Olivia loved the professional, blue dress that she had chosen to wear, forgetting the pants suit she'd packed. She felt happy that it flattered her in all the right places. She glanced at herself in the mirror to make sure there was no fluff or material bunched or not sitting against her correctly.

She was happy with how her hair had turned out, a couple of tips from Rollins on how to make her hair look effortlessly wavy. She put on a plum lipstick and made sure she was satisfied with the rest of her make up.

She grabbed her envelope sized clutch that fit her ipad, but only just. She required it for notes.

Liv was in a particularly good mood after her early morning with Trevor and had left so she could come back to her room to get ready for the late afternoon that she was pretty sure would turn in to an even later night.

She was almost ready to leave. She picked up her phone to call her son to check in with him. A few rings in, she hit the Facetime button knowing that Noah would probably be playing Minecraft at home for the hour of screen time that he was allowed.

He answered the call and Olivia immediately smiled, happy to see her little boy's face. Instantly, the familiarity of her son made her feel relaxed and full of joy. She missed him so much already.

"Hi Mommy!" he exclaimed excitedly, "I didn't know you were going to call me already."

Olivia grinned at his happy little face filling the screen of her phone. "Me either, honey, I thought I might surprise you! How are you my sweetheart?"

He shrugged, "Good, I was just allowed to have some screen time and Grandma Nessa is making dinner for Lucy and I."

Nessa was Lucy's mother who was as much of a force in Noah's life as Lucy was and Olivia was comfortable with it. She wasn't sure how it was that he started referring to her as Grandma, but it didn't bother her. Lucy and her mother were like the family that she'd never had and it was nice to have the extra support.

"Cool! What are you building on Minecraft today?" she asked him.

"How did you know I was playing Minecraft?" he asked, confused but still grinning.

Olivia laughed, "It was a good guess, huh? You're always playing that game…"

"I'm making a big castle and then I'm gonna go and blow it up!" he thought it was hilarious. Something took his attention away from her for a moment. She could hear him speaking to someone. "No," he told Nessa, "It's Mommy!"

Olivia saw Nessa's face. "Hi Nessa!" Olivia exclaimed, "just checking in on my boy."

"Hi Olivia, you look beautiful! Are you off to your conference?"

"In a few minutes," Liv replied. Nessa grinned at her. "Good luck, we can't wait to hear about it."

Noah turned back to Liv, "Mom what's at the conference?" he pronounced the word carefully, trying to wrap his mouth around all of the syllables.

"I'm giving a talk about what I do at work," she explained, "And there are going to be a lot of people watching so I need to do very well."

"You will be great Mommy," he told her, "you are always the best! Wait til you tell them how you catch the bad guys, they will be so impressed like my friends at school."

She couldn't help but to burst with joy at his childlike simplicity. "Thank you baby," she said gratefully. She could always count on her son to inflate her tires. "So what's for dinner?" she asked him.

"Ummm I'm not sure but Lucy said I have to have some vegetables tonight," he screwed his face up. Olivia smiled.

"Honey, I really want you to eat your vegetables too okay, especially if Nessa has gone to all that trouble of cooking for you, I need you to be on your best behavior and eat what's on your plate, okay?" generally her son was pretty good with food because she didn't let him eat a lot of junk but school had given him a little bit of an attitude when it came to eating things he decided he didn't like.

"Okay," he agreed, "Mommy when will you be back? I really miss you."

She smiled, "I miss you so much too my beautiful boy," she admitted, "I miss your face and I can't wait to give you a big cuddle and be able to read you your bed time stories and … tuck you in," she felt herself growing a little sentimental. Sometimes she resented that her job took so much time away from him.

"Uncle Fin is coming to pick me up from school tomorrow and he said he's gonna take me to play catch for awhile until Lucy is finished with Jessie."

Olivia didn't know that that was in place. "Oh, really? When was that decided?" she asked.

"Just before. Lucy had to help out with Jessie tonight too, that's why she's not here…"

"Oh, Jessie Rollins?" she asked, understanding why her friend was picking up the slack, Amanda had been on call. She thought that Fin might have had a night off. Being a single mother, Amanda picked up all of the overtime that she could.

"Yeah…"

"Okay great, that'll be fun. Make sure you use your manners, Uncle Fin hates bad manners," she reminded him.

Noah laughed, "Okay Mommy I will I promise."

"Okay honey, Mom's gotta go or else she's going to be late. I love you so much, okay? Be good for Lucy and Nessa and I will see you the day after tomorrow."

"I can't wait Mommy I love you too!"

She ended the call and saw that there was a message from Trevor.

There was a photo of him in front of a full length mirror dressed in a navy blue suit and a white shirt without a tie. He was wearing brown leather shoes and a matching brown leather belt. His outfit had matched hers by pure coincidence.

She grinned, he looked stunning. Even though he made no attempt to smile, he had a kind expression – his serious face sometimes made him look a little stern, but now that she knew him better, his kindness definitely seemed to make some of the hard angles of his face soften.

She stood in front of her mirror and sent him a similar photo with a little smile at her own reflection. "How's this for an influencer photo?" she joked by text.

"Holy shit, Benson, you look amazing in that dress," was his immediate response. She pulled on a matching blue bolero jacket over it to cover her upper arms. She took another photo of that and then a picture of a longer, waist-length blazer. "Which jacket?" she asked, curiously.

A few moments later she received his response.

"No jacket," it said. She rolled her eyes. "Hear me out," the next text came through and she laughed because it seemed that he had seen her response. Another message. He seriously needed to learn to truncate his messages to one.

"1, your dress is beautiful and it would be a shame to hide the design with a jacket, nay, it would be a crime to not give the designer his or her propers by covering it up with a jacket.

2, you don't need to hide any part of yourself underneath jackets. You should always wear form-fitting stuff like this, if you allow me to say so, you look fantastic and lastly, if you get cold I promise to give you my jacket…. Or steal someone else's for you because I personally hate to be cold, myself."

She found herself grinning goofily at his text, feeling a little starry-eyed and gooey inside.

She hit reply. "You have obviously thought this out and who am I to argue with the great Trevor Langan?"

She was smirking to herself. She sent another message, "I'm leaving now, I'm bringing a bag over just in case…"

A message from him, "Mmmmm does that mean that I'll be able to sleep next to the police Captain again for the third night in a row? You do realize I'll be telling everyone I know, right?"

She chuckled, "If you kiss and tell, Trevor Langan, I'll circulate a very nasty and tarnishing rumor about your manhood…"

She grabbed her overnight bag and her clutch and left, walking down the hall, focused on the message that she could see that he was typing. "If you are referring to my size, Benson, I might like to remind you that you did not see me so much as you felt me last night so you have no right to assume anything about that part of me."

She couldn't wipe the smile off of her face as she made her way down the elevator, thinking for a moment of what her next response would be.

She chuckled to herself as the doors open and a family of four got in.

Olivia smiled at the parents and turned back to her phone, "I didn't need to see anything to know what I'm going to be working with, Mr Langan," she was never good at flirting, but it seemed to come a little easier to her when it came to him, he was so direct and it made it easier for her to be as well.

She loved their witty banter too, she loved that it sometimes bordered on being mean, but neither had to constantly console the other that they were kidding. She loved the dryness of the humor between them.

"I could be a grower, not a shower Benson, and therefore your assertion of my appendage would be categorically unfair."

The elevator doors dinged and Olivia allowed the family to get out first. She made her way out of the lobby before she replied. "Well, Mr Langan, if that is the case I am in a little bit of trouble, aren't I?"

She flicked out of her messages and to the uber app to order a car.

Trevor had made the executive decision that Olivia should arrive on her own, it was too early for people to ask questions and he was already nervous about how he would be received, he didn't want any negativity rubbing off on to her or potentially causing anything to ruin her presentation.

He was surprised that she was happy for them to arrive together, as friends of course, or at the very least, acquaintances, but Trevor didn't want that for Olivia yet. He didn't want to add to the stress of her life, adding another layer of gossip and the turning of heads to see the Captain with someone who had made a career from defending the very thing she was known to be so staunchly against.

It was nice to see her in a professional sense for the first time with fresh eyes; she had come in in a hurry to drop her overnight bag off and then to make tracks to the function center. He could tell she was nervous but she knew what she was doing and she'd delivered so many times again.

He was sitting at the hotel bar sipping on a vodka and soda and scrolling through his phone, rereading the fun, flirty messages he and Olivia had shared before she arrived and then promptly left again.

He swirled the ice cube around in his mouth and smiled at the screen a little dumbly as he crunched what was left of the almost-melted cube. He needed a drink just to take the edge off his nerves.

He downed the rest of the drink and wondered if he should get just one more but figured he could get a drink at the conference.

He sighed, he couldn't put it off any longer. "Okay Benson, I'm leaving the Marriot now. Can't wait to see you doing your thing, look for me, I'll be the guy close by grinning at you like goon in disbelief that I'm going to be taking you home to sleep in my bed."

He slipped his phone in to his jacket pocket and went and got in a cab and gave them the address.

A short way in to the trip Olivia responded. "Hahaha, you are really sweet, Trevor. Come at me with a big goblet of sav blanc when you see me… I know a couple of people here but ugh… it's going to be a long night, I just found out that there's only two presentations – I'm one of them? My presentation only goes for around fifty minutes with a 15 min break and if the other one is about as long, is the rest of the night just networking? KILL ME NOW."

He grinned at the phone and bashed out a last reply, "Honestly, I am so nervous that if it weren't for you being there and wanting to hear all the hard work you've put in on this, I'd probably sign my name off to show I've attended and then make an Irish exit."

Trevor slipped the phone in to the inside pocket of his jacket and got his wallet out to pay for the cab fare as it pulled to the front of his destination.

He walked in, dragging his feet. Saved by the bell, he thought, his phone ringing just as he was making the steps toward the building. It was Helena. He answered immediately knowing that she was probably calling to put Eloise on the phone.

"Hi Len," he said, picking it up.

"Hey yourself," she greeted him, "I have your sweet, little cherub here who has just drawn on the walls with her crayons and I'm about to lose my mind so I told her that she needs to have a little chat to Daddy before I throw her some place," she blurted out in a sugary voice that Trevor knew meant that Helena was close to losing her cool.

"Okay, I have about five minutes before the conference. Do I need to face time the little gremlin or…?" he couldn't help but to laugh.

"If you can…" she replied, "I'm at my wits end..." Trevor moved to the side of the building and stood out of the way of the people filing in.

"It's okay, just breathe, she's only three… take a deep breath and walk away if it's that bad," he reminded her. She had far less patience than she did when she was angry with something.

He waited for Helena's facetime to come through. "Seriously, Trev, be stern, she fucking listens to you, I'm just her mother, she doesn't care what the consequences are here."

He stifled a grin as he came face-to-face with his ex wife. "Okay," he nodded, trying to remain serious. He did smile when he saw his daughter's precious face. "Hi my heart…" he greeted her. His daughter looked warily at the screen and he could tell she'd been crying. She took the phone from her mother and stared at him.

"Honey," he began seriously, "Mama told me you did some drawing on the wall, is that true?" he was sure 90% of the time spent with his daughter when she was being naughty was him having to turn away so she didn't see him laughing.

"No…." she said softly.

"Uh-uh…" he shook his head, "tell the truth because Mama is gonna show me and if you've lied, I'm going to be very upset."

"Just a little picture," she murmured, her lower lip trembling. He pressed his lips together hard to keep from laughing.

"You know better than that Eloise," he said firmly once the urge had passed. "You have all of your coloring books and your paint easel and whatever else."

He hated to be mad at her, it was hard to hold firm given how cute she was. Her little blue eyes that replicated his own were far too hard to say no to, but he knew she wouldn't benefit from allowing him to be wrapped around her finger, so he stared at with his stern face. "Eloise, do you know why you are in trouble with Mama?"

"Because I did a picture on the wall and I spitted at Mama."

His eyes nearly popped, "Eloise!" he exclaimed, shocked. "Don't ever do that again." He lowered his tone. "That is inexcusable behavior! Don't you ever, ever do that again to Mama again, we don't spit! You are not an animal!"

It was not on and also just really gross, he thought, a little surprised. He watched his daughter's face crumple as she began to wail. He sighed as Helena took the phone from her daughter, "She spat at you?"

"Yeah like a little fucking camel," she muttered softly so their daughter couldn't hear. "Good aim, too," she added, "got me right in my eye…"

Trevor laughed, "That's disgusting, I can't believe she did that…"

"Yeah well, welcome to the joys of having a three-year-old," Helena replied. "Anyway now we've both made her wail, I'll let you get back to it…"

"Okay, can you call me when you put her to bed, I'll have another chat to her then and I don't want her to go to bed with me being angry with her…"

"No problems honey, ahhhh, its just one of those days with her, sorry I didn't mean to interrupt-"

"No, its totally fine, I'm just about to walk in to the conference. Actually better just text me when you're getting ready to put her to bed, I might not be able to dash out too quickly," he explained. "Give her a kiss and hug for me, okay?"

"Okay later…"

It was almost 7 by the time Olivia had finished her presentation. Trevor had found himself a seat in the third or forth row; she'd tried not to look at him for the big smile that spread across his lips. Throughout the talk, as she presented statistics and facts and even went in to some case studies, his face had been serious, concentrating and at times looking surprised.

She was just glad that it was over, like her skirt the previous night, she was starting to feel uncomfortable. She wanted to kick the shapewear off and get in to bed and go to sleep beside the unlikely handsome man that watched her with great affection throughout her entire presentation.

She really just wanted a glass of wine and to get her hands on some food that kept evading her each time she saw the wait staff circulating. She groaned as she saw someone coming her way with a platter of something, just as she was about to grab for something, the water turned the opposite way and walked toward a fresh group of people.

"Fuck," she muttered, annoyed.

She started across the room, finally seeing Trevor in the crowd. People were meandering about in social circles drinking and eating … if only she could get her hands on either a drink or a fucking snack, she thought. She decided that she didn't give a shit about avoiding him. She figured that as long as there were no public displays of affection, no one would have any reason to think anything.

"Olivia!" someone stepped in front of her. She caught her face before it showed exactly how she felt about the random young woman that seemed only vaguely familiar to her. "Olivia how are you! Long time no see…" the tall, blonde woman greeted her, slightly invading her personal space. "How are you?"

"Good…" Olivia smiled, shaking her hand, "and yourself?"

"Great! Oh my gooooooooood your presentation was a-mazing as always!" she gushed. Olivia had no recollection of who this blonde waif was, but she was in the way of Trevor and she could see him smiling to himself, amused with the way she was being fawned over. "I did not know about the stats about the rape kits, that's so maddening!"

"Maddening…" Olivia couldn't help but to repeat, nodding, "yeah, that's a good way to put it."

"So, so important that we get on to this, isn't it? Is it funding, is that the problem?" she asked, tucking a long lock of hair behind her ear. It dawned on her just then who she was, she was a junior DA from Queens. She was dressed a little inappropriately for an event, but Olivia tried not to judge. The Jnr DA was young, she still could get away with wearing short dresses and showing her cleavage. Olivia was probably a little guilty of being clueless about how dressing a certain way in their industry was looked upon.

"Yeah, it's partially the problem," she nodded, trying to stop being miserable and engaging her, "but part of it is that there is an overwhelming backlog…" she explained, "its also an education issue, if not enough people know about it, then nothing ever gets done."

"Oh! Olivia, what a surprise!" she looked up to find Trevor. He knew she was struggling and was vying to get away from the chatter. A wave of gratitude swept over her as he stepped in close. She smiled at him, her tension and irritation immediately dissipating.

"Hello Trevor," she greeted him. He politely took her hand and leaned in to kiss her cheek. He glanced at the blonde, "Hi, I'm Trevor Langan, I work for the DA's office in Manhattan."

"Chelsea Firello," she replied, taking Trevor's hand and shaking it. "You guys know each other well?" she wondered, her eyes shooting from one to the other. Olivia could tell immediately that she was sizing him up.

"We have known each other for over 20 years now," he smiled, lifting his chin a little proudly. "I used to work as a public defender,"

"Ooooh the bad guy," Chelsea gave him a little nudge, a little friendly for Olivia's liking. Trevor took a short step away from her; just enough for Liv to notice. He smiled briefly, "Liv, your presentation was great," he complimented her, changing the subject. "You were very engaging," he added.

"Thanks, Counsellor," Olivia replied.

"Would you like a drink?" he asked her, acknowledging that Chelsea had one. "I'm going to grab something…"

"Oh that would be great," Liv gushed, gently grabbing the bend of his arm, "thank you, you're a serious dream boat." She couldn't help it, jealousy had overcome her and she didn't want the young blonde to think Trevor was single.

It occurred to her suddenly that he was single.

She wasn't his girlfriend, he wasn't her boyfriend – if he wanted to flirt, she had absolutely no right to him. Yet, she didn't like the thought of him getting cozy with anyone else.

"A drink for the incredible Captain Benson," he winked. He clearly didn't care either and she was pretty pleased with him, "I'll be right back."

"If you can liberate some food from one of those waiters too…" she called after him with a little laugh. She turned back to Chelsea.

"Oh my god!" she gasped quietly, "you guys are banging!"

"What!" Olivia laughed awkwardly, "Trevor…" she collected herself and made a face as if she was repulsed by the idea, "not a chance, he's the enemy remember?"

"Are you sure?" she pressed, "Ohhhh there's something there, something from the past?" Olivia was annoyed that the young up-start thought she had the right to question her on her sex life.

"No," Olivia said firmly. "Trevor Langan is my colleague and I'm a professional, Ms. Firelli, please don't get that twisted."

"Oh," she backed off, "sorry, that was so inappropriate of me." She knew Olivia Benson was a powerful force that she didn't want to mess with. She was immediately regretful. "Well… is he single? Do you think he'd be interested in me?"

"I don't know," Liv shrugged, coming across as uninterested, "he's recently come out of a marriage so, maybe it's a bit too soon? Not sure!" she fibbed. "Have you ever seen his 6 kids? Oh my goodness, they are so cute especially those two yr old twins!" Olivia gushed as if she was so heartwarmed.

It was Chelsea's turn to make a face, balking at the thought. "6? Twins! Jeez, is he Catholic?"

Olivia almost felt bad, but she couldn't help herself. She didn't need someone half of her age all over the guy she liked.

Before Chelsea could ask anything else, Trevor arrived back with the Sav Blanc that she had asked for through her texts earlier. She was wound up and irate with everyone approaching her.

"Thank you so much," so said appreciatively. Chelsea bowed out of the conversation very quickly and found someone else to talk to, disinterested in Trevor once Liv had mentioned children. "She was something," he murmured quietly, amused.

"Yeah…something alright." Liv's voice trailed off. "Why? You like her?"

"Yeah… I was just gonna text you from across the room and see if you could get her number for me…she seemed nice," he replied, dead pan.

Liv's face dropped and he realized very quickly that that was not funny to her. "Seriously?" she asked.

"No!" he dropped his serious face and laughed, "are you kidding? I'm right by the side of the only person in this room who matters."

Her face flushed with relief, "Lucky…" she remarked. He chuckled. He couldn't help but feel pleased with just how quickly she seemed to sour at the idea of another woman finding interest in him.

"I'm so fucking hungry, it's making me angry."

"Hangry…" he corrected her. "You're hangry. You go mingle, I'll go find a waiter with something really tasty on the plate and I'll send them in your direction…"

"You're the best, I would kiss you if there weren't so many Chelsea's around," she chuckled.

"Don't drink that wine too fast babe, it'll go to your head," he murmured, standing close, leaning in slightly.

Olivia smiled at him, "Ha, you called me babe…. You schmaltzy bastard," she teased with a laugh, walking off.

Trevor chuckled to himself at her hard-to-get game that they both seemed to play with each other when in reality, it was obvious they both loved the sweetness and the gentle moments between them.

At least he had a task, he thought, finding Olivia some food before she had a melt down and if anyone else as bright and as sparkly as Chelsea found her, she had the potential to go postal.

They took separate cabs back to the hotel, Olivia called it a night at 10:30 after her heels were starting to burn the balls of her feet. "Do you wanna get a drink in the hotel bar before bed?" he asked.

"Sure... sounds nice, can't wait to finally hold your hand…"

Trevor smiled to himself at how easy it was for her to show him affection. Initially he thought it would be difficult to get her to tell him what she wanted or to be direct about certain things, but he realized he had her all wrong. Olivia was a guarded person, but she was also a very warm person who was naturally affectionate and who was good at communicating a lot of things to him except for when it came to things that would require her to show her emotions.

"It'll be nice to buy you a drink and just have a good night sleep beside you before that shitty train ride again…"

"I'm gonna upgrade again…" Olivia replied, "Fuck having that tiny little curtain enclosure."

Trevor smiled. "Don't bother, come and stay with me in my little abode. If you want to that is, you might have had enough of me by then."

"Doubtful… okay I'm pulling up now. See you in a minute. Are you in the bar or…?"

"Bar, what would you like?"

Olivia paid the driver and replied, "I don't know, I think I'm done with the wine for this week, it's made my stomach bloated. Whatever you're having is good."

She found her way in to the lobby, putting her phone in to her small clutch and started heading away from the elevator to the bar that was a short distance from the lobby. With each new step in the heels her feet throbbed. She made a face as she made her way in to the bar, finding Trevor sitting down on a stool with two glasses before him.

She grinned at him and made a beeline for him. He stood up in that wonderful chivalrous way that seemed to be just second nature to him. "Hello," he said, giving her the once, twice and third time over with his eyes. "I know I told you on your way out but holy shit you look wonderful…" he told her, sliding his hands from her hips to the small of her back. Olivia rested her hands on his arms as he leaned over to give her a lingering kiss on the lips.

"You look like prince charming," she replied once he pulled away. She reached up and wiped a tiny smudge of her own lipstick on his mouth.

He appreciated the gesture before motioning for her to take a seat. "I'm so tired," she told him covering her mouth to yawn.

"Thank you. Me too… I'll sleep well tonight."

"I think I will too, usually after a night of terrible sleep, I tend to have a better one. Here's hoping anyway." Olivia turned and grabbed the drink that he'd pushed over to her. "Gin and tonic?" she asked looking at the clear liquid with a slice of lemon garnishing it.

"How'd you guess?" he asked with an amused little smile. Olivia took a sip of the refreshing beverage and let it rest on her tongue a moment and turned to him. "Because you're a man of style, Mr. Langan and I'd expect nothing but the best from you." She rose an eyebrow at the quality of the gin, "Oh? Top shelf?" she pressed.

He laughed, "You really do know your liquor."

"Long time drinker," she replied, taking his hand that was resting on the bar.

"So… your presentation was so good, Benson," he told her as she swiveled her chair to face him. "I learned a lot and I love your passion, it's incredibly admirable. You really do amaze me and you've kind of opened up my mind and heart to a subject that I didn't really know much about."

She gave him a smile, hating brazen compliments, especially when they came from him as he looked gazed at her with those beautiful, piercing blue eyes. "What about you?" she asked, "you were a big hit with the ladies…"

Trevor grinned at her, picking up on her deflection, "I didn't pick you as the jealous type, detective," he chuckled.

"I wasn't jealous, I was just trying to secure you a nice, young, attractive counterpart."

He threw his head back and laughed, "As if, you were touching me and making all those little motions that women do to throw their scent out there… it's a wonder your friend Chelsea didn't sniff something out."

Liv laughed as she sipped her drink, not even bothering to deny it. "She did actually, the second you left she asked, and I quote, if we were banging."

Trevor cracked up, "Oh shit, was it that obvious?"

"But we aren't though…." Olivia replied, "banging…" she finished, staring at him, "are we?"

"Not… yet?" he replied with a grin. "But there's no rush…" he shrugged, enjoying playing a little hard to get with Liv. She seemed like she didn't care, but he knew that she did.

"Well," she smiled, "I didn't lie then did I? Although I may have told her that you were in the middle of a divorce or you were getting back with an ex or something of that nature," she started to laugh.

Trevor laughed too. "Oh, Benson you are a little evil…" he started to laugh as he took a sip of his drink.

"I also said you had 6 kids and a set of two-year-old twins…" she added, taking a sip of her own drink to stop herself from laughing.

She was glad he found the humor in it. He burst in to loud laughter, "you are fucking great!" he told her, amused. "I'm kinda glad you said that, she wasn't my type."

"Oh?" she questioned him, "And what is your type?"

He scooted his chair closer to hers and smiled, his eyes falling over her made-up face. "Hot, powerful, intelligent, curvy, brunettes…" he spoke slowly and deliberately, making sure that he lingered over every word. "I like to be able to have an ass that I can grab…" he informed her, "and your ass is the ass that I am currently in great favor of grabbing."

She chuckled. "Currently? As in, only sometimes?" she pressed him with a small, smug smile.

Trevor shook his head and looked at her with fondness. "I could hold your ass in my hands any night of the week…" he retorted. "How do you not realize that yet?" he added.

Olivia laughed, a little confronted by his boldness. "Stop it…" she murmured, feeling her face heating up.

He stared at her for a moment and waited patiently for her to close the gap between them and kiss him. She let go of her glass and reached up to cup his face in her hand. She really liked him.

As she pulled away Trevor eased back a little in his stool, still facing her, his knees knocking with hers.

"I need to lock in with you when I can see you after we get back…" he said, wanting to make sure it was something they talked about rather than kept fobbing off. "If that's what you want…"

"It is…" she replied with a slow smile, loving that he was forthright about his intentions.

She grabbed her phone from her clutch and opened it up. "I'll check my work schedule… it's probably going to be busy and then there's Noah too."

"Its okay, I understand… we're in a bubble here, its different, I get it. If you don't want to see me-"

"Of course I want to see you again, shut up…" she said with a vague hint of irritation. "I'm just saying, it might be a bit tough and I don't want you to get impatient with me, that's usually how it goes…"

"I won't get impatient. Your son and your job are both really important, I won't resent that," he replied.

"I have three days off next week and I'm on for 5 nights the day after I get back," she told him with a sigh.

"Nights? Shit, that's tough. What are your night shift hours like?"

"6pm or so til 6am unless there's been a job… I like to be able to go home and see Noah off to school on a week day," she explained "and then I have to find a time to sleep… and do it all again."

"Wow… how are you not tired all of the time?" Trevor asked, troubled by how much responsibility was on her shoulders.

"I am…" she replied with a laugh. "Maybe though… and this is just a thought, you could come over one morning after Noah goes to school and have breakfast with me and a lay in…"

He smiled. "That'd be nice. I'll start work a bit later."

She yawned as she scrolled through her calendar a little further. "Maybe we can have dinner and a nightcap on my day off."

Trevor nodded. "Great…" he remarked, "now, I can tell you're struggling to stay awake, but the choice is yours… would you like another drink or would you like to go to the room?"

"The room… my feet are aching and this dress is getting pretty uncomfortable like the old skirt incident."

"Okay come on…" he stood up and waited for her to take the last sip of her drink. She took his hand and headed toward his room.

"Why don't you just take your shoes off?" Trevor asked her as they got to the hall, noticing her wincing with every single step. "We're not in New York anymore or back in your dumpster hotel…"

She rolled her eyes and paused. She rested her hand on his arm for balance as she stepped out of her heels.

"Oh my gosh, my feet…" she sighed with relief.

He laughed. "I dunno how you ladies do it…"

"It's torture, let me tell you. I don't have the back for this shit anymore," she laughed.

"I'd piggy back you… but I'm sure your dress would be an issue…" he offered with a smile. She grinned at him. "Next time…"

He grabbed her hand again as she continued to walk gingerly back to their room.

Wordlessly as they got inside, Liv put her shoes in her overnight bag and plucked out an old t-shirt to sleep in. Trevor excused himself to go and have a shower and get ready for bed. "Wait…" Olivia stopped him.

"What's up?" he asked, turning back, shirtless and wearing only his suit bottoms. She let her eyes linger over his muscular frame. "Could you uh… undo me at the back?" she asked.

He said nothing and made his way back to her. Liv turned around. She felt his fingers raking through her hair, gathering it carefully, pushing it to one shoulder. He unzipped her dress slowly to her waist and tried to get the dirty thoughts out of his mind.

"I feel like you're purposely picking underwear to make me go crazy," he blurted out. From the waist of her open dress he could see the lacy elastic of a red thong that matched a red lacy bra.

She turned around and rose her eyebrow. "It's just my underwear, sorry to break it to you, champ," she patronized him, "but I don't just wear pretty underwear on the off chance a man will see it," she lied.

He laughed. "Okay... sorry!" he held up his hands in surrender, "I'll just go have my shower and try not to think about it."

"Good…" Olivia replied breezily, watching him with a laugh as he left her alone.

She got changed in to a pair of briefs and an oversized college shirt and slipped in to bed. She turned the TV on and put her glasses on. She really was tired. She had some idea that she would wanted to come back to the hotel and seduce him, but now that she was laying back and her back was slightly aching from wearing heels all day, she didn't feel particularly romantic or glamorous.

Trevor reappeared, shirtless, wearing a pair of trunks and looking hard to resist. "You look ready for sleep…" he told her.

"I am, but I have to take my make up off…" she sighed. "I really don't want to get up."

"What happens if you go to bed with it on?"

"The pillow will have an imprint of my perfect face like a genuine Picasso in the morning," Liv replied with a groan.

"Wait, is that because you are a work of art?"

"Gross, Trevor… that's a gross Dad joke. Save that one for your daughter in like, 12 years."

She heard his laughter all the way to the bathroom.

Once back in bed, she felt a little exposed, no make up, nothing to hide her imperfections. He didn't seem to mind. "Don't look at me," she warned him, "you'll turn to stone."

He seemed confused. "Why?"

"I don't have any make up on," she joked, "it's not pretty."

"I respectfully disagree," Trevor sliding down and shutting off his light. "Get closer…" he commanded.

Olivia settled in to the crook of his arm, enjoying how affectionate he was and appreciated that he didn't expect anything just because they were sharing a bed.

"I can't believe we have to sit on that friggin' train for hours again tomorrow…" she sighed.

"I don't mind being trapped with you… do you think you'd like to share a room with me? Are we at that place yet?" he chuckled.

She laughed, feeling his fingers stroke her hair softly. "Sure… that'll be fun, at least I can experience five-star accommodation for the first time in my career," she joked.

Trevor laughed and planted a kiss on her mouth; lingering, tasting her tongue and going back for a second and third one. "Great…" he murmured. "I'm quite looking forward to the trip. Maybe we can take advantage of the privacy…" his voice trailed off.

Olivia smiled and raised her head from his arm to kiss him again. "We'll see," she winked, "goodnight babe," she couldn't help but to revisit his pet name from earlier.

They both started to laugh. "You are so mean to me…" he chuckled as he turned the light off.

"No I'm not babe…"

"Hey! It felt right in the moment, okay babe?" he joined her beneath the covers, laying his head on the pillow, kissing her again.

She curled in to his body and sighed with contentment. Trevor wrapped an arm around her, feeling her cheek against his chest. He held her tightly, knowing that despite all her teasing and jokes, she genuinely loved his affection and fondness for her. She never turned his warmth away, she clung to it as if she was afraid that it would be coming to an end.

Trevor closed his eyes, finally coming to terms with his very real feelings for Olivia.