Page 26 of Tell Me What you Think

Olga wants to climb over her, press her lips to hers, and run her tongue over that maddening scar she's been curious about since day one.

"Olga?" Marina's question makes her want to throw open the window and jump, because she's been sitting there staring at her boss's mouth, and Marina can only be thinking one of two things: that she's an idiot, or that she's a creep.

"Sorry, yes. On it."

She turns back to her screen and needs a few seconds before she can figure out which tab to open. She finally manages it and spends the next half hour buying the flights and booking two rooms at the hotel closest to the Nauta offices from the company's approved list in Lisbon.

"Done," she says, relieved.

"Great." Marina turns and slides one of the contracts toward her. "This one goes with the retention agreements—I've flagged a couple of clauses I want us to go over next week when we have more time. Set it aside somewhere you'll remember."

Olga doesn't hear a word of it. Her own heartbeat is pounding in her ears because Marina has turned completely toward her, her hand resting on the contract almost touching Olga's, and those blue eyes that look like a calm sea are fixed on her from beneath those impossibly long lashes.

That perfume has Olga completely surrounded. Every one of her senses is on high alert, and suddenly a thought cuts straight through her at the worst possible moment. She's spent two weeks fighting for her apartment, clawing for what she wants with a ferocity she didn't know she had—so she wonders, why the hell isn't she fighting to find out if her feelings are returned? If she fights for one thing, she should fight for all of them. But something goes wrong in the plan she's putting together at full speed, because when she opens her mouth to say what she feels, instead of speaking, she leans forward and presses her lips against Marina's. It's a short kiss, but it isn't fleeting. Olga holds it there, lets the butterflies tear through her whole body, and then pulls back and becomes aware of what she's just done.

When she opens her eyes and sees the stunned look on her boss's face—Marina completely frozen—Olga is hit by the specific kind of fear that cuts off your breath when you dream you're falling off a cliff and jolt awake just before you hit the ground.

"Oh my God." Her voice breaks with the weight of it. "I'm sorry, I didn't—" Heat climbs her neck in a wave that reaches all the way to her ears.

Olga shoves her chair back, but one wheel catches on a table leg and her body lurches sideways. Marina is still motionless, hand on the contract, eyes wide.

"I'm sorry, Marina. I'm so sorry, I don't know what—I don't know why I did that, I swear I didn't—"

"Olga." For the first time, the vice president's voice sounds uncertain, like she knows she needs to say something but doesn't know what.

"Please." Olga presses her trembling hands against her sternum, her cheeks so red they look like they're burning. "Don't say anything. Forget this happened," she begs, and the words start tumbling out without a breath between them. "It was a—it was nothing, I mean, I… Look, it's been a brutal few weeks with the apartment situation and everything. I haven't been sleeping much, I'm completely strung out, and you've been so kind to me that I just got my wires crossed. It won't happen again, I promise, I swear, but please—please just forget what just happened."

Marina opens her mouth and holds it there while she tries to think. She has a hundred questions on the tip of her tongue right now, but she decides not to ask a single one when she sees Olga coming apart in front of her.

"Breathe," she says suddenly.

Olga exhales hard.

"I am breathing," she says, nerves bleeding into her voice.

"Doesn't look like it." Marina takes her hand off the contract and straightens her shirt collar as though the kiss had knocked it out of place, then looks at her assistant, who seems to be on the verge of falling apart. "Hey, Olga, what just—"

"Please." Olga's eyes are shining and that high-pitched edge is back in her voice, the one that only shows up around her boss. "Let's never talk about this again. I need you to let it go."

The vice president watches her. She isn't someone who ignores the things that make her uncomfortable—she'd rather talk them through—and right now she could say quite a lot. But the woman in front of her looks like she's about to shatter, a woman who's fighting a shameless relative trying to take a chunk of her inheritance while they're in the middle of one of the most important deals the company has ever done.

"Okay. This didn't happen," she says, watching the longest exhale of relief she has ever witnessed in her life.

Olga nods as air fills her lungs, then looks left and right like she's searching for a hole to disappear into.

"It's late, I should go. Andrea's waiting for me and I—"

"Go ahead. I'll keep working for a bit and then head home too. Tomorrow's another day," Marina says, trying to settle her.

"Yeah, another day," Olga repeats as she stands. "Thank you. See you tomorrow."

"Goodbye, Olga."

Marina watches her walk out of the office and listens to her quick footsteps down the hall until she reaches the elevator and presses the button. She leans back in her chair, her mind turning over what just happened. She could almost say it's the first time in her life that a kiss has caught her off guard. She didn't see it coming, and she's so shaken by it that she decides to put a playlist on YouTube so the music will keep her from thinking and let her get back to work.

Chapter 12

Marina knows the day is going to be strange from the moment she steps off the elevator, walks into the antechamber outside her office, and finds Olga standing by the printer, waiting for it to spit out whatever she needs.