Page 50 of Tell Me What you Think

Marina doesn't even wait—she just crouches down to help, and as if the universe has decided to make things worse, when they both straighten up, they do it from the same side, bumping into each other so that Marina ends up with her back against the edge of the table and Olga pressed against her.

They freeze, eyes locked, while Marina tells herself she should move, that all she has to do is apologize the way she would if something this embarrassing had happened with anyone else. A small laugh, a step to the side, and it would be over—but she stays there, unable to move a single muscle. Or so she thinks, because then she feels a brush against the fingers of her right hand, and she moves them to find that it's Olga's hand, and somehow, inexplicably, her assistant's fingers part, hers slip in, and their hands close together. Marina hears a deep, hollow sound pounding in her ears, and for a moment she thinks it's Olga's heart beating that loud—until she realizes it's her own.

Her gaze drops to her assistant's lips and finds them slightly parted, and the same impulse she felt the other day—the one she barely managed to hold back—comes at her like a freight train she can't stop, and Marina tilts her head forward, but footsteps approaching make her pull back just as her nose was grazing Olga's.

The assistant steps away, flushed to the roots of her hair, so rattled that the pages nearly slip from her hands again—and then Silvia appears in the doorway.

"Hey," she says, not picking up on what she's walked into. "Can I steal you for a second, Marina? I need you to give me the closing figures for—"

"Sure, go ahead," the vice president cuts in, heading toward her desk and swallowing hard to push her heart back down from her throat.

"Come on." Olga grabs Silvia by the wrist and steers her into the hallway.

"What are you doing? I came because I need the—"

"Just walk."

The assistant doesn't let go until they reach the coffee machine and she's sure no one is nearby.

"God, I'm going to have a heart attack," she breathes, fanning herself with her hand like she's coming apart.

That's when her friend and coworker actually looks at her and notices her cheeks are flushed while the rest of her face is pale, and her hands are shaking.

"What's going on? You're freaking me out."

The assistant lowers her voice.

"I think Marina was about to kiss me."

"What?!"

"Oh my God, keep your voice down," Olga groans, tugging at her sweater because she's feverish even though half her body is still covered in goose bumps.

"She was going to kiss you?" Silvia's eyes are huge.

"I think so. If you hadn't walked in…"

Her friend winces.

"Are you telling me that when you were finally about to kiss that woman, I interrupted it?" she asks, horrified.

"Technically she was the one making a move, but yeah, maybe. God, Silvia, I think I'm actually having a heart attack."

"Then go back in there and finish what I interrupted—I'll stop by another time."

"Are you serious?" Olga's eyes go wide, and then something shifts in them and they start to shine like two headlights cutting through the dark. "I can't kiss her here. We're at work and she's my boss—"

"That never seemed to bother you before," Silvia shoots back.

"Because I thought it was impossible!" Olga blurts out louder than she means to, and Jordi, who steps off the elevator right at that moment, gives them a startled look but keeps walking without a word.

"Then at least talk to her. Since one of you clearly has the guts to do what needed to be done, the least you can do is tell her how you feel, for once in your life."

"I know." Olga shoves her hands into her pockets. "I know I have to talk to her, that I can't keep dragging this out—but I need to calm down first. I need a couple of days where nothing happens that makes me feel like I'm about to fall apart, because between this and Saturday I just—"

"Saturday?" Silvia's eyes narrow, and Olga sighs, defeated.

She runs through it in a rush, barely breathing, and when she finishes she inhales so sharply that Silvia takes a step back, half expecting her to burst.