Page 9 of Endless First Kisses

“It is a friend. Caroline has been extracted from the situation. Along with another individual.” Repeated the security lead.

Alex breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Do we know who the person is? The friend that is unconscious?”

“Alyson Crawford. Of the Crawford family.”

This was certainly not a big a shock as one registered when he first got the call. Still one that has a significant implication. The family was a major donor to the Senator’s campaigns starting from the state level all the way to the US Senate race. Alex remembered the families vacationed together.

“Does he know yet, the Senator?”

It was the right question to ask in Alex’s job capacity. None of his feelings about Caroline mattered at this point.

“I’m calling you first. As soon as I found out. We still need to brief the Senator.”

He received details on Caroline’s whereabouts and went into the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. He looked like shit. His suit disheveled. His shirt wrinkled. His tie crooked out of place and his hair scattered in all directions. He thought the day Dean lost the Iowa caucus was the worst of his life. This one topped all of them. For many reasons. One being he was going to have to go up to the Senator’s suite and break the news. Second, whatever happened, the security personnel had deemed it necessary to alert him about Caroline’s extraction from the situation. That was code for trouble. If something did happen to the Crawford daughter and Caroline was involved, there was no escaping danger any way he looked at it.

Alex had no conscious recollection of him leaving his room and opting to run up the stairs. Now gasping for air as he made it to the top floor of the hotel, he realized he needed to compose himself before he knocked on the door. Took three rapid deep breaths and knocked gently. The guard by the door eyed him suspiciously as if to say this wasn’t the best time.

It had become a common occurrence. Both the guard and Alex knew very well. No point in debating what the right moment was for interfering with the activities of the Senator, who maintained a busy schedule on the Senate and hotel room floors.

“Who is it?” The Senator asked.

“Alex, sir. Something urgent came up. Need to talk to you, sir.” Alex said.

The Senator, knowing Alex and his astute sensitivity for discreteness, realized he needed to open the door.

“What is it?” The Senator said, opening the door half way and fumbling to tie his robe in place.

Before Alex spoke, his eyes darted inside and saw a figure of a woman walking across his field of vision. Full and curvy, with shiny platinum blond hair. Wrong timing. This was going to be hard. He took another deep breath.

“Alyson Crawford is in a hospital, Senator. I just got a call.” Alex said. Not too overly dramatic. Sufficient amount of information to alert the Senator. He figured he would brief him more on the way to the hospital.

He saw the Senator’s surprise before being distracted yet again by the sight of the woman inside the hotel room walking the opposite direction. This time, she turned around and looked at him. Their eyes clicked for a second, and she tilted her head to the side in an inviting way.

“Holy shit!” Alex said to himself. Except that the words didn’t quite stay inside of him. They were spoken loud and clear. The Senator heard it. And the woman too, returning Alex’s surprised expression with a smile.

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