Page 73 of Tell Me What you Think

Marina's mouth falls open and she bites her tongue visibly, deeply amused, because she knows that now Olga will try to fix it — she'll get flustered and say things that don't quite make sense, and Marina finds every bit of it completely endearing.

"I didn't mean you're always slow — I mean, you're smart, obviously, and I—" She covers her face with her hands and Marina pulls them away, wrapping her fingers around her wrists.

"I know what you meant. And you're right — it was that obvious and it went right over my head." She doesn't let go of her hands, and Olga turns her palms up to meet Marina's, feeling like they fit perfectly. "We need to figure out what this is," Marina continues, and Olga looks up sharply.

"You mean what we are?"

"Call it whatever you want. It's not that I need a label, but I do need us to be clear about what we want — because if we're going to keep going, we have to report it to HR. As long as you're okay with that."

"I want to keep going. I like you — you already know that." She takes a breath. "I think we have chemistry in bed, and—"

"Hmm." Marina makes the sound again, and Olga's breath catches.

"Please don't do that."

"Do what?" she asks, genuinely confused.

"That sound you make when you're thinking. Or when — well, that thing you do."

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because it's too sexy," Olga admits, holding her gaze.

"In bed you've never asked me to stop."

She burns as if she's been hit with a flamethrower, then covers her face and starts laughing with a nervous energy that's completely contagious, and that's when Marina realizes she's right: they have chemistry — in the bedroom and out of it.

"I'll talk to Núria in HR, then."

"What are you going to tell her exactly?" Olga asks, a mix of curiosity and amusement in her eyes.

"Not much." Marina shrugs. "Just that we're seeing each other — she doesn't need the details."

Olga is struck, as she often is, by how easily her boss takes their new situation in stride, given that in forty-five years she'd never looked twice at a woman.

"Aren't you worried about what people might say? Everyone there thinks you're straight, you know."

"I don't see why she'd say anything. What I do with my life is my business — and in any case, yours too. What everyone else thinks matters very little to me."

"I wish I had even half your confidence."

"And I wish I had a little of your self-consciousness — apparently I have none."

Olga bursts out laughing as she looks at her, thinking it's actually an advantage: one makes up for what the other lacks.

Chapter 28

When the taxi drops them off in front of the Lisbon hotel and both women climb out, they shiver. The sky is completely clear, not a single cloud, but the cold is the kind that cuts right through your coat and sneaks in at the collar of your shirt. Even so, after checking in and leaving their bags in one of the rooms, they decide to walk to the Nauta offices.

In some ways, everything they do reminds them of the last time they were here, barely a month ago, but it feels like everything has changed completely. The hotel is the same, and so is the route they take on foot, but they aren't. The last time they came, each of them had her own room, and Olga had been so nervous about spending that much time next to Marina that she could barely concentrate or watch where she was stepping. She'd been alert to every little thing her boss did — her gestures, her comments, even her preferences — soaking up information like a sponge, because Olga was used to seeing her in the office, and outside of it, she didn't really know her at all.

Now her suitcase is waiting to be unpacked on the bed they'll share tonight, and Olga no longer feels lost at Marina's side, because she knows this woman so much better — having spent whole days and nights with her, talking and sharing moments she'll never forget.

"What are you thinking about?" Marina asks, pulling her back to the present just as they stop at a crosswalk.

Olga glances down between them and realizes they're holding hands, and apparently it happened so naturally that she can't even say when.

"Nothing," she lies, and Marina turns her head with one eyebrow raised. "Okay, I was thinking about us. About the last time we were here," she admits, blushing.