Lilia and Andrea laughed and then went silent when Nick stepped into the room.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Vice President,” Lilia said.

“Good afternoon, ladies. Would you mind if I had a word with my wife?”

“Of course,” Lilia said.

“You did great,” Andrea said with a smile for Sam before she followed Lilia from the room.

“I have to agree,” Nick said. “That was fantastic.”

“How much of it did you hear?”

“Enough to know you’ll knock the cover off the ball on Friday. I’m so proud of you, Samantha. I know how difficult this subject is for you to talk about in private, let alone in public.”

Unnerved by his unexpected appearance as much as his praise, she gathered up the pages Andrea had put on the podium. “Hopefully it’ll do some good.”

“It’ll do a lot of good.”

“What’re you doing here?”

“I work here.” He held out a hand to help her down the stairs from the podium. “And my reason for an extra sick day left with you.”

Though she didn’t need the help, she took his hand anyway. “I’m sorry I told you to fuck off.”

“I’m sorry I gave you reason to.”

She smiled up at him, instantly relieved.

He put his hands on her shoulders and gazed down at her. “I know I can trust you, Samantha. I know that. My issues on this topic are not about you.”

“I wish there was some way I could make you see that you have nothing to worry about. I don’t want anyone but you. I can’t control what other people do or feel or say any more than you can. We can only control whether we let other people’s crap touch us.”

“You’re right, and I’m going to try harder not to let that particular pile of crap touch us, but that doesn’t mean the thought of you away with him for the night doesn’t make me crazy.”

“I’m not going to be with him overnight.”

“If you’d get a freaking smartphone, we could FaceTime.”

“And then you could confirm that I was alone in my room,” Sam said, irked by the insinuation.

“No, then I could see your gorgeous face when I’m forced to go to bed without you.”

She scowled at the smoothly delivered line. “Whatever you say.”

He put his arms around her and kissed her forehead. “I couldn’t let you go with the way we left things at home. I love you too much not to tell you so before you leave.”

Sam curled her arms around his waist, inside his suit coat. “I love you too, even when you’re irrational.”

His huff of laughter made her smile as she breathed in the familiar scent of home. The thought of even one night without him was almost unbearable. “I’ve got to go.”