Chapter Two

Felicity had been running early all morning and decided to take advantage of it. If she got to work a half hour early then she could leave that much earlier… and get to the Foundry earlier.

Last night she'd danced with Oliver and it had been one of the most romantic moments of her life. Although his time on the island had definitely changed him in significant ways, she wasn't so sure it had changed his ways with women.

She was wary about starting something with him, but not an idiot. Or maybe she was an idiot. Either way she wanted to see him again as soon as possible.

She had a swing in her hips when she exited the elevator on her floor at Queen Consolidated.

"Morning, Cho!" she greeted her supervisor with an enthusiastic wave.

The short woman put a hand on Felicity's arm. "Is it your birthday?"

She shook her head. "Why?"

Cho gave a knowing smile. "Secret admirer then? So much better."

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll see." She winked and walked away.

"What the…?"

When Felicity got to her desk she saw exactly what Cho had been talking about. An enormous vase of yellow daisies sat next to her keyboard. She knew he had sent them without looking at the card, but she pulled it out anyway.

Trying to figure out your favorite.
O

It was written in his neat square hand, meaning he had gone to the flower shop in person. It wasn't even 8am, when could he have done that?

Do you own a florist? She texted him.

Her phone pinged seconds later. He had been waiting for her call, apparently.

Kind of. Was I close?

She smiled and bit her bottom lip. Common assumption, but nope. Wrong flower. Wrong color.

I guess I'll have to try again.

Looks that way.

She put her phone away. It would be fun getting flowers every once in a while until he figured out her favorite.

At five to nine she pulled herself away from her computers to go to the weekly IT staff meeting. Walking down the hall she saw someone exit the elevator with an enormous bouquet of orange roses. Her steps faltered and she couldn't help but turn and follow him.

Sur enough he put the bouquet next to the vase of daisies. She smiled wanly at the guy and picked up the card.

How about now?
O

She didn't text him immediately. Instead she went to her staff meeting, pretended to listen, but spent the time thinking about Oliver. Was he really going to keep sending her flowers all day until he got the right ones? Tomorrow too? And maybe the next day?

When the meeting ended she texted him.

Wrong again. Will all the bouquets be this big?

Her phone pinged. Yes.

Please remember I drive a Mini.

Give me a hint then.

Felicity tapped her pen against her lips and thought for a second. The flower name is also a movie name. She hoped that hint wasn't too obvious.

An hour later a bouquet of gorgeous pinkish-purple magnolias came through her office door.

Nope.

I thought Steel Magnolias might be a stretch.

She smiled. Another hint?

Please!

It's also the name of a city not in USA.

It was nearly lunchtime before the next bouquet came.

"You're not the usual flower delivery boy." Felicity stood up. "Take up a part time job?"

Oliver shook his head and grinned. "I wanted to give you these in person."

"Why?"

"Because I know I got it right this time."

She smirked. "Really? After only 3 other tries? How do you know?"

"I cheated," he said sheepishly. "I asked our florist for help."

Then he pulled the bouquet from behind his back: a simple arrangement of Casablanca lilies tied in a dark green ribbon.

"Oh…" she breathed, as she took the flowers from him. "They're perfect. No one's ever bought them for me before. Oliver…"

She looked up to find him standing right in front of her.

"Felicity," he whispered. "Can I kiss you?"

It was one of the most difficult words she'd ever said. "No."

He looked deflated.

"Not yet, but you can take me to lunch."

"Sounds perfect." He gave her that smile that always made her knees weak.

She put the lilies in some water and grabbed her purse.

"Where do you want to eat?" Oliver asked, taking her hand.

There was a moment of panic when she was scared of what she was doing. There was no way that Oliver would be interested in her for long. But maybe she should just enjoy it while it lasted. So she leaned into his arm, reveling in their closeness. "I'm kind of in the mood for Mexican."

"I know the perfect place."

"I'm sure you do." She laughed. "Can we make it in and out of there in an hour?"

"Mr. Queen." Cho greeted him. "Taking Felicity to lunch?"

"Mrs. Cho." He gave her a friendly nod. "Yes, but I'm not sure we'll be able to make it back in only an hour."

Felicity squeaked. "He's joking! I'll definitely be back well before –"

Cho raised her hand to stop the inevitable ramble, but didn't take her eyes off of Oliver. "I seem to recall giving her the rest of the day off. She must have forgotten."

"Thanks Cho," she said quietly.

The woman leaned close to her. "No one deserves it like you do." Then she turned her stern supervisor look on Oliver, the one Felicity always dreaded getting. "Treat her well, Mr. Queen."

Oliver actually looked nervous. "No one values Felicity's brains or beauty like I do, ma'am."

Cho didn't drop the look. "See that it stays that way."

"I never realized how scary she is," Oliver said when they were safely in the elevator.

Felicity laughed. "Do you mind if we stop by my apartment before lunch?"

"Sure, why?"

"I want to change."

"You look amazing." Oliver put his arm around her.

"Thanks, but I want to get out of my work clothes. If the rest of the day is for fun then I want to be in play clothes."

"Play clothes? So is this a play date?"

Felicity blushed. "You know what I mean. I want to be in comfy clothes."

"I'd love to see your apartment."

Suddenly she pictured the huge mess it was. "Never mind, I'm starved. Let's just go to lunch."

#

Somehow Oliver was able to convince her to go to her apartment anyway. Something he was incredibly proud of. He wanted her to be comfortable for their afternoon together, but he was also selfishly dying to see where she lived.

At her apartment door Felicity turned to him. "Is there anything I can say to convince you to stay out here?"

Oliver tried not to be hurt. "You don't trust me in your apartment?"

"It's just that it's a huge mess right now. Not all of us have maids and I work a lot. At two jobs. Both for you and yours, I might add. I can't let you see it this way." She chewed her bottom lip as she pleaded with him.

"If you don't trust me not to judge you for a few dirty dishes, then I'll wait here in the hall."

"Well, when you put it that way…" She unlocked the door and invited him in with a wave of her hand. "I tried to warn you."

Felicity excused herself to change and Oliver had the freedom to explore. Her place was bright and cluttered, just how he imagined the inside of her mind would be. There was so much to look at he couldn't decide where to start.

The enormous wall of books seemed as good a place as any.

One entire bookshelf was filled with manuals and non-fiction books on computers, different theories in math, etc. The next bookshelf was infinitely more interesting to him. He looked over the titles carefully until he noticed something.

"Felicity?"

He heard a muffled "Yeah?" from her bedroom.

"Why do you have so many copies of the same books?"

The door squeaked and she came out, looking even more beautiful than before in a black and white striped shirt, bright red pants cuffed at the bottom and a pair of aqua blue flats. Her hair was out of its usual pony tail, hanging loose over her shoulders, and her lips were bright red.

Bright kissable red.

"What?" she asked.

"What?" Oliver repeated, coming out of his fantasy.

"What did you ask? I didn't hear you."

"Oh, the books. I noticed you have five or six copies of the same ones and I just wondered about their significance."

Felicity walked over to the bookshelf as she put on a pair of aqua blue earrings. "It started my freshman year of college. I was pretty out of my element so I revisited one of my favorite childhood stories."

"Alice in Wonderland."

"Yup. And it made me feel better. So then every time I saw a copy somewhere I would buy it. I always had one with me, for almost the whole year." She picked up an especially battered paperback version and rubbed the cover lovingly. "Then it just became a thing. I'd find a book that spoke to me and I'd buy up copies."

He'd never heard of anyone doing something like that. "You're incredible." She blushed. "What's the book right now?"

"Oh." Her face went redder. "Jane Eyre."

"Haven't read it. What's it about?" Oliver loved her blushing.

"Um, a really plain-looking but smart orphan goes to work for a rich, good-looking, broody man with a secret."

"Hmm." Oliver played dumb. "Why would that particular book speak to you right now?"

A knock at the door saved her from answering.

"Oliver?" she asked as three flower delivery people, all carrying huge vases of Casablanca lilies came in.

"Hope you don't mind, I donated the wrong flowers to the children's hospital and had these delivered so you'd have some at work and some at home." Oliver handed each of them a $20 and closed the door after them.

Felicity wasn't smiling.

"What's wrong?"

"Why are you doing this?" Her body language was completely shutting her off from him.

He couldn't understand her sudden mood swing. "I'm wooing you."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"I need to know, Oliver. Because with you I have a great potential for heartbreak, so you need to tell me the truth. For my heart's sake. Is it because I told you no? Am I some sort of a conquest now? A challenge? Are you only trying to get the ungettable?" Her tone slowly rose. "What happens when I finally say yes? How long before the novelty wears off and you're done with me?"

"Felicity." He took a step forward, but she moved out of his reach. "You're not a conquest."

She huffed.

"You are a challenge though. Because there has never been another girl like you and I'm working my ass off trying to make myself good enough for you." He took in a shaky breath. "I don't think I ever will be, but I will never stop trying. And I'm hoping you're generous enough to overlook the gap between who I am and who I'm trying to be."

Out of nowhere Felicity launched herself into his arms and kissed him. He was unprepared for the ferocity of her kiss. He wrapped his arms around her, lifted her off the ground and kissed her with everything he had. With that one kiss he tried to tell her all the things he didn't have words for, all the things he liked about her, and all the things he still wanted to learn.

After what seemed like forever but not nearly long enough at the same time, Felicity pulled away.

"Strawberries," Oliver said, setting her back on the ground.

"Excuse me?"

He touched his forehead to hers. "Your lips taste like strawberries."

Felicity breathed heavily. "Lunch. We need to go to lunch. Right now."

"Why?" He pulled her closer.

"Because if we don't leave right now then I just might pounce you."

Oliver let out a surprised laugh. "Pounce me?"

She nodded and put a little more space between them.

"That sounds pretty great, actually."

"I know," she said. "And it will be, but I'm not ready for that yet. I still worry that you…"

"You don't trust me yet?" The truth stung.

She shook her head, nodded, then shrugged. "I do, but I don't. I… my heart is really fragile."

"At the risk of sounding cheesy, I promise I'll handle with care."

Felicity gave him a desperate look.

"Having said that, let's go to lunch." She looked relieved at his words. "And you can tell me more about Jane Eyre."