San Francisco Series- Complete Edition

by Nicole Pyland

  “Hey, stranger,” the familiar voice pulled Emma from her thoughts. She lifted her eyes to see Keira standing in the doorway, holding two cups of coffee. “I got you your Philtered Soul with about half the coffee and half milk.” She lifted one cup a little higher than the other. “I think I got about three glares from people and lost some of my established coffee cred, but I can afford to take the hit, I guess. I just could not, in good conscience, get you tea.” She smiled and moved inside the office.

  “You brought me coffee?” Emma asked.

  “I brought you milk with a little coffee in it.” Keira placed the cup in Emma’s outstretched hand and offered her a wink. “Hi,” she greeted again.

  “Hi, and thank you. You didn’t have to do that. I can get by on the stuff here in the kitchen.” Emma replied. “But this is amazing. Thank you,” she repeated.

  Emma took a sip of the lukewarm coffee thanks to the amount of cold milk that had been added. Emma lifted the cup from her lips and sat it back down on her desk.

  “So, what’s the plan exactly?”

  Keira sat in front of the desk, and Emma realized how awkward this was as she did. Emma was behind her desk in a position of authority. Keira was sitting in the guest chair. Last night, they’d gone on a date. Emma had taken Keira’s hand. At first, she’d done it simply to get them out of the crowded building. But once through the doors, she couldn’t drop Keira’s hand. It felt too good in her own. Their fingers seemed to slide together perfectly. She couldn’t let go.

  “Well, I was going to let you work for some of the day, but I changed my mind,” Keira stated.

  “You did?” Emma questioned and moved around to the front of her desk, leaning back against it in front of Keira. Keira didn’t say anything for a moment. Her eyes slowly moved up and down Emma’s body. “Are you checking me out right now?” Emma laughed and turned slightly to reach for her coffee.

  “I am,” Keira replied. “I have been since we met. Now, I can just be obvious about it. You look nice, by the way.”

  “So, do you.” Emma took a moment to be just as obvious.

  Keira had also dressed casually, in a pair of tight-fitting jeans and a violet scoop-neck sweater. Her hair was pulled back away from her face, and her makeup was light, but the eyeshadow she’d chosen worked to bring out the intensity of Keira’s eyes even more. Emma gulped as the thought of what those eyes would look like staring up at her while their bodies were pressed against one another.

  “Thank you.” Keira took a sip of her own coffee. “I think you and I should head to the park now and just take a walk.”

  “A walk?” Emma asked.

  “Yes, a walk,” Keira repeated. “This event has us both stressed out. You’ve been on the go since you moved here. What if we take BART over and walk to the site at a leisurely pace? We could even stop by the botanical garden. Have you been there yet?”

  “No, I haven’t been to the park at all,” Emma confessed.

  “Good.” She placed her coffee on the floor, stood, and when she did, it seemed to hit both of them at the same time that they were very close together. If Emma were standing up properly and not leaning back against her desk, they’d likely be inches apart. “We can take our time then,” Keira nearly whispered as her eyes lowered to Emma’s lips first and then further down. “I think there’s a lot to be said about taking time to enjoy things.” Her eyes met Emma’s again. “Do you agree?”

  “Yes,” Emma whispered.

  Keira didn’t smirk or smile at her mischievously. She just moved her eyes back down to Emma’s lips again, as if she was considering making the first move. Emma wanted her to kiss her. Emma wanted to kiss Keira back. She didn’t care who made the move. She knew she needed this woman’s lips on her. Her heart did that thundering again. She considered the fact that she might be having a heart attack. It was the kind of thundering she was unfamiliar with. It both terrified and excited her.

  “Emma, do you need me to order lunch in today?” Mason asked from the open door. “Oh, sorry.”

  Keira immediately stepped back and turned to face the intruder.

  “It’s okay,” she told Mason. “We got it, right?” She turned back to Emma. “The thing in your eye?” With her eyes away from Mason, Keira gave Emma the look that told her to go along with it.

  “Yeah, it’s gone. Thanks.” Emma moved to rub her eye for effect. “All better.”

  Keira did smirk at her then and turned back to see that Mason was leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “You okay?” he asked his boss.

  “Yeah, I couldn’t see what it was. Keira helped me find the rogue eyelash. And no, I don’t need lunch. We’re going to head out to see the site. I may not come back to the office after. It just depends on how long it takes.”

  “Want me to grab you coffee or tea on the way to the thing tomorrow?” he asked.

  “I’ll take care of that,” Keira joined in. “I actually make really good coffee. I was planning on making some for myself tomorrow morning at home and then bringing it with me. I could maybe make an extra cup.” She glanced at Emma. “Sound good to you?”

  “You don’t have to do that. I can grab–” Mason started to suggest.

  “Sounds great to me.” Emma understood the implication. “Mason, I think we’re good.”

  “Okay. I’ll leave you two alone then.” He gave a quick wave and returned to his cubicle.

  “Just the way I like us,” Keira stated. “Alone.” She wiggled her very sexy eyebrows at Emma and smiled before she let out a laugh.

  “You’re kind of a dork, you know?” Emma matched her laugh with one of her own.

  “This dork is ready to go. Are you?”

  “Yes, let me pack up my stuff.”

  ◆◆◆

  They hit the train, after finishing their coffees, and sat next to one another while they passed a few stations. Emma laughed at one of Keira’s jokes. Keira thought about taking Emma’s free hand as it rested in her lap for most of the ride. She’d stare down at it while Emma looked around and bit the inside of her mouth as she considered intertwining their fingers in the same way they’d been linked the previous night. She wasn’t sure why she was hesitating. Emma had held her hand. They’d nearly kissed earlier. Surely, it would be more than okay for Keira to take Emma’s hand and hold onto it while they rode the train to the park. Then, maybe they could continue to hold hands as they walked and talked.

  “Keira?” Emma asked.

  “Huh?”

  “I asked what you wanted for dinner tonight.”

  “Oh, sorry. I must have zoned out there.”

  “You okay?” Emma checked with a lifted eyebrow.

  “I’m good, yeah.” Keira glanced at Emma’s hand, which had moved to Keira’s thigh.

  “Sorry.” Emma went to pull it back.

  “No, don’t.” Keira placed her hand on top of Emma’s and held it there. “That’s kind of why I zoned out. I was thinking about holding your hand,” she admitted.

  “You were?” Emma smiled. “Why didn’t you? We’ve held hands before.”

  “I was in the middle of the internal debate when you snapped me out of it.”

  “There was a debate?” Emma, apparently, could no longer hold in her laughter.

  “This is our stop.” Keira was grateful for the chance to change the subject.

  “Oh, no you don’t.” Emma clasped their hands together and pulled them both up as the train came to a stop. “Confess, Keira Worthy.”

  Keira was pulled along again by Emma until they were on the platform and waiting for people to move to the escalator in front of them.

  “I wasn’t sure if I should.”

  “Why not?” Emma asked as they headed down the escalator.

  “We’re technically working,” Keira explained. “It’s confusing because we’re on the clock today, but when I’m with you, it doesn’t feel like work. Even when we were at my place picking out caterers, it didn
’t feel like my job. It just felt…”

  “Fun,” Emma finished for her.

  “Yeah.”

  “I get it,” Emma replied.

  “You do?”

  “We probably should have just waited to go out until after tomorrow. It’s making things confusing, huh?”

  “You regret going out last night?”

  “No, no.” Emma squeezed her hand. “That’s not what I meant.” She paused as they exited the escalator and allowed Keira to pull her in the proper direction to go to the park. “Last night, it took everything in me not to kiss you.”

  “Really? It didn’t seem like you–”

  “Oh, I wanted to,” Emma interrupted. “I really wanted to kiss you. I wanted more than that, if I’m being honest. But I held back the kiss because it felt like we should wait until after Saturday, and I held back with… the rest for the same reason.”

  “So, you’re thinking… after tomorrow, it might be time for the rest?”

  Keira suddenly felt nervous. She didn’t know why. It wasn’t like she was a virgin. She wanted all the rest with Emma too. There was something that made this different though. She couldn’t identify that yet.

  “No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, I want to do those things, but I don’t have any expectations. We’ve gone on one date, technically. I have no problem waiting until we’re both ready to take whatever steps we’re going to take,” Emma said.

  “Tonight is date number two,” Keira added.

  “Tonight is not date number two,” Emma said as they walked on.

  Keira practically yanked on Emma’s hand, pulling her back beside her.

  “It’s not?” Keira asked once Emma was facing her on the sidewalk.

  “It is, but it isn’t,” Emma added. “It’s a work date thing. I’m not sure that qualifies as a date.”

  “I want it to qualify though,” Keira offered. “I want it to count.”

  “You seem pretty adamant about that.” Emma laughed lightly.

  “I am. Is that weird?”

  “Is it because of something in particular?” Emma asked. “Like, maybe you’re thinking about things you do or don’t do based on the number of dates you have with someone?”

  “What? No, I don’t do that,” Keira objected. “I don’t base what I do with a woman on the number of times I’ve been out with her. I base it on how I feel about her, how she feels about me, and what we’re both ready for.”

  “Okay. So, what’s going on then?” Emma asked.

  “I did a thing,” Keira stated.

  “A thing?” Emma questioned with a confused expression. “What thing?”

  “Nothing big.”

  “Nothing big? Keira, what did you do?”

  “Okay, remember my roommate? Kevin?”

  “I haven’t met him, but yes. Is he going to be there tonight or something?” she asked. “Wait. Did you, like, kick him out for the night because you thought you and I were–”

  “What? No,” Keira interrupted her. “Nothing like that.” She paused as they arrived at the park; the green grass was beginning to take over more than the concrete of the city. “We’re here, by the way,” she announced without enthusiasm. “I had this surprise planned, that’s all.”

  “You planned a surprise?” Emma asked as they headed down a wide path into the park.

  “It’s just dinner.”

  “I thought we were getting takeout.”

  “We were, but I was talking to Kevin last night when I got home. I mentioned that you were coming over tonight.”

  “You did ask him to stay away, didn’t you?” Emma accused as she laughed.

  “I didn’t ask. He offered,” Keira corrected her. She tugged on Emma’s hand to pull her away from an oncoming cyclist. “Anyway, Kevin has a friend that’s a chef. She’s actually a really good private chef that has a ton of high-end clients. He asked her to do me a favor, and she said she would.”

  “You’re having a private chef cook us dinner?” Emma stopped walking to turn to Keira.

  “It was his idea, but I did agree. Is it stupid? Should I cancel? I know it’s like a work thing. We’re just hanging out, but… I don’t know, I was talking to him about you. He said he hadn’t seen me this excited about anything in a long time, but especially a woman. He thought it would be something fun we could do.”

  “It’s not stupid.” Emma squeezed her hand again. “It’s sweet and pretty damn adorable.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Definitely.” Emma let go of Keira’s hand to place both of them on Keira’s hips instead. “I’m sorry I said it wasn’t a second date. I wanted to make sure you knew that I wanted to spend time with you. You have to work tonight, but I didn’t want you to think I didn’t want to actually take you out somewhere nice.”

  “Why can’t I take you out somewhere nice?” Keira teased.

  “You can. You absolutely can take me somewhere nice whenever you want.”

  Keira rolled her eyes. She took a step closer to Emma but resisted wrapping her arms around Emma’s neck, because she knew the moment she did, she’d have to kiss her.

  “Tonight, though, Sierra Graff will be coming over to my apartment and cooking us a three-course meal. There’s another upside to this. Kevin will owe her like a million favors, and that’s funny to me for some reason.” She watched as Emma smiled at her and felt like she could spend a lifetime memorizing the way Emma’s eyes look with her different expressions. “Plus, Sierra will leave after the cooking has happened. Kevin is making himself scarce. We’ll be alone for the actual dinner part.”

  “And after?”

  “Also alone,” Keira added.

  “That sounds pretty good.”

  “I meant what I suggested earlier too.”

  “Which part?” Emma’s eyebrow lifted.

  “I’d like you to consider staying over tonight,” Keira revealed. “I could make you that coffee in the morning or just pour you a glass of milk. That would save time and good coffee.” She smirked and watched as Emma’s eyes rolled.

  “Stay the night, huh?”

  “I have this desire to stay up all night, talking to you.”

  Keira felt something touch her skin and looked down at Emma’s thumbs, which had moved ever so slightly under her shirt to touch the skin there, making Keira’s skin sense fire.

  “I haven’t done that in a while,” Emma stated after a moment. “We’re not twenty-one anymore; you know we’re going to regret this, right?”

  “I think we’d regret not doing it more,” Keira replied as Emma’s thumbs glided back and forth across her skin.

  “I didn’t bring any of my stuff with me. Can we stop by my place after we finish? I can pack a bag.”

  Keira’s face lit up. She knew just how transparent her excitement must be to Emma, who was still smiling at her.

  “Sure.” She swallowed again. “Should we take a tour of the botanical garden and then get to actual work?”

  “Why don’t we do the work first to get it out of the way and then have the fun?” Emma countered.

  “That sounds like a much better idea,” Keira agreed.

  CHAPTER 14

  The two wandered around the park until lunchtime, enjoying the warm weather and the company. It was strange because they were technically working, and every now and then, a work topic would come up. As they neared the location for the event inside the massive green space, they talked about how the parking would work with the available lots and street spaces, and Keira explained that they’d reserved as many spaces as the city would allow.

  They made their way to the site. Keira provided the map of where the vendors would set up their tents and booths. The central stage was being constructed as they spoke. Keira outlined where the caterer would park and where the tent for the large donors would be so they could enjoy their fancy lunch. She spoke about the games and activities that would take place, and pointed out the painted off locations and the cones that outlined various fields,
all while Emma watched with fascination and appreciation. Keira Worthy knew her stuff. She’d thought of everything and planned it to the smallest detail, even considering the location of the park’s nearest toilets, the number of people they expected, and had portable toilets donated by a vendor she’d worked for in the past in exchange for their name being placed on the map people received when they arrived. Even the maps had been printed on 100% recycled paper. She’d ensured that a recycling bin was next to each trash can and all were already being moved into place. In San Francisco, being environmentally conscious was incredibly important to a lot of people, but that was a detail Emma would have easily overlooked. She wouldn’t have even thought to print a map with a schedule of events and sponsors’ names on the back side. By late afternoon, they’d been walking most of the day. Emma’s feet were starting to hate her, but her calves and thighs also didn’t seem to be fans of the extra steps both up and downhill.

  “Well, I think that’s it. Everything sound good to you?” Keira asked as they took one last look around.

  “Everything is perfect, Keira. You thought of it all. I can’t wait to see how it all looks tomorrow. I can’t believe you can do all this,” Emma offered.

  “Do all what?”

  “This,” she exclaimed with a wave of her hands. “All of this. This is amazing. I can’t do this.”

  “Well, I can’t do what you do. So, we’re even, I guess.”