The Perfect Candidate (17 page)

It seemed that he had finally left the bed, and was in the bathroom having a shower.  Ashley noticed that there was a clean suit, tossed over the back of a chair, waiting for him when he was done.  She took a closer peek, giggling to herself when she noted a definite lack of boxer shorts.

Ashley wondered if, in all the time that she had known Michael - all the staff meetings she had been to, all conventions that the she had seen him talk at, and all the interviews that she had watched him give - he had ever been one for wearing underwear, or if he had always been gloriously naked under his pants?  The thought made her feel rather hot and light-headed.

As if she hadn
’
t been feeling giddy enough, Michael himself emerged from the bathroom a second later, wearing nothing but a towel, and that was very haphazardly knotted about his waist!  The sight of him, all clean and freshly shaven, made Ashley want to dirty him up again
…
  He smiled when he saw her, warmly approved her outfit and then started to rub his hair dry with the hand towel that he had been carrying.

“I should go and turn the bed down in the other room,” Ashley said thoughtfully,hoping that this might at least buy them the appearance of having slept in different beds.

Michael raised a doubtful eyebrow.  He glanced at the bed that they
had
slept in
…
Its messy, stained sheets hardly left a lot to the imagination.  He sniffed the air too, alerting Ashley to the fact that the room still smelt of sex.  She shrugged her shoulders and flung open a couple of windows.

“Hey!” Michael yelped, as he was hit by a burst of wintry cold air.

“I’
m only thinking of your reputation, Mr. Reese,
”
Ashley said innocently, earning a growl from the man, as he watched her disappear.

She went straight to the other bedroom and tried to make the bed look as though it had been slept in.  She threw the blankets about a bit, and dented one of the pillows, but she couldn
’
t help thinking that it
looked
suspiciously like someone had just come in and tossed the blankets around and punched one of the pillows
.

“Oh well,” she sighed, hoping that she was simply being over-anxious.  No maid was going to pay too much attention to the state of the beds, surely?

Trying not to dwell on the precarious nature of their position, Ashley decided to keep herself busy while she waited for Michael to finish dressing.  She didn
’
t imagine that it would take him long, but she took her iPad out of her purse to see what she could do about the speech in a spare five minutes.

In the end, Ashley had over ninety minutes to work on Michael
’
s speech.  She had heard Michael
’
s cell phone ring several times.  He hadn
’
t seemed to stop talking in the other room since she had left him.  Ashley wondered if he had even managed to dress?  She tried to
stop
wondering that when she realized how distracting it was.

Fortunately she was engrossed in her writing.  There wasn
’
t as much work left to do as she had feared, and she managed to finish the whole thing just before she heard Michael calling her.

“What were you doing in there?” he asked, straightening his tie and pulling on his jacket.

Ashley held up her iPad triumphantly. 
“
I
’
m sorry this isn
’
t
‘
on your desk
’
, but I
’
m afraid you can
’
t have everything,
”
she beamed smugly.

Michael raised an eyebrow. 
“
The speech?
”
he asked, sounding impressed. 
“
I told you not to worry about that!
”

“Well, I know, but you were right, it is my job.”

Michael smiled, and Ashley couldn
’
t help it, she felt about ten feet tall. 
“
I
’
ll have a glance at it over breakfast?
”

“Breakfast?” Ashley scrunched up her nose and glanced at her watch.

“Fine, brunch?” Michael conceded, ushering her towards the door.  “But I need to eat something to keep up my strength if I’
m going to be spending the rest of the day around you,
”
he added wickedly.

12

Michael and Ashley ate brunch together inconspicuously enough, conscious of the need not to drawn unwanted attention to themselves.  It probably wouldn
’
t have looked like anything more than a normal business meeting to anyone who happened to be watching.  Michael read through the speech that Ashley had prepared while he drank copious amount of coffee.  He made a few minor alterations to phrasing here and there, but on the whole was immensely pleased with her work.

He was pleased with everything about Ashley
, Michael reflected, on the flight back to Chicago.  He couldn
’
t have made a better choice when it came to picking out a woman to
‘
pretend
’
to be his girlfriend.

The public seemed to agree with him. 

Over the ensuing weeks, Ashley charmed the men, and connected with the woman.  Norm declared that she was the key to
‘
softening
’
his image.  Before, he had been seen as a tough war veteran, or a ruthless ladies man.  Ashley was able to bring something fresh and new to the palette, and through her Michael could lay claim to a more caring, compassionate side.

“They are lapping it up!” Norm beamed, bursting into Michael’
s office late one Friday afternoon.

“Who are lapping what up?” Michael asked distractedly.  He was leaving on a two-week campaign trip the following day, and was just looking over the schedule.  Every last second seemed to be crammed full.  He didn’
t see when he was going to be able to grab a single half an hour alone with Ashley!

In fact, he hadn
’
t managed to snatch more than a couple of minutes alone with Ashley since they had got back from Washington D.C.!  Michael frequently fell asleep reliving the time they had shared in the Capital. He wanted to repeat the experience and prove to himself that he hadn
’
t imagined the sparks that had flown that night, but there had never yet been another opportunity.  He was hoping that would change on this trip, but it was looking less and less likely.

“…don’
t you think, Michael?  Michael!
”

“Hrm?  I’
m sorry, what were you saying?
”
Michael asked apologetically. 
“
Something about licking?
”

“Lapping!  And that was five minutes ago!” Norm snapped.  “I was talking about Ashley.”

Michael
’
s attention was suddenly riveted. 
“
What about Ashley?
”
he asked, trying to keep his voice causal.  He got the feeling that Norm suspected that something had happened between them, particularly because it was almost always Norm who found a reason to separate them when they did manage to grab a moment alone.

“I was telling you what a positive impact she’
s had on your approval rating,
”
Norm sighed wearily. 
“
Just as I predicting she would,
”
he couldn
’
t stop himself from adding smugly.

“Great,” Michael grinned.  “I never doubted you for a second, Norm,” he chuckled.

“Hrm… anyway, I think it’
s time I drew up a list of different things for her to do- visits, speeches, that kind of thing.
”

Michael nodded slowly.  He wasn
’
t sure how Ashley would feel about that, he already got the impression she wasn
’
t thrilled about all the time from her
‘
real job
’
she was sacrificing.

“When were you thinking of having her start?” he asked.  “After we finish the campaign trip?”

“She’
s not going on the campaign trip Michael!
”

Michael
’
s expression darkened. 
“
What do you mean, she
’
s not going on the campaign?
”
he growled. 
“
You just told me she was helping my approval rating!
”
he barked.

Norm raised his eyebrows at Michael reaction and shook his head. 
“
This is precisely
why
Miss Kendall isn
’
t coming, Michael,
”
he said sternly. 
“
She
’
s a distraction you can
’
t afford.
”

I
’
m not distracted!  I
’
m frustrated!
  Michael felt like yelling, but of course, didn
’
t. 
“
Norman, look-
”
he started to speak, while trying to regain his calm, but he was interrupted.

“
Not
to mention the fact that the Vance campaign will tear you apart if you go cavorting around with a woman who is not your wife!
”
he said sternly.

“There are plenty of women on the team who travel around with us, Norm,” Michael pointed out.  “Hell!  Ash used to travel around with us before you installed her as my girlfriend!”