Chapter Rating: PG
Before the limo had even pulled up in front of the restaurant, Olivia had already gone over a list of possible ways to get out of being manhandled by the man at her side. There was also, however, one brief urge to say 'The hell with it, why not?’, and she noted that it would be outside of true Olivia Spencer character not to have this thought at least once this evening. She had to admit to herself that there was a small section, somewhere within the very large part of herself that completely embraced her penchant for meaningless sex, that was actually tempted to go ahead and have her way with the man.
One very big concern, however, snuck its way in to put that temptation back in check. Although she had no doubt that Mateo would 'rise to the occasion’, so to speak, and that she could probably have a really, really good time with him, there was that whole debacle of why she had said yes to him in the first place.
It was all for her, she admitted. It was all to prove to her that I wasn't going to back down.
And it's fucking ridiculous! Her brain hurt.
Now, being escorted into the limo by Mateo, she rehearsed the next few minutes in her head. Mateo closed the door behind him and turned to give the driver the directions for 'an intimate little jazz club' that they 'should go check out'.
"Actually, just one moment please," Olivia called to the driver and motioned at him to put the partition up. Mateo gave her a look of confusion as she turned to him in her seat and smiled.
"I have had a really great time tonight," she started.
"So have I. And the night is still young," he said as his eyes briefly meandered over her body. At that moment Olivia felt a twinge of disgust.
"Actually, no, for me it isn't. I know I said we should go somewhere else but, in all honesty, I am feeling a bit.... exhausted, and out of sorts right now. I have an early morning again tomorrow, and I really think it’s best if we call it a night." Her words were polite and her tone was marked purposefully to let him know she wasn't just waiting to have him change her mind.
Mateo tried to fight the look of disappointment on his face but Olivia could see it. He looked like a well-behaved child at Christmas, who got a sweater from his Grandmother instead of a toy and didn't want to say anything of the let down.
"I really wouldn't be the best company right now," she stated, trying to give him the 'it’s not you, it’s me' vibe when, really, she knew it was the other way around.
"As you wish," he knocked on the partition. "To the South Beach."
His gaze upon her had turned colder now, though he still occasionally smiled cordially, and Olivia knew she had made the right decision.
They made it back to the hotel, and Mateo insisted on seeing her to her room.
Just can't let it go, can you?, she grumbled inwardly at him, though knowing full well that she, solely, was to blame.
They said goodnight, but not before Mateo bent down to give Olivia a lingering kiss on the cheek. It was intended as a promise that he hadn't given up all hope and that she would be seeing him again in the near future. She smiled and bade him farewell, waiting until he was gone before she opened the door to her suite and retreated inside.
Once the door closed and the computerized lock beeped, she let out a sigh of relief. She really was so very exhausted. She was drained from the continual charade of the entire evening. She wanted to be out of her clothes. She wanted to be inside the shower. She wanted to lie motionless in the bed. But what she wanted most of all was to get out of her own head.
She immediately poured herself a drink and made her way to the bathroom as random articles of clothing fell along the way and an ice cube or two hit the floor. When the hot water poured down over her skin, she moaned at the relief of the tension in her neck and leaned against the shower wall to remain upright. And when she slipped off the robe and slid unto the bed, the coolness of the silk sheets soothed her heated skin.
She reached over to turn off the bedside lamp and then rolled onto her back, staring up into the darkness.
She is absolutely right. Her weary mind pondered its last thoughts for the night. I was trying to win over the wrong Rivera. She rolled over and closed her eyes.
And tomorrow, I'm going after the right one.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Natalia had been trying to focus all morning. She had hardly slept at all. Her racing mind had been dragging sleep along with it, dangling it just beyond her needy grasp. Whenever she did manage to drift off, she tossed and turned with angry dreams. Morning had come too soon. She was not prepared to face this day. Her father was to be away from the hotel all day, which meant that she would be the person to go to in the event that any 'fires' needed to be put out that Jacques couldn't fight on his own.
Her thoughts were also wrapped up in the email that she had been waiting for since yesterday. The email that would change everything and nothing all at the same time. It would be the answer that would have her selling her soul in order to keep it.
No matter what was in the content of that email, she knew she was going to have to pay a price. And she was prepared.
Her mind continued to wander when she heard a knock at her door.
"Come in," she said, not looking up at the person already standing in the doorway.
"Nice office. A little on the drab and dreary side but so, so... very you."
Natalia didn't need to look up. She dropped her pen on her desk and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples with her fingers.
"Is there something I can do for you, Ms. Spencer?"
"Such a loaded question. And you know, if you continue refusing to call me by my first name, I am reeallly going to start to think that you don't like me very much, Natalia."
At that, Natalia looked up in annoyance to see the faked sadness on the older woman's face, almost a pout.
"And one wonders how someone so slow could possibly have risen her way to the top of a major hotel franchise." She returned to her paperwork. "Oh wait, maybe my brother could shed some light on that?"
Olivia accepted the serve and decided to volley it right back.
"Speaking of dangerously sexy men, aren't you going to ask me how the remainder of my night went?"
"No actually, I've just eaten. Perhaps some other time. Now once again, but slightly restated for dramatic effect... What the hell are you doing here?"
"I am supposed to be here."
"My secretary had not made me aware that you had scheduled an appointment with me today."
"Oh. Yes, well, that's because I didn't schedule an appointment with you today."
"And she let you in here regardless?"
"Now listen, I know that, if you're anything like me, you are probably thinking about firing her right now but..."
"Fortunately for her and myself, I am nothing like you."
"Ouch... That hurt!"
"I'm very rapidly losing patience, Ms. Spencer..."
"Yes, well then, as I was saying, I do have an appointment with you today and you yourself actually booked it for us."
"Did I now?"
Yes. You see..." Olivia rose from her seat and made her way to the side of Natalia's desk and sat on it. Natalia pushed her chair back, turned it towards Olivia, crossed her one leg over the other and waited. "You see I was thinking about something you said last night. You'll remember, it was right before you pathetically threw yourself at me like a silly school girl."
Natalia knew for a fact that Olivia would have been embarrassed by her inability to rise to her little challenge in the restaurant bathroom, so she didn't feel the need to recapture her win.
"Oh, to see the world through your eyes, Ms. Spencer."
"As I was saying. I believe it was you who said that if I wanted your hotel then I was trying to 'Ride the Wrong Rivera' so to speak. I may be paraphrasing, but anyways, that got me thinking...
Natalia held her hand to interrupt, "Ms. Spencer, please don't tell me that you're here to make a pass at me ... again. I have a very busy day planned and it’s chock-full of doing everything else under the sun but you, so maybe you could run along and go harass a tourist or two..."
"And that got me thinking," Olivia continued as if Natalia hadn't said a word. "You were absolutely right. I was going after the wrong Rivera."
There was a pause as Natalia simply looked confusedly at Olivia.
"You, my dear, would be the right one, in case you're not following along," Olivia whispered.
"For whatever plans you have circling in your head, I'm thinking that maybe I'm not the right one after all. Go back to sexing it up with Mateo."
"Well, thank you for your permission, but his abdominal muscles were all the go-ahead I needed," Olivia widened her eyes and mouthed the word 'WOW'.
"Ew."
"You were right, though. You should be the one I focus all my attention on. But there will be no 'sexing'," Olivia put her hand up to stop Natalia from interrupting again. "And I know you're probably all disappointed now..."
"I'll try to hide it," Natalia said stoically.
"... but I have an idea of how to do this."
"If either of us would, it'd be you."
"Uh-huh. Get ready for it... You and I are going to get to know each other!"
There was a pause as Natalia once again just stared at the blonde woman seated on her desk.
"Oh, that was the punchline?"
"You are going to take me to lunch, and we are going to have a civil conversation."
"I'm suddenly busy."
"I'm not leaving this office until you say yes."
"That's fine, if you could just move your not-small ass over a bit, I can work around you."
"I'll sing."
"I have 27 people on my Security team that say you won't."
"I'm Henry the 8th, I am, Henry the 8th I am I am..."
"Ms. Spencer..."
"I got married to the widow next door, she's been married seven times before..."
"You're an ass."
"And every one was an Henry, couldn't have a Willy or a Sam..."
Natalia once again closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.
"I’m her 8th old man, I'm Henry, Henry the 8th I am..."
"I'm going to hurt you."
"Second verse, same as the first..."
"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!! I will take you to lunch!!"
Olivia pressed her hand to her heart and gasped. "Why, Ms. Rivera!' She feigned disbelief. "Are you asking me out on a date?!"
"Get out!"
"Oh my GOD, this is so exciting! I totally have to go and, like, pick out the most perfect thing to wear!"
"OUT!"
Olivia jumped off the desk and skipped to the door. "See you at noon," she said in a sing-song voice.
"SECURITY!"
Before the limo had even pulled up in front of the restaurant, Olivia had already gone over a list of possible ways to get out of being manhandled by the man at her side. There was also, however, one brief urge to say 'The hell with it, why not?’, and she noted that it would be outside of true Olivia Spencer character not to have this thought at least once this evening. She had to admit to herself that there was a small section, somewhere within the very large part of herself that completely embraced her penchant for meaningless sex, that was actually tempted to go ahead and have her way with the man.
One very big concern, however, snuck its way in to put that temptation back in check. Although she had no doubt that Mateo would 'rise to the occasion’, so to speak, and that she could probably have a really, really good time with him, there was that whole debacle of why she had said yes to him in the first place.
It was all for her, she admitted. It was all to prove to her that I wasn't going to back down.
And it's fucking ridiculous! Her brain hurt.
Now, being escorted into the limo by Mateo, she rehearsed the next few minutes in her head. Mateo closed the door behind him and turned to give the driver the directions for 'an intimate little jazz club' that they 'should go check out'.
"Actually, just one moment please," Olivia called to the driver and motioned at him to put the partition up. Mateo gave her a look of confusion as she turned to him in her seat and smiled.
"I have had a really great time tonight," she started.
"So have I. And the night is still young," he said as his eyes briefly meandered over her body. At that moment Olivia felt a twinge of disgust.
"Actually, no, for me it isn't. I know I said we should go somewhere else but, in all honesty, I am feeling a bit.... exhausted, and out of sorts right now. I have an early morning again tomorrow, and I really think it’s best if we call it a night." Her words were polite and her tone was marked purposefully to let him know she wasn't just waiting to have him change her mind.
Mateo tried to fight the look of disappointment on his face but Olivia could see it. He looked like a well-behaved child at Christmas, who got a sweater from his Grandmother instead of a toy and didn't want to say anything of the let down.
"I really wouldn't be the best company right now," she stated, trying to give him the 'it’s not you, it’s me' vibe when, really, she knew it was the other way around.
"As you wish," he knocked on the partition. "To the South Beach."
His gaze upon her had turned colder now, though he still occasionally smiled cordially, and Olivia knew she had made the right decision.
They made it back to the hotel, and Mateo insisted on seeing her to her room.
Just can't let it go, can you?, she grumbled inwardly at him, though knowing full well that she, solely, was to blame.
They said goodnight, but not before Mateo bent down to give Olivia a lingering kiss on the cheek. It was intended as a promise that he hadn't given up all hope and that she would be seeing him again in the near future. She smiled and bade him farewell, waiting until he was gone before she opened the door to her suite and retreated inside.
Once the door closed and the computerized lock beeped, she let out a sigh of relief. She really was so very exhausted. She was drained from the continual charade of the entire evening. She wanted to be out of her clothes. She wanted to be inside the shower. She wanted to lie motionless in the bed. But what she wanted most of all was to get out of her own head.
She immediately poured herself a drink and made her way to the bathroom as random articles of clothing fell along the way and an ice cube or two hit the floor. When the hot water poured down over her skin, she moaned at the relief of the tension in her neck and leaned against the shower wall to remain upright. And when she slipped off the robe and slid unto the bed, the coolness of the silk sheets soothed her heated skin.
She reached over to turn off the bedside lamp and then rolled onto her back, staring up into the darkness.
She is absolutely right. Her weary mind pondered its last thoughts for the night. I was trying to win over the wrong Rivera. She rolled over and closed her eyes.
And tomorrow, I'm going after the right one.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Natalia had been trying to focus all morning. She had hardly slept at all. Her racing mind had been dragging sleep along with it, dangling it just beyond her needy grasp. Whenever she did manage to drift off, she tossed and turned with angry dreams. Morning had come too soon. She was not prepared to face this day. Her father was to be away from the hotel all day, which meant that she would be the person to go to in the event that any 'fires' needed to be put out that Jacques couldn't fight on his own.
Her thoughts were also wrapped up in the email that she had been waiting for since yesterday. The email that would change everything and nothing all at the same time. It would be the answer that would have her selling her soul in order to keep it.
No matter what was in the content of that email, she knew she was going to have to pay a price. And she was prepared.
Her mind continued to wander when she heard a knock at her door.
"Come in," she said, not looking up at the person already standing in the doorway.
"Nice office. A little on the drab and dreary side but so, so... very you."
Natalia didn't need to look up. She dropped her pen on her desk and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples with her fingers.
"Is there something I can do for you, Ms. Spencer?"
"Such a loaded question. And you know, if you continue refusing to call me by my first name, I am reeallly going to start to think that you don't like me very much, Natalia."
At that, Natalia looked up in annoyance to see the faked sadness on the older woman's face, almost a pout.
"And one wonders how someone so slow could possibly have risen her way to the top of a major hotel franchise." She returned to her paperwork. "Oh wait, maybe my brother could shed some light on that?"
Olivia accepted the serve and decided to volley it right back.
"Speaking of dangerously sexy men, aren't you going to ask me how the remainder of my night went?"
"No actually, I've just eaten. Perhaps some other time. Now once again, but slightly restated for dramatic effect... What the hell are you doing here?"
"I am supposed to be here."
"My secretary had not made me aware that you had scheduled an appointment with me today."
"Oh. Yes, well, that's because I didn't schedule an appointment with you today."
"And she let you in here regardless?"
"Now listen, I know that, if you're anything like me, you are probably thinking about firing her right now but..."
"Fortunately for her and myself, I am nothing like you."
"Ouch... That hurt!"
"I'm very rapidly losing patience, Ms. Spencer..."
"Yes, well then, as I was saying, I do have an appointment with you today and you yourself actually booked it for us."
"Did I now?"
Yes. You see..." Olivia rose from her seat and made her way to the side of Natalia's desk and sat on it. Natalia pushed her chair back, turned it towards Olivia, crossed her one leg over the other and waited. "You see I was thinking about something you said last night. You'll remember, it was right before you pathetically threw yourself at me like a silly school girl."
Natalia knew for a fact that Olivia would have been embarrassed by her inability to rise to her little challenge in the restaurant bathroom, so she didn't feel the need to recapture her win.
"Oh, to see the world through your eyes, Ms. Spencer."
"As I was saying. I believe it was you who said that if I wanted your hotel then I was trying to 'Ride the Wrong Rivera' so to speak. I may be paraphrasing, but anyways, that got me thinking...
Natalia held her hand to interrupt, "Ms. Spencer, please don't tell me that you're here to make a pass at me ... again. I have a very busy day planned and it’s chock-full of doing everything else under the sun but you, so maybe you could run along and go harass a tourist or two..."
"And that got me thinking," Olivia continued as if Natalia hadn't said a word. "You were absolutely right. I was going after the wrong Rivera."
There was a pause as Natalia simply looked confusedly at Olivia.
"You, my dear, would be the right one, in case you're not following along," Olivia whispered.
"For whatever plans you have circling in your head, I'm thinking that maybe I'm not the right one after all. Go back to sexing it up with Mateo."
"Well, thank you for your permission, but his abdominal muscles were all the go-ahead I needed," Olivia widened her eyes and mouthed the word 'WOW'.
"Ew."
"You were right, though. You should be the one I focus all my attention on. But there will be no 'sexing'," Olivia put her hand up to stop Natalia from interrupting again. "And I know you're probably all disappointed now..."
"I'll try to hide it," Natalia said stoically.
"... but I have an idea of how to do this."
"If either of us would, it'd be you."
"Uh-huh. Get ready for it... You and I are going to get to know each other!"
There was a pause as Natalia once again just stared at the blonde woman seated on her desk.
"Oh, that was the punchline?"
"You are going to take me to lunch, and we are going to have a civil conversation."
"I'm suddenly busy."
"I'm not leaving this office until you say yes."
"That's fine, if you could just move your not-small ass over a bit, I can work around you."
"I'll sing."
"I have 27 people on my Security team that say you won't."
"I'm Henry the 8th, I am, Henry the 8th I am I am..."
"Ms. Spencer..."
"I got married to the widow next door, she's been married seven times before..."
"You're an ass."
"And every one was an Henry, couldn't have a Willy or a Sam..."
Natalia once again closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.
"I’m her 8th old man, I'm Henry, Henry the 8th I am..."
"I'm going to hurt you."
"Second verse, same as the first..."
"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!! I will take you to lunch!!"
Olivia pressed her hand to her heart and gasped. "Why, Ms. Rivera!' She feigned disbelief. "Are you asking me out on a date?!"
"Get out!"
"Oh my GOD, this is so exciting! I totally have to go and, like, pick out the most perfect thing to wear!"
"OUT!"
Olivia jumped off the desk and skipped to the door. "See you at noon," she said in a sing-song voice.
"SECURITY!"
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