Nothing Left to Lose (58 page)

“One more
cotton candy?” I pouted as we walked past the little stall. He
grinned and purchased one, handing it to me and rolling his eyes.
Happiness bubbled inside me and I practically skipped to the car,
swinging our hands between us.

I must have
fallen asleep on the drive home because I woke up as he was lifting
me out of the car. “Hey,” I mumbled sleepily.

“Hi,” he
whispered, picking me up bridal style and carrying me as if I
weighed nothing at all. I wrapped my arms around his neck and
closed my eyes again, drifting back to sleep. I vaguely heard the
door click shut and then I was laid onto something soft. He tugged
at my jeans, pulling them off before lifting the sheets up under my
chin. After pulling off his clothes, he slipped into the bed next
to me and wrapped his arms around me tightly, pulling me against
him.

A sleepy smile
crept onto my lips as I buried my face into his chest. “Thank you
for tonight. That was the best date ever. I know I say that every
week, but that beat all of the others, hands down,” I yawned.

“Yeah, I
agree,” he whispered as he pulled himself up to kiss me.

The remainder
of the passion from the tunnel of love ride was boiling up inside
me as I pressed myself against his body. I bit my lip, fighting
with myself as to whether I could beg him for sex. The week since
LA had been a long one, and I missed his body and the physical
intimacy terribly.

“Can we go back
to the fair another time?” I asked, hoping to distract my body that
was itching to take things further.

“Sure, Baby
Girl, anything you want.”

I closed my
eyes and smiled. I actually felt happier than I had ever felt in my
life. I knew everything was down to him. He truly was an amazing
guy, probably the nicest and sweetest guy in the world, and I was
immensely lucky to have him. Right then and there, I decided to
make the most of every single second with him because every minute
took us one step closer to when he would leave me.

The following
three weeks were extremely eventful and seemed to pass in a blur.
That wasn’t something that was going on in my life though, that was
something that was going on with my father. Election Day. The event
that he had been building up to practically all of his life finally
arrived. In the lead up to it, I saw him everywhere I went – in
newspapers, on TV, posters on walls, magazines. I couldn’t escape
it. But it all paid off in the end. He won the election by a
landslide, as most predicted he would. My father would become
President Spencer in just a few short weeks.

My pride was
something that I hadn’t expected. I had actually burst out crying
when I got the call from him moments after the results had been
announced. For years, he and my mother had worked tirelessly
towards his goal, and now it was paying off.

It also meant,
however, that come January when he was inaugurated, I would
officially be the first daughter. That thought I wasn’t as keen on,
but I couldn’t begrudge my dad his dreams, so I’d plastered on a
fake smile and told him how happy I was about it.

The week
following the election was actually my father’s birthday, so they
had organised a rather large soirée to celebrate, which would also
serve as a kind of victory party for him and his staff too. Ashton
and I were told we had to attend to show a united front, so we were
flying over there for the weekend. Personally, I was dreading the
party. No doubt, everything would change now. My life was about to
spiral out of my control once again, it seemed.

I tried again
to tie the silky material into some semblance of a bowtie, but I
just didn’t have a clue. A loud groan escaped my lips. I was going
to look like a first class prick at Anna’s dad’s birthday party. I
was sure to embarrass Anna because I had no idea how to behave and
integrate with the class of people that were sure to attend. I had
even heard this week that there were going to be actual celebrities
attending too, friends of Senator Spencer’s.

Giving up, I
sighed and grabbed the corsage off the side that I’d bought for
her, and made my way downstairs, hoping to find Dean or someone to
fix my tie for me. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, Anna’s
mom, Melissa, looked up.

She smiled
warmly at me, and nodded at my bowtie that was hanging loosely
around my neck. “Let me give you a hand with that,” she
suggested,

My pride sank
to a new low. “Er, that’d be great, thanks,” I replied, stepping
closer to her, hating the fact that I was so out of my depth and it
was probably glaringly obvious for all to see.

She laughed
quietly as she fiddled with it. “Don’t be embarrassed, I just had
to tie Tom’s too,” she winked at me conspiratorially. At least the
future President of the United States couldn’t do it either.

“You did? Well
that makes me feel better,” I admitted, laughing. “You look very
nice tonight, Mrs Spencer.” She looked radiant in her gold gown;
she was undoubtedly where Anna got her looks from. But Anna just
had something else, an inner beauty that just burst from every
pore.

“Thank you. You
look exceptionally handsome in your suit. My guess is that you’ll
make Annabelle swoon,” she said, grinning. I smiled, silently
hoping she was right.

Senator Spencer
came down the stairs then. “Melissa, are we ready to go?” he asked,
smiling lovingly at his wife.

“I think so,
we’re just waiting for Annabelle,” she answered, looking
expectantly at the stairs. “Annabelle, are you almost ready? We
need to leave, the car’s here!” she called up the stairs.

“You look
nervous,” Senator Spencer observed, smiling warmly at me.

I nodded. “I
am, sir. I’ve never been to an event like this.”

He laughed at
my remark. “You’ll be fine, son. Just start the cutlery from the
outside, and smile. If you have no idea what you’re doing, just
smile and pretend you do, that’s how I get through these things,”
he admitted.

“I’ll do that.
Thank you, sir.”

Footsteps to
the side caught my attention. “You look great, Annabelle,” Dean’s
voice drifted down the stairs.

“Thanks, Dean,
you look pretty good yourself. I haven’t seen you in a suit for a
while,” Anna replied, her voice teasing and light.

“Yeah, it feels
a bit weird to be wearing it actually. It’s been almost three
months since I’ve been made to wear this uniform. Thank goodness
for undercover assignments, is all I can say,” he replied,
chuckling.

She laughed in
response and my heart throbbed at the sound of it. No matter how
many times I heard it, I just couldn’t get enough of her
happiness.

I looked up at
the stairs expectantly, waiting. As soon as I saw her, my legs felt
weak. She looked stunningly beautiful, and that was exactly how I
felt, stunned. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even breathe. I’d never
seen anything so perfect in my life, all she was missing was the
wings and she would look like the angel that she was.

The plum
coloured ball gown that had been specially made for her tonight
clung to her, showing off her perfect, flat stomach and tiny waist.
The top was a halter neck, so it showed off her flawless
creamy-white shoulders. And the cleavage… I had no idea how I was
going to keep my eyes away from it tonight. The dress showed just
enough to tease and hint at what was underneath, making me feel hot
and horny as hell. The skirt of the dress flowed out all the way to
the floor, hiding the toned long legs that I knew were underneath.
Her hair had been pulled up and was pinned in curls at the back of
her head, hanging down her back.

I sucked in a
ragged breath as I looked at her face. She looked radiant, her skin
almost shining. Her make-up was different tonight; she had on some
grey eye shadow that made her brown eyes look like they were
shining with an excitement and joy, that made my world stop
spinning. She always took my breath away, no matter what she was
wearing, even if it was baggy sweaters or one of my T-shirts, but
tonight she was almost killing me. She was walking towards me and
looking me over slowly; a small, sexy smile played at the corners
of her mouth.

I swallowed,
wondering what I was going to say when she got to me. My mouth was
so dry, I wasn’t even sure I could speak. I couldn’t take my eyes
off her as I shifted from one foot to the other, trying to get my
brain to form an articulate sentence so that I wouldn’t embarrass
myself. The trouble was, the only word that I could think right now
was: wow.

“Hi,” she
greeted, smiling as she stopped in front of me.

“Hi,” I managed
to choke out. I looked into her eyes and felt her pull me in. I
loved this girl with all of my heart. I cleared my throat, knowing
I needed to compliment her on how she looked. “You look incredible;
I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life.”

She blushed and
smiled her sexy smile, making my insides flutter. “Thanks. And you
look extremely smart in your tux,” she countered, as she ran her
hand along the edge of the jacket that I was wearing, making my
body yearn for her in the normal way.

Calm down,
Ashton; do not get a boner in front of her parents!
I swallowed
the lump in my throat. I was behaving like a love-struck moron, I
could feel it, but I just couldn’t help myself.
Just give her
the damn corsage, Ashton!
“I… er… I got you this,” I
muttered.

Her eyes
dropped to the box and her teeth sank into her bottom lip as she
looked at the little white rose corsage bracelet I was holding out
like a complete and utter moron. “Ashton, that’s gorgeous,” she
gushed, smiling gratefully.

I smiled
awkwardly. “If I’d known you would look this beautiful tonight, I
would have gone for something a little bigger and more expensive.
This is gonna pale in comparison to you tonight, Anna,” I admitted,
frowning at the thing that I thought was beautiful until I saw
her.

“Jeez, Ashton,
seriously, do you just get these lines straight from a how to make
the girls melt handbook?” she teased, grinning at me. I couldn’t
help but laugh. I genuinely didn’t understand how she could look
the way she did but still have the greatest personality in the
world. From my experience, it didn’t usually work like that. People
were usually blessed with either looks or personality. Yet Anna had
an abundance of both. I slipped back into our easy flirty mode as I
remembered that I loved her personality even more than I loved her
body.

“Yeah, is it
working yet?” I joked, grinning wickedly.

“Definitely,”
she giggled, nodding.

I plucked the
corsage from the box. “You don’t have to wear it.” I fiddled with
it, embarrassed, giving her another chance to change her mind if
she didn’t like it. She stepped closer to me, and her perfume
wafted around me, filling my senses and making me forget my
protests.

“I love it.
Thank you,” she whispered, looking into my eyes. I could see the
honesty there, she really did love it. When she offered her arm to
me, I slipped it on her wrist, trailing my fingers across her soft
skin afterwards.

Movement from
the corner of my eye snapped me out of the little fantasy I was
slipping into, and I remembered that we weren’t alone in the room.
Anna just had the power to make everything else disappear in an
instant. Dropping her hand quickly, I stepped back, hating that her
father was close enough to have heard every single word I said.

Her father
stepped forward, grinning proudly. “You look beautiful,
Annabelle.”

“Thanks, Dad.
You look good too,” she replied, smiling warmly at him.

He shifted
uncomfortably on his feet. “Thank you, sweetheart.” He brushed his
hand over his jacket before his easy smile faded from his face.
“So, I’ve just spoken to Reginald, my publicist. Apparently word
has gotten out about the party tonight, and someone has leaked the
venue. There are some press and a couple of TV crews that are
converging around the entrance to the hotel. It’s nothing to worry
about,” he stated, smiling reassuringly. “Reginald has made a few
quick adjustments, and nothing needs to change too much apart from
maybe posing for a few photographs at the entrance and answering a
couple of questions to placate them. He’ll guide you through
everything when you get there, just remember to smile for me,
alright?”

Anna’s
shoulders seemed to tighten as he spoke. I knew she was unhappy
about losing her anonymity, but there wasn’t much we could do about
that now, apart from roll with it and hope that it all worked
out.

I placed a hand
on the small of her back, forcing a smile when she looked up at me.
“It’ll be fine. You knew this might happen. I’ll be right there,
just smile for the camera, that’s all.”

She took a deep
breath and nodded, stepping closer to my side as she fiddled with
the little gemstone necklace I’d bought her that I’d never once
seen her take off. “Hold my hand though, okay?”

“Definitely,” I
nodded in agreement. That wasn’t a chore on my behalf.

“Right then,
let’s go,” Senator Spencer suggested, nodding at the crowd of staff
and secret service that were waiting by the front door for us. We
weren’t coming back to the Lake House tonight; for ease, we were
staying at the hotel where the party was being held. Our overnight
bags were already there. As we walked towards the door, Anna
slipped her arm through mine. A black limousine was waiting out
front for us. I watched as her parents climbed into the car first
and then Anna and I followed suit.

The car journey
was only about ten minutes, but Anna didn’t let go of my hand the
whole time. She didn’t even seem to notice or care that her parents
were watching us. Since we’d come back from Los Angeles, she’d been
unconsciously seeking out contact with me all the time. She hugged
me a lot, wrapped her arm around my waist, held my hand or just
plain old pressed herself to my side. I loved it and didn’t even
think she knew she was doing it half of the time.