This could be a lot of not-fun about to slap me upside the head.
“Deep breaths, Mister President,” Jordan whispers next to me.
Leo smiles. “Ready?”
“No,” I mutter and raise my hand to cover my mouth as I pretend to scratch my nose. “Your parents are going to hate me. They love Jordan.”
We walk outside to stand under the portico, ready when the motorcade pulls up. Leo steps forward before any of the agents do, opens the back door of the SUV, and offers his mom a hand out.
“You sure made a splash,” I hear her mutter as he hugs her.
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
Meredith turns and her gaze scans me, looking hard and cold until she sees Jordan standing just behind me and to my side. That’s when her expression softens and I honestly think she’s going to bypass me to hug him first when she pulls up and turns to me.
“Mister President,” she formally says.
Oh, fuck.
This willnotgo well.
“Mrs. Cruz, thank you for coming. And please, call me Elliot.” I offer her a hug and she does step in to hug me.
That’s when she whispers in my ear. “If you ever pull another goddamned publicity stunt like this you’ll regret it.” But when she steps away she’s all smiles as she practically tackles Jordan, whispering something to him, too.
Alan Cruz offers me his hand and I shake with him. “Mister President,” he says.
“Seriously, you can call me Elliot, Mr. Cruz. Thank you so much for coming.”
He’s still smiling but apparently he’s also mastered whispering so his lips can’t be read. “Not like we had a choice in the matter.”
Then he also hugs Jordan despite Jordan trying to get away with just a handshake.
No, I don’t miss how Angie and Casey-Marie both step between them and the press, blocking the press’ view of that snub.
I hope.
We go inside and head upstairs to my private living room next to the master bedroom. Casey-Marie shoos all staff and Secret Service out of the residence, leaving just the three of us with Leo’s parents and Casey-Marie.
Casey-Marie closes the living room door and turns, standing there, leaning against it so no one can open it, just in case.
“Go ahead and have it out,” Casey-Marie says. “Let’s get it all out in the open,rightnow. Because you donotwant to piss me off by doing this bullshit in public.”
Leo’s mom turns on me, rage splashed across her features as she approaches. “I don’t know what your fucking game is but howdareyou do this to Jordan!” I’m convinced she wants to slap me.
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Leo and Jordan both say, each taking an arm and easing her back a step.
“Mom,” Jordan says, “this isfine. Really.”
“No, it’snot! How can yousaythat!” She turns to him, crying now. “You love Leo, andhe”—she points at me—“publicly breaks your heart like this!”
Jordan chuckles. “Mom,seriously, it’s okay. I love Elliot, too. And he loves me.”
Fuck. I guess we’rereallydoing this. My stomach tightens in terror.
Now his parents speak in shocked unison. “What?”
Jordan walks over to me, grabs me by the tie, and pulls me in for a deep kiss that literally threatens to drag me into subspace. When he releases me he’s smiling and staring into my eyes.
