Fires of Autumn (30 page)

“Hi,
angel,” he answered as fast as he could. “What are you doing up so early?”

“I’ve been
up for awhile,” she sounded sleepy. “It would seem that I just can’t sleep
anymore if you’re not next to me.”

He
grinned. “I’ve been thinking the same thing,” he said softly. “I miss you so
much.”

“I miss
you, too,” she whispered. “Can you have breakfast with me?”

He glanced
at his watch. “Sure,” he replied. “It’ll have to be quick, but as long as I get
to see you, I’m fine with that. It’ll be the best part of my day.”

“Then I’ll
come to you since I know you need to get to work,” she said. “Is there
someplace close to you?”

He could
see his townhome down the street. “There’s a café about three blocks from my
house,” he said. “It’s on P Street NW near Dupont Circle.”

“What’s it
called?”

“The D.C.
Café.”

“I’m on my
way.”

He smiled.
“Good,” he said softly. “I love you. I’ll see you over there.”

They hung
up and he hurried back to his townhome for a quick shower and a change of
clothes.  In less than twenty minutes, he was showered and dressed, heading
over to the café only to see that it was closed. Being Thanksgiving Day, he
wasn’t surprised. It should have occurred to him.  When he saw Casey’s big
black SUV pull up behind him and park, he got out of his car and went back to
her.

Casey was
already climbing out and they came together on the dawn-hued street, sharing a
very passionate kiss.  Colt hugged her so tightly that he was sure he was
breaking bones.

“Hi,
angel,” he whispered into her hair. “God, I’ve missed you.”

Casey
clung to him. “I don’t like this,” she murmured. “I don’t like it when I don’t
get to see you very much.  I feel so lost.”

He cupped
her face in his big hands, kissing her cheeks, her lips. “I don’t want to do
this anymore,” he whispered between kisses. “Tell your parents about us or I
will. I’m not going to spend another night away from you.”

She stared
at him. Then she started giggling. “My dad might not take it too well.”

“I don’t
give a damn.”

She
continued to laugh. “I’ll tell him today,” she promised, returning his kisses.
“You can come over tonight when you’re finished with your shift.”

“Swear?”

“I swear.”

He smiled
at her for the first time. “Good,” he stopped kissing and hugging her long
enough to point to the café. “They’re closed for Thanksgiving.  Have any other
ideas?”

She turned
to look at him. “We can go back to your place. If you have eggs and coffee,
I’ll make us some breakfast.”

His smile
grew. “I don’t think I do, but we can swing by somewhere and get some.”

They did,
at a convenience store down the street.   Casey followed Colt to his townhome,
a place she had become familiar with while he had been recovering from his
bullet wounds. It was a two story brownstone built at the turn of the last
century and absolutely beautiful. The townhome had one bedroom, one bath, but
very big and roomy, and sparingly decorated because a bachelor lived there. 
There was a couch, a giant flat screen television, and a gigantic bed that was
neatly made. It looked like it had never been slept in.

He also
had a very nice kitchen with granite counter tops and new fixtures, but very
few pots and pans.  As Casey got organized to make their breakfast, Colt began
to remove his clothing.

“Sorry I
don’t have much in the kitchen,” he said. “I don’t cook at all.”

Casey
grinned as she put the frying pan on the stove. “I think I’ve cooked on this
stove more than you have, and I’ve only done it twice.”

He laughed
softly, pulling off his tie and throwing it over the dining room chair.  “This
is a kitchen meant for you and only you.  I’ll never let anyone else cook here,
ever.”

“You’d
better not.”

They
grinned at each other as she beat at the eggs, paying attention to what she was
doing and not noticing that he had taken off his dress shirt and white tee
shirt.  As she prepared the eggs for the frying pan, Colt stripped off is
pants, shoes, socks and briefs. Just as Casey was preparing to put the eggs in
the pan, he walked up behind her, stark naked, and put his arms around her.

“I don’t
want to eat,” he murmured, kissing her ear. “I just want you.”

Wrapped up
in his enormous embrace, Casey put her hands back to feel for him and realized
her hands were meeting with bare flesh.  In fact, she could feel his arousal on
the small of her back.  Without another word, she turned in his arms and lifted
her mouth to him for a kiss. Mouths fused, Colt managed to turn off the burner
as he picked her up and carried her into his bedroom.  The eggs were forgotten
in the bowl.

As dawn
broke, Casey’s clothes came off and Colt nursed hungrily at her breasts as she
tried to pull her jeans off.  He eventually let go of her long enough to help
her disrobe, but he was back on her the moment she was nude, his big body
covering hers, his hands stroking her.  Casey was so highly aroused that by the
time he thrust into her, she was already climaxing and Colt made love to her as
the sun rose, feeling her multiple orgasms before taking his own. 

Fulfilled,
content, and utterly in love, he kissed her sweetly as their passion cooled,
touching her soft skin and luxurious hair, so completely happy for the first
time in his life.  But as he kissed her neck, he caught sight of the clock from
the corner of his eye.  He stopped kissing her and sighed heavily.

“Damn,” he
whispered. “I’m going to be late if I don’t get out of here.”

Casey had
her arms around his neck, craning her head back to look at the clock.  It was
almost seven in the morning.  She lightly slapped his tight bare buttocks.

“Get up,”
she told him. “You can’t be late.”

He was
back to nuzzling her neck and sucking on her earlobe. “I don’t want to leave,”
he murmured. “I want to stay here with you.”

She
smacked his butt again, harder. “You can’t,” she said. “Get up, Sheridan.  Duty
calls.”

He was
still on top of her, his big face looming above hers. “I know,” he muttered.
“But… I love you, Casey.  I love you so much. I don’t ever want this moment to
end.”

She
reached up, stroking his face. “Me, either,” she whispered. “I love you, too.”

He gazed
at her a moment longer before kissing her, very sweetly, on the lips.  Then he
pushed himself off of her and climbed off the bed.  As he went into the other
room for his clothes, Casey got out of bed and found hers.  She pulled on her
underwear and her jeans, finally her long sleeved tee shirt.  As she wandered
into the dining area outside of the bedroom on the hunt for her shoes, she
noticed that Colt was already completely dressed. All he was doing was fussing
with his dark tie.  Casey found her shoes, slipped them on, and went to stand
in front of him.  She ran a hand down his finely tailored arm.

“Nice
suit,” she commented. “In fact, you always dress extremely well.  You must
spend a fortune on clothes.”

He
grinned. “What else do I have to spend it on?” he wanted to know. “I don’t have
a wife or kids – yet – so my money is spent on me. Clothes reflect the man and
in my position, it’s important to project a certain image. So I wear Armani
suits and Kenneth Cole shoes.”

“And you
look fabulous,” she agreed, then looked at him wistfully. “I’m going to miss you
today.”

Still
fixing his tie, he bent over and kissed her. “I’ll miss you, too,” he said
softly. “But I’ll see you tonight, I promise.”

She smiled
at him, watching him finish with his tie and pull on his expensive overcoat.
Pulling on her own coat, she collected her purse and followed him out of the
house.  When they got down to the street, he wrapped his arms around her and
kissed her again.  After a long, sweet hug, he took her hand and led her around
to the driver’s side of her car. Casey unlocked it and he opened the door.

“Get in,”
he told her.

She
climbed in, kissing him yet again. “Love you,” she murmured. “Have a good day.”

He
couldn’t seem to stop touching her face or kissing her soft lips.  He couldn’t
seem to make himself pull away from her.

“You,
too,” he murmured against her lips. “I’ll see you tonight, I promise.”

She smiled
at him as he closed her door and went back to his car, parked behind her. 
Casey pulled away from the curb, watching him in her rear-view mirror as he
made a u-turn and went in the other direction.  As she drove away, she lifted
her hands, smelling him on her flesh, and her heart fluttered wildly. She never
knew it was possible to love someone so much, without reserve or fear.   All of
the love stories that had ever been written couldn’t do justice to what she
felt for Colt or what he meant to her.  She felt like the most fortunate woman
on the planet.

Not
surprisingly, Nick Cleburne didn’t take the news of a Sheridan in their midst
too well.

***

The West
Wing was fairly empty of people at two o’clock on Thanksgiving Day.  Casey
entered through the main entrance, greeting the uniformed Secret Service
officer at the desk.  Dressed in a form-fitting suede jacket with fleecy white
trim, skinny jeans and sexy knee-high leather boots with a spiked heel, she
looked delicious with her luscious hair pulled back in a stylish pony tail and
a big picnic basket in her hands.   Even the uniformed officer gave her a
second look as she walked past him. 
Casey Cleburne is one fine lady
, he
thought, eyeing her with appreciation.

Heading
back to her office, she was surprised to see Chris Eckart at his desk.  She was
also a little disappointed.  Peering into Colt’s office, she noticed it was
empty.

“Where is
everybody?” she asked, setting the picnic basket on her desk.

Chris was
in jeans and an old shirt, working on his computer.  “The President went to
church at noon.  They’re eating now up in the family apartments. What are you
doing here?”

Casey
didn’t want to ask him if he knew where Colt was but her mere presence here was
awkward now.  She sat down at her desk and put the basket on the floor behind
her.

“I came to
work on a couple of things now that it’s so quiet and everyone is occupied,”
she lied. “What are
you
doing here?”

Chris
shrugged, his eyes glued to the computer screen. “I don’t have any family
around here,” he said. “I came to clean up some files and get some work done. 
Actually, I’m glad you’re here. I want to show you something.”

Casey
really didn’t have any patience for him but she dutifully stood up and went
over to his desk.  “What?”

He turned
one of his two monitors in her direction.  He began pointing at the screen,
which just looked like a picture of the corner of his desk.

“I have a
webcam on my desk so when I’m away, I can see if anyone has been screwing with
my stuff,” he told her.

Casey
fought off a smile. “Isn’t that a little paranoid?”

He
grunted. “No,” he replied frankly. “Last year, I found that a couple of aides
had been messing with my computer, logging on and getting on to porn websites
and stuff.   They were trying to get me fired but it backfired on them, those
bastards, so I’ve always had this webcam taking shots of my desk. It’s come in
handy.”

Casey did
grin, then. “Okay, so you got the last laugh,” she pointed at the screen. “What
do you want to show me?”

He clicked
on what was apparently a video and all she could see was his desk, his computer
area, and then she noticed that her desk was in the shot.  It was mostly the
bottom part of her desk, from about the desktop down, and it really only mostly
showed the underside of her desk. Still, she could clearly see the storage
boxes that contained the President’s old bank statements. Suddenly, someone sat
in her chair and began pulling out files from the storage boxes.  Casey’s eyes
widened.

“Hey,” she
pointed at the screen. “Who’s that?”

Chris held
up a finger. “Wait for it.”

They did,
for about a minute.  Then the suited figure bent over enough so that the head
was in the shot, in profile, and Chris paused the recording.  Casey’s eyes
widened even more when she realized who it was.

“Sheridan?”
she breathed in disbelief.

Chris
nodded. “Exactly what I said,” he rolled the recording and they could both see
Colt digging through the boxes and pulling out files.  “Why would he be at your
desk rummaging through files?”

Because of
the angle of the camera, they couldn’t see what he was doing once he pulled the
files out, but he very rapidly went through all three boxes, pulling out files,
replacing them, and pulling out more.   Casey was confused more than anything
but along with that confusion, she was beginning to feel sick.  Why would he be
going through file boxes containing Russ’ old bank and investment statements?
What could he possibly be looking for?  The more she watched, the more upset
she became because she realized it went on for quite some time.  He never
touched her desk drawers as far as she could see and he never moved to her file
cabinets, but he was very interested in old records.  Great angst began to
swamp her but she fought it. She didn’t want to show any real reaction in front
of Chris.