"Booorrrrissss." The voice was light and playful. "Come on, don't be lazy. It's a beautiful day and you have to come out and eat your leaves, or you won't grow big and strong."
"Says the little girl who refuses to eat any green vegetables."
Emma Spencer's little head whirled around, and a huge smile splayed itself over her adorable features when she saw her mother leaning against her bedroom doorframe. "Mommy!" the delighted eight year old squealed as she quickly peeled herself from off the floor.
Olivia bent down and waited for her daughter to come running into her widened arms. Emma launched herself into them and was immediately spun through the air. She pulled back from the tight hug, her smile turning into a look of confusion. "Mommy, Jane told me that you weren't coming back until two more sleeps."
"Well... " Olivia gently placed Emma back down on the ground and proceeded to place tiny kisses all over the girls smiling cheeks. "I told all those boring people in California that two more sleeps was absolutely unacceptable because I missed you too much. So I packed my bags and left."
Emma giggled. "You did not."
Olivia laughed with her daughter and hugged her once again. "No, no I didn't," she pulled back, "but you know that I wanted to right? That I missed you every single moment I was away?"
"Yeah." Emma replied. "We missed you too."
"We?" Olivia cocked her head to the side and pretended to be confused.
Emma tugged on her mother's arm and led her over to her pet snail's glass enclosure. "Yup, Boris didn't say so, but he came out of his shell every time I told him you were coming home soon."
"Did he now?" Olivia crouched down to the home of her daughter's fairly odd choice of a pet and peered in at the boneless creature. "I'd hug you too Boris but this is a brand new vest. How about I give you a high five, instead?" She pressed her palm up to the glass.
"Mommy," Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Snails don't have hands."
"Well then, how do the two of you do all of your crime fighting, then?"
"He slimes all the bad guys, duh."
Olivia widened her eyes. "Sooorrry. I guess I am going to have to brush up on Molluscan Defense Mechanisms."
Emma gave her a quirky look. "You say too many big words."
"My bad." Olivia raised herself up and placed her hand on the top of Emma's head. "Now you, oh captain of the Slime Squad, have some souvenirs to... " She didn't even get to finish the sentence when the excited little girl ran squealing into the sitting room. "And she's gone..." She muttered amusedly to herself. "Mommies smaller blue suitcase, Baby," Olivia called after her, and smiled a contented smile. Breathing deeply she could feel the tension of the week start to ease away slowly. Being with her daughter did that. Holding her and laughing with her could usually turn around the most harrowing of days, instantly.
But in the middle of her mind, right behind the forefront in which she currently made sure that only thoughts of her daughter prominently resided, she knew that she would soon be haunted by the memories of her latest expedition. It had been, of course, all she had been able to think about from the moment she walked away from the hospital the day before.
Correction. She was all Olivia had been able to think about.
But she quickly resolved that now was not the time to dwell upon the whirlwind of emotions that the exasperating other woman had stirred within her. Now was the time to reconnect with her daughter. She went over to the small beige couch in their spacious living area and sat down in the corner, pulling her knees up to her chest and smiling as she watched Emma pull several mementos from her carry-on.
The giddy girl pointed at a tree on a vibrantly colored t-shirt. "Is that one of those Pom-Pom trees you said you were gonna see?" she asked.
"Palm trees, and yes, those are the ones."
"I thought that palms were these parts of your hands," she raised her small hand up and pointed to the middle of it questioningly.
"You are very right."
"These don't look like hand trees."
"No they don't, do they? Would you like me to find you a hand tree next time?"
"Noooo."
"Oh, come on. You could pick some hands from it, and they all could help you clean your room. Maybe give a couple to Boris while you’re at it."
Emma shook her head and chuckled, "You're so silly, Mommy."
Olivia winked, "Yeah, but you make me that way." She reached out and pulled her little one into a tight embrace and began tickling her.
"Do not!" Emma giggled trying to get away.
"Do too!"
Olivia's phone had begun to vibrate on the table in front of them. They both stopped and looked down at it. She made it a point to never pick it up when she was spending her first precious moments with Emma after she'd been away.
"You should get that, Mommy," Emma said, to Olivia's surprise.
"Nope," she shook her head, "I don't wanna. I just want to know what you want to do tonight?"
"Ummm," Emma looked at her feet for a quick moment. "Stephanie asked if I wanted to go over to her house for the night, and Jane told her mom that I could. It might be them on the phone."
Olivia smirked. "Oh really?" She picked up the phone, and sure enough, it was Stephanie's mother.
"Hello, Andrea... Yes, I am; the trip got cut short unexpectedly... No, that's fine – she is really excited to go over there... Okay, you too, see you soon." She hung up and looked at her daughter's worried little face.
"I didn't know you would be home sooner. Are you mad?"
Olivia reached for her. "Come here, Baby," she wrapped her arms around Emma. "We have the rest of our lives together, Sweetheart. Just you and me against the world." She kissed her forehead. "You go and have a wonderful sleepover so that you can come home and tell me all about it, okay?"
Emma beamed. "Thank you, Mommy, you're the best!"
"Anytime – now go and get ready, they will be here in 10 minutes."
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The bubbles were nearing the top of the tub when Olivia's foot emerged from them to push the tap down and off with her toes. She slid her body a bit lower, allowing the hot water to flow over her shoulders as she rested her head against the back of the tub. She splayed her arms on the sides of the tub, closed her eyes, and tried to clear her mind.
"In with the good air... " she said before taking a deep, cleansing breath. "Out with the bad," she exhaled forcefully.
"In with the loving, happy thoughts of home, and fluffy kittens and daffodils..." she inhaled again. "Out with the festering resentment of one cold-hearted, back-stabbing, selfishly arrogant... " she stopped for a second, her furrowed brow easing slightly, "... intelligent, witty, intoxicatingly beautiful... sexy..."
As her mind wandered, her index finger unconsciously began making tiny circles on her thigh, just above her right knee, which she had pulled up and rested against the side of the tub.
... with satin skin...
Her mind traveled back to the moment she had first ravaged Natalia's mouth with her own. Her fingertips slowly began to travel down her thigh.
... the fullest lips...
Her heartbeat began to pick up tempo as her hand continued its descent, disappearing under the bubbles.
... and such a delicious tongue...
Her fingers lightly grazed upon the sensitive skin between her thigh and her now slightly pulsing center. She spread her legs farther apart. Her breath became increasingly more shallow.
... her breasts pressing against me...
Olivia's eyes closed even tighter and her mouth opened slightly as she ran along her delicate folds.
... if only she had pressed her thigh... right...
She gasped and her head rolled quickly to the side when her fingertip moved higher and flicked gingerly over her now throbbing, swollen...
BZZ BZZZ
Her eyes snapped open. "OHMYGOD!" She let out in a startled yelp and immediately pulled her hand away. She almost completely forgot where she was for a few seconds as her cell phone vibrated madly on top of the counter beside the tub. She got her bearings and leapt up to reach for it, bubbles falling down her back and forearms.
"Olivia Spencer." She coughed to clear her throat.
"Olivia, what the hell did you do?"
Olivia sighed. "What, no 'Hi, how you been'?"
"Hi, how you been?"
"What the hell happened to the Empire deal? I and the other board members were expecting to hear that you'd solidified an acquisition, not read that you'd somehow managed to get the owner to sell off his entire franchise! You left here with a perfectly good offer; what exactly did you do to those people?"
"Oh, you know me and my devastating charm. Sometimes, I charm; sometimes, I devastate."
"Start at the beginning."
"Well, Andrew, all you'd really need to know is the beginning. Let's just say that the moment I got to California, a 'monkey-wrench' was immediately thrown into my plan."
"And you couldn't have worked around it?"
“Oh, believe me, I tried. In fact, as it turned out, I seemed to even be willing to try and work on top of it... underneath it..." Her voice went somewhat breathy.
"You are confusing."
"Ha! You should've met the Wrench!"
"So, what do we do now?"
"Now we counter-strike. I can't let this deal fall through. It's way too essential an opportunity for the Beacon. And I think I may have a plan, but I am going to need abso-fucking-lutely everyone involved in the strategy. The Wrench played us all and I for one don't plan on taking it lying down... yet," she chuckled. "I want more than a hotel now, Andrew."
"This is going to be costly, isn't it?"
"Spoken like a true financial advisor. How many schedules can we clear for tomorrow?"
"I'll call an emergency meeting for 9 a.m."
"Good. I'll need our lawyers, market growth/development strategists, and no offense, Mr. Chief Financial Advisor, but we need second and third, maybe even fourth opinions on this one. I can clearly admit that I am not very objective as far as the Wrench is concerned and I want to make sure I cover all the bases thoroughly before we proceed. This one is gonna supersede all of our other deals, Andrew. It's our Golden Ticket."
"You're making me hard."
"That's my boy. Take that enthusiasm and run with it 'cause you're going to need it. I will see you tomorrow."
Olivia hung up the phone and brought it to her lips, stern contemplation masking her face. She tried to convince herself that this next move wasn't personal, but she failed miserably. She wasn't going to lose to the woman that was threatening to unravel her. The one that could turn it on and off in the blink of an eye.
"Do Unto Others, Natalia?" She narrowed her eyes.
"Then it’s about time I introduced you to a Golden Rule of my own."
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