A/N: Hello! I was going to sit on this chapter for a few more days, but changed my mind when I noticed this story has hit 100 follows. So here's chapter 4. Thanks to everyone that's reviewed (I love hearing what you think), followed or favourited this story and thanks to everyone that's just taking the time to read it. Please enjoy.
Chapter four
They find Donna seated up at the bar in the little speakeasy themed cocktail bar Felicity had selected after some careful online research. Felicity refrains from rolling her eyes as she notices her mother leaning forward on her stool and curling her shoulders in to enhance her cleavage as she chats to the barman. Her hair is bigger and her dress is somehow shorter and tighter than when she'd met them the day before and her heels are taller and sparklier.
"Hi, Mom." Felicity calls out as they approach and Donna spins around on her stool with a grin in place, the eagerness of which is matched only by the look of relief on the barman's face as he slips down to the other end of the bar. Felicity leans in for a hug, only for Donna to reach out and drag Oliver and Sara in as well and she cranes her neck to leave bright pink lip marks on both their cheeks.
"Felicity, honey, you were right, he does scrub up well." Donna pronounces as she releases them and runs an admiring eye over Oliver, reaching up to wipe away her lipstick. Felicity can't deny it – the pale blue shirt he wears makes his eyes seem even bluer and the dark grey suit is cut to perfection. He'd even trimmed back the scruff on his jaw to what Felicity dubs a "meet the parents level".
"You're looking lovely, Donna," Oliver responds, neatly ignoring her ogling and the lingering hand on his cheek. "Can I get you a drink?"
"A cosmo, please. Us girls will go and find a table." She grabs Felicity's and Sara's hands and drags them off, leaving Oliver at the bar. "Now, while he's busy you can tell me how good he is in bed. I bet you're riding that man like the pony I could never get you as a kid."
"MOM!" Felicity half shrieks, whipping her head around to see if Oliver heard. If he did, he's managing very well to pretend he didn't. Sara cackles in glee as she carefully settles in a chair against the wall where she'll be able to watch the room.
"What? I just want to know that my baby's happy." Donna pouts as she pulls out a chair and elegantly drapes herself in it. "And having a healthy and energetic sex life is essential to your happiness."
Felicity drops down into her own seat in a decidedly less elegant fashion. "Which could have been achieved by asking 'Felicity, are you happy?' and not by implying that Oliver's turned me into some sort of nympho!"
Donna laughs. "Such a prude, darling. Is she always like this?" she asks Sara, who nods and smirks in return. "Don't worry, Felicity, the answer's written all over your face."
Felicity groans and buries her head briefly in her hands. "Let's change the topic. Are you seeing anyone?"
"Not at the moment. There was someone but that ended a week or so ago. Probably for the best, I think he might have been mobbed up." Donna says matter of factly.
"What? You were dating a mobster? Are you insane?" Felicity hisses. She glances back over her shoulder, looking for Oliver, but he's still waiting at the bar.
"I only think he was mobbed up, Felicity. It's hard to tell these days. It was so much easier when the Italians all wore leather jackets and sounded like they were from Jersey and the Russians all wore furs and gold chains. Anyway, it's over now. You do not accuse a lady of stealing from you and expect her to stick around, am I right?"
Felicity opens her mouth to start lecturing her mother on the dangers of associating with members of organised crime gangs when Sara delicately clears her throat and Felicity abruptly recalls Oliver's Bratva association. Completely different, she reasons to herself, but Donna has already switched subjects again.
"Did I tell you about Mrs Novak asking me to look after her dog while she visited her family in Florida? Horrid little thing. It chewed up my second best red heels and made the most awful mess on my rug." Donna wrinkles her nose in distaste. "Thankfully she was only gone a week, I don't think I could have stood it much longer and what do you think she gave me in return for all that effort? An apron with a cartoon alligator on it. Do I look like I cook?"
"Nope. I definitely remember that is one thing you don't do." Felicity replied, recalling a childhood of packet meals and leftovers brought home from whatever club her mother happened to be working in at the time.
"And then she drops hints about going away again at Christmas and I thought, oh no you don't, but then I figured I'd come and stay with you and Oliver for the holidays this year, so-"
"Sorry, what?" Felicity asked. "You want to come to Starling City for the holidays?"
"Well, yes, silly, that's what I was just saying. I'm sure you and Oliver have a nice little cosy spare room I can bunk down in for a week or so over Hanukkah."
"Mom, Oliver and I don't live together."
Donna's mouth snaps shut and she tilts her head as she regards her daughter curiously, her glance flicking over to Sara for confirmation. "Well why not? You told me on the phone you've been together for a year and, Felicity, a man like that needs to be locked down ASAP."
"I don't need to lock him down! Our arrangement suits us. We work all day together and every night at his place or mine. He's living with his little sister and I don't want to intrude." Felicity replies, not quite believing her rotten luck to be questioned on her and Oliver's living arrangements twice in one day. "But you're more than welcome to stay with me, obviously, but we'll have to wait for a while to organise something because work gets a bit insane at that time of year, so I don't know if I'll even be around much."
"It's got me mystified too, Donna." Sara pipes up, interrupting Felicity's babble. "They spend practically every minute of the day together, I don't understand why sharing closet space is such a big deal." Felicity shoots Sara a look. Sara knows very well that there's a very big obstacle named Laurel Lance in Felicity's way. And that is not something that Felicity wants to get into with her mother because she knows it will come with some very unwanted and very impractical advice for dealing with a rival. Donna Smoak's method of scaring off rivals in the past involved drinks thrown in faces and some old-fashioned hair pulling.
"Miss Smoak?" Felicity glances around at the sound of her name, almost grateful for the interruption in the conversation, but her eyes narrow when she sees Ray Palmer standing near their table, phone in hand, overenthusiastic smile in place. He rocks back and forth slightly on his heels while he waits for her to respond.
"What the hell?" she asks incredulously. "Didn't you hear Oliver earlier when he said not to come near us again?"
"Actually, he just said to stay away from him." Ray points out. "You weren't mentioned and, therefore, are fair game."
"You're unbelievable. What, did you hang out in the hotel lobby all day and then follow us here?" At Felicity's words, Sara sits a little straighter in her chair, her right hand already having drifted towards the inside of her leather jacket at Palmer's approach.
"Nope, I pinged your phone and tracked you to this location. It was easy to get your details after I got into your tablet." Ray says cheerfully as he wiggles the hand holding his phone. "That was the only easy part. That was some great security you had on there, which is why I'm here, really. I wanted to offer you a job at Palmer Technologies."
Felicity's mouth drops open. "Are you insane? Is there some sort of medication you forgot to take this morning because that is the only logical explanation."
Ray laughs. "If I had a dollar for every time someone said that. Oh wait, I pretty much do, being a billionaire and all. But seriously, Felicity, I think we could work really well together."
Felicity ignores him and looks around for Oliver. The crowd at the bar is deep and she can barely make out the back of his head. "You need to leave. There is no way I'm going to leave QC and come and work for some insane hacking stalker."
"Look, I probably haven't really explained properly. I'll send you through some details, okay? I think you'll find the employee health benefits package really quite appealing." Ray says earnestly. "I swear I'm not in the habit of stalking my staff. Well, it depends on your definition of stalking. I mean, I track people using their cell phones if I can't find them when I need to talk to them, but I'm not really one for sitting outside houses in the dark."
Sara finally decides enough is enough, stands up and steps up to Palmer. "She told you to leave. Either you do that under your own steam, or you do it with my foot up your ass. Or his." Sara jerks her head towards the bar.
Palmer turns and sees Oliver heading towards them. "Oh, and here's Oliver. Well, it's probably poor form to try and headhunt someone in front of their current boss, so I'll head off. Watch your email!"
He ducks away before Oliver makes it to their table. "Was that Palmer? What the hell did he want?"
"You're not going to believe it." Felicity sighed.
"I can't believe Palmer offered you a job." Oliver says for the fourth time later that night as he watches Felicity taking off her makeup in the lavish marble bathroom in their suite.
After Palmer's quick departure, it had taken both Felicity and Sara to stop Oliver from going after him – Sara with sheer brute strength and Felicity with the threat of withholding certain bedroom activities, much to her mother's dismay.
"You should have let me go after him." He says as she wipes off her dark pink lipstick and tosses the used cotton pad into the bin.
"We were already getting a lot of attention, Oliver. The last thing the company's image needs is cell phone video of the CEO of Queen Consolidated punching the CEO of Palmer Technologies in the middle of a bar in Las Vegas." Felicity replies tartly, reaching for a wet washer to dampen her face. She applies a thick layer of cleanser and starts rubbing her face, conscious of Oliver watching her as he sits on the edge of the bathroom's massive spa bath.
"You know, I don't know if I'm entirely comfortable with you seeing me taking off my war paint," she says jovially. "A girl likes to have her mysteries."
Oliver makes a dismissive noise in the back of his throat. "Felicity, I've seen you without your makeup every night and day for the past year. That ship has sailed."
"You've seen me in half light. Not under the full glow of very unforgiving lights!" she says, gesturing to the bright bulbs edging the mirror.
"You're ridiculous." He laughs, getting up to stand behind her and wrap his arms around her waist. He drags her back against his chest and buries his face in her neck, making Felicity squirm as his mouth latches on.
"Oh! As nice as that is, I've got to finish getting this off…Oliver!" she moans as one of his hands slips up to cup her breast. With shaking hands, Felicity swipes at her face with the washer, cleaning off the cleanser.
"Come to bed," Oliver murmurs, lifting his head up momentarily to glance at Felicity in the mirror before them. Her face is pink and he doesn't know if it's from his attentions or from where she's been scrubbing her skin, but he likes it. Under the bright lights he notices the little bridge of freckles across her nose and tops of her cheeks that he's caught a glimpse of some mornings before she wakes up.
"Just let me put on my moisturiser." She replies, but Oliver is too impatient. As Felicity slathers the cream onto her face, Oliver's fingers find the zip at the back of her dress and start pulling it down, his lips pressing against each inch of bare flesh he reveals as the zip pulls lower and lower.
"Oliver…" she whines, her body trembling as he takes one arm at a time and pulls them free of the dress, then pushes it down over her hips and to the floor, leaving her in her underwear.
"Mm?" he hums softly as he traces the lines of her body.
"Not fair!" she says, abandoning any attempt at completing her nightly regime. She kicks aside her dress and tries to spin around so she can wrap her arms around him, but Oliver holds her tightly, keeping her pressed between him and the vanity. She glances up at the mirror, her breath catching slightly at the picture of her near nakedness with his fully dressed and large frame behind her.
"Too many clothes, not fair." She murmurs as his hands continue sweeping over her. He grins and pulls back just far enough that he can unbutton his shirt and pull it off, tossing it to one side. She shivers as he presses his bare flesh against her back, but then feels his belt buckle dig into her back.
"That too," she commands, reaching back with one hand and trying to flick the clasp open. His fingers replace hers and he undoes his pants and kicks them off, leaving them both in their underwear.
Felicity arches her neck and leans back, meeting Oliver halfway in a messy kiss. One of his hands slides around to her stomach while the other reaches up to flick open her bra. Felicity breaks the kiss and pulls the bra off, anxious to feel Oliver's hands on her. He obliges and she presses her hips back against him in encouragement as he palms her breasts.
"Bedroom!" she gasps as his fingers brush over her nipples.
"Nope, changed my mind. I want to watch." He replies, his voice low and rough as he tilts his head in the direction of the mirror before them.
Felicity glances up, gasping as she takes in her flushed skin and the sight of Oliver's tanned hands on her pale skin, his mouth on her neck. She looks so small against him and it ratchets her arousal up another gear. He catches her eyes in the mirror and holds her glance as one of his hands slowly slides down her torso and pauses just above the lace top of her underwear. Her breath catches as he flicks up the edge with one finger and slides down.
"Oh!" she writhes against his hand, her movements limited by the marble vanity in front of her and Oliver's hard body behind her. He works her up into a frenzy, just like he had earlier that day, but just as she's approaching her climax he pulls his hand back.
"Please." She whimpers, her hands scrabbling for his to draw them back where she needs him. Instead, Oliver pushes her panties down over her hips and she kicks them away while he tends to his own.
"Lean forward," he murmurs, one hand pushing gently between her shoulders. She obliges, spreading her legs slightly and leaning up on her toes, panting with need as she watches his face in the mirror. Felicity feels him, hot and hard as he brushes between her legs, crouching slightly to make up for the difference in their heights.
"You ready, baby?" he asks, leaning over her to catch her earlobe in his teeth, one hand guiding himself towards her core and the other latched tightly onto her hip.
Felicity nods frantically. "Please, Oliver. Please, I need you right now."
He releases her ear and leans back, teasing her with his tip for a bit longer, words failing her as she resorts to a stream of incoherent babble. She gasps out loud as he suddenly shifts forward, his length entering her. She leans further forward, angling her hips up and back towards Oliver as his hands tighten on her hips. He slides in the rest of the way and Felicity keens, her inner muscles clutching greedily at him as he starts a brutally slow and teasing pace.
Her eyes drift shut and she lets her head fall back as she enjoys the sensations he's building in her, but then one of his hands slides off her hip and reaches up to angle her face back towards the mirror.
"Watch, Felicity. I want you to see me." His breath is coming heavier as he picks up the pace. "Watch me fucking you."
His coarse words inflame her and she does as he says, watching each jolt of her body as he thrusts into her, each movement of his hips pressing her harder against the vanity. The hand he used to move her face finds her one bouncing breast and latches on, the fingertips of the other are pressing hard into the skin of her hip and she knows she'll have bruises there tomorrow.
"Harder." She whimpers, using one hand to prop herself up so she can keep looking in the mirror and the other moves up to cover the hand on her breast.
Oliver obliges and Felicity cries out, the sensations becoming almost too much. She shifts his hand down her stomach and encourages him to touch her. He doesn't take much prompting and his fingers zero in on her clit and start rubbing in time to his hard thrusts.
Felicity pants as she watches them in the mirror and it's the hottest thing she's ever seen. Her breasts are heaving each time Oliver drives into her and the picture is accompanied by the almost obscene slapping sound of their flesh meeting, the sound amplified in the small tiled room.
"Come on, Felicity." Oliver grunts in her ear. "Come for me."
He presses harder between her legs with his fingers and Felicity immediately climaxes, the arm holding her up wobbling as she struggles to remain upright. Oliver pulls his hand away from her centre and hauls her upright, back against his chest. He holds onto her tightly as he thrusts up hard into her body, her walls fluttering around his length as he chases his own release.
"Your turn," Felicity gasps, watching in the mirror as the veins in his arms and next stand out. She can feel herself getting close to the peak again as Oliver's thrusts lose their rhythm and he pounds furiously up into her. She breaks again seconds before he does, trembling in his arms as his hips jerk up against her and she feels him release deep inside her, groaning her name.
He breathes heavily into her ear as they stand there, slowly leaning forward until her elbows meet the vanity and he's curved over her back.
"Oh. My. God." She pants.
"Yeah." He responds, and she can feel each breath he takes as he comes back down from his peak, his heartbeat gradually slowing from its rapid pace.
Felicity lets out a small whimper as he pulls back from her, leaving her, only to find herself being spun around and pressed up against Oliver's chest.
"Love you." He murmurs, taking her lips for a slow kiss. Felicity winds her arms around his neck and presses against him.
"Love you." She replies. "Now, shower."
He smiles against her mouth and reaches back to find the door handle to the shower. They step in and stand under the spray for a few minutes, soaping each other down.
"Best bathroom, ever." Felicity murmurs sleepily ten minutes later as she drapes herself over Oliver's side in their enormous bed, not hearing his reply as she drifts off.
Felicity wakes in the middle of the night to Oliver's fingers trailing up and down her bare arm.
"Mmm," she murmurs, snuggling in closer to his side and pressing her lips against his chest. "Again?"
Oliver lets out a low laugh. "And have both of us exhausted for the conference tomorrow?"
"That's very sensible of you." She yawns.
"I know. I'm sure I'll regret it, too." He replies, dragging her in closer and pressing a kiss into her mussed up hair.
"I was thinking." Oliver trails off. Felicity makes a murmur of encouragement. "Palmer. If you wanted, you should go work with him."
Felicity pushes up from Oliver's embrace and sits up. "Um, what? Where the hell is this coming from?"
Oliver shuffles back to prop himself against the headboard. "The guy crossed a line, I know. But you've been talking about Palmer Tech for months and how great the stuff they've been doing is."
"So?" Felicity asks. "That doesn't mean I want to go work for him! Especially after what he pulled today. What's this really about, Oliver?"
He takes a deep breath. "I didn't give you a choice about being my EA and you're still putting so much time into making sure I don't screw up instead of spending it in applied sciences. I guess I thought that you should have the choice to go somewhere where you'd be able to really put your talents to use."
Felicity closes her eyes briefly and exhales. "Oliver. I thought we worked through all of this last year. Yeah, I didn't enjoy parts of being your EA, but I love working with you. I love working in applied sciences and we're doing some really great things. Palmer Tech has made some amazing advances that I would kill to be a part of, but I'd much rather work with you to make QC better than Palmer." She leans over to poke Oliver in the chest to emphasise her point.
"Are you sure?" he asks quietly, reaching up and snagging her hand.
"Positive. Now shut up and kiss me." She grins, scooting up and clambering into Oliver's lap.
A/N: You know, I gave serious thought to moving straight into the next day after the bar scene and into some action, but I figured some action of a different kind was required first :)