Hello there! Here's the next one. I hope you'll like it and that I'll hear from you.
Thanks for all your support and comments, and to my amazing betta Lyssa813
Insecurity.
"Mr. Barba?" The voice of a young woman standing beside the open door of his office caught his attention, and silently he watched her come inside and leave a file on his desk. "Do you need anything else Mr. Barba? She asked, and maybe her smile was a little too suggestive, but he didn't want to assume, even though Olivia's words echoed in his mind.
It had been all Olivia's fault. He hadn't noticed anything before, but after Olivia's words a few days ago he was questioning everything. It had happened during one of their last shared lunches. He had been drowning in paperwork, forgetting to have lunch two days in a row and surviving solely on snacks, when Olivia's thoughtfulness saved him. They had been talking about the kids when the young woman entered his office talking about some problem in one of the files he had given her. She had barely left his office, and Olivia was already telling him to be careful of the way she was behaving with him.
He laughed at first, Olivia had only been with the young woman for a minute at most, but despite her seeming to be jealous, he had seen concern in her eyes.
Rafael had tried not to think much about it since then, but it was becoming hard work as the days passed. Questioning himself if what he had seen as an appropriate work attitude and polite exchange of words, masked what Olivia had said, was a masked attempt of seduction. And if she was right, the funny thing was that she wasn't being inappropriate or harassing, at least not yet. And if he was sincere, it was true that she had been standing a little too close and looking at him a bit too intensely for his comfort.
The best part of it was that he hadn't asked for her assistance. However his office, in an attempt to set an example, had agreed to participate in a program in which young graduates could work as assistants to the ADAs for a few months, and in the meantime learn.
He hadn't wanted to participate, but they hadn't let him say no. He had tried hard to refuse until the last moment, but when his boss had put the file in his hands, he knew he had lost the battle. And two days later he had been expecting a young man named Jordan Brown, but the person who entered his office was a young brunette woman with hazel eyes and good taste in clothes, who had proved to be quite resourceful and a hard worker.
"Wait a second." He said looking at the already organized files on his desk he needed to take home. Today he had to leave early, hence his tidiness minutes before he had to leave.
"Ok." The woman said as she went to look through the window.
"No, It's ok. I think you can go home." He said after a minute or two. There was no reason for her to stay if he was going to leave.
"Well, if I get there." She said with sarcasm, still looking through the window. He went to the one closer to his desk and saw how it was raining cats and dogs.
"You don't have a car?" He asked.
"Nope." He was starting to feel a little bad for her.
"Where do you live?"
"20 minutes from here with the subway." He mumbled in acknowledge.
"If you don't mind a stop in the middle, I can give you a lift." He offered. He wanted to keep his distance but he wasn't a heartless man. He didn't have it in him to let anyone walk in this rain.
"Really?" She asked surprised and looking genuinely thankful.
"I'm offering." He smiled at her. "I have my car in the basement parking lot. I'll meet you in ten minutes at the elevator."
"Ok. Thank you so much." She said before leaving his office, in a hurry.
...
It didn't take him much longer to leave his office and find her waiting by the elevator, looking at her phone.
"Let's go." He said once the doors opened.
"Thank you so much. You are saving my life." She said smiling, as the elevator was on his way to the basement, putting a hand on the arm he was holding his phone with reading Olivia's last message. It was at that exact moment when he heard Olivia's voice in his head telling him I told you so.
"I would do it for any poor soul who could need a lift with this weather." He said. "If you'll excuse me." He said looking at his arm.
"Of course." She said the smile still on her face.
The rest of the lift was silent until they set foot in the garage.
"Over here," Rafael said, leading her to the right side of the garage. It only took him a few steps to spot his car and smile a little. He loved that machine. It had taken him quite awhile to persuade his wife to choose the one he wanted, but if he was good at something, it was at making speeches. In the end, it had been two weeks of system security, driving assistance and economically affordability information to have her on his side.
If he was sincere with himself, there were other options with the same output, but he had fallen in love with the car. And now he was a proud owner of a new black Volvo XC90.
He saw the girl smirk from the corner of his eyes once she spotted the car, but his smugness deflated a bit when she asked about the Jaguar parked beside his car.
"No, mine's the next one." He murmured as he opened his car with the remote control.
"Oh." She said surprised. "Your's it's fancy too."
"Yeah." He murmured still with his pride still a little hurt. He put his briefcase on the backseat floor before going to sit in the driver's seat. "Are you coming in?" He asked when he saw the woman frozen on the other side of the car.
"Yes. Sorry." She said smiling while sitting on the leather seat. "It's new, right?" She said looking at the car still shiny surfaces, but Rafael was already concentrated into driving the car towards the garage exit not seeing how her body went stiff once she looked at the back of the car.
"Are you married?" She asked looking at the three toddler car seats.
"Yes." He said smiling, not that the woman saw it as she was still looking at the seats.
"But you don't wear a ring?"
"After having a few threats to our family Olivia and I decided to wear our rings on a chain around our necks." He explained to the woman as his hand rested on his chest, touching his ring under his clothes.
"Olivia? As in Olivia Benson?" The girl asked him.
"The one and the only," Rafael said smiling.
"I can see the point." He didn't mention her sudden blush, and she didn't inquire after his family anymore.
The silence settled in the car for a few minutes, until Rafael feeling a little awkward started to ask her about the university she had attended and other easygoing things to keep the conversation until they arrived at his kid's daycare center. Today he had been tasked with picking them up.
Going as fast as he could, he picked them up and moved them to the car, trying to be as quick as he could into helping them to settle inside the car under the rain. Taking them way more time he would want as they were more preoccupied to tell his father how their day had been. Once they had their belts fastened, and he was sitting behind the steering wheel, trying not to think too much on how wet he was, the boys started to babble again in a mix of English and Spanish. He didn't understand all that they were saying, but he couldn't stop smiling at their antics and happiness.
He was so engrossed with following the directions Jordan said and trying to keep their son's conversation, he didn't notice how the girl was having a bit of a hard time trying to keep a cool attitude, after what had happened when she had gotten into the car.
In the end, it didn't take them much time to reach her place.
"Here we are," Rafael said once he had stopped the car.
"Thank you," Jordan said before opening the door.
"It was nothing." Rafael hated these moments of forced politeness, but something made her stay frozen in the spot. "Everything ok?"
"Just..." She murmured, not looking at him. "I want to say sorry."
"About?" Rafael asked curiously.
"You are a legend." She blurted blushing. This time she looking at Rafael, after gathering the last courage she had. "The work you do causes a lot of impact. And when I was told I was put with you in the program, I was so excited. I might have been a little too forward." She said looking apologetic.
"No harm was done. OK?" Rafael said trying to comfort her a bit. He didn't want her to feel worse than she seemed to be.
"Ok." She said with a little smile poking at the corner of her mouth. "Thank you, Mr. Barba." She didn't say much more and Rafael saw her run towards the door.
…
"This is a nightmare!" Those were Olivia's first words after she had opened the door, arriving a few hours later than he and the kids had. "I just walked from Fin's car to the lobby, and I'm drenched!"
"Here," Rafael said putting a towel on Olivia's head and started to dry her hair.
"Thank you." She said letting him pamper her. Rafael lifted the towel a little and saw her beautiful brown eyes.
"Hello." He said smiling before kissing her chastely on the lips.
"Maybe it's a sweet dream with that welcome." She said as she smiled at him making him laugh and smelling one of her favourite Rafael's home-cooked meal.
"Go take a shower before you catch a cold." He said kissing her again. "The boys are playing over by the sofa and Sarah is taking a nap in her room."
"Ok." She said as he left her to go to the kitchen again, knowing she would go check on the kids before taking that shower. It always bought him a smile hearing her chat with the kids.
...
"Hello there." She said as her arms hugged him from behind with her face resting on his shoulder. After taking one of her long relaxing hot showers, she always was a little touch starved.
"Hey." He said kissing her cheek and smelling the scent of her sweet shampoo. "You smell good."
"You too." She said as she kissed his neck. "How was your afternoon?"
"Quiet." He said still surprised about it. "I left around four o'clock."
"Really?" She asked surprised too.
"Yes. Yours?"
"I'll say easy going," Olivia said. "Too much paperwork."
"Yeah." They stood like this for a few minutes, not needing any word between them hearing the kids play. "You don't have to worry about her anymore. Not that you had to, not even for a second."
"What?" She asked not quite understanding him.
"Jordan." He said her name and Olivia tensed. "I gave her a lift to her place because of the water, and we stopped to pick up the kids. Not that the car seats didn't give her the information." He said smiling.
After not hearing her voice for an amount of time he thought was enough, he moved so he could look at her face. She was smirking, and her eyes shining with mischievousness.
"I told you so." There was elation in her voice.
"I know." He murmured, blushing. "At least you don't have to worry about it anymore."
"About what?"
"You know..." He didn't want to say it out loud, but when a smirk appeared on her face he was left speechless.
"Did you thought...? Oh, my poor baby. Did the cat eat your tongue?" Rafael thought she was enjoying this way too much, but instead of words, only a tinny whine left his mouth making her chuckle "I had to point it to you honey, and I trust you, so there was no way you would accept her advances."
"Oh..." His blush wasn't going away.
"Yes, oh." She chuckled again. "Or was it..." She looked at him a little too suspiciously. "Was it that you wanted me to go all jealous again?" She asked. and his blushed strengthened giving her the answer she needed. "Don't worry, we can recreate it later in the bedroom, but now it would be a good idea for you to take a deep breath, your lips are starting to be blue honey. And I'll go set the table." She said laughing leaving him alone while he murmured under his breath about her cockiness, and loving every bit of it.
