Page 74 of Tell Me What you Think

"And are you going to share that with me, or do I have to keep walking in silence with my girl?"

My girl.

Olga trips on the curb when the light turns green, and Marina has to tighten her grip to keep her steady.

"Sorry," she murmurs without looking at her, red with embarrassment.

"This tripping thing is becoming a really bad habit, Olga. You need to pay more attention or you're going to give us a scare one of these days."

"I know." Olga seems to shrink into herself. "I got distracted."

Marina's lips curve slightly.

"I noticed."

"Yeah, but this time it was your fault," she whispers, so quietly that Marina has to lean in to hear her.

"Excuse me? My fault. What exactly did I do?"

"You said 'my girl' and I got a little nervous."

The vice president smiles again.

"Were you expecting me to say something else? Would 'my girlfriend' be better? Or would you rather I didn't say it at all?"

Olga lets out a nervous little laugh.

"You can say whatever you want, it's just that sometimes I still have trouble believing it. I was in love with you for so long, and now I'm walking through Lisbon holding your hand. It's... I don't know..." The assistant can't find the words to describe it.

This time Marina says nothing, because she doesn't know what to say. Nothing like what Olga went through has ever happened to her. She's never been secretly in love with anyone, and both times she fell for someone before, it was mutual — so she can't really put herself in Olga's shoes.

She lets go of her hand to adjust her bag, and Olga feels suddenly bereft, but Marina almost immediately reaches back for her with such ease that it leaves Olga a little stunned. She's the first woman the vice president has dated, and Marina has embraced this change in her life without making it complicated or stressing over it — something that Olga, with her excessive shyness, probably would have found incredibly hard.

"Let's get this meeting out of the way and then we'll have the rest of the afternoon to ourselves," Marina says, stopping outside the Nauta door. She turns toward her and places a hand on her cheek, feeling Olga's face burning despite the cold.

"And what will we do?" Olga asks, sighing in anticipation.

"Whatever you want. I'm all yours once we're out of here."

Marina kisses her on the lips and guides her inside with a hand at the small of her back.

It's Duarte who comes down to meet them again, with the same wide smile as last time — only Marina is far less warm this time around.

"Welcome back," the man says. "How was the flight?"

"Short."

The shift in the vice president's expression is complete the moment she steps through the door, and Olga has to fight the urge to laugh at Duarte's flustered face as he comes face to face with a woman no one should have tried to fool.

They're led to a different conference room from last time, where Ferran Roca is already seated at the head of the table, reading glasses in hand. He stands as soon as he sees them and extends his hand to Marina.

"Ms. Cardona."

"Mr. Roca."

The handshake is brief, and Marina heads straight for a chair on the left side of the table. Olga follows quickly after greeting the man, pulls out her things, connects the laptop to the wall screen, and sits down next to her boss while Marina joins a video call with Javier Montoya, who wants to be present for the meeting.

"Good morning, everyone," Javier says, loosening his tie and leaning back in his chair like he's settling in to watch a game. "Marina, whenever you're ready."