“Of course.” Gemma released her from the embrace and jumped off the counter to pour Rory a glass of the wine she’d opened. Rory took the interruption to collect her thoughts before speaking.
“You know I had that big meeting at the office of the firm we’re working with.”
“Yeah.” Gemma handed her the wine and then waved a hand in the air. “You told me the name, but I kinda zoned out.” Gemma grinned, and Rory mock gasped.
“Gemma Armstrong, you zoned out when I was expounding deep legal theories?” Rory hooked a finger in Gemma’s vest top and pulled her towards her. “I think I need a kiss in compensation.”
Gemma shook her head. “Ask in your best legal voice.”
Rory thought for a moment before clearing her throat.
“Miss Armstrong, regarding the attention you should give to your girlfriend when she is explaining not only her work but also the intricacies of the legal situation she is expertly navigating. It is alleged that the attention you gavewas not at the expected level of attention required by the aforementioned girlfriend. It is therefore only reasonable that she requests compensation in the form of a kiss, for no less than ten seconds.”
Gemma smiled. “You’re very sexy when you talk all lawyer-like.” She pressed her hands to Rory’s chest and kissed her lazily for the required ten seconds, and more. “Now, stop deflecting and tell me what happened.”
Rory played for time by removing her suit jacket and rolling up her sleeves before slumping against the kitchen counter.
“Well, the meeting at Montague Holdings was fairly uneventful. Spike has bought into a holiday park, and we’ve just done the final due diligence on her investment.” Rory took a big drink from the glass of wine Gemma had given her. In typical Spike fashion, she had promised the money to an old friend before doing any research. Rory didn’t mind too much. She and her firm made a lot of money out of Spike’s impulsiveness.
“But when I was leaving, I used their loo, and some woman screamed at me that I couldn’t be in the lady’s toilet. She all but chased me out of there.”
Rory felt tears well in her eyes and angrily brushed them away. “Why do people have to be such arseholes about this?”
Gemma turned off the oven before crossing the kitchen to engulf Rory in her arms. Rory dropped her head forward and let her girlfriend soothe her nerves. All the shame she had felt when the woman had confronted her and the anger that had followed flowed out of her.
“That’s horrible babe, how do you feel now?”
“Better now I’ve seen you,” Rory replied honestly. “I just felt so...” She blew air out of her mouth in frustration. “Helpless and attacked and ... I couldn’t answer her Gemma. I’m a lawyer. I make my living knowing exactly what to say and when, and I couldn’t find anything to say to this woman. I scuttled out of there and ended up dashing into a McDonald’s because I really needed a wee.”
“Have you told anyone?” Gemma’s voice was gentle, but Rory could hear the steel behind her words.
“No, I don’t even know if it was someone who worked there or a visitor. But I just don’t want to make a fuss, I just want to live my life.” Gemma ran a hand over Rory’s arm, and she relaxed into the touch. Being here with Gemma made everything better.
“And I don’t know what to do tonight. Part of me wants to retreat to the sofa with you and watch a silly movie, but another part of me wants to go to the gym and lose myself in some exercise.”
“Or….” Gemma winked at her. “We could have dinner and come up with some exercises of our own.”
Heat flew through Rory at the implication. She pulled Gemma towards her and gently kissed her lips.
“That sounds like the best thing I’ve heard all day.”
27
GEMMA
Gemma held the dress up to herself in the mirror and sighed. She should have taken Rory up on her offer to buy her something new, but she was already worried about how much her girlfriend was spending on her.
She looked back at the black dress she had worn last time and grimaced. Even though it had been three months since they had been at the opera together, the thought of wearing the same thing prickled at her. She went back to the pile of clothes on the bed and moaned again. Obviously, she must have been louder than she thought as Teagan pushed her head around the door.
“Wassup?”
Gemma sat back on the bed with a sigh. “I can’t find anything to wear this weekend, and Rory is picking me up in,” she looked at her watch, “twenty minutes.”
“And we both know your girlfriend is going to be on time,” Teagan giggled. Over the weeks, she had also become used to Rory’s precision over timings, and Gemma loved that her friend had so easily accepted Rory into her life.
“Talking of partners.” Gemma poked Teagan with her toe. “Is Brad coming over this weekend?”
Teagan blushed to the roots of her auburn hair and flopped onto the bed with Gemma. “He is but,” she took a breath, “we are seriously thinking of moving in together, and as you're away for a long weekend, we thought we’d spend all the time here to see how we get on living with each other. It’s one thing when he pops over for a takeaway and a quick bit of sex, but 72 hours full on will be something different.”
