Nothing Left to Lose (64 page)

I was almost so
lost in the moment that I missed the click of the door as the
handle twisted, but thankfully, I still had some degree of control
over myself. I rolled off her quickly, tensing, watching the door,
but relaxing when I saw Dean saunter in.

By his tight
jaw alone, I knew something was wrong. “Car’s here when you’re
ready to leave. But, there’s a slight problem.”

I raised one
eyebrow in question as I stood. “Problem?”

He nodded,
running a hand through his hair. “Yeah, there are some reporters
out front waiting for you two. Probably a good fifteen or twenty of
them all crowded out there. There’s probably about the same amount
out the back too. There’s no way to get out of the building without
going past them,” he stated.

Anna groaned
behind me. I nodded, this was just something we had to deal with,
it’d be over soon and then we’d be away from it all. “It’ll be
fine.” I put my hand on top of Anna’s head, stroking her hair as I
kept my eyes firmly on Dean. “We’ll go out the front, just make
sure the car is parked there waiting. Also, ask that Mike guy to
follow us to the airport, just in case.”

Dean nodded in
acknowledgment before picking up his overnight bag from his bed and
sauntering out of the room to get to work. I turned back to Anna.
“Once we get back to campus, everything will settle down and
they’ll lose interest. It’s only because we’re still in the hotel.”
At least, I hope it is!
“Come on.” I picked up her bag and
mine, and waved for her to follow behind me.

By the time we
got down to the lobby and had checked out, passing our luggage to
one of the concierges to take to the car, Dean had arranged the
cars and had rounded up two extra guards along with Mike. They were
all standing by the door waiting for departure.

My hand closed
around Anna’s as I pulled her close to my side. “Don’t leave my
side. If anyone grabs you or anything, I’ll handle it, or Dean. You
just smile and we’ll get to the car.”

She nodded in
understanding, chewing on her bottom lip furiously. We walked over
to Dean, and I nodded discreetly, watching as they pulled the doors
open for us to exit.

As soon as we
stepped out, the fifteen or so people started shouting our names
and cameras started whirling. Dean and Mike stepped to our sides,
arms outstretched, keeping the crowd back as they surged forwards,
trying to get the best pictures. My eyes scanned the crowd, looking
for anything untoward or suspicious, but they were all just
reporters after a scoop.

One of the
reporters quickly shoved a Dictaphone towards us, leaning in as
close as she could even though Dean was holding her back.
“Annabelle, Ashton, what do you think about what the papers are
saying about you two this morning?”

Anna looked up
at me quickly as if she wasn’t sure she should answer. I shrugged.
I had no idea what the protocol was for it, she should probably
have had a press agent here with her or support, but that was too
late now. No one predicted anything like this would happen.

She cleared her
throat and smiled. “It’s crazy, this is all just crazy,” she
answered, waving her hand around at all the people as her hand
tightened on mine.

Another
reporter tried to bustle forward. “Ashton, what do you think of the
body language expert saying that the President-elect liked you and
trusted you with his daughter?” he shouted.

I shrugged
awkwardly. I didn’t want to answer any questions; all I wanted was
her safely away from this crowd. “I’m glad, of course. What
boyfriend wouldn’t like to hear that his girlfriend’s dad likes
him?”

Anna laughed at
my answer, and we carried on walking, but it was a slow feat
because they were all crowded around the path to the car. We were
about half way to the car now.

“Annabelle, now
your father has been elected, do you think your relationship with
Ashton will change?” another asked.

Anna smiled. “I
hope not, I don’t want it too. Hopefully he won’t see me as a
different person now. What do you think, Pretty Boy, you gonna see
me any different?” she asked, turning to look at me, smiling
affectionately.

I grinned and
pulled her closer to me. “I won’t see you any different, Baby
Girl,” I promised.

“Can you two
kiss so we can get a photo?” one of the reporters pleaded.

I groaned
inwardly. She wouldn’t want to do that. If we were to kiss, then
her parents would find out and she would hate that. I looked down
at her and was just about to tell the reporters that that kind of
thing was private, when Anna gripped the front of my T-shirt and
pulled my mouth down to hers.

My whole body
stiffened from shock, but I kissed her back immediately, very aware
that the cameras were clicking like crazy around us as they took
their shots. As she tried to deepen the kiss, I pulled back and
shook my head discreetly. Clearly, she had forgotten where we were
and that everyone was watching. She whimpered as I pulled away, but
then blushed as she seemed to come back to reality. I smiled and
brushed my finger across her pink cheek as I nodded my head in the
direction of the car, signalling for her to start walking
again.

“Do you think
you two will get married?” someone questioned.

I grinned
sheepishly.
I would marry her right now if I could!
I
squeezed her waist, she probably knew what my answer would be to
that because I’d made a couple of little marriage jokes to her
already. Anna winced, recoiling slightly at the question. “We’re
pretty young to be thinking about marriage,” she answered weakly,
shaking her head in rejection.

“Ashton, what
do you think?” the same guy probed.

I laughed and
shrugged, deciding to answer honestly. “Well, I don’t think we’re
too young, let’s leave it at that.”

Anna gasped,
slapping me on the shoulder playfully before pushing me towards the
car. “What the? Seriously, Ashton, you should get in the car before
you drop us in anything!” she scolded nervously, blushing
profusely. The reporters around us laughed too at her embarrassed
outburst.

I grinned and
grabbed her hand, pulling her forwards the last couple of steps as
the cameras started up again. Dean opened the back door of the car,
so I manoeuvred behind Anna so that she had to get in first,
discreetly positioning my body so that I was between her and the
reporters. Once she was safely in, I slipped in behind her and Dean
slammed the door before climbing in the driver’s seat. Twisting to
look out of the back window, I saw Mike and the other guard climb
into the car behind us and follow as Dean pulled out and sped off
down the road.

Anna slapped me
on the shoulder again. The blush was still prominent on her cheeks.
“What the hell was that?” she asked, shaking her head in disbelief.
A small smile twitched at the corners of her mouth though, so I
knew I wasn’t in too much trouble.

I smirked at
her. “Oh come on, if I asked you flat out, you’d say no. Maybe I
need to trap you into it,” I joked, winking at her.

The smile faded
from her face instantly. “Don’t ever trap me into anything, Ashton.
I don’t like being forced into things,” she mumbled. Her chin
trembled as she spoke and I suddenly realised this wasn’t just
about me making a joke, this was something deep-rooted to do with
Carter and her not having control of her life.

I cupped my
hands around her face, making her look at me as I smiled
apologetically. “I was playing around. I would never do that to
you,” I promised.

“Good,” she
sighed and nodded. Her heavily lidded eyes met mine and she scooted
closer to my side, setting her head on my shoulder. “Let’s go
home,” she whispered.

The trip home
was uneventful; no one was waiting for us at our end of the
airport. I was hopeful that no one would know where we lived or
even which state we were in. Her father was still going to limit
press access to her as much as possible.

By the time we
got back to our apartment, it was after two in the afternoon. Anna
immediately headed off saying she wanted a nice, long soak in the
bath, and I headed to the lounge and flopped on the sofa,
exhausted. I hadn’t slept well at all in the last couple of days,
and my body was definitely feeling the ill effects of that now. My
nerves finally settled, and I relaxed now that we were home. It was
so much easier when we were on our own and could behave like
ourselves rather than putting on an act for her parents so that
they wouldn’t look at us strangely. As far as they were concerned,
they thought I was doing my job and playing the role of attentive
loving boyfriend, no one knew that it carried on when we were
alone. Dean had some idea. He’d certainly shot me a couple of looks
that suggested he knew how I felt about her. That didn’t matter
though; the only one I wanted to know how I felt was still entirely
oblivious.

After ten
minutes of me sitting in silence and fighting my stinging eyes, my
cell phone started to buzz in my pocket. As I pulled it out and
looked at the screen, I groaned. I was too tired to be dealing with
this already.

“Hey, Nate,” I
greeted, putting it to my ear. “I know what you’re gonna say.”

He laughed
excitedly in response. “Fuck me, Taylor; you’re dating the
President’s daughter? I met the President’s daughter and saw her
semi-naked! I drank and flirted with the President’s daughter!” he
chirped.

“He’s not
President yet, but yep,” I agreed tiredly.

“You’re all
over the papers. Every channel I put on the TV, the two of you are
on there.” I could just imagine his face, shocked and amused, one
eyebrow raised like he did when he tried to tease the life out of
me.

“I know, man,
weird huh?”

“So seriously,
what’s he like? Is he a nice guy? Did you know who Anna was when
you met her? How come the papers said you had been together for a
year and three months?” he fired off the questions, one after the
other.

My breath
caught in my throat at the last one. Nate knew we hadn’t been
together that long, but we had to say that because of her college.
“I don’t know, that must be a misprint, it’s three months,” I lied.
“And no, I didn’t know who she was when I met her. She didn’t tell
me at first. But yes, I have met the President-elect. He’s a good
guy,” I said, trying to answer all of his questions briefly.

“Why didn’t you
tell me who she was? Her dad was Senator when I met her, you could
have told me.”

I sighed. He
was such a good guy, he wouldn’t even mind when this was over and I
told him about my assignment. He’d understand, I knew that, but I
still didn’t like lying to him. “Nate, I couldn’t. I wanted too,
but she had to try and blend in for her security and stuff. I’m not
allowed to do anything without her bodyguards say so.”

“Yeah, I get
it, bud, don’t worry, I thought it was something like that,” he
admitted. He made a strangled laugh. “You do know that if you screw
up and hurt her, he has the power to have you killed,” he
joked.

A tired grin
covered my face.
Trust Nate to think of it that way!
“Lucky
I’m not gonna screw up and hurt her then.”

“I saw you two
getting interviewed outside the hotel. I didn’t realise you were so
serious about her. I knew you were in love with her, that much was
pretty damn obvious by the love-sick puppy eyes you shoot her, but
I didn’t realise that you wanted to marry her. It came across on TV
like you were trying to make a joke, but I know you too well,
Taylor. You were serious, weren’t you?” he asked.

I smiled. Nate
always had known me well. “Yeah, but I don’t think she’s up for it
yet. I’m working on it though. Listen, Nate, I need to go, I
haven’t slept in forever and my head is killing me.”

“Sure, I’ll
speak to you in the week, say hi to Anna for me when you see her,
okay?” he instructed.

“I will. See
ya,” I disconnected the call and switched on the TV, flicking onto
the news channel, only to see me and Anna plastered all over the
screen. There were clips of us leaving the hotel and answering
questions. They still loved us as a couple and were talking about
our nicknames for each other. A proud grin slipped onto my face
when they played the bit of her pulling me in for a kiss.
Admittedly, it looked just as hot as it had felt.

In my hand, my
cell phone rang again. My body jerked in my seat when I saw the
number that was flashing on the screen. I answered the phone with
wide eyes.

“Hi, Agent
Taylor. Please hold for the President-elect,” Maddy stated
formally. I swallowed the lump that was building in my throat. No
doubt Anna’s father was calling to reprimand me for what I’d said
about wanting to marry her outside the hotel.

Moments later,
his firm voice greeted me. “Agent Taylor, I just wanted to check
how Annabelle was holding up after the reporters hounding you two
at the hotel.”

“She’s fine,
sir. She was shocked and nervous about it, but she’s fine now.”

He sounded like
he breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s great. Melissa and I were
concerned that she’d be under too much pressure with everyone
thinking you were dating,” he said.

I grimaced,
knowing this was where he was going to warn me to do my job and to
keep my hands off his daughter. “She’s fine, sir. You don’t need to
worry.”

“Good. At least
people still aren’t aware that you’re an agent. The boyfriend cover
seems to be working well so far.”

I smiled.
Well, it definitely works well for me.
“Yes it is.”

“Well, call me
if you have any problems on your end, or if you need to up the
security and I’ll make the arrangements,” he suggested easily.

I frowned.
Okay, where’s the speech?
“I will, sir. Don’t worry about
Anna, I’ll take care of her,” I promised.