Page 92 of The Rebel King

“Neither can I, but hey, if I become president, maybe I could give you some job that’s much easier than what you do for me now.”

“Like what?”

“Secretary of Defense?”

“I wouldn’t take the pay cut,” she says, turning to leave. “I’m gonna go if you don’t need anything else.”

“I’m good. I think Kimba’s coming by in a little bit with some notes. I had to leave the announcement and almost immediately go into rescue mode on this Hong Kong deal. Apparently, our shareholders don’t care that I’m running for president. They want their money no matter what.”

I work for a few minutes in blessed quiet, getting more done than I have since I woke this morning. I talked to Millie briefly, and she assured me I had her blessing but then hastily got off the phone. My mom and dad called. Mom cried basically through the entire conversation. There was a lot about how Owen would be proud ofme for continuing where he left off. That got me pretty choked up, and then my father got on the line and told me I “did good.” As praise from my father goes, that was gushing.

“Knock, knock.”

I look up, and Lennix, not Kimba, stands in the door. She’s wearing jeans and a shirt that saysIndigenous or Bust, the words across her…bust. Cute.

“Knock, knock yourself.” I push back from my desk. “A pleasant surprise. I was expecting Kimba.”

“She had to go to Alabama. There’s an election down there that’s heating up, and they needed some help.”

“So I’m stuck dealing with you, huh?” I shake my head and sigh heavily. “If I must.”

She walks farther in the room and sits on the edge of my desk. I want to snatch her onto my lap, but I refrain. We’ve said we’ll try to be good, so I’ll let her take the lead. She pulls a small notepad from her back pocket.

“Oh, is this the famous notebook? The one where you write down all the things I got wrong and tell me how to do better next time?”

She glances up with a crooked grin. “Yes.”

“Well, go on.”

“You ignored the teleprompter.”

“Uh, yeah, because it had that speech on it, and I decided not to use that speech, so…no need for the teleprompter.”

“Right. You went completely off-script.”

“I felt I knew what was right for me in that moment. You don’t tell a guy whose instincts have saved him all his life to turn off his instincts.”

“Yeah, well, I’d appreciate it if we could at least discuss these instincts of yours before you give in to them in front of millions of people.”

“Not too much to ask.”

“You started with Owen when we said we wouldn’t.”

“I had to.” I run a hand over the tight muscles in the back of my neck. “He’s the whole reason I’m even giving this a shot. I had to acknowledge him right up front. What else you got?”

She stands and walks around the desk and leans down until our faces line up. “I’m very, very proud of you,” she whispers, closing the space between our mouths and kissing me. She tastes as pure as she did the first time I kissed her on a dark night on a cobblestone street. I stand and kiss her back with all the hope and love she inspires in me.

I glance over her shoulder at my open office door, finding the hall empty. I cup her ass and press my erection into her.

“So, is it a Tuesday?” I ask.

She laughs and drops her head to my shoulder. “No, Doc. Tuesdays will have to be very rare and special occasions for a long time.”

CHAPTER 41

LENNIX

“We need to get some town halls scheduled,” Kimba says, glaring at her laptop. “Damn spinning wheel. You’d think Steve Jobs could have figured this out before he passed away, rest in power.”

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