A/N: I was hoping to get this out sooner. I hope you like this chapter.
Felicity grunted in annoyance at the coffeemaker. Whenever she came to the breakroom, it was never working properly. It seemed to be compliant with everyone else but her. If inanimate objects could have feelings, she would be pretty sure that the coffeemaker hated her. She resisted the urge to smack it because that was no way to treat coffeemakers even if it was annoying her. She had half the mind to take it apart to see what the problem was but she was sure that would be frowned upon by the other employees.
So instead she muttered angrily at it. "You should be nicer to me or else I might just take you apart and then where would you be, hmm?"
"I'm sorry but-" Cue chuckle of amusement. "But are you actually threatening a kitchen appliance?"
Felicity whirled around eyes going wide. "Queen! What are you doing here?"
The sight of Oliver was more of a shock to her than it should have been, his presence putting her on edge for reasons she rather not think about.
"Well, I was looking for my dad, heard he was down on this floor, imagine my surprise to find you instead." He smirked at her unable to help the way his eyes traveled over her bright pink blouse and black pencil skirt with a slit, her blonde waves pulled back into a high ponytail and glasses perched on her nose. She looked just as good as she did at the club a couple nights ago.
Felicity felt a shiver course through her as he looked at her, his eyes dark with want and she could feel his lust as if it were her own. She swallowed thickly, as she found herself involuntarily taking him in, the way his jeans fit to his muscular legs, how his dark gray t-shirt clung to his muscular chest and biceps, the t-shirt leaving his forearms bare. She had noticed he was hot the night she met him but she had the good sense not to get caught up in his charm and womanizing ways. But right now she didn't know where the hell that good sense went cause all she could think about was how good he looked right now.
She could have sworn a few nights ago she was disgusted by him and now, now..she kinda.. Oh God, she couldn't even think it. What the hell happened to her immunity to his stupid charm or the effect he had on women? Where the hell was her disgust that she had practically felt toward him from the moment he had spoken to her at the club? It couldn't just be gone? A few days couldn't have changed that could it? She remembered that night clearly and exactly how she felt about Oliver fracking Queen and it wasn't what she was currently feeling.
The music bassed loudly and Felicity danced to the music, feeling like she could feel every beat of the song as she moved. Felicity loved to dance, it made her feel free and uninhibited, perhaps it was the vegas girl in her but it didn't matter what she dance to as long as she got to dance. And it helped to unwind after a long stressful day of dealing with people who were just as inept with technology as her own mother was.
And she loved to just dance with her friends, having a little bit of carefree fun. It was no surprise she loathed to have it interrupted, let alone by Oliver Queen.
"Mind if I join you?"
"Actually, I do what part of anything I said or me walking away from you gave you the impression that I would want you anywhere near me on the dance floor?" She retorted.
Oliver opened his mouth to reply but she quickly cut him off sure it would be something cocky and overly arrogant. "You know what, don't answer that. Just find someone else to dance with."
Oliver stood there a moment a little thrown by such a blunt brushoff, he watched as Felicity continued to dance as if he wasn't even there, her hips swinging sinuously to the music, his eyes darkening as he followed the movement, the way her dress clung to her curves, tighter with every movement, the curve of her hips that led to her ass that was just unbelievable.
He watched her move and knew he wasn't going to give up so easily. Any girl with an ass like that was worth the effort. And he enjoyed a good chase every now and then. He turned to Laurel. "Laurel, dance with me."
Laurel rolled her eyes at him as he moved toward her but complied. "You know if you stopped being a playboy jerk for longer than 15 minutes she might have actually given you the time of day."
Oliver placed his hands high on her waist, keeping his touch completely appropriate as he danced with her. "Then help a guy out here."
"So you can screw over my friend? Yeah, I don't think so." Said Laurel with a shake of her head.
"C'mon Laurel, how long have we've been friends?" Said Oliver with a grin. "You can do this for me."
"Not happening." Laurel remained firm in her refusal. "And I don't care how much you pout or bat those blue eyes of yours at me." She said when he tried to give her his best-kicked puppy look.
"You're no fun." Oliver pouted. "Tommy needs him a new girlfriend."
"And you need a new personality." Laurel retorted though neither words were said with spite or any real feeling behind it.
Laurel felt hands low on her waist tugging her backward into a hard chest and Tommy's voice ghosting over her ear. "Get your own girl, Ollie."
"That's what I was trying to do but she's playing hard to get." He said loudly making sure Felicity heard him over the music.
Felicity scoffed. "It's not playing hard to get if she's genuinely not interested."
Oliver lips ticked up in amusement. Was it wrong that her sharp tongue was turning him on just as much as watching her ass sway tantalizingly to the music did?
He moved toward Sara and the girl who he had brought with him, whatever her name was - since Tommy had stolen his girlfriend back - who was dancing closely with her. "Sara, dance with me."
"Yeah, nope, you suck tonight." She dismissed, taking his date by the hips and bringing her in close, swiveling her hips.
And the girl grinned in response, Oliver tilted his head just watching them. It was becoming increasingly clear to him that his date was into both men and women. "If you're into girls too why were you so opposed to my threesome suggestion?"
Jenn turned her head toward him. "You didn't ask me first if I was comfortable with it."
"But clearly you are so what's the problem?" Asked Oliver.
"It's my decision whether I want to participate in a threesome, not yours." She said. "Besides I do in fact have more self-respect than to sleep with someone who outwardly flirts with other women when I'm standing right there."
Felicity laughed and to Oliver's ears, it sounded like music. He moved back toward her, this time sliding right up to her, placing his hands on her waist. "So you can laugh at my expense but you won't dance with me?" Asked Oliver with an amused smirk.
Felicity glared removing his hands from her waist. "What would be the point in dancing with someone I have zero interest in?"
Oliver flashed her a smirk, his hand reaching out brushing her hair back from her shoulder. "I think if you give me just five minutes you'll see I have plenty to offer you."
Felicity scoffed. "Do you actually think anything you say will get me into your bed?"
Oliver flashed her a smirk. "I think that you're going to get tired of playing hard to get. I think that you want me but you just don't want to be like the other women who found their way into my bed."
Felicity stared at him unable to comprehend how much of an arrogant ass Oliver Queen actually was and she thought it was time that someone finally showed him that he couldn't get anyone he wanted when he was being exactly how the tabloids painted him out to be. "You know something Oliver you are right about one thing." She said lowly, pressing her hands to his hard chest and sliding them up to his shoulder, lowering her lashes and biting her lip for extra effect and she watched in satisfaction as his arrogant expression transformed into a surprised one, his lips parted and his eyes grew darker. Seeing she had him where she wanted him, she leaned up pressing her body against his, allowing him to feel her curves for just a moment and the second his hands grasp at her waist, his fingers flexing on the curves of her hips she arched her neck leaning up to whisper in his ear, allowing her breath to ghost over his skin like a lover's caress. "I don't want to be like the other women who found their way into your bed." She pulled back, staring him down with a sweet smile. "I never want to be one of those women so why don't you do us both a favor and go find one of those women to end up in your bed tonight instead because it's not going to be me."
She stepped back from him, making his hand drop from her and turned moving further into the dancing crowd intentionally finding herself a dance partner, hoping he take the hint and leave her alone.
Ten minutes later it seemed like he had as she saw him whispering in another girl's ear shortly before disappearing off the dance floor with her, soon as he was gone, she politely excused herself from her dance partner and made her way back toward the Lance girls, hoping that would be the last time she would have to deal with Oliver Queen.
She was brought back to the moment by the sound of his voice, shaking her head clear of the memories of that night, her focus returning to him, the problem was it was more on his body than anything else.
Oh God, what was wrong with her.
"You failed to mention at the club that you worked for my families company." Oliver stepped further into the room, stopping just in front of her. It was then he noticed her focus was completely on him or should he say more on his body and he smirked feeling a male pride that he hadn't felt when he first met her because she had made it pretty clear she wasn't interested in anything he had to offer her. But from the way she couldn't tear her eyes from his body, it seemed that wasn't the case. And that he could work with. "You know if you want a better look at my body you should've taken me up on my offer the other night."
Felicity's eyes shot to him as she felt a fresh wave of disgust at the suggestion, washing over the lust she had been feeling. "No, I'm rather glad I passed on the offer."
"Really I find that hard to believe what with you eyeing me like a snow cone?" He smirked, leaning down, his lips brushing her ear. "The offers still there if you change your mind."
Felicity took a step back, glaring at him. "I was not eyeing you." She didn't care if the words were a lie because it was a momentary lack of judgment and wouldn't be happening again. "I won't be changing my mind." She shoved past him intending to get far away from him.
"Hey, where are you going?" Oliver called after her in surprise, his eyes drifting down to her ass as she stormed away.
"Away from you." She didn't bother turning back around to look at him, she could practically feel his eyes on her as another wave of lust hit her and she wasn't even looking at him. The new emotion sent warning bells off in Felicity's head as she quickly made her way down the hall, making her way back to her cubicle.
Oliver had watched her leave, his eyes glued to her until she disappeared out into the hall. Every time he saw her he felt a wave of lust wash over him and if she would have allowed it he wouldn't have hesitated in taking her in the break room, he wouldn't have cared less if someone would have walked in on them.
He had felt his heart beat faster in his chest when she was staring at him with a look of want, much to his surprise and he was rather enjoying it. Well at least until she seemed to recover herself and it was like he could feel her disgust. Literally. She really didn't like him. Not really.
He wanted to change that, God, did he want to change that. He wanted her to willingly give him the time of day, spend even five minutes in a room with him without immediately being guarded and defensive around him.
When he first spotted her he had been surprised to see her, he hadn't seen her since the night of the club unless you counted his dreams, because if you counted that than he'd to her every night. Every time he closed his eyes he dreamt of her and he couldn't stop thinking about her, it got to the point that he started to look for her in every blonde he saw.
Just yesterday he tried to get Sara to tell him more about Felicity but much to his annoyance she had refused and claimed that if he was truly interested he find out for himself. He tried Laurel but she was an even worse help than Sara warning him to steer clear of Felicity.
But it looked like he didn't need to bother to ask now that he knew where she worked. He could find out about her on his own. He moved with the intention of following after her when the door was suddenly blocked and he saw dark red hair.
"Oliver, I heard you were seen coming down here." Greeted Amy Collins with a large smile. "It's been a while. I was thinking we could get together, catch up!"
Oliver shifted on his feet, rubbing his hand subconsciously over his ribs where the strange mark had appeared a few days ago, thankfully, it no longer hurt but the sight of it still bothered him just as much as knowing it was there. It was a mystery. One he knew absolutely nothing about and it wasn't like he could go around asking people about it. They would think he was crazy if he said it just appeared out of nowhere with no explanation for how or why.
"Actually. I can't." He lied. He had no intention of spending any amount of time with her. Amy Collins was a mistake he had no intention of repeating. "I have plans that can't be changed but tell you what? I'll call you soon." He didn't give her a chance to protest as he quickly brushed past her and walked quickly down the hall, putting distance between them as fast as possible.
He glanced around for Felicity and sighed when he didn't catch sight of her or her blonde ponytail. He would just have to search the entire floor for her after he saw his dad his reason for even being on the IT floor.
It was only once at her cubicle that Felicity was able to fully process her encounter with Oliver and the rush of lust that had come out of nowhere. It was strange. It wasn't like it was even her lust she had felt but more like it had been projected to her. She felt like she had been manipulated to feel someone else's lust.. No, not someone else's lust but Oliver's.
But that wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible to feel lust for someone simply because they felt lust for you. It wasn't possible. People didn't feel other people's emotions like this.
She chewed on the end of one of her red pens as she unconsciously ran her hand along her rib where the mark was branded on her skin, no longer feeling irritation of it against the mark from her clothes brushing it.
Brushing her hand along the mark caused her mind to drift to that instead. She had no explanation for the mark except for the fact that everything Talina had said about its sudden appearance had come to pass. It appeared out of nowhere and it was in fact in the form of a curse, at least they read like a curse to her.
Felicity knew it was supposed to appear after she met her soulmate but for the life of her, she didn't know who that could be. She worked in IT and met new people often and the night it appeared she had went out to her favorite bar, okay it was only her favorite because Sara worked there and she usually relaxed after a stressful day at work by dancing with her and Laurel, kinda like an impromptu girls night except she sometimes found other dance partners.
She had met a lot of people that night, including Tommy Merlyn and Oliver Qu -
Felicity stopped that thought abruptly before she could finish it, tearing the pen from her mouth. "Frack!" Dread filled her as she considered the possibility that Oliver 'Ollie' Queen might be her soulmate. "Shit." she cursed, hoping she was wrong she wracked her brain for any other indicator Talina might have mentioned about her soulmate besides the fact that he would have a mark of his own curse.
She tapped her pen against her desk in an almost frantic rhythm as she tried to remember everything Talina had said and her eyes widened as she recalled the part about feeling your soulmates emotions but not only that but you would feel them to a stronger degree like the emotions themselves was magnified more than your own.
A sinking feeling settled in her stomach as the reason for her sudden lust for Oliver had come over her and had practically disappeared once she was no longer around him.
"Sonofa-" God, she hoped she was wrong. But if she wasn't then that meant the billionaire playboy of Starling, manwhore extraordinaire, Oliver Queen was her soulmate.
She had to get in touch with Talina, ask her if there were other ways to know who her soulmate was. And hope to God it wasn't Oliver. Life wasn't that cruel, was it? She really hoped it wasn't.
As soon as she got home she told herself she was going to call home, ask her mom if Talina still owned the little fortune teller shop on the strip and with any luck and she still did, she'd get the number from her and get in contact with Talina. She needed answers for what was happening, what to expect and hopefully since this damn cursed soulmate crap was real Talina might be able to help her fix it.
"Hey, are we still getting lunch?" Oliver asked when he finally found his father speaking with an older man with a rapid balding head, large glasses perched on his nose, wearing a tweed jacket, looking the picture of a nerd.
"Yes, I was just meeting with Mr. Dalhmer." Replied Robert, smiling at his son. "He's the head of IT, I like to come down here every once in a while and introduce myself properly to some of the most brilliant minds in our company today."
Oliver didn't need the explanation for his father's reasoning of being down on this floor but something he said caught his attention. "You run this floor, Mr. Daymer?"
"Dalhmer." The man corrected with a smile. "It's great to see you again, Oliver and yes I run this floor."
"Than you know all the employees on this floor?" Asked Oliver leadingly.
"I do." Confirmed Mr. Dalhmer, holding his head higher with a sense of importance.
"What can you tell me about Felicity Smoak?" Asked Oliver with interest.
"Felicity Smoak?" Mr. Dalmher repeated, a grimace taking place on his face. "Do you have a complaint about her? Cause I will deal with it immediately." And Oliver could swear he heard an innate bitterness from Dalmher toward Felicity. "If she has been bothering you in any way I'll have her employment here terminated."
Oliver's eyes widened but before he could speak up in protest, not wanting to be the reason Felicity was fired, his father spoke up. "No, you will not." He said, his voice no longer his respectful businessman tone but his full-on relentless CEO voice. "Felicity is by far one of our irreplaceable employees in our company today. You don't have the authority to fire her especially since I hired her myself. I expect great things from her."
Dalmher's face scrunched up further, looking like he sucked on a sour lemon. "If she is causing a problem I think it should be properly handled."
Robert leveled the man with a disapproving glare. "If at any point Miss Smoak is causing legitimate problems for QC I will be the one to deal with it. I want you to forget that my son asked about her and let her do her job without any of your condescension."
Dalhmer forced a smiled. "Of course, Mr. Queen."
"Good." He said. "Now if you'll excuse us." He all but dismissed Mr. Dalhmer walking down the hall toward the elevator.
"What was that about?" Oliver asked as the Elevator doors shut.
Robert just shook his head. "Is there a reason why you're asking around about employees?"
Oliver narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're avoiding the question."
"And so are you." Robert replied as they stepped out of the elevator onto the lobby floor.
Oliver huffed, knowing his father was right and deciding to hold off his questions until they were at their lunch.
It wasn't even five minutes into their lunch before Oliver was unable to hold his questions back. "So Felicity Smoak?"
"What about her?" Asked Robert.
Oliver barely refrained from rolling his eyes. "What can you tell me about her?"
"Why do you want to know about her? How do you know her?" Questioned Robert.
"I met her a couple nights ago." Oliver admitted. "At Envy."
"That bar Sara works at?" Robert's brow furrowed and Oliver nodded. "If you're already sleeping with her why not ask her yourself for her to tell you more about herself." He shot Oliver a look. "And if you're going to be sleeping with someone who works at QC I don't want you screwing around during company hours on QC property."
"Really? You're telling me not to screw around on office hours." Oliver sent his father a look of sarcasm, seeing as he knew for a fact that his father had had affairs with at least two of his secretaries and who knew how many of the interns.
Robert shook his head, glancing around making sure no one was listening before focusing on his son. "We're not talking about me, we're talking about you." Robert knew he wasn't perfect. He knew that but he didn't want his son making the same mistakes he had. "Don't be me, son. Be better. Don't make the mistakes that I've made."
Oliver fell quiet for a moment hearing something in his father's voice that sounded an awful like regret. "Look this is a moot point since I'm not sleeping with her."
"Then why the interest?" Asked Robert curiously.
"She friends with Sara and Laurel." Oliver gave a careless shrug. "Figured since we might see each other often it might be good to know a bit more about her."
"How stupid do you take me for, son?" Asked Robert bemused. "You may not be sleeping with her but you're interested in her and I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that she happens to be friends with the Lance girls."
Oliver frowned. "Are you going to tell me anything about her or what?"
"I can't give you an employee's information." Robert shook his head. "It's an invasion of company policy and Miss Smoak's privacy."
"Then tell me facts about her." preferably "Something that's not considered invading any policy or privacy or whatever."
"Hmm." Robert sipped at his coffee that he had ordered. "She graduated from high school at 16 with a full ride to any school of her choosing. Graduated from MIT at the top of her class with a masters in computer science at just 19 years old. She took a few years off afterwards before taking a job at QC a couple months or so back."
Oliver's eyes widened. "She finished MIT at 19? So she's like a genius or something?"
"She's got over a 4.0 GPA, so yes, she's quite brilliant." said Robert.
"You said you hired her yourself?" Asked Oliver.
"I did. Had to fight tooth and nail with Kord Industries, Stellmore and Wayne Enterprises who were also trying to get her to come work for them, fortunately for me she chose QC." Said Robert. "She's only been here a short amount of time but since I hired her we've dealt with less technical problems and there has been a great deal of improvement in the IT department."
Oliver nodded. "What's Daymer's problem with her then?"
"Dahlmer." Robert corrected but Oliver just waved his hand dismissively not caring if he got the man's name right. "Mr. Dalhmer is very set in the old ways. He doesn't like women working in what he deems a man's field. He tends to let his judgment get the better of him."
Oliver made a face. "Basically he doesn't like women that can do his job better than he does. You should fire him."
"I admit Mr. Dahmer has his faults but he's been with the company for a long time and therefore out of respect for his time with the company I refuse to fire him without justification."
Oliver didn't really understand the business side of things he never really bothered paying attention at his business classes at any of the many colleges he'd been too so far and didn't see why he didn't just fire or demote Mr. Dahmer. The man needed to learn that any woman could be a man's equal if she set her mind to it.
"Is that all you can tell me about Felicity?" Oliver asked with disappointment. All his father told him was how smart she was.
"No, that's not all I can tell you." Said Robert and a smile of interest started to take place as Oliver's lips quirked up but that was quickly dashed when his father added. "But that's all I will tell you."
"But you basically told me nothing." Oliver complained.
"If you want to know about her I suggest you actually try to get to know her beyond the physical sense." His father told him. "Now onto one of the reasons why I wanted to have lunch with you. Your mother wanted me to talk about you about colleges."
Oliver groaned loudly leaning forward and allowing his forehead to smack into the table with a light thud. "Not this again."
"Don't be so dramatic, son." Laughed Robert. "College isn't the end of the world."
"I've dropped out of several colleges already. I thought that would make it pretty clear I don't want to go to any college." Oliver lifted his head from the table.
"Unfortunately for you, that isn't acceptable to your mother and in this case, she has a point." Said Robert. "One day you're going to take over the company and to do so you're going to need a college degree, preferably in business."
Oliver slumped in his seat, barely attempting to look like he was paying attention to his father when really he was letting it go in one ear and out the other.
Oliver just wanted to have fun, live his life without high expectations. Was that too much to ask? Apparently, yes, it was. But Oliver didn't care he was going to live his life the way he wanted too and his parents would just have to come to terms with that.
He wasn't the company's golden boy. He wanted nothing to do with the company. It had nothing to offer him.
A beautiful image flashed briefly in his mind. Okay, it might have something to offer him. And that something was Felicity Smoak, however, the real question was how did he go about getting her?
A/N: Leave a review. They're appreciated.