mr. Reynolds?”
 

“Lift up your skirt.” I lifted the skirt, flushing red and biting my lip. John unbuckled himself and slipped down his pants, pulling out his thick cock and stroking it to hardness. “And come sit down.”

“Are you sure you’ve got the time?”
 

“It’s all I’ve been thinking about for days. As soon as I watch that beautiful face while you come, I’ll be ready…” He ran his thumb over the head of his cock and groaned. “My wife to be…” I sat down on his lap, his hot, hard cock pressing against the slick folds of my pussy. He grabbed my hips and lifted me so I was sitting over him, slipping the tip of his cock against my entrance. He pushed himself inside, holding himself there. I rocked gently, taking him in ever so slightly. “Christ,” he said, moving me slowly onto his cock. He brought his fingers to my clit, caressing it with expert fingers. “Oh God, you’re so wet.”

“Like I said, you drive me crazy. Oh damn, ohhh,” I whispered. I kissed him, my lips trembling against his. My body thrummed as he played with my clit, his fingers moving faster and faster. He lowered me down to the base of his cock, thrusting up inside of me. Rocking back down, I cried out, my desire building hard and fast inside of me. My muscles tensed. I met his eyes, and he raised his free hand to my sensitive breasts, brushing his knuckles over them. They stood erect at his touch. I cried out and he brought his hands back to my hips, lifting me over his cock and pushing me down in a rhythm he alone controlled.
 

“Come for me, baby, come on.” He thrust into me from below, grinding against my clit, the chair rocking and unsteady beneath us. I held onto his shoulders, the tidal wave of ecstasy beginning deep in my core. I bore down and came hard, the ripples of release spreading through me, lighting that fire that came from deep within. I looked in his eyes and kissed him, biting down gently on his lips. He groaned into me and rammed into my pussy, shaking and groaning as he came inside of me. “Sonia, Sonia, Sonia.” I kissed his forehead, tasting the salt of his sweat.
 

“And now you leave me,” he said. “Now you’re gone. Away again, apart again.” I heard someone open the creaky door of the century-old house. I slid off of his lap. I stepped back into my panties, back into reality. And John stood, buckling himself.
 

“You slay me, woman,” he said, pulling me into him and kissing me hard. “One day I might just marry you for real.” My heart pounded, and I opened my mouth to speak—to protest his careless words—but he silenced me with a kiss. He picked up his briefcase and kissed me once more.

“See you Saturday,” I said, and he nodded. He squeezed my hand.
 

“It will be okay, Sonia. I promise.”
 

I watched as he left, his perfect body filling out the suit he’d chosen for the day. I sighed and wondered just what the hell I’d gotten myself into. He left me standing there, the morning sun just beginning to enter the windows of his office.
 

***

I spent that week trying to keep my mind off of the wedding, which is a hard thing to do when it feels like your whole life is revolving around that one moment in time. What would be ideal? What would I want if he
really
married me?
 

And what could Janice do to us? How could she strike so that we were so crippled we couldn’t win?

I started each time someone passed by, checking my phone constantly, for what I didn’t know. For an email from John? For news from the other side? As Friday approached, I grew more and more nervous, jumping at the sounds of closing doors and constantly refreshing my Washington Post homepage to see if any pictures had leaked. By Friday afternoon, I was a mess. When Kelly came into the front room and knocked on the wall of the cube I used as an office, I nearly fell out of my chair. I went from feeling like the wedding was the best idea to hit Janice where she was comfortable to
knowing
that it was a terrible idea, doomed for failure.

“Kelly! Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“I didn’t, darling. I just came to take you home a little bit early. I thought you might like time to relax. Tomorrow, we’ll be up very early and back here in the office.”

“I haven’t talked to John all week. I wasn’t sure it was still happening. Is it still happening? I thought I would have heard from him by now.”

“Don’t be silly. We’re still having the... contract signing we talked about.” Kelly looked around to see if anyone was listening. “He just told me on the phone he’d see me tomorrow morning.”

“He’s avoiding me. He’s got to be.” I tapped my fingernails together. John had only sent me one text, checking to see if I was taking my vitamins.
 

Taking your vitamins? See you soon, beautiful
. Beautiful. Was I that to him? Was any of this real?

“No he’s not, Sonia. Don’t be silly. He’s not.”
 

“He was angry... when I said I might not keep it. But then we… well, it seems like things are okay.”
 

“Lower your voice, darling. That’s not something we need to discuss right now.” She cut her eyes around the room again and reached for my hand. “Why don’t we go pick up some dinner for you, and we’ll get you home. To rest. We’ll be here early.” I let Kelly help me up and took her arm as we walked out of the office. For a moment it seemed like we were still those innocent young women who had met in graduate school, following our careers and the ideals that come with youth. But reality was hard on our heels, and it would be tomorrow morning soon.
 

“We’re really doing this?” I asked her as I got into the car. She sped off, navigating the traffic with the skill of an experienced DC driver.
 

“We?
You’re
doing this. But I’ll be there. And yes, darling, you’ve asked me a hundred times. I do think it’s the best idea. Greg—your ‘John’—he doesn’t think that Janice is going to find out about the pregnancy. And she might not, at that, darling. Greg has some sort of idea that he’s protecting you by marrying you. I don’t know about that, my dear, but I do know that it’s our ace in the hole if we can’t find a way to get those pictures away from Janice.”

“You’re trying to get the pictures? How? Doesn’t she have them saved in a hundred different places?”

“We have someone on the inside of her campaign who’s rather skilled with computers. And he may just be able to get his hands on her laptop. Greg assures me that she’s probably only got them in one place. She hasn’t even considered that
she
might not be safe.”

“Well, can’t we wait?” Adrenaline pumped through my body. “Can’t we just let go of the whole wedding idea? And maybe it’ll all work out. I can work the campaign and have the baby, give it up for adoption—”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, darling.” She pulled up to a stoplight and looked over at me. “Why are you so worried about it anyway? It’s a contract. We’ll have you and him sign it. And if no one finds out about your little tryst, we’ll be set until after the election.”
 

“It just doesn’t seem like how a wedding day should go.”

“Oh darling, you were never one to wax poetic about weddings. White dresses and all that.” She waved her hand and turned onto the highway. “You’re joking, surely?”

“I know it’s not a big deal to you, Kelly. But it feels like that to me. It’s... It’s so strange. And it’s not how I wanted things to go with John.”

“Ah, ‘John,’ your mystery man. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you like him. That would make things much more complicated, wouldn’t it? But you don’t like him, do you?” I looked out of the window at the world passing us by. We got off on the exit to DC, and Kelly and I both remained silent. I thought of what it meant to get married to John. Maybe Kelly was right—maybe it was just a contract, one that was easily broken.

“We’re not dealing with a complicated situation, are we darling?” Kelly looked over at me as she pulled up in front of my apartment.
 

“No, I guess not. It was probably all a mistake, Kell.”

“‘Probably,’ darling?”
 

“Yeah, sure. It probably was.” Kelly leaned in and pulled me into a side hug. Her eyes reflected a worry I hadn’t seen there before. I slid out of the car and ambled to my apartment, feeling swollen, lonely, and sad—the perfect combination for a bride before her wedding. Why
couldn’t
we tell everyone? What harm would it do? But again, my throat tightened at the thought of it. A woman like me, giving into marriage with a man she had only just met…

Early in the evening, I fell into a restless sleep. I woke before dawn and showered, choosing a black skirt and white blouse for the occasion. I felt much more like slipping into stretch pants, but still, I had to have some sense of occasion.

I hailed a taxi, the chill of the cool autumn air seeping into my bones. I shivered and stepped into the cab, the wedding weighing heavy on my mind.
 

“He told you everything would be okay,” I whispered. “It will be. He promised. We could give it a try. It could all be real.”
 

“What was that, Miss?” the taxi driver asked.
 

“Nothing,” I said. “Nothing at all.”

“Where you headed?”
 

“To sign a contract. That’s all.” I looked out of the window. I didn’t have myself fully convinced. If it were a real event, though, it
would
be a beautiful morning for a wedding.

October 8, 2016

One Month until Election Day

I walked into the campaign office, wringing my hands. I knew Kelly was already inside John’s office, talking with him, her judge friend, and the clerk recorder. As far as she was concerned, we weren’t paying anyone off because we weren’t doing anything wrong. If anyone found out that there had been a secret wedding, well, Kelly would spin it as “romantic.”
 
And if no one found out, John and I would be free to divorce soon after he was elected… if we wanted.

That “if” hung in the air. We would either end it, or we would try to have it all, forever.
 

If I’d met him at some other time… in some other way… Would it all be different? Would we be preparing for forever right now?

Just like I’d never imagined what it would be like to get pregnant, I’d never imagined what it would be like to get married. But if I had, it wouldn’t have been in a darkened office at six o’clock in the morning. And I wouldn’t be wearing a plain black skirt with the waistband sitting tight against my growing belly. I’d hid myself so far with flowing shirts and untucked button-downs. But in a few weeks, I would pop just like my sister had. And in a few weeks, there would be no turning back. There would be no
other option
, and I’d be married to the father of my child. My whole body tensed, torn between the aching desire John created in my soul and my need for practicality, for control over the life I’d always wanted to lead.

I walked down the hall, my body growing hot and uncomfortable. Even though we were already into the fall, my body temperature had risen, my breasts and hips taking up far more space in the world. I sighed. Marriage and family weren’t supposed to happen like this. I knocked softly on the door.
 

“Come in, darling. We’re ready for you.” I pushed the door open to four sets of eyes on mine. The judge and the clerk recorder were frankly curious. Kelly caught my eye and winked. But John’s eyes met mine, his crooked smile creeping over his face. There was anxiety there too, an echo of what I’d felt all week. In one instant, I saw the whole of our saga played out, from the time we met until the moment we held hands and heard that heartbeat together. My pulse spiked, rising high until the only sound I could hear was the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears.

“You can sit down, Sonia. If you like.” His eyes brightened, but I saw the uncertainty there, as clear as my own. He was wearing a simple button-down shirt and dark khaki pants, looking more rumpled than usual. My throat tightened. I thought back to the things I’d said to him, to the hurt on his face when I’d told him I wasn’t sure about keeping the baby. The knife driven into my gut when he’d walked out of my room at the hospital. And then… the sweetness of his words, the agonizing need we felt when we were in the same room. Was this enough to build a relationship? Did the contract even mean anything if it wasn’t enough?

 
I took a seat in one of the leather chairs that were so carefully curated for this room, for this important man. For a moment, everyone was silent. The judge shifted uncomfortably in her chair and pulled several pieces of paper out of her briefcase, setting them down on the table in front of John.
 

“These were the documents I mentioned. I assume you both have two forms of identification and your birth certificates ready?” John nodded and looked over to me. I patted my purse and noticed that my hands were shaking.
 

“All here,” I said.

“Alright, everyone,” Kelly said, clapping her hands once, “Why don’t we get started so we can get home and go back to bed?”
 

“Are both parties certain of the decision?” The clerk looked back at me and then over to John.
 

“Yes,” I said. “If you still think it’s the right thing, John. We could still think about—” He raised his hand.
 

“I do. It’ll keep us on track for the election. And it will protect you. That’s what’s important right now.”