Hallo,
so this is kind of a 'fill-in-chapter' to get from where I left off to where I want to go with this story.
First I thought, I just continue writing, but then I saw that it already got pretty long and I honestly don't know when I will be able to finish what I have in mind. (I just started a new job, in my new home, which is a also a new country with a new language... while I still also have a family that wants to see me here and there, too. (soooo demanding :D ))
So, long story short, here you go. I hope you enjoy it.
I cannot thank you enough for all the kind words and awwwesome reviews. Also, thanks for following this story and/or me as an author. I don't know what to say.
Special thanks to my lovely FreeingTheWriterWithin. YOU ARE THE BEST!
Chapter 15
Bo basically power-walked back to the hotel. She was surprised about her good shape for someone that had neglected their weekly stint of sports for months now.
She had to hurry though. So, even if she had to crawl the rest of the way on her nipples – or had to be on her last leg or however that saying was again – she needed to arrive as fast as possible.
The night didn't turn out the way Bo had planned. Like not at all. She was looking for some fresh air and something to swallow down the taste of the blonde in her mouth. Damn, that taste was so overpowering. It was so unbelievably flavorsome, that Bo's gustatory nerves were sending a permanent jolt through her brain, activating wishes and longings the brunette wasn't prepared for. It was just too distracting.
She tried to clear her head and come up with a plan. This just screamed bad idea. Kissing her Boss. As much as her body begged her to capitulate and just go with the flow.
She had already felt weird things in her stomach and chest the first time it happened. In that dirty bathroom. But the brunette brushed it off as a reaction to the weeks of foreplay.
Now she had felt it again. Just ten times as strong. So, okay, maybe she panicked a bit. What if she actually fell for the blonde?
"This is not good, Bo. So not!"
Bo didn't do love. That was just not what she needed. At least she thought that was not what she needed until she kissed or got kissed by her Boss for the second time.
Bo really, really wanted to kiss her. Like really, really. She wanted it so badly, that her whole body ached whenever the blonde came too close. Like, she was physically in pain. Also, her thoughts were filled with so many pictures and memories and everything Miss Lewis and she just really, really wanted to call her Lauren again.
So, when it actually happened something inside of her snapped and the red lights turned on. Not to mention Mini Bo and her try to push the brunette forward and into the arms of that angel of a woman.
See, when one's inner self was so torn in between, then what was one supposed to do?
Run! Exactly. Breathe in and clear one's head.
So, now, here Bo was.
After walking in the fresh air for some time Bo had found a kiosk that sold cheap white wine and those overly dry crackers, she didn't know how anyone could eat without coughing out dust. But she had found out that they went well with a mouth full of that way too acidic, fermented grape juice.
The brunette had walked past a small green oasis off the main street with a small pond and a bench, where she settled down to think. Well, and to wash down those feelings in her chest. And stomach. And some lower parts that didn't need to be described any further.
She stopped drinking when her body started to yell at her to end this combination of sour-fruit-dough. By then, the sun had already been on her way back to work again. Surprised, the brunette checked Sally and the device told her it was either way to late or still too early. Depending on how one looked at it.
"Dammit!"
Bo tried to avoid eye contact with the staff in the lobby. She knew how she looked like in her clothes from yesterday and a ponytail that was anything but savable.
The loft door opened and closed almost without a sound and Bo leaned her forehead against the wood as soon as the lock clicked shut. She welcomed the air-conditioned room with a heavy sigh.
"Busy night?"
Bo jumped and had a hard time finding her heart again, that had just fallen into her pants somewhere. Why do people always have to frighten Bo to a degree where she was happy that she had strong pelvic floor muscles?
The brunette should have known that sneaking in wouldn't work out.
Actually, it never did. She always got caught. Either because she would bump into a piece of furniture, she could have sworn hadn't been standing there the day before or because she had yet again forgotten to oil those damn hinges of her bedroom door.
Bo squeezed her eyes shut for a split second.
"Freaking aye!"
She turned around and found the blonde sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, reading on her tablet.
"Good morning?"
Bo wasn't sure how to address the blonde. She wasn't really sure where they stood after yesterday.
"Are you asking me if it is morning or if it is a good one, Miss Dennis?"
Well, at least they're still on last-name-basis. That was something, right?
"Uhm."
Her Boss was already dressed and obviously ready for another day of meetings. The room was silent. One could literally hear a needle fall, even on this sound-absorbing wooden floor.
The brunette's body was tired and sore from sitting on that bench in weird positions for too long. That plan, she was supposed to have by now, never showed up. In her head there were only two things. Too much cheap wine and the feeling of those lips on hers.
Someone could have told her that alcohol never helped when it came to finding solutions to delicate problems. It only left a sour taste and a heavy head. Who would have guessed?
Bo pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
Grow up, woman. Talk.
"Lauren…"
"Our first meeting starts in one hour and thirty minutes. I suggest you go and get ready. Unless you want to stay in the dirty suit from yesterday."
Bo couldn't even blame her Boss for reacting like she did. The brunette was the one who just left for hours and came back looking like this. Bo was aware of how this must seem in other people's eyes. Usually she gave a flyspeck about people's opinions but she did care about what her Boss thought. And she disliked that she felt that way! That her Boss occupied that much space in the brunette's head.
Bo just nodded and turned to walk away. Before she entered her room she stopped again and held her head sideways.
"I'm sorry for last night."
When she didn't hear any response, she entered her room and closed the door.
"Freaking, frick, frack. Damn stupid… argh!"
After an ice-cold shower and some curse words later, Bo put her clothes on and stepped out of the door into the main area. The place was empty. So, was the table.
"No surprise breakfast for Bo today."
Bo walked over to the bar, while brushing of some imaginary fluffs from her dark green suit jacket. After some readjustments on her also dark green pants, which hugged her legs loosely, the brunette took a quick look on Sally.
It was one-cup-of-coffee o'clock.
Meaning, she could at least get some caffeine into her system before she had to leave. A sharp pain spread from her forehead over her eyes and to the back of her head.
"This wine was not my wisest choice."
But then again it topped off last night as if one chose a sledgehammer to hang a picture.
Tuesday was a less busy day for Bo. The week was clocked like a good, oiled machine. Every meeting was set and the brunette was now waiting for new instructions. She was sitting on her spot in front of the conference room and tried to keep herself busy.
Bo should have been tired to no end, without sleep last night and only a few hours the night before, but she wasn't. Her mind was trying to pick apart what had happened between the two women. A pen in between her fore- and middle-finger jumped nervously up and down.
Lunch break came and went and even if the brunette had wanted to talk to her Boss, there was no window of opportunity. Bo wasn't entirely sad about that, since she was still trying to make sense to all of it herself.
Staring at the ugliest painting Bo had ever set eyes on, which was hanging right across from her small open office, she was in deep thoughts when Sally screamed for her attention.
The screen said 'Miss Lewis' and Bo's throat had to deal with some serious dryness as if she just had eaten sawdust as a snack. Picking up the phone from the desk, Bo turned her head towards the window. Her Boss was leaning in her chair waiting for Bo to answer the call. The three men the blonde was in a meeting with, were writing and chatting and drinking coffee.
Bo took a sip of her diet coke and sat up straight.
"Okay, Bo. You can do this."
With a wipe over the screen, the brunette placed Sally to her ear.
"Assistant Dennis. What can I do for you, Miss Lewis?"
"You need to reschedule tomorrow evening. I've been invited to a gala dinner at seven pm."
"Oka-…"
The line went dead.
"Yes of course, I'll see what I can do."
Bo rolled her eyes. Great. Not that she had expected a welcome committee or a flower bouquet after her stunt from last night, but the cold shoulder stung a bit more than Bo wanted to admit.
"At least I have something to do now."
She opened the calendar-app and tried to rearrange the already pretty tight timetable. Here and there she took a peak at the blonde, who was smiling at the interlocutors. One of those smiles that wouldn't reach her eyes. Bo tried to not stare for too long.
Her Boss, even with a fake smile and those hard lines around her eyes, looked her best. Seeing those blonde locks dancing around her Boss' shoulders with every move of her hand, reminded Bo unwillingly of their piano session. Of how amazing they smelled and how incredibly soft they felt.
Around five pm the door of the conference room opened. Bo stood up and nodded her goodbye to those three men in business suits. When her Boss didn't come through the door, the brunette leaned forward and over her desk to take a look into the room. The blonde was still sitting at that giant of a table, writing down whatever with one of those plastic pens on her tablet.
"Do you need anything?"
Bo had gathered all of her courage and was now standing in front of the still busy woman.
"No, thank you. That would be all for today."
Bo nodded and went through the door back to her desk only to shake her head and walk back into the room closing the door behind her. The blonde looked up irritated by the noises.
"Was there anything else?"
Bo pushed herself off the wood and moved around the big round table to stop a few steps in front of her Boss
"Yes, look. Can we talk?"
"I think that's what it is called we are doing right now."
Bo sat down on the chair next to the blonde.
"No, I mean, talk about last night."
A sharp inhale of breath, her Boss suddenly collected her belongings and got up.
"I don't see what there is to talk about. If you excuse me."
And she was gone. The blonde had left.
"Great!"
Bo went back to her room and changed into a pair of black leather pants and a loose, dark red shirt with short sleeves. After she took her dark brown hair out of that tight bun, to let it fall over her shoulders, she decided to go down to the restaurant to eat dinner instead of room service.
She needed a change of surroundings.
The restaurant was packed with all those men and women in black. The only thing missing were the sunglasses and Will Smith. And maybe some aliens, although some of the suits were eating those slimy snails. So, maybe there were aliens in the room already.
Bo was lucky to sit at the same table far off in the corner as she did the day before.
"Hello there. Are you back for the Mousse?"
The red-haired waitress smiled down at Bo while handing her the menu card. A chuckle left the brunette's chest.
"Yeah, probably, uh, Ava."
Bo made sure to read the name-tag this time.
"What else can I bring you?"
Bo didn't need to read the menu. She didn't understand a word anyway.
"Uhm, a bottle of water and, uh, what would you recommend?"
"The chef makes a pretty amazing Galettes Bretonnes. It is some kind of thin, salty pancake with-..."
"Don't say anything else! Pancake? Sold! I'll take that."
The waitress' smile hadn't left her face the whole conversation over and only grew wider. With a wink the redhead took the menu back.
"Good choice. Nice outfit by the way."
Bo looked down at herself and when her eyes came back up the waitress was gone.
"Did she just flirt with me?"
The brunette shook her head and rolled her eyes.
That is just what I need right now.
It wasn't the waitress' fault. In a different situation Bo would have played along and maybe they could have had a good time later that night, but the timing was quite off to say the least.
The brunette took her time to eat and watched those business folks come and go until the restaurant was almost empty. Her eyes scanned the room and stopped in the far end opposite from where the brunette was sitting. A familiar blonde just stood up and walked towards the bar.
"Lauren."
Bo whispered to herself and watched her Boss order one of those bourbon colored drinks. She took a sip from the heavy looking glass and disappeared through the door into the lounge.
All of a sudden Bo's palms were sweaty and a nervous tingle grew in her belly. The brunette needed to get a hold on her Boss and make things right again or Bo knew she wouldn't be able to sleep that night either.
After wiping her mouth with the white cloth napkin and drowning the last half a glass of water, Bo stood up. Slowly, she walked towards that dark wooden portal to unknown grounds, while thinking about how to approach her Boss to talk about that pink elephant in the room. When her hand reached for the handle, she heard a deep voice from behind the bar.
"I wouldn't go in there if I was you."
Bo turned around and looked at a mid-twenty, brown haired bartender who was wiping the countertop with a cloth.
"Excuse me?"
Another waitress with a long, blonde ponytail joined them, placed a full tray of empty glasses next to the sink behind the bar and started cleaning.
"The dragon just went in there and she doesn't like to be disturbed. Unless you want to be a head shorter, you shouldn't go in there."
The two chuckled and continued working.
"Watch your tongue."
Bo didn't want to make a scene but she also couldn't not say anything. She felt anger growing in the back of her chest.
How could they dare to talk about her Boss like that? They didn't know shit!
"No, it's fine. We're under ourselves right now. No other Lewis-snitch or business-snob around. It's cool."
That bartender was walking on very thin ice right now.
"No Lewis-snitch or business-snob? What the heck is wrong with you? You don't even know Miss Lewis."
The blonde waitress looked up from the dishes and was drying of the same glass for the second time, pretending to be working, while watching the show with an amused look on her face. The bartender stopped wiping and leaned over a bit closer.
"I know enough about that woman to tell you, that she is the moodiest, angriest, lonely priss I have ever met."
Bo's left hand had morphed into a fist between the word 'dragon' and 'snitch' and was now twitching dangerously at her thigh.
"You should really stop talking now or we'll be having a big problem."
The man saw Bo's jaw tighten and took a step back, hands in the air.
"Wow, wow. Chill out. Why are you so engaged? Are you two shagging or what?"
Bo took a step forward with a death stare in her eyes.
"Hoo, hoo, I think I hit bull's eye here. It's cool, lady, go ahead. You should be good then anyway. Why would that woman sack her bedtime candy, right?"
Mini Bo was already wearing her punching gloves but the brunette calmed herself down.
"Just remember my words, when I say, she will get bored with you sooner or later."
He is not worth it. He is not worth it. He is not worth it!
Bo turned around, took a deep breath and carefully opened the door. She had other things to deal with than an obviously rejected bartender. The sound of the piano brushed over the brunette's face when she entered the room and closed the door behind her.
Her Boss was playing frantically. The notes were wild and loud and mirrored exactly the brunette's mood. That conversation had stirred sleeping dogs and Bo needed a minute to get herself together again.
The worst part was, that the brunette had thought the same things about her Boss when she started the job. Before she got to know her better and before all those other feelings came up and changed the gameplay completely.
Bo watched the blonde from the semi darkness. The frenetic moves slowed down and the song switched to something almost melancholic.
The brunette's heart sunk by the sight of the woman sitting on the music stool. Her blonde hair had fallen into the front, so Bo couldn't see her face but by the way she held her body, Bo knew her Boss felt exactly what those notes were saying. Suddenly the room went silent and her Boss took a sip of her almost empty glass.
"Did you know that a piano has over 12.000 parts?"
The blonde jumped when Bo's voice broke the quietness. The brunette mentally slapped herself for that stupid remark, but she just couldn't find the right words to say to make an entrance. Bo walked across the room and stopped next to one of the seats in the first row.
"And around 10.000 of them are moving."
The blonde held her gaze on the keys in front of her.
"Uhm, yes. Actually I do know that."
Bo clicked her tongue.
"Of course you do."
The ice cubes floating in the amber liquid were almost melted when her Boss took another sip.
"Why are you here?"
There was a despondency in her Boss' voice that made Bo sigh and sit down on the edge of the soft leather seat. Folding her hands in her lap, the brunette looked up and into those whiskey brown eyes. Bo didn't know how much she had missed to see their shine until now. But that light they usually radiated was exchanged with a dash of sadness.
"I, uh, I really need to talk to you."
The blonde just continued to stare at her assistant.
"I want to apologize. For yesterday. I didn't mean to…"
The blonde shook her head slightly and lifted her hand to stop Bo from talking.
"You don't have to apologize. It's okay. I understand."
"Oh, you do?"
Her Boss sighed and emptied her glass.
"Yes, I do."
Bo clapped her hands together and stood up.
"Well, great, because I don't."
The brunette started pacing with her hand on her forehead.
"Maybe you can explain it to me then, 'cause I'm struggling here. All I know is, that we were playing the piano, together. Like, we had a really good time, I mean, I thought we did. And, and, and, then I kissed you and you kissed me back and I, argh…"
Bo's hands were now wildly gesticulating while she kept on walking. The blonde's eyes followed her assistant's every step.
"Well, we kissed and oh boy what a kiss. I mean, I don't think I've ever been kissed like that and you made me fe-…"
Bo had to swallow. The words just came flying out of her mouth. Her brain was on standby and mini Bo had the strings in hand.
"You made me feel… so much. I…"
The brunette stopped pacing and dared to look at her Boss who was just sitting on that stool, listening.
"I didn't know what else to do but run. I'm so sorry."
Bo was fiddling with her fingers, searching her Boss' eyes for any reaction. She was waiting patiently for the blonde to put her out of her misery, but those light brown eyes were just looking at Bo.
"Can you please, just… You know? Say something?"
A few seconds went by before her Boss turned back to the claviature and let her right hand stroke slowly over the white keys.
"Where did you go?"
The vulnerability in the way her Boss said those words, had not failed to leave its mark on the brunette.
Bo sat back down on the leather chair closest to the piano.
"I went for a walk, sat on a bench. I might have drunk too much cheap wine and forgot the time. Oh, that was a rhyme. Wine. Time."
The brunette blushed and rolled her eyes over herself.
"Never mind."
"You were gone all night."
It wasn't a question, more like a statement.
"I know. I-…"
A sound cut Bo off. Her Boss stood up and reached for her jacket, which was hanging over one of the seats. With her phone in hand, she gestured, that she had to take that call.
"Hey. Yes. Perfect. I'm on my way. Thank you."
Her Boss' voice was softer than she usually talked to people on the phone. Or people in general that weren't Bo. The brunette got a whole different spectrum of sounds from her Boss. Not, these kind of sounds. Sounds like, in the way they spoke to each other.
Anyway, listening to that short but almost intimate conversation, Bo felt a little sting in her stomach. What the deuce was that?
"We have to go."
"What? Where?"
Her Boss walked past the brunette, opened the door and went out.
"Argh! She really needs to work on her social skills. And here I thought I was bad with that whole conversation stuff."
Did Bo not just basically spill her guts to the recreational pianist? Taking her jacket, Bo rushed out of the lounge and past the bar, where four curious eyes followed her through the restaurant. Just in time, when the elevator doors closed with a soft whoosh, she had caught up again.
"What are we doing?"
"We are taking the elevator. Or would you prefer the stairs up to the twenty-fifth floor?"
Bo had to think about her apartment building and the staircase up to her place. The hell no!
"First of all, no thanks. But also, that was not what I was asking and you know that."
The doors opened again and when Bo turned her face away from the blonde and back to the front, she saw the loft door wide open.
"Did someone brake into the loft?"
The blonde chuckled.
"Something like that."
If Bo hadn't been too concerned about fighting a burglar after binge eating those delicious Galletteres – or what the name of that pancake was again – she would have celebrated that chuckle internally. That sound was one of her favorites by far. Miss Lewis didn't hand out something like that randomly and it needed to be savored and appreciated.
Stepping closer, Bo could her a familiar voice, mumbling words she didn't understand. When they entered the main area the voice came running towards them.
"My lovelies!"
„Petra?"
Bo was taken by surprise when said Petra first hugged Miss Lewis and then wrapped her arms around the brunette and hugged her, too. One of those tight hugs with an extra squeeze that she only knew from her second cousin, which wasn't even her second cousin but her mum's, but who could keep track of those family relations anyway.
"Laur, I have the best of the best coming up in a second."
Bo eyed her Boss sideways and mouthed 'Laur', which earned a shy smile from the blonde.
Oh, someone will owe me an explanation afterwards!
"The two of you will look fan-tastic!"
And with that the elevator doors opened again and two clothe rags on squeaky wheels came rolled into the loft. The young concierge, just tipped his forefinger on his hat, went out and closed the door behind him.
A loud clap startled the brunette, who was still trying to figure out, what in Katie Perry's name was going on around her.
"Okay, Lauren, you know the procedure. Go on and look through the dresses. I will take care of this charming treasure over here first."
Petra moved over to Bo, laid her arm around her waist and guided her over to one of the rags. The brunette threw a mystified look to her Boss, who just shrugged her shoulders and gave Bo a small, reassuring smile.
"So, my dear. Let's get you into one of those."
Rag in one hand, Bo in the other, the designer maneuvered them into the brunette's room.
"Get out of your clothes and try this."
"But, uhm…"
"No need to be shy around me, my heart."
Bo? Shy? That was further from the truth than the brunette's five-year-old self from learning how to cycle. To her defends, her cousin was a crappy teacher. He said, he wouldn't let go but he did and Bo was not only falling, but also had some serious trust issues afterwards. She hadn't touched a bike ever since. Who needed to know how to sit on two wheels when they could sit on four or freaking walk for that matter.
"So, try this one first."
Petra was holding a hanger with her forefinger. A dark blue, strapless dress that was longer than the designer was high.
Bo had almost tried all of the dresses and every single one of them fitted her perfectly. Every curve was accentuated in the best ways and the fabric of all of them was as if she was wrapped up in a cloud. Not that she explicitly knew how a cloud felt like, but it probably felt like that.
So, every time Bo looked at herself in the mirror that was fixed on one side of the rag with an 'ah' and 'oh' on her lips, Petra scanned her up and down. The older woman was tugging and straightening what the brunette thought was laying on Bo's body like a second skin.
"No."
Nothing seemed to be good enough.
"Nope."
And Bo didn't even know why. She looked like the first lady of freaking jaw-dropping-land.
"Nah-ah!"
"But this looks amazing. See how it falls over my-…"
"Not good enough."
Bo sighed for what felt like the hundredths time. Then finally, a jade-green, strapless, ankle long dress let Petra's eyes sparkle and a little squeak escaped the designer's lips.
"This is it!"
The brunette turned in the mirror and watched how the dress moved in the most elegant way around her legs. A long slit, that revealed her mid-thigh all the way down to her foot. There was no extra chi-chi like pearls or sequins or other bling bling. Bo loved it.
"Yeah?"
Petra stood next to Bo and looked at her through the mirror.
"Oh, my dear, you look fabulous."
"Thanks."
The brunette stared at herself for another second before she remembered, that she didn't have the foggiest notion of what was going on.
"So, take it off. We don't want any old deodorant stains on it."
After Bo carefully stepped out of the thin fabric and handed it to Petra, who placed it back into it's plastic bag, Bo threw her sleeping shirt over her basically naked form and took a deep breath.
"Uhm, Petra, so, would you mind to bring some light into the dark? Why was it again that I need to have a dress like that?"
The designer turned around to face the brunette.
"It's for the gala, silly."
"The gala?"
"Yes, the gala. Tomorrow evening."
Bo knew which gala, she was just surprised that she would be allowed to go. That sounded a bit too Cinderella.
Anyway.
"You are Lauren's plus one. She usually brings some business partner to an event like this. So, when she now brings you, you must be special."
The older woman threw a wink towards Bo, who felt heat all over her face and only hoped that the blush wouldn't brunette looked down on her bare feet.
"Let me tell you something. But it's a secret."
Petra leaned forward and signaled Bo to do the same.
"Lauren has a lot of layers and she usually keeps people on an arm's length."
No shit, Sherlock.
"She also usually doesn't brief her new assistants or is patient enough to even try to explain things. And she even did it twice in the plane. For you!"
Petra patted Bo's forearm before she turned back around and got a hold on the rag. She was already on her way out when the brunette found her voice again.
"How come you know all those things? And why does she let you call her Lauren? And why-…"
The designer just lifted her hand and shook her head.
"This is not for me to tell."
Dammit!
The door closed with a soft click. It had gotten later than Bo would have guessed. But then again, it was a shit load of a fitting-marathon. The brunette felt the tiredness now as if Mister Sandman had forgotten all about Bo the past nights and now wanted to make up for it.
Yawning she got ready for bed and laid down. She would have to talk to her Boss tomorrow.
"What a day!"