Josh was about to leave the office for the night when Leo appeared in his doorway, a serious expression on his face. "Josh, I'm sorry, but I need you to work tonight."

His first reaction was to pout and throw a tantrum like a two year old. He settled for simply whining petulantly. "C'mon Leo! It's eleven o'clock and I've been here since six. What could possibly be happening that needs my attention right now?"

"There's going to be a thing on Capitol Beat tomorrow morning."

"What kind of thing?"

"Senator Warren has decided that he's opposed to our tax break for families with college-age children. He feels it's not fair to childless families. Or at least that's the official noise coming from his office. Obviously it's just a ploy to get some national attention, but we need to come up with a defense stategy. And you're the point man on this."

Josh let out a sigh of frustration. He had spent hours with Warren earlier in the week discussing just this issue and Warren had appeared to be on the side of the White House. Apparently the lure of fifteen minutes of fame was stronger than Warren's commitment to better education. "What about Toby?"

"Toby's working on the ACLU speech for Monday morning." He noticed Josh's stubborn look and added, "Before you ask, Will's helping Toby. And while I'm impressed with his foreign policy ideas, I'm not sure he's our guy on this issue."

"How the hell am I going to get this done?" Josh asked, more to himself than to Leo.

"I don't know, Josh, just do it," Leo ordered before leaving.

As Josh watched him walk away, he felt a wave of annoyance and frustration. He'd been putting in twenty-hour days on this bill - they all had- and tonight was the first night he had hoped to get home before midnight. Now that wasn't going to happen, all because some jackass Senator had decided he needed to get his face on national television.

There was no way he would be able to do this on his own; he was going to need help. He was looking into the bullpen, planning on calling Donna to the office, when he remembered that he had sent her home an hour earlier. She'd looked exhausted and, anticipating his own swift departure, he had told her to go home and get some sleep. She had flashed him a grateful smile and fled. With a weary sigh, he picked up the phone and dialed her number. She wasn't going to be at all happy about this.

"'Lo?"

She sounded like she'd just woken up and Josh felt guilty just for calling her. He didn't anticipate having to tell her that she had to come back to work. Steeling himself for her reaction, he began, "Donna? It's me."

"That's funny. You sound like my boss, but there's no way he'd be calling me right now. He knows he'd be risking life and limb."

"Funny girl. Look, Leo just handed me a huge problem with the college education bill and we need to fix it. Tonight," he emphasized. "So wake up and get dressed."

"Josh, no," she protested. "We've been working all week on this. Why can't it wait until morning?"

"Because Warren is going on Capitol Beat tomorrow morning at eight to discuss this and he's going to come down on the other side." While he talked to her, he packed the relevant files into his bag. There was no reason they couldn't be comfortable while they worked on this. "Be at my apartment in twenty minutes," he directed, giving her no chance to argue.

He hung up the phone, took one last look around for any paperwork he had forgotten, and then closed his office door behind him.

*****

He'd hung up on her!

She spared a moment to curse the moment she had walked into his office at the Bartlet for America headquarters, then heaved herself out of bed with a heavy sigh.

She couldn't believe she had to go back to work.

It was late, it was hot, and she was tired. Grabbing a well-worn tank from the second drawer and a pair of jeans from the next, she quickly pulled the clothes on over the scant underwear she had worn to bed. She wouldn't look glamorous or professional by a long shot, but if she was going to have to work tonight, she didn't care. Josh would have to deal with her as is. She scraped her hair into a haphazard ponytail, shoved her feet into a pair of flip-flops and left the relatively cool sanctuary of her bedroom.

Tiptoeing through the living room, she gathered up her keys and purse and was just about to leave the apartment when she remembered one last thing. Dashing into the kitchen, she yanked open the freezer and grabbed the container of dark roast coffee she kept there. She had a feeling she was going to need it. While she didn't relish bringing Josh coffee, even in unbrewed form, Josh was notorious for running out at the last minute and she didn't want to drink coffee made from used grounds either. It was safer to bring her own stash.

She arrived before he did, so she took a seat on the cool concrete steps of his building to wait for him. Her eyes drifted shut and her mind wandered, picturing Josh as he'd been earlier, his tie dangling loosely about his neck, his sleeves rolled up, showing off his muscular forearms. She wondered what those arms would feel like wrapped around her. Like home, she thought, warm and safe and just a little bit restraining, but in a good way.

She sighed happily and moved on to thoughts about his legs, well-toned and sinewy from years of jogging. She thought of how they would feel, tangled up with hers, the coarse hair brushing against her alabaster skin. She shivered in pleasure at the image her mind conjured.

She was just imagining making love with him, their sweaty bodies pressed intimately together, his husky voice telling her how beautiful she was, when he came up the sidewalk and nudged her shoulder. She blinked sleepily at him, still caught up in her dream.

Then he spoke and the spell was broken.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. Prince Charming is here to whisk you away to the land of stubborn senators," he quipped.

So much for fantasy, she thought as she came fully awake. She shot him a disgusted look. "I loathe you."

"Yeah, well, this wasn't on my agenda for the evening either, but we're stuck with it."

Without another word, he stepped around her and opened the front door. He held it open and she stood, grabbed the coffee and trudged into the building.

*****

'She's barely wearing any clothes' was the first thing Josh thought when he saw her sitting on his steps. Sure, it was dark, but he could see her alabaster shoulders and neck glowing in the light from the street corner. She looked ethereal, leaning against the rail, head tipped back, eyes closed, serene smile on her face, and he had to control the sudden urge to kiss her awake.

As he got closer, he realized that she wasn't quite as exposed as he'd originally thought. Though her shoulders were bare, she was clad in a skimpy red tank top and he could see just a hint of her perfectly rounded breasts showing above the ribbed scoop neck. Was she braless? He assumed that she must be, because try as he might, he couldn't spot a single betraying bra strap.

His gaze drifted downward and he noticed that she was wearing tight, worn jeans. They were like a second skin and showed off every slim inch of her fabulously long legs. He had a sudden image of those same legs wrapped around his waist and he had to suppress a groan.

Briskly shaking his head to clear it, he reminded himself that they were there to work and that he couldn't just watch her sleep all night while indulging in his un-boss-like fantasies.

With regret, he roused her from her nap and ushered her inside.

Once they were through the door, he flicked on the all the lights and the television. Wandering into the kitchen to join Donna, he saw her outfit clearly for the first time and was struck speechless. Her nipples were puckering from the chill of his central air conditioning and he realized that he had been correct: she wasn't wearing a bra. His fingers itched to reach out and tweak the hardened nubs; his cock twitched at the sight.

Luckily, Donna seemed not to notice his intense interest in her cleavage. Pulling his gaze away with some effort, he finally realized what she had brought in with her. "Donna, did you actually bring me coffee?"

She glared at him. "Don't get used to it. I just don't trust you to have any on hand and I'm not sure I could function without coffee tonight."

She began to fiddle with his high-tech coffee maker and he took the time to finish admiring her, his eyes raking her body from shining blond head to fuschia tipped toes. He had to suppress yet another inappropriate thought about sucking on those toes and kissing his way up her shapely legs.

"� remembered Amy commenting about your horrible housekeeping skills."

He realized she was still chastising him about the coffee. "Did you ever think maybe I might have had a reason for acting that way around Amy?"

"Yes," she answered, "but then I thought of how you drink cold, day-old coffee at the office and thought it safest to bring my own."

"Ha, ha. Where do you want to do this?"

She shot him a brief, startled look that he couldn't decipher, and then suggested they settle in his living room to work on their defense position.

An hour later, Donna was on the floor next to his coffee table, tapping away on his laptop while he paced around the room, dictating ideas and encouraging her feedback. They were just starting to discuss the argument for making textbooks tax-deductible when there was a brief flicker of lights. They had a moment to glance at each other in concern before everything went dark.

"Oh god, not now!" Josh groaned, glancing out the window and seeing that the building across the street was now bathed in darkness as well. "It looks like the whole block is down. How much of that did you manage to save?"

"I got most of it except for that last bit."

"Good. Then we should be able to get straight back to work as soon as the power goes back on."

"That won't be soon, will it?" she asked.

Josh was amused at the hopefulness that was in her voice. "I have no idea," he said. "But you look pretty tired. Let's get some more coffee into you before you fall asleep on me. We still have a lot of work to do."

"I'm not going to fall asleep, Joshua."

"Really? Because just before the lights went out, it looked like you were about to crash into the computer."

"I wasn't!" she protested, but she couldn't completely hide the yawn she tried to smother.

He grinned in the dark and headed towards the dim kitchen. Fumbling around on the counter, he located the coffee urn and then scrounged around in the darkened cabinet for a fresh mug.

"You know what we should do? We should eat all the food in your fridge so it doesn't go bad," she suggested as she joined him, leaning her hip against the counter.

He maneuvered around her in the dark as he felt around in the fridge for the non-dairy creamer he kept there for her. "Donna, it's like sixty degrees in my apartment. The small amount of food I have will not spoil."

"But it might, if we keep opening the refrigerator door. First it's for a little creamer; then it's for cheese or orange juice. Before you know it, we're in there every few minutes looking for food to hold off starvation-"

"Ok, you do realize you're making very little sense right now, right?" he asked as he reached for her arm to lead her back into the living room. In the darkness of the kitchen, though, he missed her arm and wound up brushing her breast with his palm. In the brief moment he made contact, he felt her nipple harden and heard her sharp hiss of breath.

He'd never be able to say why he went with his instinct on this particular occasion, but instead of withdrawing his hand immediately, he let it settle warmly on the soft globe of her breast. Briefly, he wondered if she would slap him, but when he felt her long fingers play along the front of his trousers, he knew that she wouldn't. Apparently, her erect nipples hadn't just been a result of his chilled apartment.

His cock had remained semi-hard since he'd first seen her in the clear light of his kitchen earlier, and now it jumped to attention as she hooked her fingers into his waistband and tugged him a little closer. They were mere inches apart when she leaned towards him and whispered in his ear.

"You know what I'd like more than coffee?" she asked in a husky voice. "You."

He barely had a moment to take in his good fortune before their lips met in a mind-blowing kiss. Boldly, she slipped her tongue into his mouth, teasingly darting it in and out of the wet cavern, and he groaned as she deepened the kiss, fusing their mouths together. He wondered for a moment if he was the one who had fallen asleep. This couldn't possibly be happening.

Then her fingers delved beneath his belt and circled his erection and he knew that there was no way this could be a dream.

Common sense came rushing back and he remembered who they were, what they were doing and where they were doing it. While he knew he wanted her � needed her -- he wasn't sure if she knew exactly what she was doing. Before they went any further, he had to know.

He pulled back from her embrace and peered at her in the dark, trying to read her expression.

"Donna, are you sure?"

"I'm sure," she mumbled before plundering his mouth in another kiss. Using all of his willpower, he tore his mouth from hers again and took a few steps back.

"This isn't because of sleep deprivation, is it? If it is, I'm willing to forget this ever happen-"

"It's not sleep deprivation, Josh." She followed his retreating figure so that her lips could play along his neck. He couldn't hide the shudder that ran through his body at her caress.

He stepped back again, placing the kitchen table between them so that she couldn't distract him. "Donna, you have no idea how much I've wanted to make love to you, but not if-"

"Josh? It's not sleep deprivation," she repeated.

"- you don't really want to. This has the potential to be so much more than just sex, Donna. I need to be sure you-"

"I *know* it's about more than just sex," she asserted. "And I know what I'm doing. This isn�t just a whim. I want you, I've always wanted you. You're all I think about anymore. Now shut up and kiss me."

That was all he needed to hear. With two quick steps, he came around the table and took her in his arms. This time he was the aggressor, his mouth finding hers. The kiss was wet and elemental, fanning flames that had been smoldering for years. Their tongues tangled together and explored, leisurely learning the taste and feel of each other's mouths.

They parted for air and he took the opportunity to skim his lips from her mouth to her slender neck. He intended taking her to his bedroom, but the temptation of her soft breasts proved to be too much

Nudging the strap of her tank top aside, he worked his way down her collarbone to the slope of her breast, aching to taste the hard buds that had taunted him all night.

Bending her backwards over the kitchen table, he pulled down her top until her breasts spilled from the fabric. She clasped his head close and his knuckles raked against the table's surface as he held himself suspended above her, sucking the taut nipple into his mouth and swirling his tongue around it. She groaned in anticipation of more.

Encouraged by her response, he ground his hips into hers, showing her how aroused he was. The movement caused the table to wobble beneath them and brought Josh back to reality.

"I'm too old for this," he muttered as he moved to her other nipple and began to worry it with his teeth and tongue.

"Too old for sex?" she gasped.

"Too old for sex on a kitchen table," he corrected. He let go of her nipple and she whimpered in protest. "C'mon. I have someplace much more conducive to this type of activity."

He grabbed her hand and led her down the darkened hallway to his bedroom.

*****

Donna scooted onto the bed, quickly pulling her tank top over her head and shimmying out of her jeans and underwear. Then she simply laid back and enjoyed the show.

The stars and moon shone brightly through the wide bedroom window and bathed Josh in a pale blue glow, giving him an almost heavenly appearance. Donna's thoughts were far from angelic, however, as she watched him undress.

His tie had been discarded, but his dress shirt was still firmly in place, albeit loosened at the collar. She watched as he made quick work of the buttons, shucking the shirt off his shoulders and pulling his tee shirt up over his head. Then his hands moved to his belt and he shed his pants and boxers in one smooth move, taking his black dress socks with them.

Donna could only stare at the sight of him in all his naked glory. Her earlier fantasy had fallen far short of reality.

His arms were muscled and tones, as she knew they would be, but she could never have imagined how perfect the rest of his body was. His nipples were taut, covered in a smattering of crisp hair, and even the faint line bisecting his sternum couldn't detract from the beauty of his torso. She longed to run her fingers across his nipples and make him moan in delight.

Her eyes shifted lower and she noted that his calves, long part of her fantasies, were as perfectly shaped as the rest of him. They led up past muscular thighs to that enticing part she longed to feel pressed deep inside of her.

She grinned in delight knowing that she would no longer have to rely on her imagination. Tonight, she'd learn exactly how he felt inside her.

She held out her arms to him, but instead of joining her on the bed, he knelt at the end of it and took her slim foot in his hand. She peered at him in confusion. "Josh?"

He grinned up at her. "Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"These toes of yours have been tormenting me all night," he confessed as he took her big toe into his mouth and sucked.

"My toes?" She giggled as he hit a particularly sensitive spot. "It seemed to me that you were ogling my breasts all night."

He released her toe from his mouth. "You noticed that?"

"It was a little hard not to. Every time you paused in your pacing I'd look up and see you staring at my chest." She didn't tell him that it was his bold stare that had made her brave enough to kiss him. Instead, she decided to tease him a little. "Are you saying that my breasts aren't of any particular interest to you?"

"Hell no!" he declared. "But your bright toes have been peeking out at me all night, just daring me to kiss them�I wanted to see how they tasted first..." His voice trailed off as he moved his mouth back down to her foot, engulfing her toe in his mouth once more.

She forgot anything else she was about to say. In addition to the faint tickle, she felt a sweet tug deep inside her body with each move of his mouth.

She imagined what it would feel like to have him suck on other parts of her.

She didn't have long to wait. Moving from her toes to her ankle, he proceeded to lick the tender skin there before moving upwards, past her knee and across her thigh.

She was desperate to feel his talented mouth on her center and as his tongue stroked and caressed the sensitive skin of her legs, inching higher and higher, she couldn't help but tell him so. "Josh, please, touch me� there�"

He gently parted her thighs, and his tongue flicked against her clit.

"There� oh God� that's� yes, yes!"

She moaned, pushing her hips up at him, inviting him nearer. He accepted the gift she offered and sucked the sensitive nub into his mouth, making her writhe against the sheets. Grasping her hips, he pulled her even closer.

Then, with his mouth still against her sex, he slid one hand between her thighs to slip a finger deep inside her. It was all she needed to push her over the edge. Her hips jerked and she came in an intense rush, a white-hot heat spreading through her body.

As the tremors of her orgasm subsided, she sagged back against the pillows, tired but extremely satisfied.

"Feeling good there, Donnatella?" he asked smugly as he emerged from between her thighs.

She was too relaxed to utter more than a contented, "Umm-hmm," as she stretched lethargically against the crisp cotton sheets.

"Good," he commented as he crawled up the length of the bed to recline next to her. "'Because we're not done yet."

She cracked an eye open and turned her head to see his face mere inches from hers. She could just about see him grinning crookedly at her in the dim light. "Really?"

"Yes, really. Did you think you'd get to have all the fun?"

She pouted at him. "That wasn't fun for you?"

"It was," he quickly agreed, "but I think there are a few more ways we could have fun together."

"I think you're right."

Turning to her side, she mimicked his pose, resting her head on one hand as her other one snaked down and grasped his hard cock. Stroking the full length of him, she delighted in the look of pure arousal on his face.

She kissed him deeply and then wiggled down the bed a little, until her head was level with his waist. She lowered her head and took his straining erection between her lips, swirling her tongue around the tip and licking the moisture glistening there. Then she ran her hand down the length to firmly squeeze his balls.

Her tongue followed the path of her hand but at a more leisurely pace. Stopping briefly to nuzzle the base of his shaft and to inhale the purely masculine scent of him, she slowly worked her way back up his length and took him completely into her mouth, sucking enticingly at his straining flesh.

"Donna, you can't... I want..."

She slowly released him from her mouth. "Yes, Josh?" she teased. "What do you want?"

"You," he ground out.

Eager to feel him inside her, she abandoned the exquisite torture she had been inflicting and slid up his body.

Her sex brushed against his and they both knew that the time for playing was over.

"Condoms?"

He gestured to the bedside table. "The drawer."

She reached over and grabbed one from the box. Quickly dispensing with the wrapper, she rolled it down his length, taking time to tease him with gentle squeezes as she went. Once he was safely sheathed, she straddled his hips and slowly sank down onto him.

The fullness of him delighted her and she began to slowly ride him, the arch of her back perfectly matching each of his thrusts. He reached up and cupped her breasts and she leaned into him, riding him harder and faster.

His hand snaked between their bodies to find her clit and his finger stroked the hard nub. She felt her control started to slip and rocked her hips harder against him. The pressure built until she exploded in another mind-blowing orgasm.

She was just floating back to reality when she felt his muscles tense beneath her and heard his shout of completion. She held him close as she felt him pulse within her.

Lifting her hips, she allowed him to slide out from beneath her so that he could remove the used condom. After a quick trip to the bathroom, he returned to the bed and pulled her close to his side. She snuggled into him and wondered what came next.

*****

Josh returned from the bathroom and climbed back into the bed, eager to feel Donna's body close to his once more. She came willingly into his arms and he was content to just lie there in the dark, feeling her naked flesh pressed to his and enjoying the soft sounds of her breathing.

She was the first to break the silence. "What comes next?"

He didn't have to ask what she meant, but he was reluctant to discuss the matter. He knew she had been telling the truth earlier when she had agreed that this was about more than just sex. He just wasn't sure how they would manage to balance both this and work

"Sleep and then more sex?" he finally quipped, trying to break the sudden tension.

She aimed a soft punch at his shoulder. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do. And I don't know what comes next. Can't we just play it by ear?"

Her answer was interrupted by the ringing phone. Both stared at the instrument mutely, neither anxious to answer it.

Josh made a quick decision and rushed to share it with her. "Ok, you know what we're going to do? We're going to continue at work as we always have. And at night, when we're not at work, we'll explore this new relationship. When we feel the time is right, we'll go and talk to Leo. Ok?"

"Ok." She didn't sound wary or nervous, so he guessed that for once, he had gotten something right.

"Right now, I'm going to answer the phone and tell who ever it is that we were working on the thing for tomorrow morning. We're not going to say a word about the electricity failing or what we've been doing since."

She nodded and Josh hesitantly picked up the receiver.

"Josh? What the hell took you so long to answer the damn phone?" Leo's gravelly voice demanded.

"I, uh, was in the bathroom."

Leo grumbled but accepted his excuse. "I just got word from the network. Because the entire metropolitan area as well as most of the Northeast was hit with this blackout, they've canceled the forum on Capitol Beat. You're off the hook."

Josh immediately snapped into work mode. "The entire area? I thought it was just my block. Do you need-"

"Nah. We've got people on it already. Just come on in first thing tomorrow and make sure you talk to Warren again. See what the hell he wants in exchange for staying off next week's Capitol Beat, ok?"

"Yeah. No problem. Goodnight, Leo."

"Goodnight."

He hung up the phone and turned to Donna.

"What was that?"

"Apparently, the blackout hit more than just this block. Leo says it's affected the entire Northeast."

She started to get up. "Oh my God! Josh, we need to get to the office, find out what needs to be done--"

He pulled her into his arms. "Uh-uh. Leo said I didn't have to worry about anything until tomorrow. Tonight is all ours. And I have some great ideas on how to spend the time."

She missed the leer he aimed in her direction, but there was no doubting his intent as he pulled her beneath him and started to kiss her senseless once more.

"I think I like your ideas," she agreed as she kissed him back.

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