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It shouldn’t matter. Really, Kate had far more important things on her mind.
After all, she was the President of the United States. Today, she’d had a security briefing about the political situation in Honduras, discussed the messaging strategy for the housing bill that Sophie was hoping could be a cornerstone of her reelect (assuming they could get it passed), and done a photo-op with the World Cup-winning US Women’s National Team.
That was all before 10am.
So the fact that her husband was currently making a bunch of college students giggle and blush behind their laptops in a lecture hall really should be the furthest thing from her mind.
And yet.
She’s been so thrilled when Anthony had approached her in the spring about an interesting conversation he’d had with the dean of the public policy school at Georgetown. An old connection from Anthony’s Senate days, the man had wanted to know if Anthony had any interest in teaching an upper-level seminar or two starting in the fall. And Anthony had been so excited by the prospect that Kate had instructed her Secret Service director to move heaven and earth to make it happen.
After all, they were well into year three of her term, so they’d fully settled into the White House at this point (as much as anyone could settle into the White House, that is). They still had about six months before the reelect picked up steam, and she knew that, while Anthony had been happy to put his own projects on hold for her first campaign, she could sense him getting restless. He was not made for the traditional first spouse duties of charity work, hosting dignitaries, and whatever speaking engagements the West Wing staff wanted to foist off on the East Wing.
Duties which Kate found incredibly sexist, to be clear. She could barely articulate how proud she was to see her husband step into the role of First Gentleman, especially when she knew how many emasculating jokes were circulating on the internet about him. Anthony had not only taken on the role with his head held high, but he’d been genuinely excited to make his mark on the role. And he had not truly complained to Kate about any of the duties he’d taken on, at least beyond the trivial frustrations of the day (though she suspected that was what his monthly poker night with Benedict, Gregory, and Simon – and Colin and Gareth whenever they happened to be in town – was for).
But still, Kate knew her husband. Once the crushing load of the campaign had finished and Kate had moved on to take on a new, even more crushing load, she’d seen Anthony’s mask start to slip as he settled very firmly into the background. And then Charlie had graduated high school and gone off to college – even if she was only down the street at Georgetown – and, well, Kate wanted Anthony to have something that he could focus on that was his. So much of the recent years of their lives had been all about Kate, so when this teaching opportunity came along, it had felt like a perfect solution.
Charlie had only been slightly mortified when they’d informed her that her father intended to become a lecturer at her school. But she was also a chemistry major, so she’d decided that she could live with it, as long as Anthony did not embarrass her if he saw her on campus with her friends.
(The joke was on her, as Anthony lived for embarrassing his children as much as possible. But he’d also fallen into a routine of treating her to lunch on the days that he was on campus, so they seemed to have struck a balance.)
All seemed right with Kate’s family. She might have to worry about a million things happening in the country and world on a daily basis, but at least she didn’t have to think twice about her family.
That is, until Charlie visited for dinner one night in late September.
Kate had reworked her entire day’s schedule when she found out that her daughter wanted to grace them with her presence – Kate had practically threatened Sophie that unless nuclear war was breaking out, she was absolutely not to be disturbed for dinner. And it had worked – Kate had managed to spare an entire two hours for what felt like the most leisurely dinner with Anthony and Charlie.
So, there she sat, sipping a glass of red wine while she listened to her daughter and husband bicker about the milkshake he’d ordered the last time they had lunch (“It was so gross, Dad, how could you eat that??” “I don’t know how you expect me not to try a chocolate-dipped bacon milkshake when I see one, sweetheart, but you’re wrong, because it was delicious.”).
Frankly, Kate was tuning in and out of the specifics a bit. Instead, she let the warm delight of her family’s spirited conversations wash over her. Such conversations had been the soundtrack to Kate’s life for decades and were still as comforting as hot chocolate on a snowy January day. So, when Charlie rolled her eyes at Anthony and looked at Kate to intervene, Kate had to mentally shake herself to focus.
“Ugh, Mom, you have to tell him to tone it down in his lectures,” Charlie complained.
“That’s enough, Charlie,” Anthony chided with his own eye roll as Kate frowned, glancing between them and trying to piece together the conversation. Charlie looked back at Anthony with a disgusted look.
“Dad, I’m serious, if I have to hear one more girl on campus wax poetically about how hot you are and how much they just looooove listening to you drone on about the Congressional budgeting process, I am going to throw myself into the Potomac.”
“Be serious, Charlie, that’s not funny.” Anthony frowned as his gaze darted to Kate, an apology ghosting behind his eyes as she saw the tips of his ears get red.
Interesting.
“I have never been more serious in my life,” their daughter swore. She turned to Kate with mischief in her eyes, clearly enjoying getting the rise out of her father. She was Kate’s daughter, after all. “You should see them, Mom, they stand around on the quad in a little circle giggling after class –“
“They do not –“
“And they know which building he’s lecturing in so they can ‘accidentally’ run into him and say ‘oh, hi Professor Bridgerton’ while they practically push their tits up out of their shirt –“
“Charlotte Sharma-Bridgerton, watch your language,” Anthony scolded, trying to stay firm with his dad-voice, even as Kate could tell that he wanted to crawl into a hole and escape this conversation.
Charlie just rolled her eyes. “’Tits’ is not a swear word,” she defended, crossing her arms over her chest.
“It’s uncouth,” Anthony insisted.
“I’m a college student, I am not couth.”
“Hold on,” Kate interrupted, and both pairs of eyes turned to her. “So you’re telling me that your father has a… fan club on campus?” She grinned as she watched Anthony take a large chug of wine and Charlie nodded. “How big are we talking here?”
Kate knew that her husband was wildly attractive – she had eyes, didn’t she? He’d been a hot commodity on the Hill when he’d been a young, single Senator. And even though marriage had taken him off the market and the years had added more salt to his now salt-and-pepper hair, Kate knew from her regular media briefings that he was frequently called the “First Zaddy” on certain (not small) corners of the internet.
So it was not surprising that certain corners of Georgetown were now avidly objectifying her husband.
Still, Kate couldn’t resist poking at it a bit later that evening.
“So, it sounds like you’d failed to mention an important part of how your teaching experience has been going so far,” she said casually as she slipped into their bedroom.
Anthony, who’d been sitting up reading in their bed, groaned and scrubbed his hands over his face, shoving his reading glasses up onto his forehead. Kate smirked as she shed her heels and suit jacket before sinking down next to him on the mattress.
“I’m going to kill Charlie,” he mumbled into his hands.
“I think the Secret Service would have a few things to say about that,” she said lightly, poking is bicep. “Want to tell me about it?”
“Not really, because it’s stupid,” he grumbled as he put his book and glasses on the bedside table. He turned back to Kate with a sigh. “Yes, some of the young women in my seminar seem to have a bit of a… crush on me. It’s… flattering, but it’s nothing.”
“Okay.” Kate paused and considered him for a moment. “Nothing because nothing happened, or –“
“Jesus, Kate, nothing has or would ever happen,” Anthony interrupted firmly with a small flinch. He gaped at her for a moment as a frown clouded over his expression. “I cannot believe you feel like you have to ask!”
Kate threw up her hands defensively and shook her head. “Hey, of course it’s not like that, you know I trust you,” she told him.
“Do you?”
“Of course I do! It’s not like I have time to not trust you!”
“Well, that’s a ringing endorsement,” he snapped.
Kate blew out a long, frustrated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. She really had meant to tease him about this – how had they ended up here?
“Fucking hell, I just mean that I know that all this,” she waved her hands around her at the ornately decorated White House bedroom they called their own, “is not exactly conducive to marital bliss.”
She reached across the duvet for his hand. Anthony acquiesced as his expression softened, squeezing her hand gently. The tiny action melted some of the tension in Kate’s frame.
“Kate…”
“I know I work too much to be a good wife to you right now,” Kate barreled on, ignoring his protest. “And I know that scheduling sex through my secretary is hardly what you signed up for when you married me. But I just… I love you so much, and I couldn’t do this without you.”
She swallowed down emotion that threatened to clog her throat as Anthony studied her with such obvious affection.
“Baby,” he whispered, running his fingers over her hand delicately. “Do I get to speak now?”
Kate let out a small huff. “Yes, you may speak,” she grumbled as a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
“Good,” he continued, “because I need to assure you that I love you to the moon and back, Kate. There is no other woman who would ever even come close to you, and I could not be happier to be doing all of this,” he twirled his own finger at the room around them, “with you.”
He reached across the gap between them and cupped her face, bringing her lips to his in a slow, gentle kiss. They both sighed into it, neither one making any moves to deepen it, as Kate let reassurance wash over her.
Finally, Anthony pulled back and cupped her cheek, looking her squarely in the eyes. “Okay?” he asked, that concerned dimple between his brows still pronounced. Kate nodded.
“Okay.”
Anthony let out a sigh of relief and kissed her again. “Okay, good,” he murmured. A mischievous twinkle flitted through his eyes. “Besides, I happen to like our scheduled sex.”
Kate let out a disbelieving huff and swatted at his arm. “No, you fucking don’t, do not lie to me, Anthony,” she accused. “You like our sex, but you cannot pretend that a scheduled quickie between international trips is just as good as the weekend-long marathons we used to have.”
She watched Anthony’s eyes darken over as his thoughts clearly flickered back to some of their greatest hits, even as he scoffed lightly.
“Yeah, but it was the kids who killed that, not this job,” he said with a grin. He tugged her hips closer and started fingering the buttons of her blouse. “Besides, there are certainly… perks of this job that we haven’t really explored…”
“As I’ve told you on multiple occasions, you are not fucking me in the Oval Office,” Kate insisted as she reached for the edge of his t-shirt, skimming her hand across his stomach. Anthony pouted slightly.
“Ugh, I hate your ethics,” he mumbled as he pushed aside her blouse, following the fabric with his lips as he pushed it off her shoulder. “I still think you’re being paranoid.”
Kate chuckled and dragged her fingers through his hair, scraping her nails across his scalp and pulling a low hum out of her husband.
“Maybe when I don’t have to run for reelection,” Kate sighed as Anthony skimmed his hand up her thigh and under her skirt.
He smirked. “Something to look forward to for the lame duck period, then.”
Kate grinned at him, shaking her head fondly. What a ridiculous man. And yet, she still couldn’t help but love him.
Anthony brought his hands up to cup Kate’s face, sharing a grin with her before tugging her in for a deep, toe-curling kiss. Kate sighed into the kiss, burying her fingers into his curls. Everything about kissing Anthony was so deeply familiar, but somehow never got less thrilling.
Just as Kate went to deepen the kiss and push him back on the bed, Anthony pulled back for a moment and smirked smugly at her.
“Look at us, we didn’t even have to schedule this.”
Kate rolled her eyes and tugged his shirt up over his head.
“Shut up and fuck me.”
“Yes, Madam President.”
The next day, Kate had happily put whatever ill-founded insecurities she had to bed, and she’d practically bounced into the Oval Office on a very satisfied, entirely unscheduled sexual high. Sophie had given her a double take when Kate had actually laughed at something misogynistic said by one of her generals in a Pentagon meeting, but otherwise, all felt right.
But that was last week. This week, Kate had been thumbing through the papers of her media briefing to spot several clippings of coverage about the state dinner she’d hosted over the weekend for the King of Bhutan. The politics of the visit had been perfectly fine, but somehow, the media couldn’t decide if her dress made her look like a dowdy, old matron, or if it made her look like she was trying too hard (and failing, of course) to look cool in a way that was unbecoming for her age.
How both of those were possible, Kate had no idea, but she really should stop being surprised that her press coverage managed to thread that very small needle.
She’d long ago realized that this was how it was for women in the spotlight – especially for the woman in charge of the country, one that half of her constituents thought was the devil incarnate. She was criticized for not “dressing her age,” but then she was also criticized for not being sexier. Every wrinkle and hint of a gray hair just made her more of an object of disdain, as though many were offended that a woman of her age didn’t have the courtesy to just disappear into the background by now.
Meanwhile, the same people seemed to think that Anthony just got more distinguished and attractive as he aged. Kate had gotten fairly good at blocking out the noise in her decades in the public eye – and most especially in the last four years. But today, it hit a little different knowing that Anthony was sitting in a classroom with some of those members of his adoring fan club.
To be clear, Kate absolutely trusted her husband. There was no question of that. But that didn’t mean that it couldn’t bother her.
As the Women’s National Team and photographers were ushered out of the Oval Office, Kate sighed and leaned up against the Resolute Desk, grateful to see that Sophie was the only one hanging back. A small smile tugged across her face as she looked at her old friend.
“That has to be one of the coolest perks of this office,” Kate said as Sophie tapped on her tablet – Kate knew she would be checking the schedule for what was next. Even as she did that, Sophie grinned and nodded.
“Absolutely.” She looked back up at Kate. “Sadly, we’ll have to go from one of the best parts of the job to one of the worst – William Hilton is doing a White House tour with his granddaughter, and he expects an Oval photo-op.”
Kate grimaced. “God, I hate the donor glad-handing,” she grumbled. “If we didn’t need his money next year for the re-elect, I’d tell him to go to hell and use his money for something actually helpful for our country.”
Sophie hummed sympathetically, her lips twisting into a wry grin. “Unfortunately for now, the party line is that the most helpful thing he can do for our country is to give you a second term.” At least Sophie had the decency to sound apologetic – Kate knew that her friend hated the donor politics as much as she did. Sophie glanced back down at the schedule. “Thankfully, that should be fairly short. After that, we’ve got a bit of a break around lunch – I thought you might want to read some of the letters to the White House that the team has curated for you and take a look at the draft of the speech for next week’s rally out in Nevada. But that can be done over lunch before your briefing with the Treasury Secretary about interest rates this afternoon.”
Kate paused for a moment as she let that sink in. “What time is the Treasury briefing?” she asked, her mind running through an idea.
Sophie consulted her schedule again. “2:00.” She glanced back at her friend, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. “Why?”
The gears turned in Kate’s head as she waved off Sophie’s suspicion. “Oh, just thinking,” she mumbled, rapping her knuckles against the wood of her desk as she thought for a moment. She piped back up, “Do you know what time Anthony’s lecture at Georgetown wraps up this morning?”
“Uhhh…” Sophie trailed off as she turned back to her tablet, clearly pulling up Anthony’s schedule for the day – not a document she likely had open at all times like she did Kate’s. “11:30, it looks like. And his afternoon lecture starts at 1:15.” At Kate’s continued silence, Sophie prodded, “Again, I ask you: why?”
Kate hummed as a plan took shape in her head. “What would you think if we took a detour for lunch to Georgetown?” Kate asked. “Anthony gets to have lunch with Charlie whenever he’s on campus. They’ve been talking about this taco place that they’re trying all week, and I must admit that I’m a bit sad to always be left out of the fun.”
Sophie looked at her like Kate had just asked her to single-handedly bench press the weight of a pickup truck. “Madam President, I know you know by now how thoroughly all outings are vetted by the Secret Service,” Sophie started. “We usually have at least a day to plan for something like this, especially if we want press there for any candid shots –“
“But if Anthony was going to take Charlie somewhere, surely the plans would have already been vetted by the Secret Service,” Kate interrupted, even as she knew that the level of vetting her husband’s and daughter’s outings received was nowhere near what happened the minute she got involved. “No press needed – this will be a family thing. I simply want to meet my husband after he’s done with class and grab lunch with him and my daughter.”
A silence hung between them for a moment as Sophie glanced between Kate and the schedule, no doubt doing calculations in her head about whether they could make this happen.
“Is this a ‘hey Sophie, what do you think?’ question where you actually want to know what I think, or one that’s not so much a question, more of a direct order to make it work?”
Kate couldn’t help but grin at her friend’s wry observation. “The second one,” she told her, Kate’s grin widening as she watched Sophie sigh heavily. “See, Soph, now you’re getting it.”
“Yes, ma’am, we’ll get on it.” Despite Sophie’s strict adherence to addressing Kate formally whenever they were in a work setting, Kate didn’t miss the eye roll that accompanied her agreement. “Anything else?”
“No, just let me know when Bill Hilton is ready for that photo,” Kate said as she stepped behind her desk. She snapped as one more thought struck her. “Oh! I’d like to meet Anthony on campus. I want it to be a surprise when he gets out of his lecture hall. Obviously, his detail can know about it, but not a word to him.”
“You got it,” Sophie agreed wearily as she made her way into her office. Kate sank down into her chair and grinned smugly at the empty room.
There might be a lot of things that were terrible about her job, but it was moments like this that really made her appreciate the unique perks that came along with it.
She couldn’t wait to see their faces.
Anthony disconnected his computer and shoved it into his briefcase as the last of his seminar students trickled out of the classroom. It had been a great class – they’d managed to have a lively discussion about the politics of the universal basic income debate, which was quickly shaping up to be a key issue in next year’s election. Anthony’s students had a fantastic time planning out a lobbying strategy that an organization might use to advocate for UBI, and they’d only seemed more excited about it as Anthony threw out roadblock after roadblock.
These were the classes that Anthony loved the most – where he could get his students to think about the real-world implications of everything they were learning, and where he could see the excitement they brought to the problem he put before them.
It was incredibly rewarding. As much as media pundits loved to talk about how this generation of young people was going to bring the world to hell in a handbasket, these were the classes that made Anthony realize that no, the next generation really would have things well in hand once they had the reins.
He glanced down at his watch absently. Perfect – he was right on time to meet Charlie for lunch. She always managed to beat him to their meeting point by the student center, and then they’d set out for whatever neighborhood restaurant they’d decided on for the day. Charlie had picked out a new taco spot on M Street for today that had Anthony even more excited than usual – he’d been dreaming about those barbacoa tacos ever since Charlie showed him a social media post last week.
Anthony hoisted his briefcase over his shoulder and made eye contact with the Secret Service agent who stood alert in the back of the classroom for the whole hour of his lecture. Anthony smiled at the younger, mostly stoic man who was so often his shadow.
“Well, Henry, you ready for tacos?” Anthony asked as he shoved chairs under tables to make his way to the door. Henry grinned at him and opened the door for him.
“Yes, sir,” Henry agreed as he followed Anthony out into the hallway, followed by the rest of Anthony’s detail. “My husband is very jealous and told me their tacos al pastor are a must-try.”
“Really? The al pastor?” Anthony asked with a raised brow at the man trailing a few paces behind him. “I had my eyes on the barbacoa, but I know better than to ignore Miguel’s opinions on Mexican food.”
“I know better than to ignore his opinions on anything, sir.”
Anthony chuckled. “Smart man,” he agreed.
They rounded the corner to come up on the student center, and Anthony’s smile widened as he saw his daughter chatting idly with one of the agents on her detail. Charlie’s face split into her own grin as she saw her father approaching, and Anthony couldn’t help but jog the last few feet to pull her into a tight hug.
“Hi, Dad,” Charlie murmured into his jacket. Anthony smiled and pressed a kiss into the side of her head. God, sometimes he could hardly believe how much he loved this kid and her brother.
“Hi kiddo – how was your organic chemistry test?”
Charlie let out a loud groan. “It was awful, make it make sense, Dad,” she complained as she adjusted her backpack.
“You’re the only scientist in the family, kid, I’m not going to be able to help you with that,” Anthony said with a laugh. “Though I’m sure your mom could get some of her nerds in the NIH to help you if you wanted.”
“No thanks, I think I’ll stick with the tutoring center,” she responded with a grimace, which pulled another grin out of Anthony.
Anthony knew plenty of kids in her circle who would have leapt at the chance to have access to special resources through their parents, but he and Kate had been so proud of how Charlie and Ned had responded to becoming the children of the President. Charlie’s main concern had been to ask if she could still go to a normal college, and she’d done everything she could to just be a regular Georgetown student (and Kate and Anthony had worked very hard with their staff to make sure that was possible). While he knew that both of his children recognized their privilege, Anthony couldn’t help the pride that practically burst through his chest to hear her stay so grounded.
“I swear to god, it’s going to be a miracle if I pass this class,” she continued.
Anthony let out a chuckle and threw his arm around his daughter’s shoulders. “You’ll get there, I know you will,” he assured her. “But in the meantime, would tacos make it better?”
“Tacos make everything better,” Charlie told him faux-seriously. Anthony nodded very seriously as he steered her towards where the motorcade would be parked.
He couldn’t help but glance around as they stepped away from the student center. As he always did, he clocked the small group of his “fan club,” as Charlie had so bluntly put it, several yards away, sneaking glances at him and giggling. He fought to suppress an audible groan.
Anthony was no stranger to being publicly objectified. In fact, before he and Kate got together, he rather enjoyed his reputation as one of the Hill’s hottest bachelors. And the fact that the chatter had continued for nearly twenty-five years after that was certainly flattering – Anthony could admit that his ego was not a small one.
But until he started teaching, it wasn’t something that he had to confront in a way that was quite so personal and just there all the time. He could handle strange things shouted at rallies or the uncomfortable fan letters that the Secret Service now screened for him. But persistent attention from young women his daughters’ age, some of which he had to see on a weekly basis and be a professional, mature adult around? That was a whole other ball game, and not one that he wanted to play.
His approach so far had been to simply ignore it. None of his students had escalated anything beyond distant, harmless crushes, and he could ignore the whispered clusters of students like he was doing now.
That was, until Charlie decided to mention it at dinner with Kate. He’d felt mortified – it was so clearly not an issue for him that he hadn’t thought he needed to say anything. After all, Kate was the leader of the free world. She had plenty on her mind without this nonsense. They might have had their rocky patches as a couple – and more in the last four years than in the first twenty of their marriage – but Anthony could still not even fathom a world in which he might be anything less than fully devoted to making their marriage work.
In the end, he felt glad that they’d discussed it (and it was hard to complain about the sex they’d had after their rather terse discussion), but he was eager to put it in the past. Which meant he would continue to do what he’d been doing – ignoring and avoiding the matter on campus at every turn possible.
Charlie glanced up at him questioningly as he steered her away from the group, but followed his lead. He let out a small sigh and mumbled quietly, “Just trying to avoid the… attention.”
His daughter’s head whipped around and landed on the group of women, and she smirked. “I still can’t believe you hadn’t told Mom about that,” she teased. “You know, they say honesty is the key to a successful marriage.”
“And whoever ‘they’ are have clearly not been married to the President of the United States,” he grumbled. At his daughter’s raised eyebrow, he quickly backtracked. “Which is not to say that we’re not honest with each other about the important stuff – of course we are. Often to a fault. But it’s the small, stupid stuff like that that just… doesn’t always come up.”
Charlie slowed and looked up at him with a frown. “I hope I didn’t cause a fight by mentioning it,” she said slowly. “I’m really sorry, I just thought it was funny –“
“Oh, baby, you don’t need to apologize for anything.” Anthony pulled them to a stop and turned to face his daughter fully, running his hands up and down her arm reassuringly. He breathed a sigh of relief as the tension in her expression faded away. “I would never want you to feel like you have to keep secrets from either one of us on behalf of the other. That is not your job, and responsibility for having those conversations falls entirely on your mother and me. In fact, it ended up being a good thing that we did talk about it, so I’m glad it came up.” He reached over and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “I never want you to worry about our relationship. Your mother and I are stronger than ever, and we’ve dealt with far worse than that.”
She studied him for a moment as though deciding whether to believe him or not, and relief swept through Anthony as she seemed to accept what he was saying. “Okay, Dad,” she agreed. “I’m glad you’re good.”
“Of course I am. And I’m going to be even better with those tacos,” he said, a grin tugging across his face as Charlie laughed quietly. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Excuse me, sir.” Anthony jerked around as Henry caught his attention with a hand on his shoulder. “We’re going to need you and the First Daughter to hold here for a moment.”
Concern immediately tugged at Anthony’s gut – this was not typical. “What is it – is everything okay?” he asked, trying to keep the worry out of his voice for Charlie. Henry touched his earpiece, listening for a moment, as he nodded to Anthony.
“Everything’s fine, sir, but we’re just holding here for a moment.”
“Well what the hell are we holding for, then?” Anthony snapped before movement and noise off to the left pulled his attention. He’d written the noise off as typical college commotion, but as he turned to face it, he realized he should have known better.
There, striding towards him and Charlie amidst a growing crowd of interested college students, was Kate.
Anthony couldn’t help the shocked smile that stretched his face. He glanced at Charlie, who looked just as surprised as he did.
“Did you know about this?” he asked. She raised a brow at him.
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“That’s a no, then,” he chuckled, glancing at Henry. “What about you? You must have known about this.”
Henry smiled at him apologetically. “I only learned about it about an hour ago, but POTUS wanted it to be a surprise,” he admitted. Anthony laughed as they made their way over to Kate, who was grinning ear to ear.
“Well, hi, you two, fancy meeting you here,” Kate said as Charlie wrapped her mom in a hug. Kate squeezed her tight and Anthony saw her close her eyes briefly, something she did whenever she was soaking up a small moment.
“Yes, funny how that happens when you have an armed security detail that can keep us from going anywhere,” Anthony snarked at her, even as he grinned widely.
Kate shot him a look, but Charlie (thankfully) interrupted, “What are you doing here, Mom?” Kate’s attention snapped back to their daughter with a smile.
“Well, you and Dad have been talking about these damn tacos all week, and I happened to be free for lunch today. I figured I’d come see what all the fuss was about.”
Anthony considered her carefully as she and Charlie chattered about the restaurant. He knew that Kate didn’t simply have a free lunch – if she wanted to do anything, it required extensive planning and sacrificing something. Kate was here because she really wanted to be here.
God, he loved this woman.
Kate smiled at him over Charlie’s shoulder as their daughter described the slow roasting that this restaurant was known for.
“All right, come on then,” Anthony interrupted. “Let’s go eat these things instead of talking about them.”
“Hmm, just one more thing,” Kate said with a sly look on her face. Anthony frowned at her.
“What else could we possibly –“
Kate cut him off by grabbing his face and firmly pressing her lips to his in a deep kiss that stole his breath.
Anthony felt stunned – it had been years since Kate had kissed him like this in public. Not that he minded; as his brain caught up with his instincts, he kissed her back just as fiercely. If his wife wanted to kiss the hell out of him in front of a bunch of undergrads, he sure wasn’t going to complain.
“Come on, you two, gross.”
They broke apart at Charlie’s protests with matching grins. Anthony glanced sideways to see her scrunching her nose with disgust. “I thought you two had grown out of this years ago.”
Anthony pecked Kate’s smiling lips again. “If you pick right, it’s not something you grow out of,” he said, turning to his daughter with a smug grin. She simply rolled her eyes and turned her back on them.
“Gross,” she mumbled as she turned to one of the Secret Service agents, who began directing the family to the motorcade. Anthony threaded his fingers through Kate’s as they followed their daughter, grinning at her.
“What was that for?” he asked in a quiet murmur. “Not that I’m complaining…”
Kate just smirked smugly and shook her head. “What, am I not allowed to kiss my husband?” she asked lightly, glancing around them and waving at a few students who were waving at the first family.
Anthony studied her profile as suspicion niggled at the back of his mind. When he watched her eyes linger for a moment on the group of young women who had been ogling Anthony, his suspicions were confirmed.
“You are insane,” he murmured. Kate caught his gaze, mischief dancing in her large, expressive eyes.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said with a smirk that suggested that she knew exactly what he was talking about.
Anthony shook his head in disbelief. “You know you have nothing to prove, right?” he asked, glancing around at the students less than half their age. “Especially… here.”
Kate scoffed and looked at him like he was crazy. “I’m the President of the United States, Anthony. I have plenty to prove to a lot of people, but certainly not to a bunch of Georgetown coeds.” She leaned into him with an almost-cocky twist of her lips. “But I still like to claim what’s mine.”
Hunger coursed through Anthony that had nothing to do with Mexican food. He let out a low groan as he leaned into her. “Christ, Kate,” he breathed, glancing around them before his eyes landed back on hers. “You’re killing me, here.”
Her mouth twisted victoriously as she straightened back up and trained her eyes forward. “Mmm, well, consider it a taste of more to come. I was thinking that we might have some… unscheduled time after my Treasury briefing later.”
“Fuck.” His swear was so light that others would have taken it for an oddly formed exhale, but Kate smiled, knowing exactly what she did to him. She leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek before tugging him firmly towards the motorcade.
Anthony had known all those years ago, when they’d sat in his kitchen on a depressing January afternoon and promised to try, that his life with this woman was going to be an absolute rollercoaster – and it had been. But hell if he would trade a single second of it for anything else.