Completed:    August 2002

******

Margaret was just finishing up the latest stack of filing when she heard Leo bellow her name through the open doorway. She sighed and picked up her notepad. “Yes, Leo?” she mumbled as she entered his office.

He glanced up from his desk and eyed her hesitantly.

“Leo?”

“That was Mal, she can’t make lunch.”

Margaret’s eyes widened in curiosity as she waited for him to continue.

“She was suppose to come with me and look at apartments. We had three lined up,” Leo stated, not sure whether what he was about to propose was a good idea.

“You want me to call and cancel before I go to lunch? I mean you’ve waited three years, another three isn’t going to make much difference,” she mumbled under her breath, as she reached for his rolodex.

“Actually, I was wondering if you’d come with me.”

Margaret stared at him suspiciously, “You want me to come and look at over-priced condos with you?”

“Margaret! Mal thinks I need a woman’s eye, and it’s either you or Abbey, go figure.” What he didn’t mention was that he really wanted her to go with him, and not only because he trusted her judgement.

She snatched the details out of his hand and flipped through the information. “Cleveland Park, Leo? You’re really going to spend this much on somewhere you’ll sleep for four hours a night at most?”

“Well, if you don’t want to come,” he grinned, turning his back to her.

“Oh, I’ll come. Leave you to your own devices and God knows what you’ll buy,” she snorted, walking back to her office and appearing seconds later with her purse and a tape measure.

“What’s that for?” Leo asked, motioning for them to leave.

“Square footage. Size really does matters. We need to make sure we’re getting every inch,” Margaret offered, straight faced.

Leo shook his head and followed her to the car.

They arrived at the first condo twenty minutes later, and having had to park two blocks away, walked the remainder of the way.

Margaret stood on the sidewalk and looked up at the imposing pink building. “$750,000, you can’t park on the street outside, there’s no garage and it’s pink.”

“It’s close to the office and it’s traditional,” Leo countered as the realtor appeared.

“Mr. McGarry, hello, I’m James. Mrs. McGarry,” the tall ginger haired man greeted them.

Leo didn’t correct the assumption and he noted Margaret hadn’t either.

James unlocked the door and led them inside. “The details really don’t do the property justice.”

“You’d be paying nearly 500 dollars a square foot,” Margaret groaned to Leo as they took the elevator to the top floor.

“That doesn’t include the roof deck,” James smiled. “I’m sure you can appreciate the scarceness of outside space with properties in this area.”

Leo nodded, “I’m not home much.”

“Try never,” Margaret added abruptly.

James glanced between them and merely nodded. It was obvious, even to his eyes, that the husband was a workaholic, who wanted his wife to be happy, and it was she, he had to impress. He stopped in front of the solid white door and unlocked it. “As you can appreciate Cleveland Park is a very sought after location and this property in particular won’t be on the market long.”

Margaret entered first, her eyes scanning the room. Her nose scrunched up in disgust at the decor. The owners had decided that they liked blue, and everything but the floors had been color co-ordinated. “It’s very cold.”

“Nothing a lick of paint and a feminine touch wouldn’t change,” James said, leading Leo towards a bedroom. “This is the master bedroom with full bath.”

Leo barely glanced in the room, noting that it had a bed and bath before walking out again.

Margaret rolled her eyes and walked in. “There’s no shower in here. But the walk in closets, wow, you’d have no problem housing your suits.”

James indicated the second bedroom before walking them through the kitchen and small living room.

Margaret scribbled notes as they went. By the time James had led them up onto the roof deck, she was sure the place wasn’t for Leo.

“Great view,” Leo commented, glancing at Margaret. “What do you think?”

She gave him a small shake of the head and headed back down the stairs.

“This isn’t for us,“ Leo said, shaking James hand and following Margaret. “Okay, so what was wrong with it?”

Margaret waited for him to unlock the car before speaking. “No shower in the bathroom, it was cold and the kitchen was tiny.”

“I just want somewhere to sleep and heat take-out,” he groaned, putting the car in drive and pulling away from the curb.

“Mallory would want you to have a home, and besides that was too expensive.”

Leo shrugged, money wasn‘t exactly an issue, but he wasn‘t going to convince Margaret of that. ”Next?”

“This one’s open plan.”

Margaret scowled as they stepped out of the car and were met by a skinny blonde woman named Hillary.

“Mr. McGarry?”

“Hey, and this is my assistant, Margaret,” Leo said, squeezing her hand a second longer than necessary and giving her his leprechaun grin.

“Pleased to meet you both. This is a unique property, built in 1999 but with a contemporary feel.” They climbed into the elevator. “It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a balcony.”

“And it’s on the market for $559,000?”

“Yes, and that’s an excellent price,” Hillary explained, fluttering her lashes at Leo. “Less than $400 a square foot.”

Margaret rolled her eyes as she watched the two of them flirt. “Are they planning to develop the vacant lot across the road?”

Hillary blinked but continued to address Leo, “Yes, a small condominium unit, due for completion early next year.”

“Noisy, dusty, increased traffic,” Margaret muttered as she jotted it down in her notepad.

“But the apartment looks out onto the back, and you can see Rock Creek Park,” Hillary countered.

“Really?” Leo asked, seemingly unperturbed by the possibility of living across from a building site.

“Yes, I’ll show you.”

The apartment itself was light and airy, decorated in neutral colors with minimal furniture. It was obvious that the present owners had spent a great deal of time and money on giving it a relaxing feel.

Margaret pulled out her tape measure and gave one end to Leo before crouching down. She frowned before indicating Leo should move over to the window. Bobbing her head, Margaret scribbled notes and muttered about the misrepresentation of square footage. Every room she had so far measured had come up smaller than advertised.

Leo barely shrugged as he followed Hillary around the building, finally squeezing into one of the bathrooms as she pointed out the separate tub and shower.

As she watched him listening intently, Margaret scowled. There was no way he’d be acting all goofy if Mallory was there and there was no way she was letting him get away with it now. “Leo, we should move on.”

“Yeah, okay,” he called, barely glancing over his shoulder. “Thanks, Hillary.”

“No problem. The vendor is including the drapes and blinds. Did I mention the wood floors and fireplace?” she babbled, wanting to make the sale and possibly score a date at the same time. “Any questions, don’t hesitate to call.”

“I won’t,” Margaret said, tugging Leo out.

“Well?”

“She’s not your type,” Margaret remarked snidely.

“I meant the apartment?” he sighed.

“Yeah, it has potential.”

“Hillary certainly knows her stuff,” Leo commented.

“Yeah, but I thought you didn’t like dealing with people who were trying to impress you.”

“She was just being efficient, like someone else I know.”

They rode in silence for the short drive to the final property on the list. It was less expensive than the previous two and slightly smaller, but still close enough to the office to be workable.

“This one’s vacant,” Leo stated. “They want a quick sale.”

“Yeah, well try not to act desperate. Quick sale generally means they just wanna move somewhere better,” Margaret chided, smiling at the realtor and shaking her hand.

The agent grinned back and introduced herself, before unlocking the security door. “As I told you on the phone the vendors want a quick sale. They’re planning to move across country to be near their daughter.”

“And is $409,000 the best they can do?” Margaret asked quickly, ignoring the look of horror cross her boss’ face.

“Margaret!”

“There’s marginal room for negotiation,” the realtor said, unperturbed, and pointing out the lobby and the small mail room. “It’s a secure location but no garage. Would that pose a problem?”

“No,” Leo replied, glancing at his watch.

Margaret scowled.

“The apartment’s on the second floor. There’s an elevator but I thought we could take the stairs.”

A small gasp escaped Margaret’s lips as the agent unlocked the condo door and stepped back. One side of the whole place was curved, giving an impressive view of the surrounding streets. She crossed to the windows and turned to look back into the room. Built in bookcases lined one wall, with the bedrooms leading off the other two.

Leo stuck his head into one bedroom, nodded and stepped back out.

“The main bedroom has a full bath. The owners also installed whirlpool jets, and the second bedroom has a shower room,” the agent explained.

Margaret opened a glass door and entered the kitchen, opening the oven door and bobbing her head. “Leo?”

“Yeah?”

“Come take a look at this.”

Leo smiled at the realtor before heading into the kitchen.

“It has a built in microwave,” she pointed out. “And room for a proper fridge freezer.”

“Okay.”

“And a butler sink. I’ve always wanted one of those.”

Leo smiled to himself as he rejoined the realtor. Something in Margaret’s reaction to the place told him she’d be coming around often. Not that he wasn’t getting good vibes too. It had a homey feel about it, somewhere he could happily spend his free time.

Leo turned from the fireplace and sought out Margaret. He grinned when he saw her lightly fingering the shades. “What’d ya think?”

Margaret bobbed her head.

“Would you and your wife like time to take another look?” the realtor asked, slipping the clipboard into her back pack. “I can trust you to lock up?”

“Here’s my card,” Leo said, pulling the white card from his wallet as he kept one eye on Margaret.

She had wandered off from the window, with a contented look on her face, and into one of the bedrooms.

“I look forward to hearing from you, Mr. McGarry.”

After the door had closed behind the realtor, Leo went in search of Margaret. “Is this the one?”

“I’d rip up the carpets in the bedrooms and sand the floors,” she offered. “The blinds are a little heavy, but with some drapes it would lighten the room up no end.”

“So you like it?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest.

“The guest room would look great in lilac and the main room in cream. The lighting is old fashioned but that’s replaceable,” she continued.

“The bookcases are a feature.”

“And the round walls.”

“There’s no garage,” Leo moaned, crossing to her and peering into the bathroom.

“Your car would be safe on the street and you take a service car most of the time.” Margaret brushed passed him and walked through the dining room to the kitchen. “Coffee maker here, bread maker here.”

Leo didn’t have the heart to tell her he didn’t own a bread maker. Margaret had always been a little eccentric, prone to getting carried away, but as she flittered around the empty apartment, he couldn’t help but smile. He followed her into the living room as she measured the window.

“Does it measure up?”

“It’s perfect. I could really do something with a place like this, she commented wistfully before her hand flew to her mouth and she shook her head. “Sorry, I’m getting carried away.”

“It’s fine.”

“I just meant that it would make a home.”

“I know what you meant,” Leo said softly. “That’s why I asked you to come.”

“I could never in my lifetime, imagine living somewhere like this,” she sighed, clutching her notepad to her chest. “Hell, my place would fit in here three times over.”

“So, you really think this is for me?” He cleared his throat abruptly. For a moment he had been about to say us and the idea of them living there seemed rather appealing.

Margaret nodded, “Yeah. But maybe you should bring Mallory by, just to be sure.”

“Tell me again what you’d do.” As he watched her move around the rooms, listing the changes and schemes she would implement, he couldn’t help but stare at her lips. It wasn’t that he hadn’t noticed Margaret before, it was just, well, he’d never really seen her outside the office and now that he had, he liked what he saw. As she brushed passed him for the fifth time, he grabbed her wrist without thinking and pulled her towards him gently.

The kiss was brief and light before Margaret pulled back and stared at him. Her fingers traced where his lips had been. “Leo?”

“Yeah?”

She opened her mouth to speak, but his fingers were still working their way up her arm and her lips were tingling from his kiss. Without hesitation, she kissed him on the mouth.

When they parted for the second time, Leo was panting and breathless. His honey hazel eyes widened as he realized what he was doing and who he was doing it with.

Margaret flushed pink under the intensity of his gaze and her eyes drifted anywhere but on his face. It was only in her deepest fantasies that she had thought about his lips on hers, and her imagination had nothing on the real thing. Slowly, she lifted her face, fully expecting to see a look of abject horror on his face. Instead she found herself the object of Leo’s intense scrutiny. It had to be one of the most appealing traits a man could have- the ability to make a woman feel like she was the center of his universe. “Leo? You’re staring,” she commented, her voice betraying how little that bothered her.

He moved his hand to cup her cheek and gently eased his face towards hers. “Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?“ Leo paused momentarily to gaze in her eyes, needing to know that he wasn’t overstepping the mark, that the electricity he’d felt in their first kiss was not just in his head. Margaret’s dilated pupils told him he was right. Parting his lips, he leaned in and pressed them against hers.

She kissed him back as gently as he kissed her, and finally pulled away with a smile. “What’s happening here?” she asked, nervously, glancing down to his hand on her arm.

He moved his hands down her sides and stroked her rib cage. “I’m not really sure.” A moment of hesitancy followed before he mumbled, “We should probably stop. I’ve overstepped the mark and now. . .” His voice trailed off as Margaret’s hands came up around his neck and she kissed him hard on the mouth, her tongue caressing his lips, demanding entry.

As the kiss deepened, Margaret’s hands began roaming his back, reaching under his jacket to tug his shirt from his pants.

Leo lost all coherent thought when he felt her knee rub the inside of his thigh. His fingers moved from her waist, to lightly caress the curve of her body, finally hovering over her hardening nipples.

Her sharp intake of breath at his touch had him reaching for her blouse, wanting to feel her skin against his own. He fumbled to work the buttons through the holes, with the shaking of his hands, until she finally covered his hands with her own and guided him.

Her blouse landed in a puddle on the floor boards, joined seconds later by his jacket and tie.

Leo’s hands seemed to be everywhere as Margaret got caught up in the moment. As her skirt fell to the floor and his palm brushed her cotton covered sex, she felt a sudden heat course through her body.

Then Leo was pulling her down onto the ground and his mouth was sucking her newly naked breast into his mouth. Gently, he rolled her onto the pile of clothing and moved back up to kiss her mouth, smiling to himself at how right it felt. His hand felt for her calf, sliding gently up her leg and over her knee to rest on the exposed thigh. His fingers stroked at the soft flesh, gradually edging higher as he gazed at her face, his grin widening at the obvious arousal in her eyes.

Margaret cupped his face in her hands, bringing his face to hers. Her kiss was light and feathery and all too brief as she covered his hand with her own and aided him on his journey up her thigh.

His fingers trailed gently over the inside of her thigh, following her lead until he reached the tiny raised nub and she moaned into his mouth.

Margaret ran one hand across his scalp and through his fine hair, encouraging him deeper into the kiss.

When his hand stopped it’s ministrations, she let out a whimper of annoyance and called his name.

“Margaret?“ he mumbled against her mouth.

Her hand slipped between them and pressed against his groin, his arousal evident through his briefs. “Leo, please?”

“Tell me what you want, Margaret,” he pleaded, needing to hear her say it.

“I want you,” she cried as his thumb began to rub over her clit.

With his free hand he worked his pants over his thighs and down his legs, then his briefs, until his shaft sprung from it’s confines and he groaned.

Margaret smiled against his lips as her fingers moved to the hem of his T-shirt, trying desperately to work it over his back.

Leo momentarily halted his rhythmic caresses to aid her, eliciting a deep throated moan as her nails scrapped down his bare back.

Arching his back, he guided himself to her opening, entwining his fingers with hers before he thrust into her for the first time.

The sound of her whimpering and the feel of her muscles clenching around him almost brought him to climax. Leo shifted position until he was resting on one elbow and he could watch her face as he moved inside her.

His gentle thrusts were driving her to distraction, when all she really wanted was release. Sliding her legs up his thighs, Margaret locked her ankles around his back and began to build a rhythm.

Leo growled as she took him deeper inside her, panting, “I’m not… going to last… too long.”

“Neither. . . Am I. . .Leo, harder. . .please,” she pleaded as she felt him stiffen inside her. “Oh my god, that’s it.”

Leo raised his hips and thrust into her with one long stroke.

Margaret slid across the floor, her ankles at his waist the only thing preventing him slipping from her. The fluidicity of their movements took over then, as they both tried to find release.

Margaret climaxed first, her head falling back onto the pile of clothes as her body shuddered around him. Her eyes fluttered shut as she felt Leo nearing his own release.

Leo adjusted his position and followed seconds later, collapsing on top of her, his breathing labored.

The sound of footsteps in the corridor echoed through the apartment and Margaret opened her eyes. “Someone’s coming.”

“Yeah,” Leo growled, grabbing his clothes and pulling them on. “The next viewers.”

“Hell.”

They dressed in silence, Margaret avoiding looking at Leo, fearful of the regret she would see in his eyes.

Leo walked to the window as he smoothed down his hair and tried to control his breathing. He wasn’t sure what the hell had just happened, or what possessed him to do it, only that he really rather enjoyed it.

“Leo,” she called, gathering her notebook and purse. “We need to go.”

“Okay,” he replied noncommittally.

Margaret opened the door and stepped out into the corridor. She gave the realtor a small smile and brazenly headed down the corridor.

Leo followed a moment later, straightening his tie and hoping that the agent wouldn’t know what they had been up to. The last thing he needed was an article in the Post referring to the Chief of Staff’s sexual exploits.

They reached the car after what seemed an unending uncomfortable silence and Leo walked around to the passenger side, unlocking the door for Margaret.

Margaret climbed in and clicked her seatbelt into place before folding her hands in her lap.

“You did say we should sand the floors?” he asked, grinning.

“Leo!” Margaret groaned, her eyes firmly fixed on her hands.

“What? I thought you liked it?”

“I do.”

“And the apartment?”

She spun around to glare at him and found herself caught in his gaze. “What’s got into you?”

“I had a spontaneous moment with a beautiful woman,” he said softly.

Her face flushed pink as she continued to stare at him, her heart skipping a beat at what was reflected in his eyes.

“If I put an offer in, are you going to come visit or is it going to be too awkward?”

“Awkward?” she stammered.

Leo sighed, “Okay, I’ll speak to the realtor and see what else there is out there.”

Margaret turned in her seat and stared at him, “But I thought you liked it.”

“I do, but if you aren’t going to be able to set foot inside the door, then. . .,” he shrugged. “What is it you’re so fond of saying? I go where you go?“

She scrunched up her forehead in confusion, “It’s I go, when you go. And who says I won’t come and visit?”

“But?”