“Thank you, Master. Love you.”
He kisses the top of my head. “Love you, too, baby.”
Leo and Jordan they head out, leaving the study door open for me. I have several calls to make overseas tonight, to diplomats, intelligence officials, and foreign officials in Asia and Europe. My NSA, Orson Hollander, and the interpreter will listen in on the calls. It will likely be a long, late night due to time zone differences.
Jordan built time into tomorrow morning’s schedule to account for that, too.
Ciro will arrive shortly to sit in on the calls with me. I’m expanding his portfolio, wanting him to get this foreign policy experience ahead of his own run in four years.
I sit at my desk and take out the ring box again. Opening it, I remove my ring. When I slip it onto my finger a good shiver washes through me.
I’mfinallygoing to marry Leo. I want to do it maybe on Christmas Eve, or New Year’s. Nothing huge, and we’ll have it here at the White House. That way security won’t be as much of an issue.
And Iwillkeep the guest list small. My family, Leo’s family, some close friends, and a few lawmakers I can’t afford to alienate by not inviting. Finally, my personal life take priority, for once.
After another long moment I regretfully remove the band and return it to the box, safely stowing it in my desk. I can wait a few more days. It’s important to me that I honor Leo and his love and patience by doing this publicly.
One of these days, maybe I can publicly honor Jordan, too.
I hear voices approaching and pretend like I’m reading when I hear the rap on my doorway.
Looking up, I spot Ciro standing there. “Good evening, Mister President.”
“Hey, come on in. Close the door, please.”
Intellectually I know Ciro will be fine with me marrying Leo because,duh, he already knows about us.
What he doesn’t know about is my relationship with Jordan. I also don’t want to put him in a position where I force him to keep a secret that could create the legitimately bad kind of scandal.
Like, anillegalkind of scandal.
Jordan is my body man, my employee. Sleeping with him isn’t merely a bad idea—it’s a violation of a whole lot of government rules that would quickly lead to my impeachment if it became public knowledge before we’re ready to reveal it.
Not that it’s stopped any of the three of us during all our years together. Or Shae, Chris, and Kev during her eight years in this same office.
Or several other political triads in various high-level offices.
I wave him over to the sofa and once he’s settled I waste no time. “Before everyone else arrives I want to give you a heads-up about something next weekend.”
He sits forward. “Yes, Mister President?”
“Elliot. Oh, my god. Please, just Elliot. Besides, this is personal.”
He smirks. “Sorry. Yes, Elliot?”
I take a deep breath. “I’m going to propose to Leo the Saturday after this one, during the hike. He doesn’t know about it yet, obviously.”
His right eyebrow arches. “What did Jordan say when you asked his permission to do it?”
“I—” My jaw snaps shut because I don’t want to say the wrong thing. “I’m…sorry?”
He sits back. “Jordan isn’t just your friend and body man.”
My heart hammers in my chest. “What do you mean?”Did we fuck up? Did someone on my detail spill the beans? Did—
Ciro holds up a hand to calm me. “It’s all right. I didn’t know until Ily said something.”
“Wait.” Now I’m even more confused. “What?”
