Donna bit her lip, wondering if she should enter the lion’s den or not. He had been brooding in his office for a while now and she had to be brave, even if it meant a tongue-lashing—and not the kind she wanted him to give her.
She strode in through the open office door, stopping just shy of the desk so that she could make a quick escape if necessary.
“Josh? You okay?”
He was sitting in his desk chair, having swivelled it round so he could stare out the window at the cold February snow outside. His feet were up on the ledge, but his fingers were tapping at the armrests rather than being laced behind his head.
Not a good sign.
He confirmed her intuition immediately. “Sure,” he answered, his voice both monotone and sarcastic at the same time. “Never better. I’m just peachy keen.”
Donna rolled her eyes. “Okay, so now that that little performance is over with, what are you really thinking?”
He swung back to look at her as he spoke. “Definitely thinking that toying with the First Lady is not a thing to do when you’re a man in my position with too many ex-girlfriends who also happen to be political operatives. It’s like Mrs Bartlet is the tiger who just slashed open my soft under-belly and now the Mandy-vultures and Amy-vultures of the world can circle around my bleeding carcass.”
Her eyebrows lifted in response at his overactive imagination. Not that Josh having an overactive imagination was always a bad thing—after all, she had it to thank for him throwing snowballs at her window on that fabulous, wonderful night. Who would have ever thought it was just a few weeks ago?
Right, stop thinking about Prince Charming arriving in the limo to sweep Princess Donna off to the ball, she chastised herself silently. This is not the time for more Heroic-Josh fantasies that obviously have been dashed to pieces in the last hour.
Still looking concerned, she sat down in a chair in front of him. “You’ve already been stewing over Amy’s new job way too much, right?”
He held out his hands in exasperation. “Couldn’t you tell? Weren’t you listening?”
“Sorry,” she apologised, not sounding the least bit contrite. “My mind got diverted picturing your ‘soft under belly’. You have to admit, it’s a distracting image.” The words were out of her mouth before she could shove them back in—a telltale blush immediately rampaged across her delicate alabaster skin.
Really smooth move there, Donna.
She looked up at Josh, expecting some kind of witty retort that would at once return things to the comfortable banter zone while also unknowingly cutting her down to size for her brazen presumption. But when her eyes met his, his response was nothing of the sort.
The heat blazing out from his brilliant brown eyes immediately stole the breath from her body. It was the same way he had looked at her outside of her apartment when he had said that she looked amazing. It was the same searing gaze he had given her before and after getting out of the limo, when the whole ‘Wild Thing’ nickname had began its short life span.
It had her ready and willing in nanoseconds, and she knew he was just as turned on as she was.
“Donna,” he said, his voice lowly seductive and unbearably sexy. “Lock the door.”
A saucy, intimate smile spread across her face as she got up from the chair, backed up and, without saying a word, closed the door and turned the lock, her eyes burning into his own the entire time.
Donna felt paralysed where she stood. Every nerve in her body and every inch of her skin seemed to be crying out for Josh’s attention; it was as though the lock had given her a tiny shock that had instantly turned into the most heady and intoxicating arousal. It couldn’t have been any more apparent even if her nipples had suddenly turned rock-hard and were standing out prominently beneath her blouse. A quick look down at her breasts confirmed that that was what indeed had happened.
Sensing her excitement, Josh stood up—somewhat amazed he could stand or walk at all given his present circumstance—and came around the desk. As he neared, Donna pressed her back against the door, unconsciously loving the fact that there was no escape as Josh continued to come closer and closer—until, at last, he was only a hairsbreadth away from her.
Ever so gently, he cupped her face in his hands. Donna’s senses were overwhelmed by the sexy scent of his after shave and Josh’s own unique aroma that had on more than one occasion over the years nearly caused her to throw herself at him and damn the consequences.
Well, it looked like the consequences were about to become seriously damned.
“This doesn’t change anything,” he whispered, his eyes boring into hers. The moment was burning with intensity, but Donna couldn’t stop the wave of doubt from taking over her mind. She looked away, focusing on a spot behind his right shoulder.
“Of course,” she answered, refusing to make eye contact.
“Really, Donna.” He touched her chin, trying to get her to look at him and believe. “Trust me, please. I swear, Amy is just—I don’t know…she’s just someone that every so often we’ll have to work with. It’s only going to be professional—nothing else. Really.”
Her eyes flickered over his face briefly, and then she slowly extricated herself from between his body and the unyielding hardness of the door. Now it was her turn to look out the window and try to feel calm.
It was official: she was well and truly flustered and for the worst of reasons. That spark of hope, which had grown to be a torch and had wonderfully promised to turn into a raging inferno of…well, of everything she felt for Josh…that hope within her had been crushed by one stupid fax.
And there wasn’t anything Josh could do to change that. She had seen the way he had fallen for Amy last year—she couldn’t take it if the same thing happened for a second time.
“Of course it won’t change anything,” she said harshly, her eyes fixated on a spot outside. She crossed her arms around herself, as though she could physically hold in the frustration and hurt. “Just because your former lover is going to be working here with us, always hanging around your office, being sickly sweet with me so that I won’t suspect her of anything just before she hatches her evil plan to get you back into bed.”
“Woah! Woah!” Josh interrupted, crossing the room to turn Donna around so that he could see her face. “Can I at least get some credit here for not letting history repeat itself?”
“Josh.” She hesitated, unable to avoid the blunt truth. “Flirtatious banter and a ride on your lap in a limo with a rapt audience looking on for the entire ride can hardly compare with a six month relationship full of intimacy and nakedness and…you know.”
“Constant bickering?”
“Orgasms.”
Josh was floored. He didn’t know how on earth he could come back with a witty comment to that particular statement. Hadn’t he practically flaunted the fact that he had been having sex regularly all through the months he’d been seeing Amy? At the time, his only thought—apart from trying to get Amy in bed twenty-four hours a day—was to make Donna yell at him. Well, now he had his wish. Talk about bad timing.
He was also somewhat shocked and unspeakably turned on by Donna even saying that word. His mouth felt dry and more than anything he needed to touch her and re-establish physical contact between them; but his silence just made her go on with her heart-felt lament.
“We’ve never even kissed, Josh!” She knew her voice was rising in volume, but damn it, this was important. “All I have are daydreams, whereas the two of you have had each other in real life. I can’t even begin to compete with that.”
Josh shook his head. “Believe me when I say it ended up as something much closer to a nightmare.”
Donna looked at him, her face so full of emotion it was unreadable. “I know for a fact that she still wants to climb all over you whenever you’re being arrogant and cocky—which, let’s face it, is all the time!” She moved away again, needing some space between them to keep her head clear and not just fall against him and begin to shake.
For a few exasperated moments Josh watched her pace back and forth in front of the chalkboard. “Okay,” he said, attempting to remain calm. “I need to deal with all of this one thing at a time. First of all, you don’t need me to tell you it’s been crazy around here since the second I got you to the inauguration ball. And I haven’t pressed the issue between us because I don’t want to be exhausted and distracted with I finally can begin to…well, touch you and hold you and make—”
Donna cut him off. “You weren’t too tired for her.”
“What?”
“You weren’t too tired for Amy. Last year. I know I’m sounding like some shrewish harpy and I hate that, but you revelled in being dog-tired when you came in every morning after nights of what I can only assume were unending bouts of sex. You managed fine then.”
“Donna!” he shouted, rolling his eyes. “Be fair! You’re different!”
She stopped pacing and just looked at him, absolutely appalled. He knew he had crossed the unforgivable line because her mouth had dropped open. Shit.
“What the hell—” she began.
“No, wait!” he interrupted, his hands up in either surrender or defence. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant to say that I—” He paused, cursing that for once he couldn’t think fast enough. “I feel more for you—it’s just you’re so spe—” He broke off again, lost for words. “Look,” he continued, reduced to wagging a finger at her, “when you’ve been needing and wanting someone as long as I’ve been needing and wanting you…Ah, shit!” he cursed, rolling his eyes at his obvious melo-dramatics. “Well, that sure as hell wasn’t a 760 verbal response. Sorry.”
“Josh.”
Donna couldn’t say more, because even through his ineptness, he had said everything.
“Donna,” he said earnestly, coming closer this time. “Donna, all I want is you. I promise you that and I mean it. You’re everything—you have to know that even though I might have fought against it in the past, you always have been. You are…my world.”
She flattened herself against the wall to the left of his office door, sighing and smiling at his sweet gesture.
“You really don’t have to say anymore. I get it.” He looked dubious so she reassured him again. “Really, I do.”
“No, I really think you don’t.”
He was on a straight trajectory for her now. Her arms moved behind the small of her back, pressing her deeper against the wall as his movements brought him ever closer to her.
And now came the ‘male lean’—that oft-heard of stance that men have used to their advantage for centuries previous.
Donna slowly let all the oxygen leave her body and not make any attempt to return to her lungs—the physical presence of him well and truly wanting her was that powerful and arresting. First came the scent of him—that mix of male musk and tangy after shave that she found so utterly intoxicating—that was followed by the familiar smell of laundry detergent clinging to the shirt that encased his broad, impressive frame.
For the briefest of moments, her eyes flickered down to look at that spot where for the past few months she had thought a paunch might be developing. There sure as hell wasn’t any trace of it now. Was it possible he had been working out for her since the Inauguration? But when would he have had the time? Never, that’s when.
Stop daydreaming, girl, and focus on the present.
And what a nice present it is, she thought to herself, unable to look at him and not feel shivers up and down her spine.
Josh smiled sheepishly before saying anything again—after all, he could smell her intoxicating perfume and maybe, just maybe, her own sweet tang and the pleasurable haven she and it promised.
Not that he was thinking of her as just an orifice for his now totally hardened cock—far from it. She was…god, did he even have the words to say what she meant to him after all these years. Still, he wasn’t quite ready to actually admit any of that to her. He needed to make sure she wouldn’t crush him first. Or knee him in the balls. Call it what you will—he considered it a cross between male prerogative and basic fear.
“Josh? What’s happening now?”
He smiled, sure of his footing for at least the next ten seconds. “Once again I say, give me some credit.”
His body was mere inches from hers now, and closing the distance without a second thought.
“Josh? I don’t know if we can do this here.”
“Donna? Never quote me on this, but for once, I’m going to say it: I’m the third most powerful man in the entire country. I want you—I want you now—and I’m going to have you. Am I wrong to think you feel the same way?” He had been so sure of himself, but the slight quaver to his voice gave Donna one of those few, precious glimpses of the Joshua Lyman that lay beneath all the bravado.
“No,” she whispered.
“Then so much for that ‘not-kissing’ complaint you had.”
The small touches of time that it took for his lips to zero in on her mouth seemed like flashing aeons quickening between them. At first, she was struck by the softness of his mouth, the sweet, simple pressure he applied to seal their mouths, bodies, minds and –dare she say it—souls together.
God help her and them—it felt so right.
With a move of his hips, he brought their bodies in contact from neck to knees. He cushioned himself against the softness of her belly, desperate to press himself against her somehow, somewhere, at last.
The feel of his iron erection against her elicited mutual feelings of wantonness and alarm. It felt soooo good—but here was hardly the place.
It was the wrong place.
It was the wrong time.
Still, she couldn’t help it when her arms rose of their own volition and pulled him closer to her, refusing to concede even a half-inch of room between them.
Tongue slid against tongue in absolute bliss. Donna hardly even noticed the firmness of the wall against her back, but she certainly noticed the hardness of him…the absolute solidity of JOSH. Josh. Finally, at last, forever, always, Josh.
“Donna…God,” he moaned against her lips, recovering himself for a scant second before foraying again into the sweet, hot, heavenly depths her embrace afforded.
She wanted him so much. Raising one leg off the floor, she hooked it over his hips, grinding against him, relishing in the electric shocks caused by the friction between their sexes—if even fully clothed.
The only sound in the room was of her soft, ragged sighs that came faster and faster as she rubbed against his cock, driving them both crazy with the need to do more. His mouth now teased along the long column of her throat, nipping and sucking to her heart’s delight—his hands sculpted the area between her breasts, around the sides of her rib-cage and down to the small of her back.
With a manly grunt, he reached one arm behind to pull Donna’s leg higher up on his hip. Josh dragged his tongue across her collarbone, desperate to savour as much as possible out of every second they had together. She tasted soft and salty and sweet—a lethal combination.
Gasping for air, they broke apart. Donna slowly slid her leg down Josh’s thigh to the ground. She stared at the floor, shocked by her wanton abandon. But with one look between them, they were back at it.
This time she was the aggressor, walking Josh backward across the room, her arms snugly draped across his neck as she teased his mouth with a lascivious touch. Josh groaned into her ear and she could feel the wetness pool between her legs. A small part of her mind knew things couldn’t go too far—after all, they were still in the White House—but she had to get him to feel her more deeply, if only for a minute or two.
She lightly took hold of his wrist and was about to bring his hand up under her skirt when suddenly Josh grunted, this time in pain.
She had walked him backward into a corner of the desk.
“Oops! That was my fault,” she apologised. Then, with a wicked gleam in her eye, she reached around and began to rub his offended posterior. “Does that feel better?” she teased.
“Does this?” His hand moved with the speed of a striking adder to press his hand against her mons beneath her skirt. She shivered slightly at the push of his cold fingers against the most heated and sensitive part of her body—then leaned her head back and rocked her hips into his hand, seeking more friction.
“God!” she whispered, her voice lowering as passion and desire possessed her.
Not satisfied with the present angle, Josh stood up, still keeping his hand moving against the smooth satin of her panties. With slow, sure steps, he backed her up against the nearest vertical structure.
Or, more to the point, he would have backed her up against a nearby wall except that Donna chose that exact moment to reciprocate his present action by moving one of her hands from about his neck down to mould it against his cock through the finely-woven wool of his pants. He whimpered in response and used all his will power to keep from coming in his boxer shorts right then and there.
Of course, all that concentration meant Josh forgot where he was going, and he mistakenly pressed Donna up against the chalkboard instead of the wall.
And that would be a chalkboard on wheels.
The heavy movement, predictably, caused the chalkboard to quickly roll on its wheels. Josh lost his balance. Donna wavered backwards on the heel of one shoe, holding on to Josh by the lapels of his jacket before his momentum caused her to tumble after him.
There was quite a loud thud as they sprawled in a tangled heap on the floor. Josh was half-afraid that he’d somehow broken Donna because she was keening in what he assumed was agonised pain.
“Jesus, Donna. Are you okay?”
She moved abruptly against him and he realised his fingers were still beneath her skirt—in fact, the fall had practically jammed them against her sex as much as the fabric covering her wet core would allow. One more thrust of her hips that rolled her swollen nub of desire against his touch and Donna sighed luxuriously, almost seeming to melt against Josh’s chest.
“What the hell just happened?” he whispered, not wanting her to move exactly, but desperately wanting to know if what he thought just happened had indeed just happened.
One look at her smug face told him it had.
“Are you okay?” she asked lazily, slowly sitting up and smoothing her blouse.
“I’m…I’m…uh…”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Before she could stand up, Josh grabbed Donna’s hand and pressed it to his chest. “Promise me you’re coming home with me tonight.”
She smiled before feigning incredulity. “Why, Mr Lyman! Are you trying to seduce me?”
“I think you already just did that to me,” he muttered, getting up and then helping her to her feet. He looked at her for a long moment, taking in her slightly dishevelled appearance. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen—at least, not here or…you know…like this.”
“Josh, it’s fine.”
“Well, I would think so after you just…you know.”
“Fell to the ground with your hand up my skirt? Yeah, that was an adventure.” Her words might have been blasé, but her tone was that of the cat who ate the canary.
“Donna!” he hissed. “Could you lower your voice please? We’re not exactly alone in the building.”
“And we won’t be when Amy gets back either,” she sighed, only now remembering the First Lady’s newest appointment to her staff.
Josh shook his head and shrugged his shoulders in the ultimate male gesture of ‘I-don’t-know-what-to-say-but-there’s-nothing-I-can-do-about-it-so-let’s-just-forget-it-for-now’. Suddenly he stepped in close again and traced a hand down the side of her face. “Did I tell you yet today that you look amazing?”
“No, but I like hearing it.”
Donna backed away, smiling, and unlocked the door. He thought she was just going to close it quietly behind her—and leave him somewhat in the lurch—when she ducked her head back in. “Oh, Josh. I forgot to add that you’re absolutely gorgeous today. Seriously—sexy as hell. I’ll be at yours by 9 o’clock tonight.”
Now the door closed.
Josh closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, his face coming to rest in a satisfied smile, dimples twinkling even without an audience. Sure, it might be hell for the next couple of months until Amy managed to get herself fired yet again, but it wasn’t all bad. He’d just had a pretty serious make-out session in his office, which was a first. And Donna was all hot for him—and yes, he was dying for her too, he was happy to admit that. And, from what had just gone on behind closed doors, tonight might just be the night.
He sat down behind his desk again and swung his feet up onto the window ledge. Lacing his fingers behind his head, he leaned back and thanked his lucky stars that a new chapter had indeed started—and this time, he meant to make it a never-ending story.
FIN
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