by Fiona Riley
“We have a conference call over lunch, and I have some interviews later.” Olivia closed her eyes at the sensation of Savannah’s fingers running through her hair. They had made it a point to avoid talking about work; it still felt a little taboo to know that Savannah was in New York working on the project that they had previously worked on together. Olivia had conflicting feelings about it.
“Do you have any plans later?” Savannah scratched lightly at the nape of Olivia’s neck. “I was hoping to make you dinner.”
Olivia lifted her head and rested her chin between Savannah’s breasts as she looked up at her. “Nope, no plans. What are you making me?”
Savannah’s forefinger tapped Olivia playfully on the nose before she leaned down and kissed her. “Well, you’ll just have to wait and see, I guess.”
Olivia pouted against Savannah’s lips. “No fair.”
“Now, now, Liv. You know how I feel about that pout.” Savannah mirrored Olivia’s pout before adding, “What do you say about a quick breakfast before I head back to my hotel and get changed for work?”
“I think the outfit you have on now is pretty great.” Olivia’s gaze dragged over the soft cotton track and field shirt from college that Savannah had borrowed last night. She’d been impressed that she’d managed to spend time with Savannah that didn’t involve nakedness. She wasn’t quite sure she was ready for that type of intimacy just yet, and Savannah seemed to be on the same page. Savannah was affectionate but still respectful, like she was worried she might cross a line or something. It was reminiscent of when they first got together, and Olivia found it endearing.
“Well, I can’t disagree with you there. I like wearing your clothes.” Savannah wiggled out from beneath Olivia and looked down at her barely covered behind. “Your shirt makes my ass look fabulous.”
“It really does.” Olivia nodded in agreement, appreciating Savannah’s assets as she led Olivia out of the room toward the kitchen.
* * *
“I wasn’t expecting to see you today,” Reagan whispered to Olivia as Corrine addressed the rest of the group members in the conference room.
Olivia pretended to pay attention to Corrine’s words. “Why’s that?”
“Uh, didn’t you have a date with Savannah last night?”
“It was coffee, not a date.” Olivia watched Corrine point to the graph on the wall.
“Yeah, okay—coffee, date, whatever,” Reagan said. “So?”
“Any questions?” Corrine’s voice drew them back to her presentation. When no one spoke she said, “Okay, great work, guys. Olivia, I will meet you in conference room B for that interview in a bit.”
“Sounds good.” Olivia made an attempt to stand when Reagan’s hand landed softly on her forearm, halting her progression.
Reagan gave her an expectant look.
“Fine.” Olivia sighed and sat back down. “It went well.”
“The vagueness of this conversation is killing me.”
Olivia shrugged and looked out the window.
“Hannah does this thing with her tongue that is unreal.”
Olivia whipped her head toward Reagan and grimaced. “Ew, Reagan.”
“Well, I had to say something to get you to look me in the face,” Reagan said. “So, what’s up? Why so evasive with the gossip?”
“Why so curious?”
“You’re deflecting. Your game is weak.” Reagan leaned back and crossed her arms. “I’m going to go ahead and Sherlock this for you because you’re taking too long.”
Olivia furrowed her brow. “What?”
“Well, if it had gone badly, you would have come into work earlier with red, puffy eyes and been a real b-i-t-c-h, if you know what I mean.”
“Hey—”
Reagan held up her hand. “Nope. No peanut gallery comments until the case is presented.”
Olivia suppressed a smile and nodded.
“Thank you, Watson. Now, as I was saying, if it had gone badly, you would have been entirely impossible to work with and there would have been lots of weeping and references to Sleepless in Seattle.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Rea—”
“Tut!” Reagan warned. “No speakie.” She cracked her neck. “So the way I see it, your coffee talk must have gone pretty well because you didn’t get here until noonish and you have a hickey on your neck.”
Olivia’s eyes bulged and her hand went to below her right ear as she panicked about the extra attention Savannah paid to that area before she went back to her hotel.
“Bingo, bango. Case solved.” Reagan gloated and brushed invisible dust from her shoulder. “And way to give yourself away. There’s no hickey there, amateur.”
“I hate you.”
“You love me.” Reagan grabbed Olivia’s water bottle and took a swig.
“She told me she loves me.”
Reagan spat the contents of her mouth onto the top of the conference table.
“Reagan.” Olivia pushed her chair from the table to avoid the mess.
“Olivia. I thought we talked about you trying to kill me. It’s rude.” Reagan wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and shook her head as she looked forlornly at the now empty bottle. “Man, I was really thirsty…”
Olivia shook the files in the air in an attempt to dispel the droplets as she whined, “It was my water.”
“Well, don’t leave me hanging. What did you say back?” Reagan leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.
“Um, nothing.” Olivia picked at the edge of the folder.
“Oh.” Reagan paused before she ran a hand through her tousled hair. “I forgot about that.”
“Forgot that it was my water? Because you totally owe me one.”
Reagan shook her head with a frown. “I forgot how that makes you react. You know, for some sappy, chick-flick loving hopeless romantic, you get worse whiplash than me when someone drops the love bomb. It’s a conundrum.”
Olivia opened her mouth to argue when a knock at the open door caught her attention. “Savannah?”
“Hey, ladies.” Savannah leaned against the door frame dressed to kill in a power suit with just the right amount of cleavage exposed. “How are things?”
Reagan shot Olivia a look before she stood up and strode over to her old colleague. “Savannah Quinn, what brings you to the Big Apple?”
“Oh, you know, I guess I just missed you.”
A look of recognition settled on Reagan’s face and her jovial expression changed. “Work. You’re here on business. Our business.”
“Reagan,” Olivia warned as she stood. “Let’s not start this.”
“It’s okay, Liv.” Savannah straightened up and turned to Reagan. “Yes, I’m here for a new project.” She sighed. “I’m sorry things ended the way they did.”
Reagan surveyed her with a curious expression. “Did you see the rest of the team yet?”
“I ran into the guys when the meeting filed out. Corrine was on a call. I haven’t seen Farrah yet.”
Reagan nodded. “I’ll let you two, uh, catch up.” She glanced back toward Olivia before she added, “She’s giving you a second chance, Savannah. Don’t fuck it up.”
They watched Reagan slip out the door without further comment. Olivia groaned. “Sorry about that.”
Savannah held up her hand in acknowledgment. “So Reagan knows, huh?”
Olivia knew she was blushing. “Uh, yeah. She saw us kissing at the airport.”
“Anyone else?”
“Just Farrah and Reagan. And Christine, but she’s my sister, so she doesn’t count.”
Savannah stepped into the room and quietly closed the door behind her. “This is the room we first met in. This is where you told me about the Coleman Park view and the concrete jungle.”
Olivia looked out at the glass to her left. “It’s my favorite room here.”
Savannah stepped closer, extending her hand to take Olivia’s. “I missed you today.”
Olivia gave Savannah
a shy smile. “It’s only midday.”
“Feels like an eternity.” Savannah sighed. “I hate working without you. Especially knowing you are just a few blocks away.”
Olivia shrugged, unsure of how to respond. “So is that why you’re here? Because you missed me?”
“Is that weird?” Savannah looked a little nervous.
“No, I think it’s sweet.” Olivia tugged Savannah a little closer by their joined hands.
“Good.” Savannah spared a quick glance toward the closed conference room door before she pressed a lingering kiss to Olivia’s lips.
“It’s probably better we aren’t working together,” Olivia said, her mouth close to Savannah’s, “because you are still the best kisser ever and I am having all kind of thoughts pertaining to non-work-related activities in the work setting that are distracting.”
Savannah’s soft chuckle was muffled by the skin of Olivia’s neck under her lips. “Like drafting tables?”
“Precisely.” Olivia mustered all her control to distance herself from Savannah’s lips. She wasn’t concerned about people finding out they were together. But she wasn’t quite sure they were together.
Savannah placed another kiss to Olivia’s mouth. “I was hoping to borrow your keys so I could pop into your place a little early to prep some things for dinner.”
“Oh.” Olivia was surprised by the request. “Yeah, sure.”
Savannah leaned back against the table and pulled Olivia into a loose hug. “If it’s not okay, Liv, that’s fine.”
Olivia settled into Savannah’s arms and rested her head on Savannah’s shoulder. “No, it’s fine. I guess I wasn’t expecting you to say that.”
Savannah raised her eyebrow. “What were you expecting?”
“I don’t know,” Olivia admitted. “I’m not sure.”
Savannah’s expression as unreadable. “What time will you be done tonight?”
“I suppose five-ish.”
“Okay.” Savannah rubbed her hands up and down Olivia’s back. “Dinner will be at six.”
Olivia stepped away from Savannah but kept close as she replied, “Let’s go get those keys before my meeting with Corrine, and then we’ll track down Farrah so you can say hello.”
Chapter Thirty
“Cooper, how many cloves of garlic?” Savannah called over her shoulder as she began mincing.
“Three. Four if you really want to make sure Dracula doesn’t interrupt your date, but it may decrease your chances of getting laid.” His voice sounded over the speakers of her tablet.
“You are such a perv.” Savannah shot him a look and reached for another clove.
“Well, your outfit implies you’re looking to have sex. I was just giving you a friendly warning about bad breath.” Cooper smiled at her over the webcam and sipped his beer.
“Shouldn’t you be in class?” Savannah said in response, ignoring his jab.
“Who would read you Abuela Carmen’s recipe if I was?”
Savannah had been grateful when Cooper picked up earlier. After she had proposed making dinner for Olivia, she realized all her recipes and her cookware were in Chicago. Abuela Carmen had been Cooper’s nanny for a few years during his early teens before her father bailed on his third wife when the money ran thin. She made a mean sautéed eggplant pizza on flatbread. Savannah stirred the ingredients in the pot and checked the time.
“You know, I can’t remember the last time we cooked together,” Cooper said.
“Coop, we had dinner together before Olivia left Chicago,” Savannah reminded him.
“Yeah, but I mean, like, just you and me. We used to do it all the time when we were younger.”
“That’s because Dad was never around and you had an insatiable appetite,” Savannah teased. “I had to feed you to keep you out of trouble.”
“You make the best mac and cheese.” Cooper nodded solemnly as he took another sip.
“Thanks, bro.”
“And you look nice, by the way. I think she’s going to like that outfit.”
Savannah stopped cleaning and sat down on the kitchen island stool in front of her brother’s image on the screen. “Thanks, Coop. I’m a little nervous.”
Cooper nodded. “I figured if you were busting out Carmenita’s eggplant panty dropper recipe, you might be.”
“I’m just not too sure how she’s going to take the news.” She thought back to the tension she felt at the office earlier. She’d hoped it was mostly sexual, and it did seem that way, but when she asked Olivia for her keys, she seemed guarded even though she had been receptive to Savannah’s affections.
“Well, I’m sure she’ll take the news better than I did.” Cooper frowned.
Savannah felt that familiar pang in her chest at Cooper’s admission. “I need to live my life for me now, Cooper.”
“I know. It doesn’t make it suck any less, though.”
“I just want to make sure I did everything I possibly could, no what-ifs, you know?”
Cooper leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. “What are you going to do if she doesn’t react the way you’re hoping?”
“I don’t know, crawl into a hole and die?”
“That sounds like a good plan. Any alternative endings lined up?”
“Nope.” She made an oval shape with her arms. “This is my basket and these are all my eggs.”
“Sav, if you keep discussing your menstrual cycle, you are never gonna get laid. Go stir your eggplant.”
* * *
“I’m totally freaking out, Chris,” Olivia said into the phone as the cabbie honked at a meandering pedestrian.
“Why are you freaking out? It’s not like you haven’t had sex with her before.” Christine sounded bored.
“It’s not about having sex with her.” Olivia’s eyes were drawn to the cabbie’s in the rearview mirror. She lowered her voice. “It’s about all the other stuff.”
“What other stuff?”
“The I love you stuff.”
“Wait—what?” Christine sounded markedly more attentive now.
“So, you know how we agreed to have coffee last night?”
“Yes, I remember coffee. Go on.”
“Well, it went really…well and she spent the night.”
“So, you already slept with her. Good. What’s the big deal?”
Olivia groaned. “I didn’t sleep with her, she slept over.”
“In your bed?”
“Well, yes.”
“But you didn’t have sex?”
“No.”
“Did you want to?”
“Yes.” Olivia paused. “Wait, that’s not what we’re talking about.”
“It’s not?” Christine sounded perplexed.
“No. We’re talking about the I love you thing.”
“Oh, right. So you told her you loved her when you were so busy not having sex?”
“No.”
“I’m lost.”
“Christine, focus. We had a nice night, there was no sex, but I wanted there to be, sure, but there wasn’t. It was just a lot of cuddling and getting reacquainted in a PG-13 kind of way.”
“I don’t believe that for a second,” Christine said.
“Well it was mostly PG-13,” Olivia admitted as her thoughts were pulled back to the unconscious groping that sort of escalated before it was extinguished.
“And where in that mess was an I love you?”
“At the park before we went back to my place.”
“You went to the park? Which part?”
“By the duck section behind that pretzel vendor—not important, by the way.”
“I just want to set the scene, you know, taste, smell, sounds,” Christine replied.
“It was quiet, warm, after sunset, we were on a park bench, and some kids were playing soccer off to the side, I think.” Olivia humored her sister with details. “And then she told me she loved me.”
“Oh.”
“Oh? That’s it?
”
“Well, what did you do?”
“I kissed her.”
“And?”
“And invited her back to my place to watch a movie and snuggle.”
“But not have sex.”
“No, Christine. No sex.”
“So, let me get this straight, you’re freaking out because Savannah is back in town and told you she loves you and you invited her over but didn’t have sex but you wanted to and she loves you and you love her. And that’s a problem?”
“Yes.” Olivia nodded as the cabbie pulled up to her curb. “Wait, no, not exactly.”
“What did I get wrong?” Christine sounded skeptical.
Olivia handed the cabbie the fare and thanked him as she closed the door and walked toward her building. “I don’t know if I’m ready for all of this.”
Christine sighed. “Olivia. Don’t do this. Don’t freak out for no reason.”
“I have every reason to freak out, Christine. There’ve been weeks of no talking and now there is I love you. Freak-outs are allowed.”
“You love her.”
Olivia paused as she reached the front door of her building. “I do.”
“Then why not just tell her and make it not so complicated? She obviously feels the same way that you do. Except she’s a little braver.”
“I resent that comment.” Olivia pouted.
“Resent it all you’d like—I don’t care,” Christine said. “It’s time you accept the fact that you need to be a little vulnerable once in a while, too.”
Olivia buzzed her apartment and waited for Savannah’s voice.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me. Buzz me in?” Olivia spoke into the intercom. The lock buzzed open and she walked through.
“Where are you?” Christine waited for the noise to fade before resuming their conversation.
“I’m in my apartment building, in the elevator. Savannah came by the office earlier today to get my house keys. She’s cooking dinner for us.”
“That’s adorable,” Christine cooed.
“I know,” Olivia agreed. “I’m so fucked, aren’t I?”
“Sounds like you are very lucky and shouldn’t let your past behavior in these situations dictate your future.”
