K. Linde - Off the Record

Her brain was buzzing as she walked back to her car. She couldn’t believe that Professor Mires believed in her work enough to entrust her with her grant research. Not only that, but Liz would be included in work with papers and political journalism outlets all over the country. This felt way bigger than anything she could do on the university paper.

She was so wired she almost missed her phone buzzing in her purse. She quickly answered the unknown number, noting that it had a North Carolina area code. “Hello?”

“Liz,” Brady said.

Liz stopped in her tracks in the middle of campus. Her mind quit working and she felt her heart skip. Damn, she had missed that voice.

“Are you there?”

“Yes, sorry,” she murmured. “I missed you.”

She hadn’t even meant to say it. Of course she had missed him. But with everything that had happened since she had left his house, it wasn’t the first thing she had thought she would spit out.

“I missed you, too.”

Silence dragged on the line for a moment as Liz waited for him to say something else.

“How was your trip?” he finally asked, breaking the silence.

“Good,” she said. “I got to see a lot of monuments and museums.”

“Sounds right,” he said. She heard shuffling on the other end of the line. “Hold on one second.”

Liz waited as he spoke with someone else. She imagined him at his office in Raleigh, directing people and deciding on strategies for the campaign. He was probably wearing a standard black suit with his typical red-white-and-blue tie. She was sure he had his campaign mask on, all smiles and charm.

Then she thought about that one night she had gotten to really see Brady, when they had gone over to Chris’s apartment. He had dressed comfortably, laughed, joked, and even made fun of himself. It had been relaxing to see him not on edge, as he was all the time. That was the Brady she wanted to be with.

“Sorry about that,” Brady said, breaking her out of her thoughts. “I can’t talk long. I have a meeting in a couple minutes. I wanted to find out your plans for the remainder of the week.”

“I don’t have plans until school starts again. Though I do have some exciting news!” she said, wanting to tell him about her professor.

“I can’t wait to hear it. I wish I could talk now, but I can’t. I’m going to the coast for a few days, mixing business with pleasure a bit. My family is spending the week at the beach before Clay goes back to Yale and Savannah starts at UNC. I’m meeting them in Hilton Head for the weekend. I have a couple meetings and a dinner to attend.”

“That sounds nice,” Liz said.

“I know I’m going to be really busy up until the primary, but I thought you might come to the coast with me.”

“Really?” she asked, surprised. She would have plenty of time to tell him about her job there.

“I would get you a hotel room near my parents’ place. I’m going to try to slip this by Heather so we have to keep it on the down-low, but I’ll take any opportunity to see you,” Brady told her.

“Oh,” she whispered, feeling the secrets pile up all over again.

“Baby…come see me,” he said in that tone that made her squirm. How could she resist him?

She needed to tell him about Hayden. She needed to figure out where this was going. She needed to tell him how she felt.

Most of all, she just needed to see him.

“All right. What do I have to do?”

Liz didn’t even want to know the cost of a last-minute flight from Raleigh to Hilton Head. She was sure it wasn’t something she would be able to afford, but luckily Brady had made all the arrangements.

Now here she was about to board a flight to go see him at his parents’ beach house. Or at least, she was staying at a resort nearby. It felt surreal to be living this life. She had so much that she needed to discuss with Brady, but she would have to wait until they were together again to bring it up. Heather had been keeping him more than busy, and Liz hadn’t spoken with him except to finalize her travel plans.

Liz was sure Heather was only keeping tabs on him because of their relationship…whatever it was. She didn’t think Heather needed to push him that hard. She was sure he was going to win. All he had to do was smile.

She stood in line to board the plane and her mind raced back to that first conversation with Brady. Airplanes made him hyperventilate, and she had been the only other thing that had elicited that reaction from him. Liz knew that she still felt that way about him. Brady had changed her. He had made her bolder, freer, and she liked that he had given her that.

Yet they were caught in this unhealthy limbo. Trapped in a place where they couldn’t express themselves and couldn’t move forward. They were forever boarding the plane, hyperventilating from the intensity and passion of their feelings, but never taking off and seeing where the plane might take them.

With a heavy sigh, Liz walked onto the plane and took her seat in first class. She had only flown first class once, when her parents had sent her to Hawaii to spend a week with her grandparents. She snuggled into her cozy seat and let her eyes close. She pushed away all thoughts of Brady and the decisions that had to be made and fell into a light slumber.

Liz jolted awake when the wheels touched ground at the small Hilton Head Island airport. She yawned and stretched as they rolled to a stop in front of the terminal. The jet bridge attached to the plane and she filed out, grabbing her carry-on luggage, which hadn’t fit overhead on the small regional plane.

She made her way to the exit and found a man standing alone, wearing a suit, and holding a sign that read Carmichael. Liz smiled and walked over to him.

“Miss Carmichael?” the man asked as she approached.

“That’s me,” Liz said.

“Let me help you with that,” he said, taking her bag and rolling it out to the awaiting town car.

In that moment, Liz felt so out of her league. Someone had flown her to the beach, arranged for someone to pick her up at the airport in an expensive town car, and she was staying at a luxury beachside resort. She found all of this very hard to believe. But mostly, she wished she could be experiencing all of this with Brady.

Trying her best to make light of the situation, she reminded herself over and over of all the good times they’d had together this summer. The sneaking around had been exhilarating, even if she now found it frustrating. Well, the sneaking around wasn’t the frustrating part; it was the fact that there was more to their relationship than that, and it was being stifled by their opposing careers.

She ground her teeth. Even when she was trying to think of the positives, the negatives crept back in. She made a mental list of all the things she missed about her time with Brady. The lake, his little notes, the diner, when he dropped his campaign mask, the newspaper office, his intense dark eyes, his coming to see her after Justin’s DUI, the Fourth of July, his big gala event when he had given her his key, and then she heard him tell Heather and Elliott that he loved her…

Liz swallowed back a lump in her throat. Her whole summer had been Brady. Sure, he was volatile, stubborn, and prone to jealousy, but she knew there was more to him than that, and he had shown her that this summer, whether he wanted to or not.

The town car carried her across the island and pulled onto the grounds of the Sonesta Resort. Liz leaned into the window to look at the beautiful view before her. The hotel boasted more than three hundred luxury rooms with an enormous pool, on-site spa, twenty-four-hole golf course, and beachside access with cabanas and bottle service. It was a dream resort.

As soon as they parked, the driver assisted Liz with her luggage and handed her an envelope. “Here you are, Miss Carmichael. Enjoy your stay.”

“Thank you,” she said absentmindedly.

She strolled into the air-conditioned hotel lobby, anxious to open the envelope, but all she could do was stop and stare at her surroundings. The lobby was modern chic, with enough of a cozy atmosphere to make it feel like home. Large couches and overstuffed chairs were artfully placed around the room, and couples lounged amid the furniture, reading newspapers and talking to friends. The ceiling rose higher and higher, with gorgeous windows on one side, an impressive mural on another, and a seashell chandelier.

Liz took a seat in one of the chairs and opened the envelope. A plastic keycard, a resort packet with her room number, and a trifolded sheet of paper fell out into her hand. The front of the letter was sealed with a short note on it.

Do not read until you are in your room.

—B

All right, she thought, a big smile spreading on her face. She really freaking liked his little notes.

Liz took the envelope and headed to the elevators, ready to be up in her room to find out what was inside the letter. She pressed the button for the top floor and waited as the elevator took its time. It finally deposited her on her floor, and she found her room near the end of the hallway. She slid her keycard into the slot and opened the door into a beautiful suite twice the size of the one she’d had with Brady in Charlotte after the Jefferson-Jackson gala.

She dropped her bags in the entranceway and closed the door. She couldn’t believe that Brady had gotten her this room for two nights in Hilton Head. She was having a hard time believing any of it.

The resort hotel room had a full living room with couch and chairs matching those in the lobby, a dark wooden dining room table set, and a beach-inspired kitchen with light wood cabinetry, granite countertops, and brand-new sleek black appliances. An open door led to a large master bedroom with a king-sized bed, and the master bath came complete with standing glass shower and Jacuzzi tub. But the best part about the whole suite was the exquisite balcony view of the ocean.

Taking the envelope with her, Liz sat down on one of the chairs outside and tore open the letter.

I hope you like your suite. I wanted you to have an ocean view. I’ve added the spa package to the room, so treat yourself. My schedule for the weekend is attached.

Liz glanced at the second page and saw a list of events that Brady had to attend. Dinner that night with the family and meetings for the campaign after. The next day, he had time blocked off for the family for most of the day, which was disappointing. She would have liked to spend some beach time with him, but of course, that was impossible. That night was dinner and drinks with potential donors. Neither night had an end time, just a start time.

I’ll give you a call when I’m on my way, from a private number that isn’t being traced. I’d advise you to stay on resort properties at all times. The last thing we want is for you to be seen. Can’t wait to get my hands on you.

—B

Her core heated at the thought of him. Brady Maxwell had gone to all of this trouble for her. She hoped she would see him sooner rather than later. Until that moment, she hadn’t realized quite how much she had missed him…just him, exactly how they were when they were together.

Though she had to admit she wasn’t sure what to think about the part about not being allowed to leave. Not that she’d had any plans to go anywhere else, but she did kind of want to see the island. She had never been to Hilton Head, and it seemed silly to stay at the hotel the whole time. Well, she would figure it out.

Not wanting to waste any more time considering it, she called down to the spa to schedule her appointment. By the time Brady came to see her that night, she wanted to look amazing.

Liz spent the afternoon at the beach soaking up the summer sun. It made her miss her parents’ house in Tampa, and she wished that she had taken time out of her busy schedule to see them. She still had a couple weeks left before school started. Maybe it would do her some good to go visit her family. Though she found it hard to think about leaving Brady again after what happened last time she did.

As the sun started hanging low on the horizon, Liz returned to the resort and spent her time at the spa. A few hours later, she had been massaged, pampered, waxed, had her fingernails and toes painted, and her blond hair straightened so smoothly that she was afraid to go outside. She walked back to her room feeling unbelievably relaxed.