Chapter Text
“I see you, you know.”
The only reason he’s not now dangling from a chandelier is because the ballroom has thirty foot ceilings and he can’t jump worth crap. He might’ve even screamed except she’d waited until he’d had a mouthful of wine, which he’d now inhaled and was coughing to clear.
His eyes were always busy at these events. Mostly he kept a lookout for Elizabeth, watching for the trouble she could get into, but also he kept an eye on Nadine’s whereabouts in case they needed to make a hasty retreat.
Or in case she had the urge to scare the crap out of him.
He turned, eyeing her as she smirked at his state. “Where did you come from? You were talking to Ambassador Khazraee two seconds ago.” Just to be sure, he looked back across the room where the Ambassador was, in fact, still standing. How she crossed through the crowd so fast was entirely beyond him.
One slender shoulder raised and lowered as she innocently sipped her champagne. “He was dull and I saw something much more interesting.” She looked like a cat who’d caught the canary.
“That’s nice.” He turned back to the room, locating Elizabeth and Henry again. If she had something to share, he knew better than to simply play into her hand.
A minute passed and then she huffed, turning so her body was pressed against his arm. “Normally when you’re watching them, you’re much more subtle about lusting after them.”
He’d been just about to try again at sipping his wine, nearly sloshing it down the front of his tux at her comment. Not turning his body, he looked down over his shoulder at her. At the top of her head. She was so close and with their height difference, she didn’t actually come up to his shoulder at all, he couldn’t see her face. “Come again?”
She softly snickered.
He turned, bringing them nearly chest to chest. “Nadine. Whatever you think you see? I’d never do anything to jeopardize her career or her marriage.”
Her chin lifted. “That’s not the same as not imagining the two of them naked in bed.” His jaw dropped but she pushed on. “It’s not the same as not wondering what it would be like being taken home by the two of them together.”
He blanched at what she was hinting at. “I don’t know what you think-”
She hummed. “I only know because I’ve been watching them for the same reasons, Blake.” When he froze, her lips twitched, almost smirking but not quite. “Did you think you’d be the only person in the department who would enjoy sex with both genders?”
“I- No. No, of course not. I just- I just thought you-”
“Were too uptight to being into something like that?”
He had no idea how to answer, so he stayed silent.
“I have another surprise for you.”
“Wha- what’s that?” He still felt a bit jumpy, but then he hadn’t had time to recover yet from her surprise appearance.
“I’ve been laying the groundwork for months. When she and I share a drink in the evenings? We talk.”
“About…”
“Sex? Yes.” She glanced around at the people milling nearby and then turned back again. “Fantasies… Hers and Henry’s.” Her hand smoothed down the line of buttons on his shirt in a way that felt oddly dominant without being patronizing. “Turns out they both have a few.”
“Really?”
“Mm hmm.” The corners of her lips twitched upward before she tipped her head back again, meeting his eyes. “So my question to you is, how willing would you be to have a night of bliss with them?”
“You’re seriously setting me up with them to… get it out of my system?”
“I’m not setting you up. I’m simply informing you that they would be willing if you showed interest tonight.” She pulled away a step. “All you have to do is go over there and ask them their plans for the evening.”
He couldn’t believe he was standing there having this conversation, with Nadine of all people. Okay, maybe he could believe it a little bit. She definitely had different lines in the sand than he was used to, maybe it was a result of so many years in DC.
“Doesn’t she look downright edible tonight?” He blinked, glancing down at her again. Her eyes were across the room now, her lower lip catching between her teeth. Nadine looked almost breathless.
“I’ll go talk to them.”
“Good boy.” There was a purr to her words and it did something to him he refused to think about.
“Why aren’t you taking them for yourself?”
That smile slipped in again. “Oh, I’ve already made my plans.” She reached up, tugging him down enough that she could whisper directly into his ear. “I plan on not being able to walk tomorrow.”