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Sam stared outside the windshield thinking about all the intelligent things he could say to end the evening, yet was somehow not at all surprised when, "I always thought I was cuter than him," somehow flew out of his mouth. He never was good at being under pressure around Mallory.
"I haven't seen you in over a year, and all you're going to say to me is, 'I always thought I was cuter'? I'm going to blame that on your lack of sleep," Mallory opened her door and walked around the car as Sam struggled to undo his seatbelt and get out the passenger side.
"You know, you don't have to walk me too my door."
"I'm progressive," she said over her shoulder.
When he reached his front door, Mallory was already leaning against the white doorframe waiting for him. He fished his key out of his pocket and clumsily tried to undo the lock. Sighing, he turned to her and said, "Mallory, Leo would probably be very annoyed with me if he knew I was letting his only daughter traipse around the city this late at night. I'm fine, really. Just drive on home that way I don't have to be worry about being charged with treason or anything else fueled by paternal fervor tomorrow morning."
Looking directly in his eyes she leaned in and whispered, "Maybe you should just give me your keys so we can get the door open faster." The sound of metal hitting cement reverberated in the DC night. "I make you nervous after all this time?" She leaned down to pick the keys off the ground, and after one try, the door swung silently open.
She turned to look at Sam and for a second he couldn't think of anything else except how the slinky green dress she was wearing clung to every perfect curve of her body and made her hair look as though it was on fire. "I'm sorry," he said shaking his head to clear it of all the inappropriate thoughts swirling around. "Did you say something?"
Without any hesitation, Mallory slid her manicured hand along his loosened tie and grasped it making him think of all the inappropriate things he'd just managed to set aside, and then he heard her say, "I asked just how tired you are." He looked up from her hand and saw her smile in that way women have when they know they're about to get what they want. Without waiting for an answer, she stepped into his hallway and turned on the light. She removed her coat and laid it on the banister and then took the first few steps up the stairs. Suddenly she stopped, and Sam's heart skipped a beat with an emotion he couldn't quite identify. She turned her head so that he could just make out her profile, and then she smiled again. "I always thought you were cuter, too." With that, she continued her ascent into what Sam would forevermore consider God's country.
As he tossed off his coat and locked the front door behind him, he thought that the risk of treason wasn't really as worrisome as when he'd initially mentioned it. Jail time would definitely be worth it--especially for a woman with a smile like that.