It sounded like machine-gun fire, audible even from down the hall and through the closed office door. The rat-a-tat-tat of the keyboard bespeaking a frenzied state of mind, though not the cause. It still could have been good news or bad news, either of which could trigger an immediate response.
“Sir?” I asked, switching immediately into sub-mode.
“Oh, hi pet, you all right?”
“I’m fine, I was just worried is all.”
“Understandably, come here my darling.”
I went and sat on his lap as he worked, my presence seeming not to distract him one iota.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing important really. Apparently someone saw as we were leaving to come up here, holding hands and the like. She’s gotten the notion in her head to try and expose us if I don’t give her a promotion.”
My eyes widened. “That sounds really bad. Especially with you running for re-election? Presidents have been impeached for this kind of thing.”
“Only if they’re already married. We are both unattached and free, that might not matter much to the sleazier news outlets, but I have that covered too. I’ve already messaged every news editor and station manager I know giving them the full story, at least a version of it anyway. I doubt any of them will take her seriously. I already have it set up, so they’ll announce our engagement in a positive light.”
“So anyone trying to a negative story will look either malicious, or jealous that they got scooped.”
“That’s my clever girl,” he said, with a kiss on my cheek
“What are you working on now?
“A statement to give all the other staff, just in case. It is really just a precaution, but it is probably best not to have internal rumors.”
“What are you going to say?”
“The truth, for the most part. That we are in love, have been seeing each other for months and are going to get married.”
Even the lie isn’t really a lie; we have been in love for months, years really, it was just neither of us had actually said it.
“Can I help?”
“You’re essential, pet. Go put some clothes on and meet me back her for the conference call.”
I tried to be quick, the main hold up trying to find something appropriate. What exactly were you supposed to wear to publicly proclaim your love?
Finally settling on a plain, but flattering, dress that did great things for my legs, one of the ones Ryan had made for me, I rushed down to the office, hoping I wasn’t too late.
“Just in time, pull up a chair.”
I sat beside him on the spare office chair and Ryan punched up the zoom call, several windows coming up all at once.
“I apologize for interrupting the important work of the day,” he started, oozing charisma, “but there is announcement we’d like to make.”
We, he had said ‘we.’ It was the first time I heard us referred to in the collective. I was a little strange but also incredible.
“We?” asked Jim Briers, the Deputy Mayor.
“Candide and I,” he said, squeezing my hand, “we have been dating for a long time and, well, we have decided to make it official.”
I held up my hand showing the ring, striking the assembled number quite silent. No one said anything for a good while, no doubt trying to process the new information. Particularly if the would-be blackmailer had already told them what she saw.
It would be an interesting bit of mental arithmetic, more than likely concluding that she was just out of the loop or saw something she shouldn’t have, putting the onus more on the tattle-tale than us. There was a sudden flurry of congratulations, everyone speaking almost at once.
Ryan squeezed my hand and kissed me bold and proud. It felt great to be out in the open, even though we hadn’t really been hiding before, except perhaps from each other.
Accepting the praise graciously, Ryan said his goodbyes and ended the meeting, any potential crisis well and truly averted.
“You don’t regret it, do you?” I asked.
“What’s that, my darling?”
“Being with me, inviting me up here, the whole thing?”
He gently titled my head back with a finger under my chin, forcing me to look him on the eyes.
“Absolutely not. I know you would ever ask me to, but I would give up my office in a heartbeat if it meant I could be with you. There are lots of ways to make a difference.”
“You’re not though, right? Giving up your office I mean?”
“It could well be a moot point come Election Day, but no, I’m not going to give up before I’m voted out. Not when there’s no good reason to.”
“Good.”
He was lifting me up onto his lap, so we were at equal height and kissed me tenderly. Sweet affections which I returned in kind, savoring his warmth, his scent, everything about him. It was already clear that I could get his hard just by being near, but it was becoming I really evident that he had a similar effect on me.