Room Service Page 6

  Farrah groaned and shoved Reagan out of the seat.

  They watched her with amusement as she wandered to the other side of the bar, ordered herself a drink, and gestured toward the beautiful woman in the corner, still hidden from view by a curtain of dark hair and a blind spot in the lighting. The bartender nodded, mixing a drink and walking it down the bar. He placed it in front of the mystery woman. The woman kept her head down, but Olivia could see from the moving lips of the bartender that they were talking about something. The gestures he was making as he spoke looked oddly sexual and he pointed toward Reagan, who was approaching slowly while shooting a taunting glare at Olivia. She puffed out her chest in victory as they all watched the mystery woman take the glass and spin it before sipping it slowly.

  Reagan was only three steps away from the woman when she stepped into the light: the mystery woman with the great ass was none other than Savannah. Olivia choked out a laugh so violent that she started to cough and Farrah had to slap her back to keep her from dying.

  Savannah sipped the glass as she walked toward their table away from Reagan, who was standing very still, her eyes wide in a comical way that made Olivia laugh even harder.

  “Ladies.” Savannah held up her glass in a mock toast before slipping into the booth next to Olivia, who was hysterical with laughter next to Farrah, causing the booth to shake beneath them. Savannah toyed with the rim of her glass, placing her other hand on the table over the menus and idly tapping her fingers as she waited for her seatmates to settle down.

  Olivia wiped tears from her eyes, clutching her gut as she spoke. “H-hey, Savannah. Fancy meeting you here.”

  Farrah snorted and Olivia’s laughing redoubled. It was contagious.

  Reagan was still frozen in her spot near the bar, seemingly trying to figure out what she should do next. In the end, she quickly downed her drink and stepped back to the table. She slid next to Farrah with a false grin on her face. “Savannah. How nice to see you here. Staying for dinner, I hope?”

  Olivia roared with laughter and covered Savannah’s hand on the tabletop with her own before she gasped out, “Yeah, stay. Reagan’s buying dinner.”

  “Oh?” Savannah asked.

  “Yup. Reagan bet us that she could get the hottie in the skirt’s number, in two drinks or less. Tell us, Savannah dear, you didn’t happen to share your cell number with her, did you?”

  Savannah tapped her chin in mock consideration. “You know, that never came up.”

  Farrah lost it at that point, gagging on her water and shaking her head as Reagan huffed in annoyance next to her. “That’ll teach you to peacock around, Reagan,” Farrah said, wiping her eyes and sighing. “That’s the best laugh I’ve had in a while.”

  “So, you like my ass in this skirt, huh?” Savannah’s expression was playful. “I especially liked that you asked the bartender to add some hand gestures, just in case I didn’t get the memo. But really, thanks for the drink, Reagan.”

  Olivia couldn’t stop vibrating with laughter. She slid her hand off Savannah’s as she wiped at the tears in her eyes. Her sides hurt from laughing.

  The waiter came over and surveyed the women curiously. “Would you like to hear the specials? We have quite a few choices on the menu tonight.”

  Olivia burst into another fit of giggles and Reagan grumbled before ordering another round of drinks for the table.

  “Not that I’m complaining at all, but what made you decide to join us?” Olivia was elated but trying to play it cool. And if the easy smile on Savannah’s face was any indication, it was totally working. Definitely.

  “The conference call fell through. I stopped down to get a drink to take back to my room with the intention of doing a little more work. I hadn’t planned to intrude on your dinner, until Reagan propositioned me.” Savannah’s laugh made Olivia’s insides heat up.

  “It’s no intrusion at all. I’m glad you’re here.” Olivia covered her mouth with her hand to stop herself from doing something insane like telling Savannah she looked pretty tonight, and that she’d noticed Savannah had changed from her previous outfit of the day. Because that wouldn’t be weird or creepy at all.

  Savannah’s smile widened. “Me, too.”

  Something behind the glint in Savannah’s eyes when she answered Olivia told her this was going to be a very fun night.

  Chapter Eight

  Olivia groaned the next morning when the sun peeked through the curtains, blinding her and inciting a gentle throb in her head. Although she’d had her fair share of cocktails, she still remembered everything that happened in vivid detail. And the details reminded her that last night had been ridiculous.

  After Reagan had accidentally sexually harassed Savannah, they made it a point to antagonize her the rest of the night. There were appetizers and some food and shots. Lots of shots. By the end of the night Farrah and Savannah practically carried Reagan to her room before unceremoniously dropping her on the bed with two bottles of water and some ibuprofen. Farrah offered to hang around and tuck Reagan in for the night and Olivia had been grateful. Normally, she would be more than happy to have a drunk slumber party with her bestie, but with Savannah nearby looking delicious and her inhibitions lowered from all that tequila, she was glad Farrah could fill in just this once.

  Olivia was pretty buzzed by the time she and Savannah hit the elevators, and she was swaying a bit and bumping the walls as she waited. Savannah had merely laughed and helped her step into the elevator as she placed her hand along Olivia’s hip to keep her from tripping over the threshold.

  “Why are you so damn sober?” Olivia tried to limit the amount of slurring evident.

  Savannah had shrugged. “Because Farrah and I skipped the last round of shots and substituted with water. That’s why.”

  “No fair. Reagan was paying—you have to go full throttle in such in-instances.” Olivia closed her eyes momentarily, which was a mistake, and she swayed a little more before reaching out to entwine her fingers with Savannah’s to steady herself.

  “Well, if that was your intention, I think you were very successful.” Savannah loosely held Olivia’s hand as the elevator doors opened to Olivia’s floor. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.” Savannah stepped out of the elevator and gently tugged Olivia with her, pausing before she asked. “Which room is yours, Liv?”

  Olivia giggled and tucked her chin, nervously dragging her toe on the carpet. She’d looked up to find Savannah watching her expectantly. She’d nodded toward the left corridor and pulled Savannah along with her. She probably should have been focusing on walking in a straight line, but she was too happy thinking about the fact that Savannah had just called her Liv and not Olivia. It was cute. She hadn’t done that before. After a few more steps, Olivia stopped short in front of her room, pulling Savannah’s hand in the process. She pointed toward the closed door. “This is me.”

  “You need a hand getting it open?” Savannah was holding Olivia’s purse and surveyed the key card lock with mild amusement.

  “I can do it. I’m not wasted, just buzzed.” Olivia smiled and reached her free hand toward her purse, pulling out the key card and stepping toward the door, but not quite getting to her intended destination as she was jerked back. Her hand was still in Savannah’s, who was standing behind her.

  “You’ll have to let go of my hand if you want access to the room, I’m afraid.” Savannah scrunched her nose. “It’s sort of a two-handed job, getting into a room.”

  Olivia frowned, Savannah was right. She did need two hands. To be honest she had sort of forgotten that they were even holding hands at all because it had felt totally normal. She let out a defeated sigh and released her hold on Savannah before stepping forward and unlocking the door on the first try. She turned and smiled in triumph. “Success!”

  Savannah laughed and shook her head as she followed Olivia into the room and set Olivia’s purse on the dresser.

  “Thanks for walking me to my room. It was very gentlewomanly of you.” Ol
ivia took Savannah’s hand again before she leaned in to press a kiss to Savannah’s cheek. She paused there a moment, only pulling back when she realized that this was Savannah Quinn, her colleague, not her best friend or her girlfriend. And she probably shouldn’t be kissing her on the cheek, at all, even a little.

  “Um, sorry, I think I momentarily lost my mind there.” Olivia stepped back and pressed her fingers to her lips, because her lips were sort of buzzing right now from touching Savannah’s cheek. But more than that, she did it to stop herself from uttering something she couldn’t take back. Something like, Gosh, your skin is soft, because that would be bad. Very bad.

  Savannah nodded and stepped back and Olivia appreciated the distance. She didn’t trust herself like this. It was good Savannah was more sober. “Good night, Olivia. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Olivia mumbled good night and watched as Savannah stepped out of the room and closed the door silently behind her.

  Fast forward to now, and here she was, squinting at the clock, about seven hours later with a throbbing headache and the realization that she totally almost made a move on Savannah. Well, maybe she sort of did. She groaned in frustration as she sat up slowly, willing the room to stop spinning. She gulped down some water and grabbed an apple out of the complimentary fruit basket on her way to the bathroom. Just as she was stepping toward the sink, she noticed a piece of paper that had been slid under the door. She leaned forward to pick it up, being careful to brace herself on the wall, and silently prayed that bending down wouldn’t make her headache worse. It did.

  Olivia,

  Hope you had a good night’s rest. I moved the usual morning meeting until eleven, so take your time getting to the design space. Devon and Farrah are working on the fabric decisions now. We’ll finalize them at the meeting later.

  Savannah

  Olivia smiled at the note. She was grateful Savannah had bumped back the morning meeting. It was awfully thoughtful of her. Olivia let the warmth of that thought wash over her as she stepped into the shower. She reminded herself to thank Savannah when she saw her later and let herself imagine all the ways she’d like to do just that.

  * * *

  Savannah had spent the morning working in her room. After last night, she’d slept pretty soundly, although not for long. She found herself wide-awake only four hours after falling asleep. She didn’t feel tired, though. She felt surprisingly refreshed.

  She’d started the day answering emails and making calls from her room until it was a little after nine in the morning. When she got to the design space she was surprised to see not only Randal and Daniel but Reagan, working together and directing the construction team here and there. Reagan looked a little ragged, but awake and functional. That was unexpected.

  “Good morning, Reagan,” Savannah greeted her. “How are you today?”

  Reagan looked up at her with eyes wide and a slight blush on her cheeks before brushing her hair back and resuming her cool-as-a-cuke facade. “I’m good, how are you?”

  “Good.” She decided to go with it. She glanced over at the contractors. “Things progressing as they should?”

  “Yep, looks right on schedule. Are we still doing the morning meeting?” Reagan reached forward and scooped up some papers from the drafting table as she turned to face Savannah again.

  Savannah had pushed the meeting back to give Olivia and Reagan some time to recover. She had sort of instigated their shots last night and was feeling a little remorseful. But just a little. “No, I bumped it back to eleven so Devon and Farrah could go over the textures and come to a decision.” It was partially true—she had hoped they would be productive.

  “Oh, cool,” Reagan replied casually and glanced at Savannah again, seemingly unsure of what to say.

  “It’s fine, Reagan, really. Last night was fun. No big deal.” Savannah lowered her voice to keep the conversation between the two of them.

  Reagan nodded and let out a sigh of relief. She paused for a moment, as if she was going to say something, before seeming to change her mind. “Okay, good. I’m going to get back to, uh, it. See you in a bit.” She walked back toward the guys hovering over the drafting table by the window and got to work.

  Savannah’s attention was called toward Farrah and Devon, who were standing by the water feature’s intended location. They were holding up swatches and paint samples. Devon had made the astute observation that they could sync the water pressure to adjust with certain backdrops—more aggressive flow for the hiking imagery, replicating a far-off waterfall, versus the slow, gentle descent of a babbling brook paired with the starry night scene they had planned. Savannah waved over the head contractor and Daniel to discuss whether this was a feasible request. Everyone seemed to think it was a stroke of genius, and a worker was dispatched to find the equipment to test it out. Farrah came up with a fabulous idea to camouflage the fixture mechanisms with a native, living moss found just outside the city that she had read about in prep for the trip. The water supply would feed the living moss, which would also contribute to the lushness of the fountain area. This slightly changed their plans for the next two days, but Savannah was pleased with the innovative thinking. This team worked so well together.

  * * *

  By the time Olivia stepped into the design space, things were moving quickly. The dividing wall had been assembled and was being drywalled. Devon and Farrah were working with Savannah by the water feature. Savannah was talking to someone on the phone, nodding in reply and speaking to Daniel to convey whatever message she needed to. Olivia cradled the coffee in her hands while she let herself appreciate Savannah’s outfit today. She was in a black dress with a bright teal belt and matching pumps. The dress was formfitting, but professional, and very, very flattering. Savannah, it seemed, had a fantastic wardrobe. She had the phone tucked to her ear as her fingers worked furiously over the screen of the tablet in front of her. Olivia could see her pulling up windows as she talked.

  “She does have a great ass—I wasn’t wrong about that,” Reagan whispered. “And I know you’ve noticed that, too.”

  There was no point in denying it. She was obviously appreciating Savannah’s assets from here. And Reagan would recognize what that looked like better than anyone. She looked over at Reagan. “Yeah, well, at least I didn’t try to get in her skirt with a sad pickup line and some obscene hand gestures.” She nudged her shoulder into Reagan.

  “Ugh, don’t remind me.” Reagan groaned and squeezed the bridge of her nose. “She was pretty cool about it, though. It could have been a big thing.”

  Olivia nodded. It could have been a big thing. But that didn’t really seem like Savannah’s style, not that she had any real idea about her or her style per se. But she wanted to, and that worried her a bit.

  “She’s mysterious, which is hot,” Reagan continued.

  “Agreed.” She really was.

  “And she’s got this sexy put-together vibe thing going on,” Reagan added.

  Olivia sighed. Shit. She totally did. “Completely.”

  “And that voice—”

  “Don’t even get me started.” The more time Olivia spent with Savannah, the more she wanted to listen to her say all the things. Forever. “She’s the total package.”

  “I wonder what she’s like in bed…”

  Olivia whipped her head in Reagan’s direction just in time to catch Reagan giving her a sly smirk.

  “Gotcha.”

  Olivia felt a flush settle on her cheeks. Reagan had been baiting her. That sneaky bastard.

  “I knew you liked her.” Reagan’s nose wrinkled as she smiled.

  Olivia pouted. “Is it that obvious?”

  “Probably only to me. And anyone who heard you gush about her joining us for dinner last night.”

  Olivia winced. “Yeah…that was not my smoothest moment.”

  “It’s cool. Having a little crush might be good for you. You know, it might loosen you up a bit. You could use a little fun since you dropped
Hurricane Hannah.” Reagan took the coffee out of Olivia’s hands and drank it.

  Olivia was going to point out that she needed that coffee to live but decided the distraction it provided was worth it. Olivia didn’t mention kissing Savannah last night, nor did she mention that she’d gotten the impression that Savannah had been flirting with her all along, too. She decided to let Reagan think it was a one-sided crush, because maybe it was. But she sincerely hoped it wasn’t.

  As if sensing she was the topic of conversation, Savannah looked up at the two of them and waved. She ended her phone call and stepped toward them, ducking under some electrical wires and over some spools of construction supplies before reaching them. “Ladies.”

  “Hey.” Olivia shifted her weight and stepped a little away from Reagan so as not to set off any more alarm bells with her bestie.

  She saw Reagan regard her curiously before looking back up at Savannah. “It looks like we’re all set on our end. We’re meeting before lunch, right?”

  Savannah made eye contact with Olivia while she answered Reagan. “Yes, why don’t you round up the group and we’ll get started a few minutes early so they can duck out for a longer lunch.”

  Reagan nodded and walked toward Randal, where she clapped him on the back and laughed when he almost dropped his graphing calculator in surprise.

  Olivia stood there, waiting, thinking about what she should say. She had figured that addressing things directly was the best way to go. She had kissed Savannah on the cheek after all. But part of her wanted to pretend it didn’t happen, probably the same part that wanted to pretend she wasn’t immensely attracted to her. That same part was currently screaming at her to stop staring at the woman’s lips but was obviously being ignored. She had Reagan to thank for pointing out all of Savannah’s best qualities. Jerk.

  “Lost in thought?” A knowing expression spread across dark pink lips as Savannah tilted her head down slightly to catch Olivia’s gaze.