Public Relations II

The look on Laura’s face when she turned around had Bill grinning so broadly that his cheeks hurt. The flash of love in her eyes made him weak in the knees. Her breathless reply of “I’d love a ride home” had him so ridiculously happy it took every amount of discipline he had to not cross the several feet between them and kiss her soundly in front of her staff.

He’d gotten a look at the handful of young women when he’d first stepped inside the doorway and they’d all gone dead silent when they saw him, all except her secretary Kate, who’d been talking with Laura. He wasn’t sure how the others knew who he was, but they clearly did, or at least knew that he was… Oh hell, he didn’t know what they knew or how, and he didn’t care. Laura was standing right in front of him, her expression one just for him. He was a happy man.

Frak, he’d missed her today. The house had been empty without her, so empty, he’d ended up going to the gym and boxing for several hours, then did a little driving around. He’d picked up something for her, too, a surprise that he hoped she liked. He really didn’t know how she felt about flowers, but a variety of them in all sorts of colors waited for her in a vase on her kitchen table. He hadn’t bought flowers for a woman in years, so he hoped he was doing it right.

Reaching for the copy of Boxing Weekly he’d bought at the newsstand out front, he showed it to her. “Picked one up,” he said, stepping forward.

She gave him a doting look, “I saw you out front.”

He felt a slight wave of disappointment, tipped his chin up. “So much for my surprise.”

“Trust me. It was a surprise,” she said, laying a hand on his arm when he stopped in front of her. She squeezed his biceps, the leather of his jacket creaking softly under her grip, when she added, “A very nice one.”

That touch, the look in her eyes, the softness of her lips now within reach, he found himself contemplating kissing her again. She must have noticed because her gaze turned amused and it was she who leaned in and kissed him. It was a light, affectionate peck on the lips, but he loved it, returned it just as she gave it.

When she drew away, it was with a happy and amused hum, and he chuckled softly at hearing it and seeing her eyes dancing with the emotions, along with a healthy measure of smugness. It looked good on her, he thought, eyes locked on her as he followed her into her office.

“I just need to do a couple things and I’ll be ready to go,” she said as she crossed her office, easing around behind her desk.

“You sure?” he asked, knowing he was a little early.

She smiled at him as she sank into her desk chair. He took a seat in the chair on the front side of her desk. “Yes,” she replied. “It’s just paperwork this week with the solstice celebrations beginning. In fact,” she continued, her smile brightening when she told him she was able to condense her work calendar down, moving all the events of next week to this week so that she could take some of the vacation days she’d saved up over the last few years. Her staff was going to be off anyway, she explained, so she might as well with him in town.

Bill liked that she’d done that. It would give them a little more than a full week to do with as they pleased before he had to ship out again. He could take her somewhere if she wanted, maybe up to the northern shore, Qualai perhaps, where the seaside cottages were made for winter temperatures, or up to the mountains if she’d rather someplace more remote, although Qualai wasn’t really a holiday destination. Or they could go someplace off world. Of course, it might all depend on where they could get accommodations on such late notice. A lot of people took vacations this time of year.

While she straightened the stacks of folders on her desk, distributed some single ones between those piles, then put away pens and pencils into the drawer, he asked her if she wanted to go somewhere, get away from the city for a few days for a real vacation.

She looked at him as if the idea hadn’t occurred to her, which made him decide that they definitely needed to do it. He knew from talking with her on a previous visit that she hadn’t taken a real vacation in years. The couple days at the shore on his last visit had been closest she’d come to that, and that had really only been equivalent to a long weekend. Bill wanted her to have more than that. He wanted to take her away somewhere and spoil her completely for an entire week.

“Is there someplace you’ve always wanted to go?” Bill asked her.

She looked bewildered by the question, shaking her head, eyes bright and wide, making him realize she probably hadn’t thought about that sort of thing in ages and suspected it had something to do with how her life had just stopped with the death of her father and sisters. He imagined her job had her travel often enough she probably felt like she went places, but he doubted she really took time to enjoy where she’d been. Wherever they went next week, he wanted her to do that, to see the sights if that’s what she wanted to do, or if she wanted to just spend a week without some sort of schedule dictating her life, then that’s what he wanted her to have.

She clearly didn’t know where she might want to go or what she might want to do at the moment, so he suggested they talk about it over dinner. She agreed and opened one of her desk drawers and pulled out her purse.

Getting to his feet, he offered her his arm as she rounded her desk. She slipped her hand in the crook and let him lead her into the outer office. As they passed through, she told Kate and the other girls they could head out early if they were finished for the day, but said nothing about the obvious gawking, and whispers that ceased the instant Bill and she had exited her office.

Bill nodded politely to all of them, including Kate then escorted Laura out of the building to her car, which he’d parked in one of the front lots. He smiled the whole way, though, glad to be with her after missing her all day.

The first half of the drive home was uneventful for the most part, albeit slow with rush-hour congestion. On the second half, it came to a complete halt when they came upon a sea of traffic at a standstill. Laura flipped on the radio and the traffic report indicated a bad accident ahead and that there were going to be significant delays in the area for a while.

Bill debated whether or not to wait it out or to get off and maybe find something — a bookstore, or even a restaurant for early dinner — to amuse themselves rather than just sit in the car. He asked Laura what she thought and got a reply that made him laugh.

“Or, you could just put it in park and we could crawl into the back and frak like a couple of teenagers,” she quipped with a grin.

Bill looked back over his shoulder, making a show of checking the amount of space between the roof of the car and the tops of the front seat before shaking his head. “I don’t think I can fit,” he told her, adding, “and I think that’s one of the top ways people of position tend to get caught.”

Laura raised both eyebrows, said with a note of incredulity, “People of position?”

Chuckling, Bill replied, “Yeah, Madam Secretary.”

“And what about you, Commander?” she teased, clearly not wanting to be alone on the “people of position” limb. He was game, but there was one thing she hadn’t considered.

“I’m an old sailor just home from a long tour,” he replied. “Not sure they’d see my frakking a beautiful woman in the middle of traffic quite the same way.”

“Double standard,” she tsked, wagging a finger at him playfully.

“I agree,” he told her, grinning, “Believe me, nothing’s more flattering than a woman wanting me as soon as I’m in the front door,” he said, his heart picking up its pace at remembering that’s exactly what he’d gotten a couple days ago, then added with enthusiasm, “And, even at my age, I’m definitely all for frakking in the back seat.”

“To be anonymous,” Laura sighed with a wistful smile. He returned it then checked the traffic in front of him to see if had moved. It hadn’t.

He sat there a moment, chuckled then offered, “Tell you what, if you want to go parking, we should pick someplace secluded to stay next week and I’ll locate us a place we won’t be found and we’ll see if I still remember any of my backseat moves.”

Laura giggled, leaned toward him and they kissed gently as they sat in traffic. When she drifted away, she murmured, “I’m going to take you up on that, Commander. And we’ll see,” she continued, her voice growing breathy soft, “if I remember any of my backseat moves as well.”

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