More Than Words(68)

The freight elevator opened, and the inside was covered in padding. It went all the way around, obscuring the buttons and covering the camera in the corner.

“I felt like I was in a gift box on the way down,” Rafael said, holding the side of the elevator door with one hand, letting Nina go in before him. “One marked Fragile.”

Nina walked in and leaned against the padding. It was nice to relax for a moment.

“I feel like a china figurine,” she said, closing her eyes.

“You look like you could be one, in that dress,” Rafael said. His voice was right next to Nina, and she felt his weight pressing down on the padding to her left.

She opened her eyes and turned her head.

When she did, she found that her face was so close to Rafael’s she could feel his breath on her lips. It seemed like there was a magnetic force between his mouth and hers. And just like magnets, without even realizing it was happening, Rafael’s head tilted forward and hers did, too, and then they were kissing. He tasted like cinnamon gum—spicy and sweet at the same time. Rafael ran his top teeth along her bottom lip, and she shivered. Then, as if by mutual agreement, they broke apart and looked at one another.

“I didn’t mean . . .” Rafael said, grabbing her hand. “It’s not why I came down. I didn’t know you’d broken up with Tim. I just . . .”

“I know,” Nina said, her heart beating faster, her body awash in him.

The elevator opened on the twelfth floor, and Jane was standing in front of them. Her smile fled quickly when she saw their hands intertwined. “Stop that right now and follow me,” she hissed, staring pointedly at their fingers.

Rafael and Nina separated and then followed Jane into the conference room off the elevator lobby. Nina felt chastened. She heard her father’s voice in her mind: You’re smarter than that. And she was. But sometimes it wasn’t about intelligence. Not when the heart got involved. Her father never seemed to understand that. Or maybe he did. All too well.

“Not a word,” Jane said when she shut the door behind them. Then she grabbed a napkin from the stack that sat on a table pushed up against the wall. “You,” she said to Rafael, “have her lipstick on your lips. Wipe. Now.”

“And you.” She turned to Nina. “What in the hell happened to your brain? First you tell Rafael that you think he should change campaign strategies without talking about it with me or Mac, and now you cheat on your boyfriend and lie to me—you both lie to me—about what’s going on here. No wonder there was a fiasco last night. I know you lost your dad and that’s not easy, but what the hell, Nina?”

The old Nina would have apologized. Would have retreated. But the new Nina did not. “First of all,” Nina said. “Tim and I aren’t dating anymore. So I didn’t cheat on anyone. And second of all, what Rafael and I told you was true at the time we told it to you. We were just friends. The fiasco last night, as you call it, was Tim getting too drunk and too jealous for anyone’s good. And as far as the campaign strategy, I don’t work here anymore. I can talk to Rafael about whatever ideas I want.”

Jane looked at Nina openmouthed. Rafael had an amused smile on his face. “Watch out, Jane,” he said. “Nina’s on fire.”

Nina felt a rush of adrenaline after speaking up that way. She smiled back at Rafael.

“You both are killing me,” Jane said. “I was going to talk to you about how we should handle the photographs that are being leaked from last night, but it seems to me like we might need some other kind of strategy now. There’s still goddamn lipstick on your face, Rafael.”

“Sorry,” Nina said. “Chanel stays on pretty well.”

“Chanel!” Jane threw her hands up in the air. “Jesus Christ. Both of you stay here while I get soap and Mac. We need to figure this out.”

She left the room and Rafael started laughing. “Am I really wearing Chanel lipstick?”

Nina looked at him carefully. “Barely,” she said.

He slid his arm around Nina’s shoulders and she leaned into him. “You know Jane’s right,” she said. “We shouldn’t start anything now. What we talked about last week is still true. We should wait until the election is over before we pull any attention from your policies, before we mess around with your voter margins.”

“I know,” Rafael said. “But we hadn’t kissed then. I don’t know if I’ll be able to think about anything else now.”

Nina looked up at him, feeling that magnetic pull not only in her lips but in her heart. “Of course you will,” she said.

“Don’t think so,” Rafael answered, and then she was in Rafael’s arms and he was kissing her, his lips warm and soft. He slid his hands down the back of her dress and ran them over her hips. She laced her fingers together across his shoulders and pulled him closer.

They broke apart for a moment. “Rafael—” Nina started. But then his mouth was on her neck, kissing the hollow of her collarbone.

Nina leaned her head back, exposing more of her neck for him to kiss. “We have to stop,” she murmured, not wanting to. “Jane’s going to be back.”

“Mmm,” was Rafael’s response.

“I’m serious,” Nina said, even as she slipped her hands in the back pockets of Rafael’s pants, so she could pull him toward her.