Page 11 of The President's Passion
“Because I trust you.” His eyes bore into mine and I go weak in the knees. “I don’t care about what happened. Deep down, I know you’re honorable.”
“How can you possibly know that?” I say and the corners of his mouth curve.
“You missed. You could’ve shot me but you chose not to.”
Chewing on my lower lip, I nod and I don’t tell him how long we planned the assassination, how often we went over the details and looked at maps over the theater. We planned it all down to the details, willing to risk everything to send a message and in the end I failed on purpose.
Because I felt something that contradicted our plans.
“Whether you know it or not, you feel something for me,” Went continues. “I can see it in your eyes, in the way your body responds to me when I touch you. Besides...,” he tilts his head to the side, “youmustfeel something for me.”
“Must I?” I breathe and he nods.
“Otherwise you’ll upset me and you don’t want the head of the state upset, if you know what’s good for you and humanity as a whole.” He continues to pull me through the passage and it’s dark but I’m not scared one bit.
Went is the kind of man who makes the world seem tinier than a volleyball and shadows cower wherever he goes. Grabbing a flashlight, he turns it on and with my hand in a firm grip he leads me down a staircase before we come to a stop.
I have no idea where we are, guessing it has to be the basement when he turns on a switch and I gasp.
“Tunnels,” I whisper in awe and he seems amused. “Where do they lead?”
“To all kinds of secret places. I’ll take you to them one day, show you everything there is to see.” He clasps my face, causing my cheeks to squish and I have a feeling I look just like a chipmunk. “I want there to be no surprises between us.”
Went chews on his lower lip, his hands still stroking my face with a tenderness as if he himself created me. “I know your story, Jackie. I know everything about the Dead Roses and your brother.”
Wincing, I glare up at him and my pulse picks up. I struggle to keep the tears away.
“And I’ve read your letters,” he continues and I furiously wipe my eyes.
“You did?”
He nods. “Finally. I’m sorry I never responded to you earlier.”
Red in the face, I nod. “It’s been hard. I tried to reach out to you so many times, I practically clung to my mailbox and waited for your letter...but it never came.” My shoulders shake and I add, “I don’t know how many times I cried myself to sleep, longing for a sign from you...”
His eyes fill with regret, his hands going around me. “I was too caught up in my work. Had I known there was a girl like you needing me out there, I would’ve done everything in my power to ease your pain.”
My heart begins pounding. “I swear my brother’s innocent. His so called friend set him up...”
“I believe you.”
“You do? Just like that?” Euphoria nearly renders me unconscious. “Then you’ll pardon him?” I cry and I’m so dazed that I throw myself at Went, wrapping my arms around him before sliding down and hugging his leg. “Oh, thank you, Mr. President. “ I rub my face against his thigh. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. There’s something I’ll want in return,” he says in a dark voice. “You.”
****
Wentworth
With a flushed face, she nods and rises, gracefully and with a whole ton of dignity as if she’s not about to be thrown into a lion’s den. “You can have me,” she pants, frantically unbuttoning her tweed suit, “I’m yours to do with however you please, except...”
“Except what,” I almost snap because I didn’t expect there to be an except.
“Don’t put a babe in me,” she pleads. “Just take what you need and p...pull out.”
Pull out? I grind my teeth. Pull out like an animal? I couldn’t do it any more than a beggar could crawl back to the gutter after being given a taste of a kingdom. He would hold onto it with his whole strength, his fingernails, his teeth...I could never tear myself away from Jackie. Especially not once fully emerged in her.
“Sweets,” I whisper because I’m trying to understand, “why are you so averse to taking my seed?”