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“Why would I do that?”
Was she being deliberately stupid? “Because I slept with you! You’re my client, and I acted in a wholly unprofessional manner.”
“In case you didn’t pick it up, I was rather into your manner.” Elizabeth grinned and pressed a kiss to Alex’s nose. “We’re both adults, Alex. I trust that we can navigate our professional relationship as well as our personal one.”
Alex stared at her in disbelief. “It’s—it’s not that simple.”
“Why not?”
“I have a job to do, and I can’t do that if I’m sleeping with you.”
Elizabeth shrugged. “If that’s how you feel, then we won’t do this again. I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll survive.”
She was already thinking of doing it again? Alex was still stuck on the disaster of the first time.
“I… You…” She didn’t know how to put her worries into words properly, but thankfully, Elizabeth knew her well enough by now to pick up on her thoughts from her body language and facial expressions.
“You haven’t ruined anything, Alex. I knew you were my bodyguard when I decided to have sex with you. I’m not going to fire you because I finally gave in to my attraction. I’d love if we could do that again, but if not, we can go back to just being friends.”
“I—you’d really consider moving forward as more than friends?” She looked at Elizabeth who looked beautiful in the morning light, her perfect hair messed up from the sex.
“I would. It should be no secret that I like you, Alex, nor that I’m attracted to you. I’d like to take you out on a date, if you’re amiable to that.”
Alex felt like her head might explode. She’d woken up expecting to be fired, and now Elizabeth was asking her out on a date?
“I… I need to think about it.”
She didn’t miss the disappointment on Elizabeth’s face and hastened to clarify. “That’s not a no. It’s just a lot to take in and consider. What if something happens between us personally? What will that do to our professional relationship? How will it affect my future career?”
“Those are all good questions, and I’m afraid I don’t have answers to all of them. I can’t say exactly how things will end up between us if we don’t work out in the dating arena, but I can say that I’ll do everything I can to maintain a good working relationship with you.”
“You can’t guarantee it, though. No one can.”
“No,” Elizabeth agreed. “If things were to end very badly between us, we may be unable to work together. However, I like to think that our friendship would survive any dating disasters. In life, there are no guarantees, but I can promise you this: if we do this, I will commit to you, Alex. I will commit to making this work. It may be difficult, but I believe we can overcome the difficulties and create something beautiful.”
Her words swept Alex away on a wave of beautiful possibility. Elizabeth had always had a way with words—she needed to, being a politician. Alex couldn’t allow herself to be persuaded by eloquent speeches, though. This was the rest of her career and the trajectory of her life she was talking about.
“Give me a few days to think on it.”
“You can take all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere. Keep in mind that if we do this, it would have to be discreet. My career is too important to risk.”
“What do you mean?”
Elizabeth sighed. “As I’m sure you’re aware, I’m not publicly out yet. It just never seemed like the right time, and now, when I’ve been fighting for LGTB+ rights for so long, it feels like I’ve been lying by keeping my sexuality a secret. There just never seemed to be anyone I was serious enough about to make it worth coming out publicly. I’ve never outright lied, but perhaps because of the way I look and present myself and the false old rumours about me and my friend the politician Michael Rosen, there has always been this assumption of heterosexuality. There will be hell to pay when it finally does come out. My career will become suddenly very complicated. That means that I have no intention of coming out until I’m ready to retire.”
That certainly was something to consider. Alex hadn’t hidden who she was since she’d been a teenager. She understood Elizabeth’s reasoning, but that didn’t mean having a secret relationship would be easy.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Thank you, Alex.”
The next few days were a revelation. Alex expected things to be awkward or at least charged between them, but they weren’t. She and Elizabeth settled back into their easy friendship. They still laughed together and chatted late into the night.
There was still a huge underlying note of sexual tension between them, but Alex was so used to that by now that she could all but ignore it. Despite what they had done, nothing changed between them. Elizabeth still griped about not being able to leave the house except for essentials, and Alex still offered her sympathy and hope that the police would make some progress soon.
When she wasn’t focused on making sure there were no intruders on the property, Alex’s mind wandered to Elizabeth’s proposal.
In all honesty, she would love to date Elizabeth. She wasn’t Alex’s usual type of younger pretty girls, but her usual type had never worked out that well for her historically anyway. Somehow, she still felt in being with Elizabeth they were perfect for each other. She was just afraid of messing up this chance she’d been given. And it was all very well being perfect for each other in the privacy of Elizabeth’s home, but how would that work in real life? Elizabeth was a famous politician and aside from working as her protection, Alex didn’t know how she would ever fit into that world.
