"Please stay." The words were out of Oliver's mouth barely before he realised - but as he held the hotel room door open for Sara, gesturing for to go in, he knew he meant what he said.
"Don't we have a city to protect?" Sara asked softly. The Arrow and the Canary had indeed been watching the streets for a few hours before they'd headed back to the foundry. Oliver had said it was because the police radios had calmed down a bit – which was true – but it was more about the fact that he'd booked a room at his favourite hotel in Starling City as a surprise for Sara.
"Diggle's on patrol," Oliver told her, and he grinned when she sighed, shaking her head, and crossed the threshold of the hotel room. Oliver followed her in, depositing his jacket on a nearby chair. A bottle of wine was sitting in ice on the table, along with a bottle opener.
"Wearing his usual ski mask and bomber jacket, I bet," Sara said, sitting on the bed and leaning back on her arms. "He should really think about -"
"Don't say 'costume'," Oliver interrupted as he opened the bottle and poured wine into two glasses, but he was smiling. "We've had that conversation too many times to count. It usually ends with him rolling his eyes and telling me my Robin Hood costume and leather pants are enough for the both of us."
Sara laughed, accepting the glass of wine he offered her. "He's a good guy."
"The best," he agreed, sitting down on the bed beside her.
"How did you even meet Dig, anyway?" she asked.
"Oh, when I first got back from the island, I was kidnapped. Tommy too. Later we learned Merlyn was responsible for it."
"Sounds like Merlyn," Sara said, shaking her head.
"Anyway, I was fine, and so was Tommy, but my mother... she insisted on me getting a bodyguard."
"Right," she said, nodding. After a moment, she reached over Oliver and set her glass down on the bedside cabinet. "How are things with her, anyway?'"
"Better," Oliver said, catching Sara's hand in his and pressing a kiss on her palm. "Less so with Thea, though."
Sara lifted her hand to Oliver's cheek, before reaching up and kissing him gently on his lips. "I'm sorry things are so difficult with you two right now."
"Me too," Oliver admitted. "I wish I knew what to do. What to say."
"I'm sure she'll forgive you."
He gazed at her, not taking his eyes off her as his glass joined hers on the bedside cabinet and she took off her jacket. "What makes you so sure?"
"Because," Sara said, climbing onto Oliver's lap, "despite everything, she loves you and knows you're a good person who's always had the best of intentions. And she's lucky to have you in her life. I know the feeling."
"Thank you," he said gratefully.
"Kind of goes without saying, really," Sara replied, smiling back, dropping a kiss on his neck.
"I mean," Oliver said, pulling her up so her lips were level with his again, "for letting me drag you here."
And this time Sara laughed. "You didn't drag me." Another kiss – on his jaw this time, her mouth just brushing the corner of his lips.
But he was more serious now. "All this stuff going on – with Slade, Thea, my mother, Roy – it's… nice to get away from it all for a bit. With you."
Oliver already had one hand under her hem of her shirt, going straight to the clasp of her bra, when Sara kissed him, slowly, her mouth pressing insistently on his. Then she broke away, long enough for her to remove her shirt and bra at the same time, and the shift in her position, the way her hips pushed forward against his, was enough to elicit a groan from him.
"So we are staying," he murmured into her neck, one hand having settled firmly on her taut midriff.
Sara chuckled. "For a while, yeah."
And it was when he looked up at her and he saw how the hardness that was usually in her eyes had softened in her smile – it was then that it hit Oliver the love he felt for Sara. And it was with that very thought that, as their clothing was hurriedly shed, landing in a tangled pile on the floor, and his body covered hers, he proceeded to show her exactly how much.