Chapter One: Could Have Fooled Me.
Congressman Sam Seaborn from the California 47th was starring at his laptop screen valiantly trying to ignore the long legs that are draped over the side of his desk. He swallows and tries to block the enticing picture in his peripheral vision; long creamy legs stripped of their nylons hours ago, a pair of black heels that seem like the heel goes on forever and cherry red toes.
"Samuel." He winces at her use of his full name, she is really pissed now. "Samuel, you promised that we would get out of here an hour ago. Can you not hear my stomach growling? A girl can only hold out for so long."
He pauses, as if he's considering saying something. "Right." She raises an eyebrow. "Right. Sorry. Leave it to me to try and get between you and food." She laughs and shimmies off the edge of his desk. He holds out her coat and she slides into it gracefully, going to work on the buttons as he dons his coat.
They walk the few blocks to a favorite eatery and she positively bounces as they near the door. He smiles, that's his girl. The smile drops from his face. Ainsley is a U.S. Congresswoman, not a girl, and neither was she his.
"Oh, I can smell that grilled cheese with bacon, tomatoes, red unions and pesto calling my name!" She pulls him through the door in excitement and he grins at her enthusiasm. She waved to the bartender who tips his hat. Sam puts a hand around her waist, pretending to help her with her coat, glancing at the young man. Ainsley weaves her way through the noisy crowd headed towards the door and settles in against the bar. The young man saunters over, a crooked grin on his slightly stubbled face, his blond fringe escaping the brim of his hat.
"Congresswoman Ainsley from North Carolina." He smiles broadly at her, Sam notices the Carolina drawl. "How are ya darlin?
"I'll be better once I eat." The bartender throws back his head in a guffaw, and she says, "The usual, Jack."
He turns to Sam, the laugh lines lingering around his eyes. "Congressman Seaborn, you treatin' her right?" Jack seems to find the look on Sam's face entertaining. "The usual for you as well?"
"Yeah, thanks Jack." Sam sits the slightest bit closer to Ainsley. "Ains, have you found a place to live yet?"
She puts her fresca down and sheds her suit jacket, her brow furrowing. "No, and I'm tired of living in a hotel. What about you?"
He sighs and lets his fingers drift through the condensation on his glass. "Not yet. Maybe we should go tomorrow, seeing as its Saturday." He laughs slightly. "Its been two weeks since the session started." She looks at him over half the sandwich, he is taken with the shine of her big green eyes.
"I know it has." She swallows her mouthful of food. "We'll go tomorrow."
The rest of the meal passes in laughter and by the time Ainsley is on her second Scotch, Sam decides it's probably best that she stop. She glares at him when he suggests it, downs the rest of her tumbler, and slams her glass on the counter. Jack pours her another.
"Okaaaay..." She wobbles slightly as she stands. "You were right, I'm a total lightweight, I should have stopped at one." She holds onto the bar while Sam pays for their meal. He helps her into her coat and watches as she walks in her stilettos towards the door, amazed that she manages it. He scrambles into his coat and follows her. She isn't drunk, just tipsy and it shows in the rose of her cheeks.
"Ains, I don't think you should drive back to the your hotel." She gratefully takes his arm when he offers it, her gait a bit more playful than usual.
"You're right." She seems content to be on his arm.
They reach the parking garage and he helps her into his black lotus evora. She watches him as he rounds the car to the driver's side and settles in. She loves this car, it is downright sexy. Her thoughts begin to stray to the man behind the wheel as Sam navigates the D.C. streets. Her slight inebriation makes her notice the flex of his forearms as he drives, the length of his fingers, and the strong cut of his jaw. Forget the car, the driver was much better.
Ainsley mentally scolds herself for staring as they pull up to her hotel. "Thanks Sam. I'll see you tomorrow." She tosses a smile over her shoulder and disappears into the lobby. He blows out a long breath. His phone rings a few minutes later. The screen flashes 'Ainsley'. His brow furrows.
"Ains?" He can hear it as she restrains giggles.
"Sam," He can imagine her face as she clutches the phone. "I left my key in my car; I can't get into my room."
"What?!" He flips a U turn where he probably wasn't supposed to and heads back towards the hotel. "Tell me you're kidding."
"God, I wish I was." She dissolves into laughter. It's contagious.
"Ainsley, have you considered that all the fresca might be going to your head?" He knows she can hear the smile in his voice.
"SAM!" She continues to laugh. "I don't think the fresca is the problem. I think it's the Scotch."
"Right. I'll be there in just a minute." He is still smiling into the phone.
"Thanks." He hangs up the phone and shakes his head as he pulls up in front of the hotel. She comes out of the lobby and flops into the passenger seat, still giggling.
"You can stay with me tonight. I'll take the couch, it's big enough." Sam is watching her from the corner of his eye.
"Always the gentleman. Thanks for all the trouble Sam." She looks thoroughly embarrassed.
"It's never trouble, never is with you, Ainsley." His sweet smile makes her stomach do a funny sort of flip. She stares at her hands. "Here we are."
She looks up sharply as he pulls into the hotel's garage. He turns off the car and opens her door for her. She steps out and he puts a steadying arm at the curve of her back. She lets him guide her to an elevator where he inserts his keycard and the doors open. He pushes the button for the tenth floor and they wait. She stumbles as the elevator comes to a stop and the doors ding open to reveal clean hallways and dark wooden doors. His hand is back as they walk towards the end of the hall. He opens the second to last door with some difficulty and gestures for her to enter.
She steps into a spacious room with a sitting area and a kitchenette. She looks around in awe. "Sam, just how rich are you?" He looks slightly sheepish.
"Enough." He brushes past her. "I think there's an extra toothbrush here somewhere." She follows him into a decent sized bathroom. He leaves her there, sitting on the edge of the shower, returning a moment later with a large grey t-shirt, a packaged toothbrush, and a cupcake. She laughs.
"Really Sam, you are too much." He presents the sweet to her with a flourish.
"I'm never without them these days." He is referring to the cupcake. "You've created a monster, Ainsley." She laughs harder at the expression on his face.
"Thank you, Sam, I mean it." She sobers abruptly.
He rubs his neck and looks at something that wasn't her. "You're welcome. Its no problem... I'll leave you to change." He exits the room, closing the door softly behind him. Ainsley runs water into the tub, waiting for it to warm. She takes a bite of the cupcake, finding it delicious, before she begins to shed her clothes. She steps under the warm spray of the shower, feeling the knots in her neck begin to loosen.
When she steps out, she dries her hair, finishes the cup cake and dresses in the gray shirt he has given her. She runs her fingers through her hair, trying to work out some of the newly formed tangles. She pauses and breathes in a sigh. The shirt smells like Sam; the lightest traces of his subtle cologne, chocolate, sea salt, and something she can't quite place. The unplaceable smell is warm and familiar while being wholly masculine. She curls her fingers into the fabric and inhales again, feeling foolish as soon as she's done it. With her cheeks burning slightly, she wets the toothbrush to find there isn't any toothpaste.
Toothbrush clutched in hand, Ainsley goes to find Sam. She finds him in his room, pulling his shirt off over his head, plaid sleep pants hanging low on his hips. She's starring.
"Ainsley?" He looks over his shoulder at her, slowly turning to face the slightly stunned woman. She's wearing his shirt. It hangs down to about mid thigh on her, leaving the length of her legs bare. He feels a surge of possessiveness wash through him.
She pulls herself together quickly. "Toothpaste?" She makes sure to look only at his face.
He blinks. "What?"
"Sam, toothpaste." She waves the toothbrush.
"Right, sorry." He bends to retrieve something from his bag, and she focuses in on the curve of his ass under the cotton. She looks away as he straightens. "Here."
"Thanks." Sam watches her as she retreats into the bathroom. He stands for a moment after she's gone staring at the place had been for a moment longer than he should have.
"Right..." He blows out a long breath. "That's not at all sexy. Nope. She's just... I just have to...right. Now I'm talking to myself, great." His forehead crinkles in self deprecating way. He pulls a pillow and a spare blanket out of the closet and heads for the couch. Realizing he still needs to put on a shirt he makes his way back into the bedroom and pulls one on, grabbing a book on his way back to the couch. Ainsley appears a moment later, her folded clothes in her hands, her long hair beginning to curl around her.
"Um, I- I'll see you in the morning then." She seems a bit less tipsy.
"Good night, Ainsley." He smils at her from his place on the couch.
"Sleep well." She returns his smile and he hears the click of the closet door as she hangs her clothes a few seconds later. He leans back against the arm of the couch and becomes absorbed in his book.
Sometime later he gets up quietly and brushes his teeth. He notices the bedroom light on.
"Ainsley? Is everything okay?" He steps into the room carefully. A smile softens the worried lines of his face. She's fallen asleep with his copy of leaves of grass in her hands. He pauses to take her in for a moment before gently removing the book from her hands. She sighs in her sleep and curls up on her side. He sets the book down on the nightstand and turns off the light.
The clock on the microwave shows 1:30 am. He sighs, rubbing his eyes as he sinks into the couch. It's a good thing that it's a Friday night. He is asleep in minutes.
The morning light streams in through the curtain-less windows and when Sam can no longer ignore the brightness he rolls over with a groan and stares up at the ceiling for a moment before he staggers out of the softness of the couch with another groan. He glances at the clock in the kitchen, 9:02. This is the latest he has slept in a very long time. He listens for sounds of Ainsley stirring and hears none as he walks into the bathroom. He can't bring himself to change out of his sleeping clothes, nor can he muster the desire to shave his slight stubble just yet. He finds that he has pancake mix and bittersweet chocolate chips. Those two ingredients provide a way for him to wake the southern belle firecracker in his bed gently.
Fifteen minutes later he hears the lightly shuffling steps of said firecracker as she emerges from her night's rest. She makes a pained sound as she eases into a chair at the small bistro table. He sets a cup of coffee down in front of her along with some sugar packets.
"Thanks sugar..." Her voice is slightly gravely with sleep. He smiles and sets a plate of pancakes in front of her.
"Eat up. We have to get you back to your car so you can get a change of clothes, then we are going on the search for places to live. If you're still up to it that is." He watches as the tiredness around her eyes disappears and she comes back to the world of the living.
"That sounds great." She focuses in on the food. As he pours batter into the pan for himself, he hears her moan slightly. "Oh Sam, these are perfect. Bittersweet is so much better in pancakes."
"Glad you like them, Ains." He sits down across from her and watches as she tucks a loose lock of hair behind her ear, folding her legs up into the chair beneath her. He fixes his eyes on his plate.
The rest of the morning passes without incident, or so Sam thinks. What he doesn't know is that Ainsley had tried to get dressed after she washed the dishes (it was the least she could do, she thought) and walked in on him pulling his jeans on. Her face burned as she fled into the bathroom to try to make her hair behave. Despite the slight hitch on Ainsley's part, they got out the door without much interference.
Ainsley steps out of Sam's car a little while later. "Meet me in an hour?"
Sam glances at the dash clock. "Sure. Where?"
"How about that little cafe with the great pastries?" Sam smiles at her request.
"I will see you there." He makes sure she gets into her car okay and followes her out of the garage before speeding back to the hotel to kill some time.
Ainsley is grateful to be back in her little hotel room with her things. Once she has made sense of her hair, pulled on a pair of dark wash jeans and a T-shirt, Ainsley settles down in front of her laptop computer for a few minutes. She's found the place she wanted within minutes of looking. She checks the time and rushes out of her room.
She finds Sam sipping something that's probably still too hot to drink. She spotshim sitting at one of the tables by the window and pauses a moment to take him in before she joins him. His face lights up.
"Ainsley!" He seems cheerful. "I take it you found a place online?"
"Gosh, how did you know?" She teases as she opens her computer. "Actually, I found this one beautiful place about a mile from capitol hill, on E Street southeast."
He looked over her shoulder and laughs. "I looked at this place too. I'm not sure I can afford it, even with my wealth." She glances at the price.
"We could split the rent. I think there are two bedrooms." She looks up at him.
He seems to consider it for a moment. "Lets go take a look at the place. As soon as I finish this." She picks up the peach tart he has ordered her.
"Is it any good?" He asks her and she holds it out to him. He takes a bite and it melts on his tongue. "Okay, that is good." She smiles as if to say I told you so.
He finishes his coffee as she finishes eating. She slides her computer back into the messenger bag and stands. He offeres her his arm and she takes it without a second thought. They walk the few blocks to the lofts and into the office.
The woman at the desk looks up. "How may I help you?"
"Hi. We would like to take a look at a two bedroom loft, if you have time for us that is." Sam seems slightly ill at ease as he shakes the woman's hand.
"Okay lovely, we have two units open at the moment." She's typing quickly at her workstation. "One is a classic loft, both bedrooms and the great room look out over the river." Sam feels Ainsley twitch.
"We would like to see that one please." He gives the woman his best smile. She falters slightly.
"O-of corse. This way please." She leads them to the elevators and through a few hallways to a door. They step inside to find a very open kitchen and an airy great room. Ainsley's arm slides out of his and she walks further into the apartment, turning a slow circle in the massive great room. Sam sticks his hands in his pockets and follows her slowly. They both tune out the woman from the front desk as she talks animatedly.
"What do you think of it?" He's speaking quietly to Ainsley as she stares out the windows.
"I love it." She is slightly breathless as she turns the handle and steps out onto the balcony. He follows her, feeling more contented and excited than he has since winning his race. She leans against the railing, her hair blowing in the wind. Sam looks away.
"It might be best if we checked out the bedrooms, Ainsley." She turns and blinks at him. He realizes how that sounded. "Not-"
She laughs. "I know, Sam. It won't do us much good to have a place we can't actually live in." She breezes past him and up the stairs. He follows her into the loft. She darts left into a slightly smaller room. He goes into the master bedroom and stares out the windows.
He can hear her muffled shout that there is enough closet space. He smiles and wanders into the master bath. It is spacious and modern with slate tiles. Sam stands quietly, contemplating the feeling of rightness that he has growing in his chest. It is odd to feel something like this; a connection to another person that he more than tolerates. He hadn't had that with Lisa.
Ainsley leans against the door frame, not wanting to shake him out of his daze. He's starring at nothing, a look in his painfully blue eyes that she hasn't seen before. He notices her draped against the door frame.
"What do you think Ains?" She's silent for a moment and he knows that she's trying to decide what to say. She pushes herself off the door jam and walks into the master bathroom.
"It feels like home already Sam." A slow smile grows on his face at her words and he pulls her into a hug. Ainsley closeds her eyes, thanking god that he's okay with her words. She doesn't know what will happen with them living in the same space, but she hopes she can get over her issues with cohabitation. She could for Sam.
"Good." He pulls out of the hug and the smile lingers in his eyes. "Let's go find that woman from the front desk and find out when we can sign the lease." Ainsley nods and follows him down to the lobby.
The woman looks up from the desk as they approach. Ainsley turns on her southern charm. "We'll take it."
"Great! I have a copy of the lease here for you to sign." She hands the paperwork to Sam.
He raises an eyebrow. "This is a single party lease. We need a cosigning lease."
The woman looks surprised. "You two aren't married?" Ainsley's eyes go wide, Sam blinks.
"No." they say in unison.
"Just colleagues, old friends." Sam seems slightly flustered.
"Well...okay. Just a moment please." Ainsley hears the woman mutter 'could have fooled me' under her breath as she leaves to find the lease agreement. She returns a moment later and both Sam and Ainsley read over the lease completely before signing. The woman takes the lease, makes sure everything is marked in the right places and that account numbers are written.
"Okay. That should do it! You can move in whenever you want. My name is Ariadne, by the way." She holds out her hand to Ainsley.
"Congresswoman Ainsley Hayes, pleasure to meet you." The woman is disarmed by her smile.
Sam offers his hand. "Congressman Sam Seaborn. How are you."
"Well, I can't say you two are the first representatives in the building, you are however, the first representative roommates." She seems to gather her wits. "Welcome to the building." They thank her and take their leave.
"That was easier than I thought it would be." Sam is deftly navigating towards the coffee shop where their cars are parked.
"I know! I expected some sort of complex waiting game. I guess not everything in life is like trying to pass a bill." Ainsley laughs as she holds the door open for Sam. He mimes tipping his hat and she laughs harder.
He sits down at a table after pulling her seat out for her. She stirs her ice water absently. Sam becomes preoccupied with her hands, she has long fingers with alarmingly red nails that matched her straw. He smiles, his thoughts broken when she speaks to him.
"When do you want to move in?" She takes a sip through the straw.
He sighs and rubs a hand along his jaw. "I'm not sure I can stand another week in a hotel." He looks up at her through his lashes.
"Oh lord, I know what you mean. All my things are in storage. What about you?" She fiddls with the corner of the menu card on the table.
"Mine are too. We need a truck."
"And some burly men to carry everything." She half teases.
"That sounds like a good idea." Sam watchs people enter and exit the subway system. "I wonder if they can do it on the short notice of doing it tomorrow."
Ainsley stands from her seat. " I know a place that can. They helped me move when I was here the first time, gosh, five years ago?" She has made her way to the counter by the time he's ready to make his reply. She returns with a piece of quiche and two forks. He smells bacon.
"Bacon Ainsley?" She just smiles.
"You should know better by now." She takes a bite. He laughs.
"So. You'll contact the movers and we can move in tomorrow?" She nods at his question. "Great!"
"I'll call you later to tell you what time they can be ready, is that okay?" Ainsley takes another bite.
"That's perfect, Ains." Sam smiles at her. They finish their snack and part ways. Sam drives back to his hotel, grateful to be back to his temporary home. He walks in the door and sits down on the now cleared couch. The place feels empty. He pushes the feeling aside and begins to pack what he has.
Ainsley is in a similar state of unrest. Something feels like it's off, but she can't place it. She considers the possibility that it's the absence of her best friend, but passes that off as ridiculous. Things had remained friendly, even after Ainsley left the counsel's office, Sam lost the Orange County race once and even after he quit as deputy to Josh Lyman. That was almost a year ago. Now they were members of Congress. Five years could change a lot.
She packs her scattered belongings as a way to keep her mind busy. She then finds the number of the moving company and sets up the truck and extra hands. She calls Sam, waiting for him to pick up. She hears him answer then drop the phone and swear.
"Sorry Ains, I have a laundry basket in one hand." She smiles, imagining him balancing the phone and laundry basket as he talks.
"The movers will be at the place by one tomorrow. We will go to the storage units after we meet them there." She listens as he walks, noticing that the feeling she was trying to place lessened as she talked with him.
"That's great, Ainsley! I'll see you tomorrow at one then." He wrangles the laundry room door open.
Ainsley holds back a sigh. "Yeah, see you tomorrow."
Sam pauses, he can hear the slight sadness in her voice. "Hey, Ainsley." He hears its as she stops moving. "Sleep well tonight."
She smiles into the phone and he can hear it in her voice as she wishes him the same. For some reason it relieves him.
Sam calls Ariadne in the morning, realizing that Ainsley hadn't called to tell the woman that they would be moving in. Ariadne told him to come a bit early so that she could give him the keys. He had agreed to meet her at twelve thirty.
Ainsley finds him that afternoon draped against the side of the building talking easily with moving crew. She smiles and greets them. They are busy loading and unloading things until four thirty at which point Ainsley's stomach made itself known. Sam laughs. The jovial moving crew had left half an hour before with much laughter.
"Should we order in and christen the place as ours with Chinese food?" Sam is so earnest that Ainsley finds it hard not to laugh.
"Sure!" She gets on the phone right away and orders their favorites off the cuff. She glances over her shoulder so see Sam pushing her light gray modern couch towards the windows. She smiles, the mysterious feeling from that morning and the day before completely gone, as she watches him quickly pick and choose pieces from both their collections and put together a living room. She watches as he muscles a gray chaise covered in slightly worn velvet to rest in the windowed corner of the room.
"That's a beautiful piece." She puts a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looks up sharply and offers a slight smile.
"It was my mothers." He looks away. That tells her all she needed to know. She runs a comforting hand through his hair and he leans back against her slightly. They stay like that until her phone rings; its the delivery guy telling her he's in the lobby. She grabs her keys and goes to get the food.
When she gets back he asks her, "Why is there a large square hole in this coffee table?" She smiles as she sets the paper bags of food down on the kitchen island.
"I'll show you." She walks out onto the balcony and returns with a glass box containing a cascade of deep purple orchids growing on a log embedded in moss. She carefully sets the container in the large square depression and the flowers spill over the side. "I brought them back from India when I was twenty."
"Wow." Sam bends to examine the cascade of orchids. "I always kill houseplants." He helps her move the table into the living area. She retrieves the cartons of food and they spread it all out on the orchid table.
"You know H.R. 154 is going to pass right?" Sam is goading her as he takes another bite of his food. She glares.
"I have no comment on the issue, Sam." She takes a bite, he laughs.
They finish dinner, leaving the containers on the coffee table because there aren't any garbage bags, and begin to search for bed linens in the boxes. Sam finds a magic marker and begins to label as he goes. Ainsley laughs.
"Sam, post-labeling doesn't count as being organized." She says teasingly.
"So?" He finishes writing something on the side of a box and looks at her. "It will be helpful later." She smiles and shakes her head as she opens another box.
Sam whoops for joy when he opens a rather large box to find his bed linens. He carries the box over to the couch and returns to help Ainsley in her search. They spend half an hour looking for her things before she opens a box and holds up a teddy bear. Sam blushes.
"What's this?" She straightens the bear's black bow tie. Sam takes it from her gently.
"My niece gave me this before I left for Princeton." He looks at it fondly and sets it on top of the box of his linens.
A moment later Ainsley opens a large box and sits back on her heels. "Finally." Sam smiles and lets her lead the way up the stairs.