DUTCH AND GINA: AFTER THE FALL (10 page)

“and he’s the best. I never want to hurt you, Dutch, I’m so sorry.”

Dutch was so relieved that she understood that he took over the kissing lead. Only his kisses weren’t those quaint pecks Gina was laying on him, but was one long, passionate, purposely sloppy kiss. His body leaned closer against hers as he kissed her; as he leaned closer against hers as he kissed her; as he rammed her body so hard against the door that she wondered if they would knock it down.

She placed her arms around his neck as he kissed her. And then it became vital. He quickly pulled down her jeans and pan es, and then slung them completely off of her. She wrapped her legs around his hips when he did, her exposed womanhood pressed tightly against his stomach as he lifted her equal to his height. And he continued to kiss her.

His fingers also found her womanhood as he kissed her, as he slid in and out of her, one finger and then two and three, in and out un ll her vagina was throbbing with desire. And she was all in.

She slung the Harvard jersey and the bra she was wearing over her head, rendering her chest completely bare, and his mouth found those excited, bare breasts.

He sucked and fingered her, fingered her and kissed her, until his penis could no longer be denied.

He unzipped, pulled it out like a rocket ready to thro le up, and entered her orbit with an easiness that caused them both to groan. It felt so sensual, like a momentous journey into a tunnel already made narrow and saturated for his smooth passage, and he smoothly passed through.

Gina could hear and feel the slogging of his manhood deep within her, as her juices and his penis joined. And it all seemed so certain to them now.

Nobody was going to come between them. Nobody was going to tear them apart. Because no need, no ma er how great, could ever hold a candle to the need, the love, the passion they had for one another. Dutch sucked and fucked her ferociously, sliding in and out of her, in and out with the kind of angular thrusts only an extremely experienced man could accomplish.

Dutch found he had new tears in his eyes as he fucked her, as his muscular thighs shook and his bu ocks ghtened with every thrust into her. He’d never met Marcus Rance, and he knew Roman was capable, but the idea of Regina Harber, his wife, caught up in that kind of craziness wasn’t something he could bear to even imagine right now.

And if protec ng her meant keeping her right up under his thumb, then so be it, he thought as he released a stream that spla ered her walls and forced him to press his body even harder against hers.

So be it, he thought again.

SIX

LaLa straightened her flowery sundress as she stood outside the study along the east corridor of Crader’s home. And when she knocked once and opened the door, she was relieved to find that Crader was not in the office. Dutch, instead, was leaned back in the execu ve chair behind Crader’s desk and looked up at LaLa over the top p of his reading glasses. Christian was standing beside the desk.

“Hi,” she said to the two gentlemen, far more relaxed than she felt. “You wanted to see me, sir?”

“Yes, Lore a,” Dutch said, looking up only briefly from the stack of papers he held in his hand, “come and sit down.”

LaLa smiled when she realized that the Harvard jersey Gina had worn a couple hours ago, was now being worn by Dutch.

“What’s up, Chris?” LaLa said as she made her way to one of the two arch-top chairs in front of the desk.

“I’m just chillin’, you know me,” Chris an said jokingly.

LaLa laughed. “Yeah, I know your butt alright.” Chris an looked down at LaLa’s dress. “You really look pretty today. Doesn’t she, sir?”

LaLa wanted to fall through the floor when Chris an pulled the obviously extremely busy president into their nothing conversation.

Dutch, however, to his credit, did look up. Only he looked LaLa up and down. “Yes,” he agreed with Christian, “I told her so earlier. Very attractive.” LaLa smiled. Dutch went back to reviewing his documents. LaLa looked at Chris an, her eyebrows raised, to see if he could indicate what this was about.

Chris an, however, simply shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know a thing, either.

A er several moments of Chris an and LaLa just being there, another knock on the door and this me Crader entered. It was only then that Dutch finally tore away from his papers and tossed them on the desk.

“Crader, good, come on in.”

Crader smiled. “ Thanks for invi ng me into my own study,” he said, and Dutch laughed.

“Hey, Christian. Hello, La,” Crader said as he sat in the chair beside LaLa.

the chair beside LaLa.

“Hey,” she replied rather blandly.

Crader scrunched up his face as he took a seat.

Dutch began moving from behind the desk.

“Where’s Gina?” Crader asked him.

An embarrassed look crossed the president’s face, causing Christian and LaLa to smile.

“She’s taking a nap,” Dutch said and sat on the edge of the desk.

“Oh, so that’s why you took her in the house,” Crader said, now grinning. “To put her to bed, right?” Dutch grinned, comfortable going there with his old friend. “Right.” But then he looked at Chris an.

“That’ll be all, Chris. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, sir,” Chris an said and le the room, smiling at LaLa as he left.

“So,” Crader said, leaning back, “what’s this li le meeting about?”

Dutch removed his glasses and twirled them. “As you know, we’ll be leaving for Europe tomorrow. I asked both of you to come so that both of you can care for our son. And you both graciously agreed.”

“It’ll be my pleasure, sir,” LaLa said. “I love Li le Walt.”

Dutch smiled. “I know you do, Lore a, that’s why I want you there. But as your backup I want Crader there too. Gina and I will be on the go un ll late into the night, there isn’t an hour of our day that isn’t already scripted out. I’ll have my mee ngs and appearances and Gina will have her appearances and du es and it’s always a hec c, highly charged me. The G-8 is always an extreme event. Always. No-one will be allowed to so much as glance at our child, unless it’s me or Gina or one of you. Is that perfectly clear?”

“Perfectly,” Crader said unwaveringly.

“Absolutely,” LaLa likewise replied.

Dutch

con nued.

“No

ma er

what

the

circumstances, the four of us will be it. I love Chris an like a son, but even he won’t be in this loop. The White House, or here at Ruth Island, is a constant. I know the Secret Service gives us their full protec on and I know how for fied that protec on is. Europe is not a constant, but a variable. We have to rely, in many respects, not only on the Secret Service, but on our host na on’s layers of security. For Gina and I, that’s fine because our every move will be laden with publicity.

But as for our son, the last thing I want is to have him anywhere near any bright lights. Gina and I will take over at night, but during the day I’ll be relying on the two of you. Which brings me to my second point.” Dutch folded his arms. He knew he was about to tread in unchartered waters.

“I need the two of you to come to some kind of understanding,” he said.

Neither LaLa nor Crader had seen that coming.

They glanced at each other, and then back at Dutch.

“My child will be with the two of you most of the day. You cannot and will not be around my child with animosity toward each other or any kind of repressed anger or regret or any other disparate emotions.” Then he looked at Crader. “Crader, you did the wrong thing. You’ve asked for LaLa’s forgiveness, I believe you’re genuinely regretful, but you need to keep it together.”

Then he looked at LaLa. “Lore a, I know you’re hurt and disappointed in Crader, I’m disappointed in him too, and it would be easy for me to tell you to suck it up and get over it. But you’ve got to get over it. You have got to decide if you’re going to give Cray another chance, remain friends only, or drop him altogether and move on with your life. The decision is yours, but you’ve got to make one. You and Crader must resolve you’ve got to make one. You and Crader must resolve this before we leave American soil. Understand?” LaLa nodded, with Crader staring intensely at her.

“Yes, sir,” she said.

It wasn’t un ll later that night, a er dinner, did they even make an a empt at any resolu on. Dutch was back in the study reading over that voluminous stack of papers that had been faxed to him, Gina and Chris an were in the Nursery with Li le Walt, so Crader asked and LaLa agreed to take a walk with him across his well-lit estate.

When they ended up at the waterfall, they took a seat on the bench and sat there quietly for a me, enjoying the view.

It was Crader who broke the peace. He leaned forward, his hand clasped together. “Dutch is right, you know,” he said and then looked at her. “We need to resolve this. Either we are going to make a new start, or we’re going our separate ways.” LaLa inwardly smiled. “He also men oned friendship as an option.”

Crader shook his head. “I don’t do the friendship thing, not with a woman I’ve slept with. Won’t work.

Nope.”

“Roman slept with Gina, but she counts him as her friend.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not Roman. I couldn’t handle that. I want all of you, or I don’t want any parts of you.” LaLa found his statement a little off-putting. “That’s mighty grand of you,” she said. “Considering we were fine until you messed up.”

“Okay, I messed up, La. I messed up! How many ways can I tell you that I’m sorry for what I’ve done?”

“You can’t tell me,” she said. “ That’s the problem, Crader. You were telling me a lot of good things before you fooled around with Liz Sinclair. But your ac ons told me something en rely different. You can’t tell me a thing.” Then she exhaled. “You’ll have to show it to me every day un ll I can see for myself that your words match your actions. And if you don’t want to do that, if I’m asking too much of you, then say so and we can end it now. But I will not se le for less than total respect from you and your total commitment to me and me alone.”

Crader ran his hand through his hair and stood up.

He placed his hands in his pant pockets. “I’m a blunt man, Lore a, always was and always will be, and I’m going to be blunt with you now.” He turned to her.

“No,” he said.

LaLa’s heart dropped. She looked at him. “What are you saying?” she asked him, trying with all she had to keep her emo ons in check. “Are you saying you don’t want to prove yourself to me?”

“I’m saying no, I can’t do what you’re asking. I won’t play a game of
you must be perfect or I’ll leave you
, I can’t go there, La. Because I’m not perfect, never have been perfect, and it’s probably a safe bet I’ll mess up again.”

He sat down beside her. He could see the sudden fear all over her usually whimsical face. And he was sorry he was causing her so much pain. “Life isn’t a guarantee, Lore a, and love damn sure isn’t. It’s a daily struggle. Even a man like Dutch, whom both of us admire, struggles daily to keep it together. And I’m no Dutch Harber, all right? Don’t want to be, either. So I can’t promise you that I’ll walk in perfec on, I don’t even know, tangibly, what perfection is.” He moved closer to her, placed her hand in his.

“What I can promise you,” he said, “is that I’ll do everything in my power to do right by you. And if a gorgeous woman parades naked in front of me again, gorgeous woman parades naked in front of me again, instead of giving in to tempta on I’ll run and get you so you can beat her up for me.”

It was such an out of nowhere joke that LaLa smiled before she had a chance to check herself. What an unusual man, she thought.

Crader, who was smiling too, turned serious again.

Dead serious. “I promise that I’ll honor you and respect you and do everything in my power to make you as proud of me as I am of you. I’ve never met a woman like you, LaLa. From your ridiculous nickname,” she smiled again, “to your spirit and integrity and sweetness, you’re a new breed for me. My past rela onships have always been safe bets. You know the types: airheaded trophy girls that I could bed whenever I wanted; could take to any social func on I please; could dump at will because they weren’t expec ng much out of me either. I was rich and powerful, that was all they saw.”

“And unbelievably good looking,” LaLa added.

“You see,” Crader quickly said, shaking his head and smiling, “that’s why I love you, La. No other woman in her right mind would give her man props like that, especially when they’re not on the best of terms.”

“It’s the truth,” she said. “You are extremely good looking.” She thought about it. “Maybe that’s part of the problem. Maybe I look at you, and look at myself, and I wonder why you would want me. I mean, I know I’m okay looking, even cute and some days even pretty.

But I’m no great looking trophy woman. Am I?”

“No, you’re not,” Crader said bluntly, causing LaLa to stare at him. “You’re an a rac ve woman, but you’re no beauty queen. That’s not your strength. And my a rac on to you isn’t because you had this outward package that I just couldn’t resist. I like the look of the package now, don’t get me wrong,” he said with a smile, “but you’re so much more than your wrappings.

And that’s the thing, La. When I see you, I see what I aspire to be. I see a strong, independent person who never played the vic m or the damsel in distress or any games to wrangle herself a man. I see a woman of integrity, of courage, of loyalty. When I look at every woman I’ve ever dated before, I see a bed partner, somebody I can fuck un ll she’s sore from my pounding her; somebody who could leave my presence forever and I would barely miss her. But when I look at you, I see a part of me as if it had been taken out of me and placed inside of you. I see a woman I can tell my secrets to. A woman I want to be happy and full of life and somebody I never would want to hurt in a million years. Yet you were the one I hurt without even thinking about the consequences un ll I was already at the point of no return.”

He moved even closer to LaLa, his hand now squeezing hers, his arm now hugging her across her shoulder. “What I’m trying to say, La, is that I can’t promise you that my ac ons will always mesh with my words. But I can promise you that I’m going to try unlike I ever have in my en re life. Because I know you deserve far be er than who I am, I want to be a be er man to be worthy of you.”