Page 53 of The Press Secretary's Passion

“I… uhh…” I stammer and then lick my lips. His eyes drop down to my mouth and heat before they flit back up to my eyes again. “I think we covered everything we need to.”

“See,” he says, pressing closer still, “I don’t think that we did.”

“Well, I do.”

“You had your say, and now it’s my turn,” he begins once more, and I open my mouth to form a rebuttal, but he stops me with a hand low on my belly. “I will admit that, for a second, I considered you may have orchestrated this whole thing, but now I know for sure you did not.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I’m sure,” he says. “You also have to admit that this will harm me more than it will harm you.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, and I’m not sure why, but I do not like the idea of anything hurting Ryan, even if he did hurt me.

“Honey, celebrities weather this kind of storm all the time,” he says gently. “You’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, and…?”

“I’m not a celebrity,” he answers.

“I don’t understand.”

“Think about it, Jules,” Ryan starts. “I’m a military man. When my identity in that video gets out, I’ll be court martialed.”

“What?” I gasp. I don’t know much about the military, but I do know that a court martial is not a good thing. I thought it was only for big criminals, but I might be wrong.

“This kind of conduct is not befitting of an officer,” he explains gently. “I will be tried and convicted, and then my military career will be over.”

“No.”

“Yes,” he presses on. “So you have to forgive me for the two seconds I had to weigh all the facts that I know so far. And I really am sorry you were hurt by any part of that.”

“It’s okay,” I whisper. “But you have to know, I won’t tell.”

“Honey, you have to,” he says. “They’ll eat you alive if you don’t.”

“Ha!” I laugh, suddenly finding my confidence again. “This is my world. The hive doesn’t eat the queen, and I am the queen bee here.”

“Okay, well how about the fact that I’m not the kind of guy who will let his woman take the fall for him?” he prompts, knocking some of the wind from my sails for a variety of reasons.

“Let’s start at the beginning with that one,” I tell him. “One, I’m not your woman.”

“You are.”

“I am not.”

“You are,” he says again.

“Take it back.”

“No.”

“Fine,” I snap. “If I’m your woman, why do you leave me every time? You treat me like a hit it and quit it.”

He seems stunned for a moment, and then his smile is huge and blinding. “I was trying to give you space. I had no idea you wanted me to stay.”

“I don’t. But you still left!” Shit, I’m letting all of my cards show on the table. I can’t let Ryan know how much he affects me. This is so not good.

“Honey,” he says, his voice whiskey-smooth. “I was trying to protect you.”