Chapter 1

She saw Tom standing there when she arrived at her apartment and she knew who had sent him. Tom was their Gladiator in a secret service suit. Tom had aided and abetted her and Fitz from day one. He was the President's right hand man. He once told her he served at the pleasure of the President; she had looked him straight in the eye and said, "Don't we all?"

She had told Fitz if he could not tell her the truth about what had happened when he had shot down the plane her mother was on what hope did they have? What hope did they have anyway? The man was the POTUS for God's sake. He was still married. He had children. Of course she knew all that when she first decided to start the affair. But she had loved him so much, it was such a conundrum. She loved him still. She loved him with every bone in her body but there were just too many issues. Finding out he had been the one to shoot down her mother's plane and he was unwilling to tell her why was just too much.

Yet here she stood, telling his minion to go back and tell the President she would not see him. They were done. How would she bear it, never to know his touch again? She wasn't sleeping. Their movie was always playing in her head and keeping her awake nights. She yearned for him. Tom is saying something, she can't concentrate right now remembering the way they were. How would she ever get over him? How was she supposed to live without him? Indulging in sex with other men had proved fruitless. She was a participant but she felt nothing, not a damn thing. She had forced herself to orgasm. She would do better she suspected if she just invested in a good vibrator. Lord, Fitzgerald Grant had ruined her for other men.

M'am, Miss Pope, Miss Pope are you listening? The President wishes to see you. I have orders to bring you to him," Tom said.

"I don't take orders from the President Tom; you need to tell him that. I won't go," she stated empathetically.

M'am, he asks that you look at this folder if you should refuse," he says as he hands her a folder. Tom is shaking his head. These two people were going to be the death of him. The President should just divorce his wife and marry Ms Pope. The man loves her to death and can barely function without her. And from what he can see Ms Pope is a mess too. Well at least she is looking through the folder.

Olivia's scans the pictures in the folder and her heart literally stops. "He knows," she says. Her hands are burning just holding the folder. She should have told him. But they were so new she had wanted to savor it for just a minute. She knew they did not have long and she had been right to take what she

could. She had already assumed when she found the man she loved, the man she wanted, something would crop up to ruin it. That had been her life, a ruined life without love. She had a mother that loved her and she had died. Her father had abandoned her at age twelve to her own devices. Just money and terse notes was what she gotten from her father year after year. Her father had for all intent and purposes had died the same year as her mother. And now his kiss of death had struck again.

She looked and Tom and said, "I am ready." Could she explain a lifetime of abandonment and duplicity to a man that knew all about it himself? She should have told him. He had said he would forgive her anything. He had said he would always love her. He had forgiven her about her involvement with Jake Ballard. But she was so afraid. She couldn't believe they could survive, this love of theirs. When it seemed like it was possible she always ran. The running; damn she was so tired of it. She knew she owed him an explanation. She owed him that. But she was not sure she could explain Eli Pope.

She sat there watching the variations of the nimbus, cumulus, and stratus clouds. The blue skies reminded her of the first time she looked into his eyes. They were striking so blue when he was happy steely gray-blue when he was angry and they darkened to midnight blue in passion. God she missed those eyes. She squirmed in her seat remembering the last time she had seen those eyes heated in passion. He was looking directly into her eyes saying how much he loved her. He was pounding into her hitting her spot and she was begging him to let her come. Shit, she would not recall that not now! She had to get in and out of wherever they were as quickly as she could. She could not linger and she could not get too close or allow him to touch her. She always lost it around the man.

They were coming in for a landing. She had thought it might be Camp David but they had been in the air too long for that. It was very green wherever it was and there were mountains and they landed near a beautiful lake. Apparently Fitz was visiting someone. Tom stood up and said, "We have arrived Miss Pope." Fall had set in and she was wearing her long Dior coat and boots. Briefly she thought of changing her clothes. She was seeing him again and she wanted to look her best. He loved her outfits, he loved to take them off of her. Snap out of it Olivia. This is not a tryst. She stopped being foolish and followed Tom.

The place was a beauty from what she could see. It was a huge sprawling mansion. It was an inviting place. Someone had a wondrous house. As she descended the plane she thought she saw Fitz outlined standing out front. Her heart was doing leaps and bounds. Her breathing had accelerated. God, would he always have this effect on her? Probably so. She felt like she was walking the last walk to an execution. No it would never be that. This was Fitz. He only wanted an explanation. She would give him one return to DC and continue her miserable life. She walked toward him wondering if he would still see how much she loved him in her eyes.

The air had left his lungs when he saw her. She was undoubtedly the most beautiful woman in this world. His heart was about to beat out of his chest. God he loved her. He would give up his fortune and everything he possessed to call her his own. She had left him yet again. She was involved with Jake but it did not matter he loved her. And if the truth be told he knew she loved him too. A man can sense when a woman is his, you just know it. But here they were. He would bear the blame. He was married and he was the President. But he would change all that in a heartbeat to have her walk by his side. Showtime! He walked toward her with his love for her showing in his eyes.