The guys scattered, but Livi held back.
“Yes?” I asked, raising my eyebrows and keeping my tone carefully neutral.
The flash of hurt crossed her face so quickly I thought I’d imagined it.
“Can we have dinner tonight?”
I was shaking my head before she finished the sentence. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. What happened Friday night shouldn’t have happened.”
“Oh my God, we’re back to this again?” she grumbled, her blue eyes flashing with frustration. “You seemed to enjoy Friday night as much as I did. Several times, as I recall. Passion like that doesn’t come along every day. Why can’t we explore it?”
“I did enjoy what happened Friday night,” I admitted quietly. “But you and I, we’re never going to work. It was hot and fun and I don’t regret it, but it needs to be a one-time thing.”
“Are you saying you feel nothing for me?” she asked.
I winced, then opened my mouth and closed it again, unable to lie.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. To be clear, I feel the same way, and that’s why I’m going to make it my mission to get you to see that we could have something wonderful together.”
Olivia
Istomped into the Victorian feeling out of sorts. Even though I’d been expecting Sam to pull back, it still hurt. I wanted to have it out with her, to explain how we could work, but we were at work. I knew she was worried about losing respect from the guys, and I was committed to doing a good job while I was here, so I put my feelings aside and got to work.
Sam spent the entire week avoiding me. She worked in different parts of the house and gave me a wide berth, even eating lunch in her office. The guys all noticed, and I could tell that they were curious about what happened between us when we were trapped here, but thankfully they didn’t ask.
Before I knew it Friday came, my last day of community service. I couldn’t believe how quickly the two hundred hours had gone by. The woman who finished community service wasn’t thesame as the woman who started it, and I was grateful for the experience. Going back to the formality of an office environment was going to be weird.
The guys invited me to go out for a beer to commemorate my last day and to my surprise, Sam agreed to come along. I thought for sure she’d blow it off, but then again, she probably knew that would cause more questions than just coming along. We piled into our cars and headed to a dive bar a few miles away. It was a delightful place, a bit run down, but with friendly staff and an impressive menu of bar food.
We settled into a large, U-shaped booth in the back corner, and I was pretty sure it was no accident that the guys managed to make it so Sam and I were sitting side by side. I’d seen them trying to matchmake the entire time I’d been working with them, and with this being my last day, they were pulling out all the stops. Subtly of course.
We ordered two pitchers of beer and a variety of appetizers, sharing them between us. I tried several foods I hadn’t had before, including jalapeno poppers and mozzarella sticks. The guys took turns toasting me and saying nice things about me.
“If you give up the real estate business, you’re always welcome on the crew, Livi,” Barney told me. “Right Sam?”
“Sure,” she replied with little enthusiasm.
I met Barney’s eyes across the table and he mouthed,“Don’t give up”.It meant a lot that he was on my side. He’d mentioned afew times that he thought Sam and I would be a good couple. He knew her better than anyone, so I took it as a good sign.
The booth was crowded with the whole team there and I was sitting so close to Sam that we were pressed together from shoulder to knee, and every time one of us moved, we brushed against each other. It was torture. My panties were damp and I felt a buzz of awareness, but I wasn’t alone. When I looked down I could see Sam’s nipples poking out from her shirt despite the warm temperature in here, and several times I caught her shifting to rub her legs together.
Good, she was as bothered as me. She’d been so distant this week I was starting to have doubts that I’d blown up our night together to be more than it was.
We finished up our celebration and after a round of hugs, we headed for the parking lot. Sam’s truck was parked at the edge of the lot and I followed her back.
“What are you doing?” she asked suspiciously.
“Making sure you get to your truck okay.”
She started to argue but instead kept walking. When we got to her truck she spun around to look at me.
“You look pissed,” I said. “What’s wrong?”
“I would have thought you hated a place like this,” she said, gesturing towards the bar.
That was not what I expected her to say.
“And you’re mad that I liked it?” I clarified.
