Saturday morning was gray and muggy, but Martin still ran the twelve blocks to the Narcotics Anonymous meeting. The forecasters had been calling for rain for the past four days, but he took the chance. He hadn't had a good run all week and he wasn't familiar with the area enough to take the car. So, he left Lily asleep on their bed and headed for the nondescript community center. There in the basement of the building that paid homage to bad seventies architecture, he found several casually dressed bureaucrats holding down the faded linoleum. They were all recognizable from their pictures on campaign photos and the newspaper articles written about them. All powerful men and women, low-level politicians and senatorial aides mostly, but there were even a few people he recognized who worked with his father, but there was one who stood out. "Hi Todd."

"Martin," the senator looked at him shocked, "what are you doing here?"

"The same thing you're doing here." Martin smiled as they shook hands.

"Of course. Right." Todd laughed. "I apologize for my lack of manners. I just never expected to see you here."

"Two years ago I would have agreed with you."

"Almost five years for me." He sat down next to the agent. "Does Lily know?"

"About what? That I'm a recovering addict? Yeah, she found out before we started dating. Why? She doesn't know about you?"

"No, I've never told her. I didn't think she needed to know that I was high while we were together."

"I'm sure she would understand."

Todd laughed. "I wish it were that simple, Martin, but as I'm sure you know, things are never simple inside the beltway. I'd love to tell her, but I lose my appearance as holding a position of authority."

"Over Lily?" Martin couldn't contain his laugh. "I'm sorry. I just find that comical. Todd, she may be your employee, but she's also your friend. She's known you for years and was even engaged to you. She probably knew you were an addict before you did."

"I wouldn't doubt it. It might even be the reason she never said yes when I proposed, but it's not something that I really feel comfortable discussing with her."

"It's up to you. I'll never tell her."

"Thanks."

Martin looked at the floor. "You're welcome, but I have to tell you. It's mainly out of guilt because she came to me the night you proposed. I might have had something to do with her not accepting."

Todd laughed again. "I figured. She never wanted to be some senator's wife, always had dreams of getting out of this arena, so it never surprised me that she didn't accept, but I knew she went to see you the night I proposed. She has always admired you and valued your opinion. You are probably the only one too." He laughed again. "I think it has something to do with the fact that you have always been able to thumb your nose at your father and do as you pleased."

"It hasn't always worked and I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but I never have played politics very well."

"You might want to start considering you now have an IOU from me." He whispered with a smile as the meeting began. "I owe you for not telling Lily. Just remember, it's a one shot deal. So, play it wisely. If you need help, let me know. I've been in the game my entire life. I'm not an expert, but I'm above average."

Favors in Washington had never meant much to him, but, Martin thought to himself as he ran back to Lily's apartment, having Todd owing him might come in handy one day. Todd never struck him as more than a puppy on Charles Anderson's string being led everywhere the ambassador wanted him to go. Listening to him speak that morning had changed that. Addiction had a way of leveling playing fields and humbling egos.

The sound of Martin starting the shower awoke Lily from her dream of walking down a white sand beach, her white linen dress blowing in the warm breeze coming off the sparkling white capped water. She could feel the warmth of the sun on her face, hear the sound of the waves crashing, and see Martin standing in the distance waiting for her. The beige suit he was wearing looked perfect on him, lightweight and with the white dress shirt left unbuttoned to the third button. He smiled and held out his hand, but she woke up before she reached him.

The door to the shower stall opened and he felt Lily's hands on his back before he could turn around. She pressed her beautiful body to his, sliding her arms around his chest, and he kissed her hands, feeling her sigh. Her lips were soft and warm as she began caressing his shoulder blades and he had to drop her hands so he could grip the wall as she slowly kissed down his spine. Her touch was so gentle and always able to make him feel things he couldn't even name much less define.

She heard his breath coming faster and slid her hands over his slick torso as she continued her tender caresses. The water was warm as it fell over them, but it was nothing compared to the heat that they were generating between them. His sculpted body radiated a temperature that permeated deep into her soul, threatening to cause a fever to go along with her delirium. The entire week she'd felt like an engaged woman was supposed to feel, hopelessly in love with her fiancé. Somewhere between Monday night and Saturday morning, she'd lost the constant fear of having to make the most of their time together because she'd become accustomed to Martin still being next to her in the morning.

Turning around, he kissed her lips with all the passion that she had arisen in him. She felt so good against him, her skin slick beneath his hands as he slid them down her creamy thigh. She had a way of filling his every sense, of making the world fall away. Whenever they were together, there was no one else in the whole world. Somewhere in the past week, he'd come to the realization that it was no longer painkillers that filled his thoughts. It was Lily Anderson. She had become his first thought in the morning and his last thought before he drifted off to sleep at night, and as he slid inside her depths, he knew she was one addiction he never wanted to give up.

Never had she felt the sensations she felt when Martin began taking her against the shower wall. The feeling of the water cascading around them as if they were standing in a tropical waterfall straight out of some romantic movie, the feel of their two moist and warm bodies moving as one, set off the most intense climax she had ever experienced. It started with a moan before her lungs froze, the heat of the pleasure spreading through her body faster than a wildfire and hotter than a volcano, finally reaching her brain and making her cry out for him, grinding herself against him.

The sensation of her delicate yet strong body convulsing around him, the sound of her calling out his name, watching her face reveal the pleasure she was experiencing, sent him over the edge, and he pulled her to him, thrusting against her one final time before he exploded with the same indescribable intense passion. He'd never connected with a woman on so many different levels as he did with Lily and he was finding it made everything more pleasurable.

"Hmm?" Martin's fingers had been stroking her hair as they relaxed on their bed, but he stopped when he kissed the top of her head, and she looked up at him from her place against his chest. "What did you say?"

"I said that I was just thinking we should go away for the Fourth. Just you and me on a tropical beach somewhere."

"That sounds nice." Lily settled back down against his shoulder, his fingers resuming their tracks in her hair. "We do get two weeks, but I thought you wanted to go back to New York."

"New York will still be there. When was the last time you and I went on a vacation together?"

"Um, does the time your parents went to Tuscany and let you stay at the estate count?"

"No." He laughed.

"Then the answer is, never." She smirked and kissed his exposed chest.

"Exactly. So, what do you say? We can get away to Jamaica or the Bahamas for a few days and forget about wedding plans and national security."

"That is the best idea I've heard in a very long time."