Page 96 of Not the Plan

“Yes…yes, you are,” he breathed. “Beautiful, perfect…”I love you.

She picked up the tempo, drawing closer, the mist on her forehead mingling with his.

“Yeah,” he sighed. He remembered his thumb.

“Yes,” she echoed, eyelids fluttering but snapping open again, not shying away.

He groaned deep, accelerating his hips, circling faster with his thumb.

“Ka…I…I love…”

His heart started racing in a different direction. He rocked faster without intending to.

“Love it…feels so good.” She groaned. She clung to him, rolling into his thrusts. “You…gonna…you’re gonna make me…”

“Sing for me, Little Kite,” he breathed. “Sing.”

She snapped down hard, her explosion crashing through him. There was a rush of heat, the loudest cry he’d ever wrung from her, then his world went black.

—

When he awoke, years, minutes, eons, or days later, he’d wrapped himself around her, snuggled up, spooning. He rolled away a moment, tossing the condom in the trash by the nightstand. Curling back, he smiled as she pulled one of his arms tighter around her and laced her fingers in his.

“Best orgasm of my life,” she sighed.

“Mine too,” he whispered, squeezing her back.

—

The reception was going well, and Isadora’s body language was much better than it had been the previous day. He’d reminded himself of Khalil’s advice when they arrived, but he didn’t need to think about remaining in physical contact with her. He yearned for the warmth and softness of her skin. He felt more confident, more relaxed, with her perfume in the air, her voice in his ear.

But he couldn’t take her to the men’s room when he needed to go. Returning to the reception hall, he caught her voice from a side hallway. The stress in it set off all his alarm bells.

“Enough is enough. I’m going back to the party,” Isadora said.

“Wait a minute,” her mother said. “How much does he bring home?”

“Mother!”

“What? It’s important to know when you can stop working.”

Karim’s eyebrows shot up.

“When I stop— Why would I stop working?” Isadora asked.

Her mother sighed. “You’ve never known how to accept your place.”

“My place?”

“A man doesn’t like a woman with too much ambition.”

Karim had heard enough. He rounded the corner.

“Actually, Mrs. Maris,” he said, walking around from behind her to stand beside Isadora. “I don’t know how much Isadora earns, but it’s likely more than I do.” He kept one hand in his pocket and found Isadora’s with the other. He loved the way they snapped together immediately, like a pair of magnets.

Her mother huffed a moment, surprised, and stood straight,trying to make herself taller. A ridiculous attempt, as she was easily a foot shorter than he was.

“You see,” he began again, “Isadora is chief of staff—something I should not have had to remind you of yesterday—and I am only a legislative director. Her pay grade is automatically higher than mine. Plus, she’s been at the legislature for five years; I just arrived. If, for some reason, one of the two of us should stop working, it would be more logical for me to stop, not her.”

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