'Joe, c'mon, you're going to be late'. 'Baby it can't exactly start without me so I think we're ok', Joe replied with a small laugh. 'What happened anyway, I thought you were scheduled to be up here with plenty of time to spare', Jill queried, helping him out of his suit coat and laying it across their bed. 'Well I was talking to Zelensky, I couldn't exactly just hang up and say I had to go give a speech while he's organizing the defense of his country and dodging rockets, literally', Joe said seriously. 'I know I'm pushing it but all I have to do is get changed', he said. 'And have a shower and take a final look over the speech and help me into my dress', she replied. Joe noticed how quickly she was speaking, a sure sign that Jill was worked up. He thought back to the address to Congress last year when Covid was raging and the insurrection was not long past. He remembered leaving the chamber and looking up to the balcony where Jill was. Once the speech was over she refused to leave the balcony, her eyes never left him until he had left the House floor for fear of, well, he wasn't sure of what but she sure as hell wasn't going to let anything happen to him. She was worth a whole battalion of secret service agents. Woe be to the person who ever tried to get between Jill and him to try to cause him harm, they'd have their hands full, he thought to himself. Her voice pulled him from his reverie. 'What are you smiling about?' she asked, her forehead creased in puzzlement. She was focused on the short amount of time available, the complexities of the speech for Joe, the barrage of criticism that was coming his way no matter what he said. How can Joe be smiling right now while I'm a nervous wreck, she thought to herself. 'I'm thinking about you', he said simply, taking her hands in his. 'I'm thinking about how you look after me so well, even when I annoy you', he murmured, pulling her closer and nuzzling her ear. She placed her hands on his chest and sighed, relaxing into his touch before quickly coming to her senses. 'Joe, no, we don't have time, please, I can't sit there horny all night', she said, pushing him away. 'Don't start what you can't finish.' 'Since when have I ever left you unsatisfied baby', he whispered in her ear, brushing her curls back from her face. 'Why don't you join me in the shower and we can save time', he asked, kissing her neck and shoulders, gently pulling the straps of her bra off her shoulders. He felt her lean into him, press her chest against him, he raised her hands to the buttons of his shirt and encouraged her to get to work. He knew how much she loved his chest, she loved to run her hands across him, run her fingers through the hair there, not that he would ever complain but Jill really, really loved to explore his chest. She shook herself visibly. 'No', she said again. 'No, I can't shower with you, I'll ruin my hair and my makeup is all ready', she said. He could hear the regret in her voice. 'It's your loss honey', he teased her, 'maybe I'll just have to look after myself in the shower'. She leaned into him once more, this time running a perfectly manicured finger across his lips. 'Taking care of you is my job Mr President. Mine alone', she said, opening his pants and slipping her hand inside.
He closed the zip and fixed the fiddly clasp at the nape of her neck. 'Baby, you look sensational', he said in delight as she turned to face him. 'Purple is definitely your color' he exclaimed. 'Joe it's blue', she said in mock exasperation. 'Obviously I'm wearing the Ukrainian colors tonight'. 'Ah, yeah, silly me', Joe said, pulling her into a hug, mindful of her hair and trying not to get make-up on his clothes. He glanced down at her back while she couldn't see him. It was definitely purple. He remembered that she was getting something embroidered somewhere on the dress but for the life of him he couldn't remember what it was; he decided to go for it. 'Umm, did the embroidery work out ok?' he asked. 'Joe, I'm impressed, I wasn't sure you were listening to me earlier', she said, running her hand across his jawline. 'Of course I was baby', he said sweetly. She raised her right arm to reveal the expertly crafted sunflower located near the cuff of her dress. 'I'm very pleased with it', she said smiling. 'That's very thoughtful of you baby. Powerfully subtle, just like you' he said, raising his eyebrows in jest. She playfully slapped his chest before kissing him softly. 'Are you all set? Happy with your speech?' she asked. He could see the concern caught in the crinkle of her eyes, she was on edge and would be until they were back home again with the State of the Union speech behind them. 'Yeah, look, I've practiced as much as possible. I wish we could have stopped changing it a couple of days ago but Putin put paid to that, the situation is so fluid that we could have amended it again an hour ago but enough is enough. I had to call a halt earlier or I wouldn't have gotten time to mark it all up, he said, referring to his personal annotations.
