Page 5

PART I

He shook his head. She really pushed his buttons. All the right ones.

And standing there, holding his arm out to her, he was trying to recite the periodic table to avoid the hard-on that was threatening to tent the front of his uniform pants.

Getting a rock-hard erection in a room full of politicians and flashing light bulbs? Nope.

Not that someone would try to take a photo of him, but Selene?

He'd seen a number of photos directed at her. If he was seen in them, it would likely just be a background thing.

She really did look amazing.

And she was waiting for him to say her name.

"Selene?" He moved his arm, and she looked at it with a smile. "Would you like to leave?"

"With you? Absolutely." She looped her arm through his and they headed to the door at the far side of the ballroom. When they reached the hallway, he drew in a full breath.

It was blissfully empty.

He heard her soft laughter.

"I guess you felt the same way that I did about the crush in there."

He nodded. "It's one thing to have a bunch of people in the same room, that many people? Nope."

They stopped at the entry to the building. He could tell that the metal detectors just inside the door were temporary. They were heavy and had probably taken a whole team to move them into the entry, but with the number of dignitaries in the ballroom, they had to have security and tons of it.

One of the coat-check employees disappeared into the coat-check room and came out a moment later.

The coat that Maya had made for her was amazing. He wasn't into fashion, but fashion on Selene? He might become an expert on it.

After spending time with her, he was likely going to spend too much time looking her up online.

Yes. He was attracted to her.

Almost too much for his own peace of mind .

"Miss Selene?" The young woman holding her coat was struggling to remain calm. She was almost bouncing out of her shoes. "You sounded amazing at the inauguration."

The young man standing beside her held William's dress hat in his hands.

William helped Selene on with her coat and then reached for his hat.

Selene was talking with the two workers, likely in their late teens. They were both hanging on her every word.

William understood.

He was too.

Even better, when Selene glimpsed a phone precariously close to falling out of the boy's dress slacks, she pointed it out and asked them if they would mind taking a photo with her.

If THEY would mind taking a photo.

William couldn't help smiling as the two fell all over themselves to accept.

Selene, completely free of any kind of artifice, leaned in cheek to cheek with the two for a selfie.

As they stood up and offered her their profuse thanks and assured her that they'd tag her in the selfie online, William reached out his hand after checking to make sure that the security guards and federal agents had everything under control. "Here. Let me take a photo of you three. "

The boy handed over his phone to William, his eyes shining as bright as his friend's. "Thanks, man."

William smiled and took a series of photos of the trio before he gave the phone back.

Selene moved in, slipping her arm through his again. "Please tag me on that, too."

The two teens were almost melting with joy as they stepped outside.

William placed his cover on his head, and they stepped out into the night.

The first touch of the outside air had him smiling ever more than he had been.

And Selene? She sighed and turned to look at him. "So much better."

He agreed.

"Where to?"

He shrugged. "What haven't you seen in DC?"

"Everything."

He chuckled softly as he led her down the sidewalk. "Well, I can't show you everything, but there's a bunch of places we can see between here and the White House."

He was still amazed that she was staying the night there in the Lincoln Bedroom. And he was there, guarding her.

"Lead on, Master Sergeant."

She put a very official tone in her voice, but her smile ?

It had powers over him that he'd never considered.

And he found that he didn't have a problem with it.

Not at all.

Selene felt like she was floating, and it had nothing to do with the insoles in her sneakers. Although those were helping. Outside of the times she was expected to show up looking like a fashion plate, she loved to be… “comfortable.”

Hearing William’s laughter, she looked up at him.

“What?” A strange feeling came over her and she looked at him, wide-eyed. “Did I say that out loud?’

“I was hoping you were saying how comfortable you felt with me.”

She blushed.

“That is true, but I was talking about how it felt great to wear sneakers instead of heels.”

“You should wear them more often. Start a trend.”

They stopped just outside the US Botanical Garden, and she looked at the fountain. “What time is it?”

She saw the momentary hesitation on his face, but a second beyond that he looked at the watch on his wrist. “Just a few minutes until midnight.”

Selene stared at him, wondering where the time had gone. “I guess we should head back to the White House.” She said the words but didn’t really feel it. “You weren’t planning on working this late.”

He’d put himself between her and the street, even though there was no one on the street.

“I don’t really see this as work. This is the best day I’ve had in a long time.”

She smiled at that, grinning ear to ear. “Same. I know I definitely didn’t expect to meet you.”

“Same.”

He held out his arm to her, but instead of taking it, she put her hand in his.

She waited for him to pull away.

Instead she felt him grasp her hand securely and step closer to her.

“Is this okay?”

She saw the way he looked at her and felt her whole heart expand to impossible dimensions. “It’s more than okay.”

“It kind of feels like a dream.”

His words were softly spoken, but they didn’t sound disingenuous.

Instead, she practically shivered at his words. “I was thinking the same thing.” As they walked, their joined hands swung back and forth between them. “I’m sad that it’s about to end.”

She lifted her chin toward the White House. “It’s the first time I had a man walk me home to the White House. ”

Quiet descended between them before he spoke again. “You don’t suppose that the Secret Service is going to greet me at the door with shotguns and bad attitudes, do you?”

She smiled at him. “I have no idea. Are you… I mean do you live around here?”

He opened his mouth to answer, and she winced. "Is this one of those if you tell me, you have to kill me, things?"

He looked at her with a smile that she never wanted to forget.

"I'd never tell you something that would make me kill you. That's a little extreme."

"Only a little?"

They were approaching the gate at the White House and Selene started to slow her steps. She didn't want to say goodbye. Not just yet.

She had half a mind to keep walking until her legs felt like jelly. She really wanted to spend more time with him.

"I'm actually only here for the next few days. I'm heading off on another deployment."

She thought she heard some hesitation in his voice, but she didn't know how to ask him about it.

"If you... if you wanted to talk..." She bit the inside of her cheek. "I don't know what to say here."

William slowed to a stop along the fence and gently touched her arm.

She had chills from just that simple touch .

She wondered if she was dreaming.

This moment.

This man.

She didn't want it to end.

She didn't want him to walk away.

"You don't have to say a thing." He smiled at her and she felt like she had his full attention.

A heady feeling for sure.

"I... If you wanted to..."

She felt herself shrinking away from the words.

She wanted to keep in touch.

She wanted to at least be friends.

How... silly did that sound?

"Can I," his voice was deep and low, gentle and soft, "touch you?"

Oh.

She knew that it was her own mind going 'there.'

She knew that he wasn't talking about that. Not standing there at the fence of the White House.

Nodding, she licked at her lips.

He smiled.

"Yes?"

She nodded again. "Yes."

He lifted his hand and brushed his fingertips along her cheekbone. "I've been wanting to do that for hours."

Selene turned her head, and his hand moved to cup her cheek.

"I've been hoping you'd do that for hours. "

His touch was just as mesmerizing as his smile and the warmth in his gaze. "As the guard assigned to you. That would have been a problem."

She worried her bottom lip at that. "I wouldn't want you to get in trouble over me."

Something changed in his gaze. It was deeper. More intense.

"I'd get in all kinds of trouble over you."

He didn't elaborate, but she felt a tremor move through her, a thrill. She'd fill in the gaps in her dreams.

"I'm guessing you don't live around here?"

She smiled at that. "No. I have a house in Virginia. My hometown. When I'm doing shows, I rent houses to stay in. I'm not big on hotels."

He nodded and looked at the White House on the other side of the fence. "That's a hell of a hotel."

They laughed at that, and she felt him move his hand until his fingertips were moving along the slicked back hair at her temples.

What she wouldn't give to feel his fingers through her hair when it was loose and around her shoulders.

"Do you," she drew in a breath, "do you want my number?"

She asked the question, feeling like a complete idiot.

"You would give me your phone number?" He sounded genuinely shocked .

"Well, I trusted you with my life all day. Why not with my phone number?"

Even as she joked about it, she understood the shock on his face.

She was constantly being asked for her phone number. And other personal details.

This time, she was asking.

He reached into his pocket and took his phone out. Tapping the code onto the screen, he held it out to her. "Would you add it in for me? I'll message you from my phone later."

Taking it from his hands. She added her number into his contacts and gave it back.

"If you ever want to talk..."

"Oh, I will." He tipped his cover back and shook his head. "I still can't believe..."

She nodded, feeling her heart beating stronger than it ever had before.

"Can I..."

She tipped her head back and smiled, hoping.

"Can I kiss you?"

Selene wanted to melt into the ground at that very minute, but it was also the last thing she wanted to do.

She didn't want to miss this moment, for anything.

She licked at her lips and hoped that she didn't make an utter fool of herself.

"Selene? "

She blinked at him and realized what she had missed.

Answering his question.

Drawing back a little she smiled, almost laughing at herself.

She blushed, feeling her cheeks heat with sheer embarrassment. "Yes. The answer is yes."

William leaned in, both of his hands gently cupping her face. She felt the warmth from his gloved hands and the heat of his breath against her skin.

She wanted to melt against him and lean into him, but she managed to hold herself still if only to remember everything about this moment.

The second his lips touched hers, he was lost.

He knew that she had the world in front of her.

She had a crazy, amazing life and it was only going to get better.

But it wasn't something he could be a part of.

He would be thousands of miles away in a completely opposite time zone, but this?

This moment with his lips against hers.

With her eyes closed and dark lashes fanned against her cheeks.

And her skirt pressed against his legs.

It was a modern-day fairytale .

His sister would know more about it than he did, but he felt it.

Felt it down to his bones.

When he moved back, he was shaken.

There was magic in this woman.

She swayed toward him, and he lowered his hands to her shoulders and then slowly moved his hands down to her upper arms, his gaze fixed on her face.

When Selene opened her eyes, he was lost again.

"I'm..." He pressed his lips together, trying to fix the feeling of her kiss in his memory. "I'm going to miss you." He drew in a deep breath. "You be careful, Selene. Take care of yourself, okay?"

He wanted to say more, but it was January, and it was cold.

Cold enough that he could see their breaths in the night air.

Her eyes shone as she looked up at him under the streetlight. "Same." She bit into her bottom lip. "You take care of yourself, William Winchester."

How could he do anything else?

One last time, he offered her his arm and she took it.

He walked her to the security booth at the entrance to the property and made sure that the guards had her protected and inside the building before he left.

William took the long walk back to the parking lot where he'd parked hours earlier, his gaze on the windows of the Lincoln Bedroom.

He saw her light go on and he felt a strange peace settle over him.

She was safe inside and he'd done his job getting her there.

His heart, well that was another case entirely.