Fic for Challenge
Downing the last swallow of her drink, CJ glanced toward the bar, debating whether to order a second. As she scanned, a figure at the far end caught her attention. Surprised, she craned her neck to get a better view.
She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised to see Josh Lyman here- the bar was popular, reasonably priced, and within four blocks of the White House, so it made perfect sense for Josh to come here for a drink after leaving work. In fact, she had chosen this bar to meet her date for exactly those reasons.
For a moment she debated just leaving, heading home to an old sweatshirt, a glass of wine, and one of those Late Night TV shows she almost never got to watch. Time away from work, from the whirlwind of crisis and tension was rare enough that she wanted to treasure these few hours away from it all, not see or talk to another Senior Staffer until the next morning. But there was something in the dejected hunch of Josh’s shoulders and the way that he cradled his tumbler of whiskey that made her heart go out to him. Standing, she smoothed her skirt and headed to the bar, snagging the barstool that had opened up next to him.
“Hell of a day, huh?”
He glanced in her direction. “You could say that” he agreed, eyes tired and on the verge of bloodshot.
“I heard you and Sam had a run-in Senator Adamson.”
“You heard right. He’s pulling his support for the President’s energy bill. His support was bringing Galen, Hutchins, and Hart to the table. Without him, they’re all likely to pull out as well, which puts us four down with only two days until the vote.”
CJ signaled the bartender for refills of each of their drinks
“Can you get him back?”
Josh pinched the bridge of his nose and scrunched his forehead. “I spent all day trying. He won’t budge. I’ve got a meeting tomorrow with Galen- there’s a chance he won’t back out if we promise him support for his campaign funding reform package when it comes to a vote a few weeks from now, and doing that gives us the slightest chance of bringing MacBride onboard as well. But without Adamson, Hutchins won’t go forward and Hart says she’s definitely out.”
“So still two votes shy”
“Exactly. And I’ve tapped everyone I can think of, everyone I can’t, and then everyone I can think of again just to be sure. “ He accepted the new tumbler and took a sip. “Don’t get me wrong, I love working in the White House. But some days? Days like this? It almost makes me want to shoot myself.”
“Believe me Josh, I know.”
“Seriously. I no longer have a personal life to speak of. I’m getting four hours of sleep a night, I not only keep an extra suit in my office in case I end up spending the night there, but I use it frequently enough that I get it dry cleaned as frequently as my regular suits, and I haven’t gotten laid in a period of time which, embarrassingly enough exceeds the length of time I spent as the mascot for my Junior High School Wrestling team.”
CJ raised her eyebrows. “I keep a suit, two pairs of shoes, and a toothbrush in my office and haven’t gotten laid in so long that I debated getting a cat to keep me company before I realized that I spend so little time at home the cat would be in danger of starving to death. Your Wrestling Team had a Mascot?” She grinned. “ Was there a suit involved?”
“I am not telling you what the mascot is”
“I have a posse of eager young interns at my disposal. If I wanted to find out, you couldn’t stop me.” She took a sip of her drink.
“Why aren’t you…you know. I thought you had some sort of hot date tonight.”
She smiled ruefully. “I sent him home after the fourth Cod Fishing joke.”
“Seriously? There are jokes about Cod Fishing?”
“Surprisingly enough. At least four of them, which is three more than I knew before this evening, and four more than I ever wanted to know. How long were you a mascot?”
“Um… About two months.”
“Wow.”
“I know. Hard to believe I put up with that level of mockery for two months.” He took a sip of his whiskey.
“I was actually thinking about the celibacy thing.”
His eyes met hers over the rim of the glass. He swallowed, setting the glass down on the bar.
“Are we…on the same page right now?”
“I think we are, Josh.”
He stood up quickly, grabbing his coat from the back of his chair and digging a bill out of his pocket to toss on the bar.
“I’ll get a cab.”
* * *
The cab had barely driven away from CJ’s stoop before, by some unspoken mutual agreement, his lips were on hers, kissing and devouring, pressing her up against the door. She hadn’t even managed to get the key in the lock, and already her body was starting to melt against his. Reluctantly, she pulled herself away and turned to open the heavy door, holding in open for Josh to enter.
It was awkward inside, seeing Josh standing in her living room, lit by bright incandescent light, remembering-still tasting his lips on hers from just a few seconds ago and trying to resolve that knowledge with the equally real understanding that she would see him again at the White House less than ten hours from now, have to work with him and argue with him and go about things as if tonight had never happened. She sighed.
“Josh…this is a bad idea, isn’t it?”
He shrugged, laying his overcoat across the back of her sofa.
“Probably.” He acknowledged.
“We work together, we’re friends… this could never be anything- we couldn’t tell anybody, we’ve both had a couple of drinks tonight…”
“Alright.” He said, crossing to stand directly in front of her. “I just have one question, and then if you want, I’ll call another cab and go.”
“Ask away.”
He stared at her intently, looking for an answer before he asked the question.
“Do you want this?”
She met his gaze for a moment, debated, then reached out and grabbed his tie, pulling him roughly into a kiss.
The kiss was feverish, with an intensity and desperation that was almost startling. He backed her up against the door again. She pulled him closer to her, sliding one of those long, long legs up to keep him from moving. The action forced the hemline of her skirt to ride up her thigh, and he followed it with his hand, running from her knee to her hip and then up her torso. When he reached her breast and traced his thumb over her nipple, she gasped despite the layer of clothing and involuntarily thrust her hips against his.
“Just for the record?” he said, doing it again to watch her reaction with a satisfied grin, “I’m not drunk.”
“Neither am I.”
“Good.” He kissed her again, reaching for the buttons of her blouse, unfastening them to find beneath it a cream-colored camisole with just a hint of lace. The delicacy of the garment was fascinating to him, the idea of her wearing nothing but that garment almost unbearably arousing. Eager to achieve that goal, he turned his attention the waistband of her skirt, fumbling for a second with the tiny hook at the top of the zipper before succeeding in sliding it down her hips and dropping it to the floor.
“We…umm…Bedroom.” She announced with an ironic lack of coherency, but Josh figured he understood her well enough.
“Lead the way.”
The bedroom could hardly be considered far, but by the time they got there, he had been expertly divested of his shirt and tie and CJ’s fingers were working deftly on the waistband of his pants. They were around his ankles before they reached the bed. He kicked them off, toeing off his shoes as CJ did the same.
He should have felt ridiculous, standing there in his socks, wife-beater and boxers, but he was too aroused to care. Instead, he reached for her again, cupping his hand around the back of her neck as he drew her in for another toe-curling kiss. He unfastened her bra, drawing the straps down her shoulders. He stopped her from reaching down to pull off the camisole and bra, instead helping her to slide the bra off while still leaving the camisole on. Moving with her, he pushed her down on the bed, tracing his fingers along the waistband of her panties.
He traced a line to her collarbone with his mouth, enjoying the sensation of her hands on his arms, his back, sliding under his wife-beater and tugging it off. The sensation of the camisole against his own chest made his cock twitch in appreciation. He cupped her breast again, allowing his fingers to tweak her nipples and grinning triumphantly at the sound of her breath catching. When he brought his mouth to one of those peaked nipples to suckle it through the silk fabric, she threw her head back, arching into his mouth. Loving the intensity of her reaction, he did the same to the other nipple, simultaneously reaching down to stroke between her thighs, teasing her through the panties. She moaned softly at his ministrations, and he took pity on her, pulling of the undergarment and sliding his fingers through her slick folds.
While he was doing that, she had pulled the camisole over her head, tossing it somewhere on the floor. He stared wonderingly at her breasts for a moment before leaning down again to taste the newly exposed flesh, all the while working her toward release.
“Josh…I…” She breathed.
He could tell she was close, and that was exactly where he wanted her.
“Let go, CJ. Just let go.”
A moment later, she did, shuddering beneath him as her orgasm claimed her. He paused, giving her a moment to recover before kissing her, allowing his fingers to start stroking her again. She made the most arousing little noises without being aware of it- they had him just about ready to explode without even being touched. He held out another moment though, until he judged she was ready , then, without losing the rhythm he had established, he shoved off his boxers, positioned himself against her, and sank into her tight heat. He moved in and out of her slowly, trying to last as long as possible. A few moments later she clenched around him, letting out a moan that sent him over the edge. He pushed as deep within her as he could, riding out their mutual orgasms until his arms couldn’t support his weight and he collapsed atop her, trying not to crush her. Exhausted, he felt himself drifting off to sleep; he debated trying to stay awake, clean himself up and head home until he realized the CJ was also nearly asleep. Using the last of his energy, he shifted so that he wasn’t completely on top of her, draped his arm over her, and drifted off to sleep, figuring that they would be able to ignore this just as well in the morning as they could right now.