by Fiona Riley
“I bet. You had excellent leadership…”
Ken’s smile faded and he cleared his throat. “Ah, yes, that we did. Well, enjoy yourself, Ms. Dawson, and say hi to the team for me.”
Olivia nodded because she was afraid that if she opened her mouth bad things would spill out. Over the past three weeks, Savannah had told her all about the behind-the-scenes meddling that Ken Dodd had been involved in; now that she was aware of his true nature, pleasantries seemed like a large feat to undertake.
The MC for the night took the microphone and addressed the audience, thanking them for coming to the launch party and telling them to be safe on their ride home. As the lights came on in the room and people began to disperse, Olivia finally got a glimpse of the dark red hair that had been so elusive.
“Savannah!” Olivia weaved through the crowd after the fast disappearing silhouette.
Two tall men in suits stopped immediately in front of her, and she crashed into one of them as she tried to follow Savannah’s receding shape through the side doors of the conference room.
“Fuck, sorry,” Olivia mumbled as she pushed his well-intentioned hands away from her and started to jog toward the far door. “Savannah!”
She pushed through the double doors and found herself alone in the coat room, standing in front of a large mirror. The face that looked back at her was flushed and panicked.
“Do you have your ticket, miss?” A small woman with dark-rimmed glasses emerged from behind a rack of coats, carrying a trench coat toward the other end of the room.
“Oh, uh, no.” Olivia realized she had come in through the back entrance. “Sorry, I was just looking for someone.”
“No one here but me, miss,” she said as she handed the coat off to the man waiting by the other entrance. She looked beyond the man and asked, “Do you have your ticket, miss?”
“Yes, sorry, I thought I heard someone I knew here.” Savannah’s voice was music to Olivia’s ears.
Olivia held her finger to her lips and took the jacket from the coat-check clerk, then carried it to the doorway. Savannah had her back turned toward the door. She was rummaging in her purse. She reached out for the coat, her attention elsewhere. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome,” Olivia supplied quietly as she let her hand skim along Savannah’s.
Savannah whipped her head toward her and a small smile graced her full lips as she sighed. “Olivia.”
“In the flesh,” Olivia said as she took the money from Savannah’s hand and handed it to the waiting attendant with a broad smile. “Thanks, I found what I was looking for.”
Olivia helped Savannah shrug on her jacket. She smoothed the lapels and looked at the curious expression on Savannah’s face, feeling suddenly shy. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Savannah parroted as she adjusted the purse on her shoulder.
“Savannah, I—”
“Ms. Quinn, your car has arrived.” A young man interrupted them and motioned for the door.
Savannah nodded and took a step in his direction before she paused. “I wasn’t expecting to see you, I have to be somewhere…”
“Oh, I, well—”
“Would you like to ride with me? Wait—how did you get here?”
“It’s a long story, and yes, I would love to.”
“Okay, let’s go.” Savannah reached out and took Olivia’s hand, leading her toward the door and into the night.
Chapter Thirty-two
“You didn’t call or text me today.” It had been quiet since they had climbed into the back of the town car. Savannah sat by her and held her hand, but she had been looking out the window for the past fifteen minutes, in complete silence.
“Today was a very busy day,” Savannah replied as she watched the bustling city around them. When Olivia didn’t acknowledge her, she glanced over. “How was work?”
“Long.” Olivia pulled Savannah’s hand into her lap. “Savannah?”
“Olivia,” Savannah replied as the car broke through foot traffic and sped up.
“I’m sorry.”
Savannah blinked. “About what?”
“Everything.”
“Well, that’s unfortunate.” Savannah frowned, and her hand relaxed its grip on Olivia’s.
“No, not about this.” Olivia grabbed Savannah’s hand more firmly. “I’m not sorry about this.”
“You lost me.” Savannah gave her a perplexed look.
Olivia let out a slow breath. “I love you.”
Savannah didn’t say anything at first. She remained still, her hand motionless in Olivia’s grasp. “I know.” Her response was quiet.
Olivia tried to quell the disappointment that bubbled inside her—she’d expected a different reaction. She tried again. “I love you and I should have told you all along, but I have a bad history of leaving the people that love me, mainly because I don’t think I have ever really let myself be loved because it scares me, and I was wrong and I’m sorry. I love you.”
Savannah leaned forward and cupped Olivia’s jaw. Her fingers danced along the skin of Olivia’s neck as she pressed a kiss to Olivia’s lips. “Thank you. I love you, too.”
Olivia warmed at the returned sentiment but before she knew it, the moment had ended, and Savannah’s lips were off hers. She decided it was now or never. “I’m not ready for you to go.”
“Is that why you decided today was the day to tell me you love me? Because the New York project is over?” Savannah’s expression was serious, her voice soft.
“No. Yes, well, no.” Olivia cringed as Savannah shook her head and sighed. “Wait.”
“I have waited, Liv. I’ve waited and been patient and took what I could get from you. I told you I wanted to be happy, Liv. Is this your idea of happy? Waiting until the last possible moment to be honest and truthful with yourself?”
“That’s not, I mean, no—” Olivia reached out and took Savannah’s hand.
Savannah’s gray-blue eyes looked at her intently. “What made you come by the launch party tonight?”
The directness of the question caught Olivia off guard. “I needed to see you. I wanted you to know that you were important to me, that I fucked up. I wanted you to know that I love you.”
“And all those times in the past three weeks when I asked you about us and our future together and you didn’t answer, what about those times? Why was tonight different?”
Olivia felt like she should be on the defensive, but Savannah’s tone wasn’t attacking. It was quiet, subdued almost. She looked directly at Olivia with great attention but not with malice. Olivia replied honestly, “Because your work here is done. And you’re leaving. And I want you to stay.”
Savannah nodded. “Olivia, I’m going to ask you a question. I want you to answer me with your immediate, gut reaction. Can you do that?”
“Yes.”
“Do you love me?”
“Yes, I—”
Savannah held up her hand to stop Olivia. “Do you want to try to make this relationship work?”
“Yes.”
Savannah smiled. “Okay.”
Olivia frowned. “I’m lost.”
The car pulled up to the curb and stopped. The driver popped the trunk and opened Savannah’s door. “We’re here, miss.”
“Thank you.”
“Shall I get your bags?”
“Yes, please.”
Savannah exited the car and reached back in to take Olivia’s hand. “I want to show you something.”
Olivia let herself be guided out of the car by Savannah and looked around for the first time. They were parked in front of an apartment building and there was a doorman holding two small bags she assumed were Savannah’s. “Where are we?”
Savannah thanked the driver and tipped him before she pulled Olivia toward the doorman without saying a word.
“Ms. Quinn! It’s nice to meet you. They told me you would be coming tonight. Would you like me to bring these up for you?” He held up Savannah’s bags with a friend
ly smile.
“We’ll take them, thanks.” Savannah released Olivia’s hand and passed her the smaller of the two bags as she motioned for the elevator.
Savannah reached into her purse as the elevator doors closed and looked up only to hit the button to the fifth floor.
Olivia tried again. “Savannah? Where are we?”
The elevator doors slid open and Savannah exited without a response, walking toward the other end of the hall with a determined stride. She paused outside the last door and slid a key into the lock, opening the door and holding it open for Olivia.
The apartment was small but beautifully furnished with a welcoming, open floor plan. The wall colors were warm and tasteful and the granite of the kitchen island shone with a polished newness. Olivia watched as Savannah kicked off her heels and padded across the newly buffed hardwood floors into the kitchen area. She retrieved two wineglasses from the cabinet by the sink and held one up to Olivia in question.
“Uh, sure.” Olivia had no idea what was going on.
Savannah reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of champagne. She popped the top easily and poured it into both glasses until they were full. “These are the closest things I have to champagne flutes at the moment, sorry.”
Olivia took the glass Savannah had filled and waited for some sort of explanation.
“To one chapter closing and another one beginning.” Savannah raised her glass and waited for Olivia to do the same before she sipped it and set it down.
Olivia reluctantly sipped her glass and placed it next to Savannah’s on the counter as she watched Savannah shrug off her suit jacket and roll her neck in fatigue. “Savannah, where are we?”
Savannah answered her with a kiss. The kiss started out slow and deep before quickly veering into X-rated territory. As Savannah’s tongue danced against hers, she had to remind herself to breathe. This kiss, this was a kiss that she didn’t think she could ever forget. Savannah’s hands slid into her hair, holding her close as whispered across Olivia’s lips, “My apartment. Welcome.”
Olivia’s attempt to process that information was halted when Savannah’s arms looped around her waist and her hands slid up Olivia’s sides, teasing along her ribs. She could swear there was electricity in Savannah’s touch because every part of her hummed in response to Savannah’s closeness. She wanted to give in to it, to relish the sensation of Savannah’s lips on hers after such an emotionally draining and stressful day, but she needed answers. Olivia pulled back and dipped her head to catch Savannah’s gaze. “Your what? Weren’t you staying at the hotel? I called, and they said you had checked out only yesterday.”
“You called and checked up on me?” Savannah’s smile was flirtatious.
“Yes. You didn’t come by last night and I got worried. Where did you stay?” Olivia felt like she was two steps behind here.
“Here.” Savannah took Olivia’s hand and walked out of the kitchen toward the living room. She sat on the couch and pulled Olivia down next to her. “I needed a night to think and prepare for what I knew would be a big day.” She shrugged. “So I came here.”
“I don’t understand, Savannah.”
Savannah reached out and cupped Olivia’s jaw. Her touch was tender and soft. “I resigned from New Horizons. Today was my last day. This is my new apartment.” She paused. “I want to make this relationship work, Olivia. So I’m not going anywhere.”
Olivia blinked in recognition. She couldn’t believe her ears. “You’re staying?”
Savannah’s eyes shone brightly. “I’m staying.”
The flood of emotions that hit Olivia in that moment overwhelmed her, and before she realized it, she was crying all the tears.
Savannah wrapped her arms around her and smoothed her hands up and down Olivia’s arms. “Tell me these are happy tears, Liv, because I signed an extended lease.”
Olivia laughed and stood from the couch, pulling Savannah with her and into her embrace. She kissed Savannah’s smiling lips over and over, relishing the feeling of Savannah’s warm hands sliding up her back, under her shirt, and gently scratching the skin. When those same hands gripped her ass roughly, she moaned. “Savannah.”
“Yeah?” Savannah kissed along the column of Olivia’s neck.
Olivia struggled to resist the warm mouth staking claim to her skin. “I need—”
“What do you need, baby?”
“I need…” Olivia blinked and shook her head. She pressed her hands to Savannah’s shoulders and gently pushed her back. “I need to know more.”
Savannah leaned back and licked her lips. “Well, that went in a very different direction than I was expecting.”
Olivia laughed and shoved Savannah playfully before she pulled her in for a quick kiss. “I’m serious.”
“Okay, what do you need to know?”
Olivia settled back onto the couch, tugging Savannah down next to her. She was close enough that their thighs were touching. “Let’s start with everything.”
Savannah’s warm chuckle greeted Olivia’s imploring pout. She brushed one of Olivia’s rogue curls behind her ear and traced her finger along Olivia’s jaw. “Having you in Chicago with me, having you meet Cooper, waking up with you every day…I realized I didn’t want to live without that. When you left Chicago, and everything fell apart”—she let out a soft sigh—“I panicked because in no time at all I had gotten used to something that didn’t belong to me—an unexpected stability, even if it was temporary. And when you wouldn’t take my calls, when I couldn’t reach you…it was only then that I remembered something you said to me on the last night of my first visit to New York. Do you remember what you said?”
“I don’t,” Olivia replied.
“You told me that everyone needs roots somewhere, and that sometimes it just takes longer to find a good spot to set those roots.” Savannah smiled and cupped Olivia’s face. “You know what I realized?”
“What’s that, baby?”
“I realized that I wasn’t waiting for the perfect place to put down roots. I was waiting for the perfect person. Home isn’t a zip code for me anymore, Liv.” She placed her palm flat against Olivia’s chest, over her heart. “It’s a heartbeat. It’s a feeling. It’s you.”
Olivia closed her hand over Savannah’s and kissed her, quickly getting lost in warm, soft lips. When Savannah broke the kiss to rest her forehead against Olivia’s, Olivia encouraged her to continue. “So you—?”
Savannah smiled and leaned back. “So when you finally answered my call, I decided to take a chance at being happy. Work had me coming back to New York, but to be honest, it hadn’t been working out. We worked out a deal that would make the New York site my last.”
Olivia nodded in understanding. “I ran into Ken at the launch tonight. He was pretty cryptic when I brought you up. Now I can see why.”
“Yeah, well, you know how I feel about that asshole,” Savannah said wryly before getting serious again. “When we reconnected here, I felt that same completeness I had with you in Chicago. I knew I’d made the right decision. But after weeks of telling you I loved you without you reciprocating, I started to second-guess my choice. It was a choice I’d made without consulting you, and maybe that was wrong. I was worried that maybe I was more invested in this than you were, and that terrified me.”
Olivia cringed at the momentary lost look in Savannah’s eyes, her vulnerability on full display. “I’m so sorry, Savannah.”
Savannah shrugged and took Olivia’s hand in hers. “You love me?”
“With my whole heart.”
“Then it all worked out. How we got here is less important than the fact we’re actually here.” Savannah squeezed Olivia’s hand once more. “So I called an old friend who worked as a Realtor and told her to find me a place to stay in the city while I figured everything out. It took a little last-minute juggling, but she was able to find me a place.” Savannah’s smiled broadened. “I knew I wanted to work on this, and I knew I needed to put in the tim
e here, not jetting back and forth to a job that lost its shine once it no longer included you.” She gestured to the room around them. “So here we are, on my couch, in my new fancy New York City apartment, drinking champagne out of wineglasses.”
“What about your place in Chicago?”
“It was never really a space that brought me comfort. I never settled there. I packed up the essentials and moved some things to storage before I came out here. Cooper and Amber graduate at the end of the semester, so they’re subletting for a while until the lease is up in a few months. That gives me a chance to figure out what I need, what I want. It gives me a chance to be happy.”
“You’re staying.” Olivia had to say it aloud once more to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
Savannah pulled Olivia onto her lap and nodded. Her smile was blinding. “I’m staying.”
Olivia felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest. The woman she loved was here, in the flesh, looking absolutely gorgeous underneath her, and she wasn’t going anywhere. That realization did all kinds of things to her, but in this moment, she could only think of one thing.
She looked down at Savannah, spreading her knees to settle into her lap. This was a favorite position of hers and Savannah knew it. She loved straddling Savannah’s hips. She liked being on top and feeling like she was in control, when they both knew damn well that Savannah ran the show from beneath her in this position. When Savannah’s hand massaged her hips and pulled Olivia’s center closer to her own, Olivia understood they were on the same page.
She dipped her head and connected their lips as Savannah’s hands moved up from her hips to caress her stomach through her shirt. When her hands cupped Olivia’s breasts over her bra, Olivia let out a throaty moan.
“I hated not sleeping next to you last night.” She sucked Savannah’s bottom lip between hers and bit down lightly.
Savannah licked across her lips and dragged her thumb across Olivia’s nipple, squeezing it when it pebbled beneath her touch. “Good, because I don’t want to wake up another day without you.”