track records

r | sexual content

The way she barged into his office and slammed the door behind her, with a determined look on her face, turned him on probably more than it should. For a moment, he entertained the thought that she was going to throw him down on the desk and fuck him senseless. But then he remembered that his desk was a rickety piece of crap, and he saw that her expression was tinged with sorrow and anger.

"What's wrong?"

She sputtered out something unintelligible, in a tearful voice. He moved towards her out of instinct, but she backed away from him until she was against the door. His heart pounded in his chest, and he struggled to figure out what he had done last night or this morning that warranted this behavior.

"You knew that I had a 8 AM meeting with Mercer and Hahn today, and you left me in bed asleep so I'd miss it. Is there anything you won't do to win this election?"

Her lack of trust and faith in him stung. "You were awake when I left. You said you just wanted five more minutes."

She bit her lip, and he couldn't help it; he was reminded of last night, how she had done that when he removed her panties, when he first entered her. "I ... I remember ... the phone rang."

"Yeah," he said. "It was my wake-up call. I rolled over and kissed your shoulder. Then I pulled the sheet off you, and I ... do you remember that?"

When her cheeks turned a delicious shade of pink, he knew she did. "You said you were taking a shower, and you asked me if I wanted to join you."

"But you said no." He invaded her personal space, lightly brushing his lips over her forehead. "I took a shower. I kissed you before I left, and you said you'd be up in a minute. Do you remember that?"

"No," she whispered.

"It happened. We agreed we wouldn't let the election come between us, and I actually did mean it."

Her body relaxed and he took a deep breath as she let him wrap his arms around her. Both of them were silent until he decided to break the stalemate.

"You didn't lose your job, did you?" He prayed that he didn't sound hopeful.

"No. Will sort of assumed that I was still sick from the food poisoning, and I ... sort of let him. He told me to take a few more days off."

"Oh. Well, I think I can find ways to help you spend the time." He nuzzled her neck, but she gently pushed him away.

"I don't like being paranoid, Josh."

He stared at her, knowing that she expected a response, but having no idea what the correct one was. "Okay ...."

"I don't like spending every moment that I'm with you worrying about censoring my words so that I don't give you anything you can hang Russell with. I don't like thinking that if I give you the chance, you're going to use me to win."

How many times, he wondered, could she rip his heart out of his chest and stomp on it? "Do you really think I'd do that to you?"

"Yes," she answered without hesitation. "If it was the only way you could win."

He swallowed hard and counted to ten in his head before he brought his lips to her ear, kissing the outer shell. "No, I wouldn't. Do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Do you remember what I told you after I got dressed, just before I left, when you told me you just needed five more minutes?" He brushed his lips against her cheek, trying to jog her memory. He figured he had succeeded when her breath caught in her throat. "That's why."

"Josh –"

"And even if I wanted to," he said, pressing his fingers over her mouth. "I couldn't. He wouldn't let me. He wouldn't let me use my gir – use you like that. I'd be out on the street before you could say 'severance pay'."

Apparently mollified, she took his hand off her lips and kissed him. It was brief, soft, and tentative, much like the first one they had shared in his car almost a week ago. The silence that followed was suffocating, so he ran his fingers underneath the hem of her shirt as he angled his head so he could suck on her earlobe. The next thing he knew, he had her trapped between the full length of his body and the door, with his tongue in her mouth and her hands on his ass.

"Wanna break in my desk?" he managed to blurt out between kisses.

She craned her neck to look around him, and he took the opportunity to suck on her collarbone. "Your desk looks like it might break if we breathe on it too hard."

"Probably," he muttered as his mouth moved farther down the neckline of her shirt.

"You guys still having trouble with fundraising?"

"Yeah, he doesn't understa ... I thought we agreed we weren't going to talk about this." He lifted his head, catching her eyes.

She reached up, tracing the outline of his lips with her finger. "What are we going to talk about, then?"

"Whatever ... normal people talk about. We can make this work, Donna."

"Yeah, because we have such fantastic track records," she said sarcastically.

Random kisses on her face. "You know what they say: practice makes perfect."

"Josh."

"Stop being so pessimistic," he said, fighting to keep the irritation out of his voice. With the exception of the few hours they had spent making love, the entire span of their relationship thus far had consisted of her bemoaning that it would never work out and his repeated reasoning why it could and would. It would be so easy to just tell her that she was right and let her go, and in moments like this one, he didn't know why he didn't do just that.

"I'm trying."

Try harder, he thought, but had the good fortune not to speak aloud. Instead, he slid his fingers up her sides, under her shirt, until he reached the warmth of her breasts. She kissed him again, more hungrily this time, and he growled as she cupped him through his pants.

"You should probably go," he gasped. "Before I take you right here, up against the wall."

"Okay," she said, with what sounded like a twinge of disappointment. "I think Will was right about me needing some rest, anyway."

"I promise not to keep you up until three in the morning again." That got her to smile. He pulled his room key out of his pocket, pressing it into her hand. "Go ahead and crash in my room."

"Josh."

"Just do it." He cupped her cheek as he kissed her once more. "I only have a few more hours of work to do here, and then I want us to do everything we didn't get a chance to do last night."

"I don't think there's anything left that we haven't done. Nothing legal, anyway."

"We'll just have to break a few laws," he said, his hands finding her breasts again.

"Mmm, Josh?"

"I know." He reluctantly stepped back, watching in mild amusement as she fixed her hair, her shirt.

"A couple hours?"

"Yeah. Get some sleep."

He rested his forehead against the door as he closed it behind her. He felt drained, and he tried to remember where in the building he had seen a couch, hoping that he could lay down for a few minutes. When his cell rang, he dug it out of his jacket, intending to turn it off until he saw the name on the caller id.

"Hey. You forget something?"

"Yeah. I love you, too."

She hung up before he could respond, but that didn't stop a goofy grin from spreading across his face.

(fin.)