POTUS: A Powerplay Novel Read online

  POTUS

  A Powerplay Novel

  Selena Laurence

  Contents

  About POTUS

  Praise for Selena Laurence

  Books by Selena Laurence

  Preface

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Sample from The Kingmaker

  Chapter 1

  Sample from A Lush Rhapsody

  Tully

  Blaze

  About the Author

  Copyright 2017 © Selena Laurence

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN 978-0-9977188-4-3

  Copy Editing by LindaEdits.com

  Cover & formatting by Sweet and Spicy Designs

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, sorted in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book. This contemporary romance is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. This ebook is licensed for your personal use only. This book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.

  For permission to use any portion of this material, please contact the author at: [email protected]

  ISBN: 978-0-9977188-4-3

  Created with Vellum

  About POTUS

  She's the President of his heart.

  A leader beloved by her nation.

  Jessica Hampton is the heir to a political dynasty, and the first woman President of the United States. For six years she has given up everything in order to fulfill her late husband's legacy. But now, as her term in office draws to a close, she wants nothing more than to finish with the dignity her family demands. But when Jessica begins to negotiate an important Middle East accord with the sexy Egyptian Ambassador, being President takes a back seat to being a woman.

  A man trapped on all sides.

  Kamal Masri knows all about being an heir. He's not only Egypt's Ambassador to the US, he's the first-born son of one of the world's wealthiest men. Kamal's father has controlled his fortune, his career, and now possibly his life, because when the Egyptian parliament instructs him to negotiate an accord that threatens his father's illegal business dealings, all hell breaks loose. But as dark forces from the far side of the globe conspire to destroy the accord, Kamal is prepared to do whatever it takes to win Jessica's love. He'll fight to protect her, even from his own country.

  Praise for Selena Laurence

  "Laurence’s tightly woven story is a superb mix of sexual and political tension that’s certain to please fans of both." — Publisher's Weekly review of THE KINGMAKER

  "Delicious and Intriguing." — Lauren Blakely, NYT Bestselling Author on A LUSH BETRAYAL

  “Selena Laurence has the ability to bring to life complex characters you instantly start rooting for from page one. Passion, humor, and a sexy hero all make for one read you don’t want to miss.” — Ilsa Madden-Mills, Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author on PLAYING WITH FIRE

  "I totally fell in love with Nico and Tess’s story." — Cindi Madden, USA TODAY Bestselling Author on THE HEIR

  "The plot is deftly written and readers will be totally engrossed in the story" — InD'Tale Magazine review of A LUSH BETRAYAL

  “Selena Laurence delivers on the promise of heat, and love with her sexy romances!” — Nana Malone, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

  Books by Selena Laurence

  The Lush Rockstar Series

  A Lush Betrayal (Lush 1)

  Loving a Lush (Lush 2)

  Lowdown and Lush (Lush 3)

  A Lush Reunion (Lush 4)

  The Rhapsody Rockstar Series

  A Lush Rhapsody (A Rhapsody Novel)

  Racing to Rhapsody (A Rhapsody Novel)

  Addicted to Rhapsody (A Rhapsody Novel) coming July 2017

  The Powerplay Series

  Prince of the Press (A Powerplay Novella)

  The Kingmaker (A Powerplay Novel)

  POTUS (A Powerplay Novel)

  SCOTUS (A Powerplay Novel) coming May, 2017

  The California Cowboys Series

  Cade’s Loss (California Cowboys One) coming February 2017

  Vaughn’s Pride (California Cowboys Two) coming June 2017

  Ty’s Heart (California Cowboys Three) coming September 2017

  Standalones

  The Heir: A Standalone Greek Billionaire Romance

  Pax (Lush the Next Gen)

  The Czar: A Standalone Hockey Billionaire Romance coming March, 2017

  The Hiding From Love Series

  Falling for Trouble

  Secrets in a Kiss

  Concealed by a Kiss

  Playing with Fire

  For my dad who taught me the value of public service and the importance of working to make the world a better place.

  Preface

  For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground.—Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States

  My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.— John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States

  Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. — Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States

  America laid her favorite son to rest today as the body of United States Senator John Andrew Hampton was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Senator Hampton was aboard the Learjet carrying four members of Congress to a summit in Ireland when it crashed over the Atlantic last Tuesday. Hampton was the immensely popular son of retired senator and former South Carolina Governor John Hampton, Senior, as well as his party’s presumptive nominee for the presidential race that will begin in eighteen months. Speaking at his funeral, President Forsyth said, “John was the dream of every American parent, the hope of every American heart, and the promise of every American soul. When God takes such a shining light from our lives, it is nearly impossible to imagine how we will ever replace it.” Senator Hampton leaves behind his parents, his sister, and his wife, Jessica.—WNN News.

  Chapter 1

  The president was dancing. Kamal looked on, a smile spreading across his face as he watched, her earbuds in place, ass shaking while she mouthed the words to the song and sifted through papers on the credenza behind her desk.

  He scratched his head, not sure how he was supposed to handle the awkward situation now that he was already in the room.

  “Oh, dear,” Vanessa Smith, chief of staff, muttered. She rushed
all five foot two inches of her compact body across the room, tapping the president on the shoulder.

  Jessica Hampton jumped as she spun to face Vanessa. She pulled the earbuds out of her ears. “What is it…” Her voice faded away as she caught sight of Kamal standing at the doorway, smirking.

  “Oh.” She swallowed visibly. “Mr. Ambassador.” She smoothed her hands over her red sheath dress, and Kamal couldn’t help but notice how the motion pulled the fabric tight over her lush breasts and small waist.

  “Madam President,” he said, taking a few more steps into the room. “I’m sorry to, uh, interrupt you, but I believe we had a meeting for three o’clock?”

  The president glanced at Vanessa, who nodded, body stiff and face full of tension.

  “Yes, of course,” she said, striding forward with her hand extended. Kamal took the slender thing in his big paw, noticing how slight she was when he was this close. He also noticed that she smelled like lavender and her eyes were a lovely shade of blue—cornflower, he thought they called it in his nephew’s crayon box.

  “Vanessa, if you would please ask the staff to send in some tea and cookies?”

  “Yes, Madam President,” Vanessa said, handing her boss a file folder.

  “Mr. Ambassador.” Jessica gestured to the seating area at one end of the Oval Office and sat on one of the two love seats separated by a coffee table. Kamal took the facing love seat, crossing one long leg over the other knee and sitting back to watch and wait.

  As the new Egyptian ambassador to the US, Kamal Masri had an entire list of items to address, but one of the first was the proposed accord between Egypt, Jordan, and Israel—the Millennial Accord—something the US was advocating and the president herself was brokering.

  So, it appeared that Kamal would be visiting the White House weekly to hammer out details of the agreement, and he had to admit that if he got to see the president dancing when he did, it was well worth the trip. Jessica Hampton was a beautiful woman, and Kamal definitely enjoyed beautiful women.

  “Thank you for coming, Mr. Ambassador,” Jessica said.

  Kamal gave her his best panty-melting smile. “Of course. The Egyptian government is very interested in finding a way to make this agreement work for all the parties involved.”

  He watched her as she maintained a carefully professional expression, her slick red lips curved into a polite but cool smile.

  The door to the office opened, and a member of the household staff entered with a tray of tea and cookies. He set the items down on the coffee table and left the room.

  “Now,” Jessica began. “I would like to begin with discussing the border along—”

  “Your staff disrespects you,” Kamal commented, irritation lacing his voice.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  Kamal sat forward on the prissy love seat and pinned Jessica with a dark look. “Your staff disrespects you.”

  The president’s brow drew down, and her lips pursed. “I’m not sure why you think that my staff’s behavior is any of your business, but regardless of that, you’re wrong.”

  “No, they are definitely disrespectful. Your chief of staff didn’t bother to tell you that I was here for our meeting before she let me into the room, thus putting you in the embarrassing position of not being prepared for me.”

  The president blushed, and Kamal couldn’t help but notice that it was incredibly appealing.

  “And your steward didn’t offer to pour your tea for you. In fact, he didn’t address you at all, simply set the tray down and left. It was rude and disrespectful.”

  Jessica sighed. Kamal had to admit in his own mind that it sounded a great deal like the sigh his best friend Derek often gave him.

  “Mr. Ambassador—”

  “Please call me, Kamal, Madam President.”

  “Kamal. I apologize for the way you were introduced to the Oval Office, but that wasn’t Vanessa’s fault. I knew I had an appointment at three p.m., and I simply got distracted.”

  He filled her teacup, something that the idiot waiter should have done from the get-go.

  “Madam President, you are a head of state. You are, in fact, the head of the greatest state in the world at this point in history. You are permitted to dance around your office whenever and however you choose. And it is the job of your staff to ensure that you have appropriate privacy to do that. No one should ever be allowed entry to your office without your express permission at that moment.”

  She blinked at him, seemingly struck speechless.

  “And as for your waitstaff, they should absolutely address you when they enter a room, they should serve your food and drink, including placing it on your plate, cup, or glass, and then they should remain standing and ready for further instructions. They should not leave a room until you have dismissed them.”

  The president of the United States let out something between a snort and a laugh.

  “Mr. Ambassador—”

  “Kamal.”

  “Kamal. I appreciate your suggestions regarding my staff, but I think you are noting some things that are merely cultural differences in expectations. However, I will certainly take your remarks under consideration.”

  Kamal knew that meant she was going to ignore him. Damn obstinate woman. If she was going to bother with being president, she should at least insist on appropriate behavior among her staff. And without a husband to stand behind her and enforce her preferences, the staff would ride roughshod over her. Hell, over the whole nation. As a woman in this office, she needed to be twice as tough and demanding as a man. And that had to start with her own staff.

  “Thank you, Madam President,” he murmured, knowing enough to realize when he needed to pull back from a negotiation. But he made a mental note to observe the staff more closely the next time he came to the White House. America needed to treat its pretty president better, and he was certain he could be the man to further that cause.

  “Now, shall we look at this issue along the northern border of…”

  “Vanessa!” Jessica yelled out the door of the Oval Office.

  “Yes, Madam President,” Vanessa answered almost instantaneously from her desk to the left of the doorway.

  “A moment, please?”

  “Yes, ma’am?” Vanessa asked as she entered.

  Jessica turned and looked at her diminutive chief of staff. Vanessa’s hair was perfectly arranged, her clothes wrinkle free. It was infuriating the way the woman never looked rumpled. Jessica struggled not to look rumpled from the moment she woke until the moment she fell onto her bed for a scant three or four hours of sleep.

  “I just had to endure the ambassador from Egypt dressing me down for not controlling my staff well enough.”

  “I beg your pardon, ma’am?”

  “You let him into the office without announcing him first. I was—” Jessica held a hand to her forehead, wondering at what point her day had gone so wrong. “Dancing,” she groaned, “for God’s sake. It was humiliating, and then Josh didn’t pour the tea and address me when he came in.”

  Vanessa looked at her like she was trying very hard to appear sympathetic but just couldn’t quite pull it off.

  “Pour your tea?”

  “Yes, you know, like proper British do.”

  “Ma’am, we threw the British out a couple of centuries ago over tea. I’m not sure if we should be emulating them in that regard.”

  Jessica’s blood pressure spiked for the umpteenth time, and she gritted her teeth. “Yes, Vanessa, thank you. Will you just make sure not to let anyone into the office in the future unless you’ve checked with me beforehand?”

  “Of course, Madam President.”

  “And tell Josh to learn how to pour the tea before the ambassador comes back next week.”

  “Yes, Madam President.”

  After Vanessa slunk out of the office, Jessica sat down in her large leather desk chair and laid her head back, closing her eyes. She’d been in office two years and eight months, and never di
d a day go by that she didn’t wonder what the hell she was doing here.

  And now she had this accord to work out with the Egyptians. It was a crucial piece of her plan for stabilization of the Middle East, but damn if she didn’t wish she could pawn it off on her secretary of state. Kamal Masri was going to be a complete pain in her ass.

  She thought back to the look on his face when she’d turned around from her booty-shaking exhibition. He’d obviously found the display entertaining—and in more than one way. She hadn’t missed the heat that had flashed in his dark eyes before the smirk took over.

  He was an extremely good-looking man, the very definition of tall, dark, and handsome. His hair was perfectly styled, his suit was designer, his shoes buffed to a gleam. The one and only thing that wasn’t the epitome of high-level foreign dignitary was the small gold earring in his left lobe. She’d noticed it immediately because it was out of place. But she could imagine him as a pirate in a billowing white shirt, defined chest on display, tight pants and tall boots, with that earring. He was swarthy, and terribly domineering. He would have made a good pirate.

  She opened her eyes, almost surprised to find the empty office still there, her fantasy had been so vivid. And, well, kind of hot.

  “Lord, Jessica, pull it together,” she mumbled to herself. The lack of sleep must be getting to her.

  The phone chimed, and she lifted the receiver. “Yes?”

  “Senator Aronson is here to see you,” her secretary, Adam, drawled.

  “Yes, send her in, please.”