Sometimes, love isn't strong enough to outweigh the thunderous storm we are facing.
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Rachel POV
'How would you rate the service, Ma'am?' Derek tease me when my eyes is still groggy from the most pleasant sleep I had in a while.
'What time is it?' I asked, my throat is dry, how long have I sleep?
'Five, in the evening.' He replied.
'Five?' I was shocked. 'That's like three hours.'
'Can't help. It was intense, brutal and addictive.' Derek is still naked and sleeping beside me. I felt delighted for a while that he was by my side through the sleep and not on the phone or reading some top secret classified documents that I am dying to read but I can't.
'Well, the sex was, on a scale of one to ten, I can give it a twenty. That is way beyond incredible.' I stretched my arms and sink to where Derek's shoulder is.
'You're welcome.'
'I felt different this time, we wasn't behaving like some bumble bee, I think we just made love.' I said with a lot of emotion when I told him. I love the way I massage him and the way he finds comfort in me. Homey, is the word.
He said nothing except kissing my mouth, sending his tongue to play with mine.
'What do you want to do today?' He asked.
'What do you suggest? You know this place better than I did.'
'We have a hot spring, a swimming pool that is totally frozen from the winter, or maybe we can have a bowling session.' He asked.
'Bowling? You have a bowling alley? How lucky are you people?'
'Said by the person whose dad owns a private jet.' Derek said with a stone face.
I laugh. 'Well, you said your pension fund is getting bigger after we dated, I'll gladly invite you to board my ship or plane or maybe a yacht. I need more time to discover what surprises my dad had in his collections.'
'Fair enough.'
'Can I cook you dinner tonight, I saw Ramen in your kitchen.' I asked him, although it was just a mocking form to have ramen on a holiday, but Derek gladly obliged without complaint.
---
'I sucks in aiming.' I whined, it's the third round and I still can't hit all the pin.
'Practice makes perfect.' Derek raised the ball, aiming it close to his face like a professional player, once he get hold of the perfect angle, he pace up the wooden floor and swing the ball into the alley.
I scream in joy when he strike all the pins like I am watching a live competition.
'You are amazing! How did you managed to do that? How did you managed to do everything so effortlessly?'
'I find the trick and practice it, did I swooned you over, girlfriend?'
'Say no more, boyfriend, I don't even know whatever good deed have I done in the past to have you as my boyfriend.'
'Do you still want to play another round?' Derek ask while pacing back to where I sit.
I thought for a while. 'Enough for today, I just wanna have dinner and sit cozily near the fireplace, sharing a duvet with you, maybe watch a movie, and see if we can engage in another vigorous coital activity.'
'You brain is so, what's the word? Dirty. Rachel, I have no idea you were such a nympho.'
'You are one hell of a lucky boyfriend to have me.'
'Come on, we'll walk back to the Aspen Lodge.' Derek offered his hand and initiate for mine.
I look at it for a moment. 'We are going to get ourselves into trouble if anyone saw us.' I sort of warn him, but I was longing to know what it is like to hold his hand and walk together like a normal couple.
'I choose Camp David for a reason, Rachel.' He insisted.
I am still hesitating, part of me wanted to grab that hand, yet at the same time, the incident at the Long Island rolled in my mind again.
'I don't wanna lose you again, Derek. If I am going to have to go through those nightmares again, I'm not going to risk it.'Â I stood firm.
Derek looks disappointed, but he accepted my point of view. 'After you.' He managed a smile.
The cold breeze splashed our face with stinging bites. I kind of enjoy watching the vapor leaving my breathing organ. This is winter, it always makes you wish it was this beautiful everyday.
'Are you upset with me?' I noticed Derek was quiet during the walk.
'I was more upset with myself, about us, I'm a big boy now, yet I can't decide a lot of thing for myself.' He kicked the ice on the road.
'It doesn't matter if we hold our hand or not, Derek, I'm really enjoying myself right now. Who can be this lucky to have sex with such a hot politician.' I tried to lighten up his mood, well, at least, he lips curled up this time.
'You and you dirty mouth.' He looks at me and chuckle.
'Who did your hair for you, I could really hire him, or her for myself, you know, I am filthy rich now.' I purposely slur the word "her".
'I'm flattered that you are jealous, Miss Woods. Fortunately, it's a him. Would you like to replace that position, and do the packaging of a sexy politician if it was a her?'
'Wow, that's a tricky question. But I won't, you know I am really superficial. She has packaged you well. When I first saw you giving a speech from your campaign, I really have a huge crush on you, I literally googled your wikipedia that night. I have a huge crush on you because you are smart, sexy and nerdy-handsome blended together. Of course, its the sexy and handsome that made it to the finishing point, you don't hear me saying I have a crush on Albert Einstein just because he is smart, right?'
He laugh, 'you have your way with words, Rachel Woods. I really enjoy talking to you.'
'You sound like we just had our first date, and you are supposed to say something nice just to secure a second date afterward.'
'And sex, for the third date.'
'Seems like we miss out a lot of dating protocols.'
'Who needs them when we get to have sex at the White House.'
'Fair enough.'
'Fair enough.'
The moment we close the door after we reached the lodge, Derek brutally shove me to the wall, with his hand wrapping on my back so it won't hit me hard. We kiss like we meant it, like the ten minutes walks outside was a torture because we can't touch each other.
I scrunch his hair, his hand searched for the hem of my sweater, cold and electrifying, he send his hand up to my breast, tweaking with the sensitive spot as his tongue assaulted me roughly.
I began to float in ecstasy. My knees went weak. I had to peel my lips away from Derek to catch my breath and keep up with the heart rate that is shooting up.
He was equally breathless as I was. 'Camp David is the right choice, isn't it?' He said, panting for air.
'I don't think a box of condom is enough to keep up with our sex speed, how could you underestimate our capabilities?'
We laugh. For a while, we just slip down and sat on the floor, holding each other close, enjoying our time together, savoring the lost moment that were suppose to belong to us and regretting why destiny haven't made us known each other earlier.
'I'm sorry.' He whispered, sending his warm breath to my neck. I love that feeling.
I held his arm closer to me, entwining our fingers together. My mind suddenly has this idle thought of what if, we had a matching ring?
'I haven't taste the cookies you made.' Suddenly, Derek's voice brought me back to reality.
'Of course, I'm starving.'
We got up, head towards the kitchen.
'How was it?' I ask timidly, like I was afraid that the cookies won't suit his tastebud.
'In the future....' he said slowly, chewing the first bite.
'Uh-huh.' I answered immediately.
'When you run out of job.' He bite again.
'Uh-huh.' I answered immediately again.
'Or maybe, if I run out of job.'
'Oh God, Derek, you are killing me. You just have to say whether it is good or bad.' I whined.
He laugh. He got me this time. 'We can open a cookie van together and sell it across the states. I love it, it taste just as good as you.' He leaned closer to where I prop my elbow against the counter table.
'Really?' My eyes blink with excitement.
'Politicians are the biggest liar, thought you said that?' He teased and steal a kiss from me.
I smack his arm, the toned and sculpted arm. It's really nice to grab.
'Well, I'll be sure to add peanuts the next time.' I said sarcastically. 'And what's for dinner?' I ask.
'Thought the menu were set, ramen?'
'Of course we can't have ramen for dinner, this is holiday.' I protested.
His brows notched up. 'So, girlfriend? What do you suggest?'
'Maybe scrambled eggs and some bacons? It's full of proteins, you need protein for your muscle.' I grin at him, in those girly-shy manner.
'Okay.' He took another cookie and head to the fridge. 'Houston, we got a problem.' He mentioned it.
'What?'
'There's no bacon. But, we have sausages.' He grinned.
I rolled my eyes and he resumed with the cooking. I can watch him all day. Having the President of this country to make dinner for me is one fine sight. I took my phone, activate the camera and took a picture of him cracking the egg. I went towards him, pressing my chest against his back, place my phone in front of both of us, 'smile, boyfriend.' I told him before I press the red button.
'How could we never take any picture before?' I asked, observing our photo. I took three shots at once.
'Because my picture is all over the internet, you could just search and download any picturesque image of me in high definition by professional photographer.'
I laugh. 'Sometimes you are so, what's the word?' I snap my fingers. 'Vain?'
'You told me you love me because I am smart, sexy and handsome. What's that word to describe you?' He paused for a second, 'gullible?'
'Shut up.' I throw my hand at him and edit our photos. I heard his laugh when he continue with beating the eggs.
---
'I can't sleep yet, can we gawk the star from here, is there any secret button where I pressed and the ceiling starts shifting?' We lay on the floor, just like I planned, sharing the duvet close to the fireplace.
'You watched too much movie, Rachel.' Derek teased.
The space between us were literally zero. We just can't get enough of each other. If I recall, we never had such a long time spent together, either he left me or I left him when the sun rises. That's what affair is all about, right? A voice crept inside my mind.
'Tell me about yourself, Derek.' I asked him, 'tell me something the internet did not cover, because I have read almost every biography I can find about you, and you'll be surprise how many fan-fiction were created for you.'
He laugh, with the boyish smile that caught my heart. 'Let's see, hmm, I was a victim of bully when I was in elementary school.'
'No way.' I half believe and listen anyway.
'His name was Benson McKay, twice my size, red hair and full of freckles on both his cheeks.' His tone is not a bit hateful, he told the story with natural flow. 'He took my book and dump it on the bin, took my pen and hide it, and once, where my anger has risen to my boiling point, he ruined the egg sandwich my mother made. My family wasn't well to do at that point of time, my dad just lost his job as a salesman. Perhaps that's how I confronted him. I ask him why did he picked me all the time.' Derek chuckled halfway.
'Why?' I urge him to continue.
'He said I was small in term of size, it makes me an easy target. I took a packet drink and squeeze the juice at his face.'
'Where were your teachers?' I asked
'Eventually we both got detention. Our parents were called.'
'Did your parents punish you?'
'Nope, they were so proud of me instead. Aren't they cool?'
'I would have ask my son to beat the shit out of Benson McKay, in a parallel universe, of course.' I said like I mean it.
'Well, actually, I got to thank him. I began to work on my body, building myself taller and stronger everyday, that is how I protect myself and never get bullied again. Eventually, that mantra has brought me to where I was today.'
'Grace was your elevator to the White House.' I said uncertainly, but I can't stop myself, it just came up out of nowhere.
'Do you really want to include her inside our holiday?'
One thing I am rather certain about Derek was, he never bitch about Grace, which is honorable. But, at the same time, I wish he would said something negative about her to satisfy my ego.
'I don't think so, but hypothetically, if the person you married was me, I'm not sure if I can get you to where you are. Technically, I am a happy go lucky girl, politics is bizarre to me. You might just land a job in Disneyland if you marry me.'
He laugh, it was infectious, I laughed as well. 'The Chairman of Disneyland, perhaps? I don't stop for someone or something whenever I had a target in mind, I fight for it even if I was the only one left behind. You see, it took more than 20 brains to get me to where I am, Gavinski, Grace and Ferguson, they were one of the few. To say I wasn't grateful to Grace, it would be a lie.'
I started to feel uncomfortable when he mentioned Grace again. Whenever I was reminded that Grace, his wife, played a huge role in his success, I felt weakened and inferior, like the best thing I ever did was giving him blowjob and choosing his socks.
'We can really stop talking about that, I knew you would reacted this way when I said her name.'
'What way?' I started to get heated up. Somehow, the situation change, the space between us grows to a distance of thirty centimeters.
'This.' He sigh. 'I can't change the fact that,' he paused, his expression tells me that he is fucked if he ever mentions Grace's name again.
'Fine, Derek, we can stop talking about that.'
This wasn't what I planned. We remained silent, staying the way we were after the argument, no longer close to each other, rather, I felt like I need to take five like right now. 'I'm going for a shower.' I told him coldly, and without waiting for his reply, I got up and haste towards the bedroom where there is an en-suite bathroom.
---
I flipped around the bed, tossing around, waiting for Derek to come inside the room.
It's already midnight and he is nowhere beside me. The arguments we had played back in my mind. What if I was the one at fault? Maybe I shouldn't have start mentioning about Grace, but I can't hide my feelings. Plus, Derek says I shouldn't keep anything from him. Eventually, it turns out like this.
My anger clearly haven't subside, maybe he should at least come inside the room and have a talk with me. We need to talk, I can't sleep with troubled feelings.
I sat up and head out of the room.
It was dimmed with only the floor lamp lighting the hallway. I gawked around, wondering if Gavinski would made any sudden visit again.
Once I conclude it's safe, I walked to the place where the fireplace was.
There, Derek was there.
And all of a sudden, I felt guilty. Documents spreads around the table, iPad on his chest, he must has dozed off reading his work. I can't bring myself to be angry with him any longer.
I pace towards him quietly.
'Hey.' I hush, stroking his hair. He look so exhausted that my voice wasn't alarming enough to wake him up. 'Derek?'
He jerked awake, I held his chest to calm him down.
'Hey, it's me.' I whisper. He looked at me with drowsy eyes.
'Come on, we'll sleep in the room.'
He made a soft agreeing sound, raise himself from the sofa. I held his waist, leading him inside our room.
I tucked him to sleep, cover the duvet on top of him before I slip inside the bed and sleep.
I felt Derek's hand searching for my body, shifting himself nearer to me.
'I miss you.' He groan.
I tapped his hand to assure him that we are alright.
While he dozed off to sleep, my eyes is wide awake. My chest felt heavy.
I am starting to doubt about us. I am starting to doubt if we will ever made it to the finishing point. Love doesn't always win. Sometimes, love isn't strong enough to outweigh the thunderous storm we are facing.
I start to imagine what is it like to see Derek on the television, with only memories of us to savor. I don't like the things I am feeling now. It's too fast for the dramas to happen.
I held my breath, hoping my sob wouldn't wake Derek up. My eyes began to moist with tears and it rolled down my cheek while I held Derek's hand close to me.
The ring on his finger, it's right in front of me. It will always be there reminding me.
A/N
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