The Thorne at My Side

CHAPTER 9

A fake date is better than none.

MAGGIE

The elevator doors close across Austin's face and I see the questions racing through my mind in his eyes.

What the hell just happened?

Who is this man?

When can we kiss again?

I have never done anything that uninhibited in my life. It was like my sex drive took over.

I got increasingly wound up all morning. Every stress-laden thought about work was met with two lust-laden ones about Austin.

When his hands bracketed my face, the word “finally” flashed in my mind. Our crash landing of a kiss made all the previous turbulence worth it.

That was, without a doubt, the best damn kiss I've ever experienced. It was intense and wet and I melted into his solid body. It has awoken something in me. A wild kind of hunger.

I don’t rely on guys to meet my needs. I can do it all by myself. That kiss tells me Austin would know how to meet my needs and then some.

I followed him out to the hall expecting to confront him about the kiss that both shook and steadied my world but when I saw him comb his hair back with his fingers like he regretted it, I froze. Then he turned and I watched feelings dance through his expression as he took me in. The look in his eyes made me doubt he was feeling remorseful.

My lips are still buzzing twenty minutes later when he and his team walk back into the conference room. I bite down hard on my lip to stop myself from smiling at him like a schoolgirl with a crush. As much as my body might want to engage with Austin again, I need to stay focused. He’s charming, attractive, and kisses like a Marine returning from deployment, but I have a job to do.

"We've got an idea for a joint statement," Javé, his teammate, says as they file into the room. I actively look anywhere besides at Austin.

"Let's hear it," Sam says.

"While unexpected, Senator Quinn has always been a leader when it comes to embracing change. Her use of AI technology in her campaign will elevate the conversation," I scoff and everyone turns to look at me.

"Sorry, go on," I mutter through clenched teeth and look down at my notes. Sam kicks me under the table and then scribbles something in her notebook.

Get it together, be professional.

As a man would say “calm down.”

I snort a laugh and cover it as a cough as Javé picks back up.

"And provide an example for those who follow." Javé finishes.

There's a pause while we all look around the room at each other .

"It's a start," Austin says, drawing my attention to him where he stands at the back of the room with his hands in his pockets. He shrugs and I watch the fabric of his perfectly tailored jacket fall back into place against his body. My hormone addled brain wants to rip that jacket off and get my hands on the muscles I saw on display last night in the fading light.

"Yeah," I finally agree. "Why don't we work on that a little bit more, it’s almost there.” I pause and find Austin’s pewter eyes fixed on me. I stumble into my next sentence. “I, umm, would like to have a few minutes of Austin's time to discuss the, umm, timeline."

"Can we do it in your office?" He asks and I choke on air before nodding and start to pick up my things. Sam mouths “be nice” to me as I stand. If only she knew.

Austin lets me lead the way out of the conference room. It’s a short walk to my office but my thoughts race like a bat outta hell.

Are we going to kiss again?

Does he want to?

Are we going to fight over that pitiful excuse for a press release?

Can I just stare at him for a minute?

What if I punch him in the throat and then kiss him?

I let Austin step past me before I close the door behind us, careful not to look in his eyes as he walks by. In the last twenty minutes I’ve developed a serious weakness for the heat in his charcoal gaze and I don’t want to get burned.

As I turn to him I start, "What the hell was tha-"

I trail off as my eyes connect with Austin's for a split second. It’s not even enough time to measure before his gaze drops to my mouth and my body alights.

"I don't know," he gruffs before grabbing my face again and searing me with his lips. I lose my balance and one of his strong arms loops down to my waist to support me.

I fist his dress shirt under his jacket and join him in the kiss. He tastes like strong coffee, and cowboys, and he smells a little bit like Christmas.

I inhale deeply through my nose and he grips my nape a little tighter. My head spins with the dreamy feeling of being kissed senseless. My body moves itself closer to him because it feels so good in his arms. I feel sturdy on my feet but also secure that he’d catch me if I fell.

One of his fingers loops into the waistband of my pants and it's enough to make my knees wobble. I break the kiss and come up for air but Austin's hold on me doesn't relent. I flatten my hands against his chest and can feel how quickly his heart is beating.

"Let's get to work," I say quietly as I step back.

He lets me go and takes a seat in a chair across from my desk. Maybe Austin can spend his days in endless makeout sessions but I have work to do.

"Senator Quinn will get a lot of shit for having AI Media write her speeches. I'm not sure I'm comfortable defending her statements if they've been computer generated. I also will not be a robot's editor. How is TMC going to handle the commentary?"

"I'm not worried about it," Austin says.

"How can you not be worried about it?" I ask.

"Because, Maggie, despite the little statement our teams are writing right now, there's no way anyone will be able to tell she's using AI. There's really no point in even announcing it." I see the mask he wears for work slide into place. It's a blank expression that almost makes him look plain. I wouldn't see the difference if I hadn't seen the fire in his eyes after our kiss .

I lean back in my chair and cross my arms. I might have been flustered and tongue tied at the podcast but I’ve had time to process this partnership and I’m fired up. ”Well, since Thorne Media Corp is motivated by money and a lack of regard for original thought, I can see how you'd think that. But I, and the senator for that matter, believe in the American people. We believe in respecting them and treating them like adults. Even with AI, the senator is driven by her moral compass.”

“Which is currently pointed at TMC's money and lack of regard for original thought." Austin states matter-of-factly.

"Unbelievable," I mumble.

"What is, that I can engage in a professional discussion while thinking about slipping those pants off your hips and confirming that our kiss did the same things to you as it did to me?"

I stare at him. It was hard enough to concentrate around him but now it seems like he’s going to keep throwing these kisses in my face. And while I’m infuriated by his comment the lust train is also leaving the station and if he did what he promised he’d find a pair of ruined panties. But I can’t let him win that easily. "I knew when we met that you're all talk but I never expected you to be a frat-boy idiot too."

"Well, considering I was the president of my business fraternity, I'm the most frat-boy idiot of them all."

He laughs at himself and I just stare back at him wide eyed. Even when I’m mustering all my professionalism I’m unable to get through a conversation with him.

He drives me insane with frustration.

With annoyance.

With desire.

The man pushes all of my buttons.

"Maggie? "

"What?" I ask as I blink up from where my eyes were fixed on his hands. The image of them all over me disappearing in a cloud of smoke. He smirks because he caught me looking.

"What are your plans tonight?" He asks doing a complete 180 from what we were just discussing.

"I've got a date." I lie.

In fact, my plans are to head home, drink a gallon of ginger turmeric tea to calm my nervous system, and take a bath with my favorite vibrator to give those nerves an outlet.

"That's fun, with who?" Austin asks as he leans back in his chair.

"You don't know him," I say as I lift my chin to muster as much truth to this lie as I can.

Those mesmerizing, gray-brown eyes, that I've pictured with alarming frequency since we met, twinkle with amusement. He's looking at me like I'm the prey he's toying with before going in for the kill.

"Try me, I know everybody in this town," he adds a wink at the end to really grind my gears.

"Ehrlich Gramblespock," I say slowly, basically chewing each syllable, before smiling because, holy crap, that's a gem of a name to pull out of nowhere.

"Uptight Ehrlich?" Austin repeats like we just discovered that his first cousin was my younger sister's college roommate.

I can't help myself. I laugh.

"Yes, Uptight Eurlich, I'm looking forward to it," I say as I bring the straw of my iced coffee to my lips. I take a sip to mask my smile. I like playing with him.

"Austin?"

"Mhmm?" he says while staring at my lips. I know what he’s thinking and I like it. Is it okay that I like it?I should be focused completely on the campaign. And the work ahead of me in the next three weeks. The debate, the final campaign stops, Election Night itself.

So much of my job happens in my own head. I figure out what words to string together. I research; I revise. I debate internally if the speech is ready before handing it in.

I don’t know if I can trust Austin but he’s here and the question bouncing around in my head spills out. "Is this a good idea for the senator?"

He looks at me and tilts his head to the side slightly, like he's considering my question. It’s endearing, like a puppy.

"You and I might disagree but I think it is. It'll get results, that's for damn sure."

"And you think results are everything?"

"I think there are a lot of people in this town who talk big and deliver small."

Somehow that sounds like an insult.

“Not me of course,” he says with a teasing smirk and a slight roll of his hips. My eyes flick down to the inseam of his pants and, okay, he’s probably right, but I’m still feeling insulted.

"It is a lot more difficult than most people think to get a majority of legislators to agree on something that impacts the entire US population," I huff out, defensively. I uncross my legs and lean closer over my desk. Austin's cologne hits my system and I have to blink hard to refocus. "Sometimes you have to start big, over promise, and then work backwards." I tell him.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to under-promise and over-deliver?"

"Under-promising isn't going to win elections."

"True," he concedes. "I guess you think results are everything too." The eyebrow he raises at me is begging to be punched. I feel my hand curl into a fist.

"So just to wrap this up, you were asking if the computer program I built would be smart enough to fool the American people. I think I just proved it could."

Before I can say anything he winks, stands, and leaves the office.

◆◆◆

Later that night, after my highly satisfying bath where I let my mind wander to Austin and our kiss as my hands wandered my body, I'm staring at my SMS Connect phone. It was a long day and I was dealing with the AI Media project when I expected to be doing debate prep. By the end of the day we had most of the senator's speeches from the last six months uploaded onto their servers. The debate is in a week and they promised we'd have a version of her personalized chatbot to try using during debate prep on Monday.

I'm wondering if they're under-promising and over-delivering like Austin seems to be so fond of.

My head hits the pillow and I think about DCFox and unbidden, Austin's face appears. Then I laugh because I could not imagine him being at the other end of these messages. There is heart and warmth in DCFox’s messages and while kissing Austin was certainly hot, he's as cold as they come.

I roll to my back and think about how I got here. I'm ten years into my fifteen year plan and everything has fallen into place. I want to run for office and have focused all my effort on gaining the necessary experience and making contacts throughout D.C..

While I admire the senator's drive to become president I don't think that is the path for me. I'd rather serve as a House rep, maybe a senator. I want to be someone who represents a small, relatively speaking, group of people and can be their leader at a federal level.

I'll need to find a place to move in the next few years because I need residency before I can run for office. I always figured I'd either buy a home in my hometown in upstate New York or buy a home wherever my partner is from.

But to do that I'd need to find a partner. The credentials for my future plus one are clear to me but I’ve found it difficult to explain it to others, especially my mom. I usually tell her about the dates I’ve gone on and why I won’t be pursuing a second date with any of them.

Her favorite one to tease me about is when the guy showed up with noticeable nose hair. I couldn’t stop staring at it. He might have been perfect in every other way but that single, long, thick nose hair?

Woof.

I tried to explain to her that it shows he lacks the basic grooming skills someone in the public eye must possess. If he could look at himself in the mirror and think “yep, good to go” with visible nostril fringe then he wouldn’t be able to learn the skills either.

I'm looking for someone who is willing to support my career. My parents had an incredibly supportive relationship where each was free to pursue their ambitions while they worked together for the family.

It took me a while to see that my mom's neurotic habits were to make sure all five humans she was responsible for, herself, my dad, my two siblings, and myself, were fed and watered and had enough clean clothes.

Laundry was her wheelhouse. She created a system where each of us had an assigned laundry day and the spare two days were for sheets on one day and towels on the other.

It never stopped her from relying on me for help though. Liz is seven years younger than me and my mom had me change most of her diapers and washing bottles after school. I distinctly remember my parents getting exasperated with her toddler antics. Some of those moments became long lasting family jokes but most of them live in my brain as a reason to keep myself together. I love my little sister, but it took a long time for her not to be the dependent baby of the family.

I haven't been home for anything besides the 24 hours of Thanksgiving or Christmas in a long time. It isn't that I don't want to go, exactly, it's that I can never find the time. I'm always working to further my career and the careers of the influential people I work for. And when the senator wins I'll be even busier as she prepares to take office.

For the quickest of seconds my mind asks "what if she doesn't win?" and darkness seeps into the edges of my thoughts because I'd be back at square one if she loses. I have tied my ship to hers and without the presidency, we’d both be unemployed. I’ll be scrambling to find a new politician to back. People won’t be hiring because they’ll be bringing the team that got them into office with them.

And I'd still be alone.

Maybe it’d be easier to reinvent myself again without a partner. Maybe having someone else’s expectations in the mix would hold me back. But I think of the way my parents supported each other and my chest aches at the idea of being alone.

My mind wanders to working with Austin today. Yes, he was snarky, and confident, but he listened and kept the work moving whenever he could. Partnering with AI Media and TMC is miles outside my comfort zone. I never expected to makeout with Austin Thorne in my office either.

The decision has been made for me, we have to work together, but how hard do I want to fight it? Can I stay true to myself while getting the job done alongside AI Media?

I don’t think I feel brave enough to quit but am I strong enough to work through this alone?

I glance at the clock and realize that I need to get to sleep. But I know I won’t be able to settle down until some of these thoughts are out of my head. Part of me was waiting to get a message from DCFox, but when have I ever waited around for a man?

Before I drift off to sleep I send a note to DCFox.

TalkShopGirl: I'm a pretty risk averse person. I play it safe. But I also follow my intuition. I'm at a crossroads at work. I could continue down the path I'm on, stick to what I believe, double down. Or I could pivot and travel down a road I haven’t been before. One that challenges my long-held beliefs.

I know without specifics it is difficult for you to weigh in but I wanted your take. I wanted to see what you'd say. What do you do when you have a life-altering choice to make?