Thank you all for reading so far. I appreciate all your feedback and comments!

/

"Thank you for tonight."

Fitz smiled softly. They were standing outside her apartment, and he'd made no moves – which surprised her a little. He'd gotten out of the car to open her door and help her out, which wasn't really necessary but she appreciated it all the same. He was definitely a gentleman.

"It's been my pleasure, Ms Pope. We should do it again sometime."

She hoped her blush wasn't as obvious as it felt. "Sure. Call the office whenever you need to talk about the case, and I'm sure I can… make time for you."

Her voice wobbled a bit under the unwavering heat of his stare. God, did he always have to look at her so intensely? It was off-putting.

"Glad to hear that," he murmured. "And don't worry. I will call you."

She swallowed, but her throat was dry. "Good."
A flash of something crossed over his face, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced by his signature lazy smirk.

"Let me know when you get inside." He nodded towards the apartment building behind her. "Text me so I know you're safe."

She glanced at him, finally letting herself make eye contact. "It's right there– I'll be fine, honestly. It's a safe building."

He shrugged. "Just let me know, please?"

"I… Okay. Have a good night."

He smiled properly now, all dimples and perfect teeth, and her stomach flipped over.

"You too, Olivia."

/

Five minutes later, once she had locked her front door and hung up her coat, she did as he'd asked.

Home safe and sound.

His reply was almost instant: Glad to hear it. Sweet dreams.

Even that made her mind spin. Sweet dreams. Her dreams had been more than sweet lately, and had mostly involved him. She wasn't sure if she could handle another 'private meeting' – or worse, a meeting with both him and Leo. She was sure Leo would be able to read her like an open book. He'd know something was going on.

Liv sighed and fell back onto the bed, shutting her eyes.

The first image that popped into her brain was the Fitz from tonight, dressed in all black and looking unfairly sexy.

She groaned inwardly. This is fucking hopeless.

/

The next morning, she dragged herself out of bed to go for her morning run at six. Leo wanted her in the office by eight to run over what she'd collected on Hessler, and since her meeting with Fitz had overrun by several hours, she was running on about six and a half hours' sleep.

That was fine; she could deal with that. She'd had trouble sleeping for years, and funnily enough, those six and a half hours had left her feeling more refreshed than she'd felt in months.

She grabbed a coffee after her run and rinsed her body, then made her way to the office.

Leo was already waiting, Abby informed her as she stepped out of the lift.

"Perfect," she replied. "He's going to love what we have."

She entered Leo's office and set the files down on the table.

"We have Monique's statement, records from her bank which show the money being transferred, and proof of job termination. The dates match."

Leo nodded. "Any witnesses? It would back up our assault claim. Proves he's not just shady, but also a sleazy jackass."

"Mostly dead ends, or current employees who aren't prepared to put themselves in the firing line. Except Tina Lawson. She was an intern at the time Monique worked for Hessler, and would've been around enough to witness everything first-hand. Funnily enough, Tina ended up resigning not long after Monique left, and practically disappeared. Didn't get another job in the city. Ended up moving back to Connecticut after a year."

Leo frowned. "Makes you wonder why she quit…"

"She went back to Yale, actually. Law programme."

"She has a law degree from Yale, job experience with Dwayne Hessler, and she never came back to New York for a job? She could be earning a hell of a lot right now."

"I know. I thought the same thing."

Leo fell silent for a moment, thinking.

"Okay," he said finally. "She could be important, and I'm not risking us letting that go. Good work, Olivia."

He stood up, buttoned his suit jacket and began walking past her.

"Where are you going?"

Leo paused on his way out of the door. "Connecticut."

She laughed in disbelief, but he was deadly serious. "When will you be back?"

He checked his watch. "I'll be back by tonight. Don't worry, I won't miss the deposition tomorrow."

She nodded, relief flooding through her.

"In the meantime, can you drop these files off at Grant Enterprises for me? I was going to swing by later, but I'll be on a plane."

She faltered at the mention of that name, but faked a smile. "Sure, no problem."

"Make sure Grant's comfortable with everything, iron out any minor issues, you'll be fine. Then can you start looking into Van Hiesen trading? We need to find out if there are any inconsistencies Grant didn't know about."

"Of course."

He smiled. "Thanks, Liv. See you later."

With that, he was out of the door.

/

She pushed the files over the desk, towards the woman who was presumably Fitz's secretary. His office door was behind her, the glass embossed with 'Fitzgerald Grant III, CEO' in sharp letters. His chair was empty.

The woman noticed her looking, and lifted up her desk phone. "Do you want me to let Mr Grant know that you're here?"
"Oh, no, that's okay. I don't want to interrupt whatever he's–"

"Ms Pope, what a nice surprise," a deep, recognisable voice came from somewhere to her left. She turned to see him approaching, his suit as impeccable as always. "You weren't interrupting anything."

He gestured for her to follow him into his office, so she grabbed the files back off Lauren's desk and walked through the door. Behind her, she heard him talking in a low voice.

"Lauren, this is going to be a private meeting discussing legal matters, so would you mind…"

Within the next few seconds, the glass walls of the office turned completely opaque.

Liv turned to him as he shut the door. "You really have smart glass?"

The Reston North offices had glass partitions, too – it seemed to be a trend for high-rise offices in the city – but not smart glass.

He smirked. "Of course I do. The CEO's office needs privacy sometimes."

She ignored the insinuation behind that and placed the files on the desk. "Leo asked me to drop these off for you, and I was just going to say if there's anything at all you want to ask me about, regarding our partnership…"

She turned to find him much closer than she expected. There was a dangerous heat burning in his eyes as he took another step forwards. "I'd very much like to discuss our partnership."

Liv swallowed, hard. She was trapped between Fitz and the desk, watching as he closed the distance between their bodies.

He finally stopped a few inches away from her. "Olivia…"

His voice was low and rough around the edges, the sort of tone that made goosebumps raise on her skin.

"Okay, this is exactly what we shouldn't be doing," she hissed, refusing to meet his eye. "Don't you realise how different this is already? I don't usually go for private meetings with clients late at night–"

"You overran at work, we had no choice," he interrupted, calmly.

"-and clients never call me by my first name–"

"You're telling me nobody calls Leo 'Leo'?" Fitz scoffed. "I'm pretty sure they do."

"They do," she admitted, "but that's Leo Bergen. First rate attorney and closer. You only need to say Leo and everyone in New York knows who you mean."

"You are also a first-rate attorney." Was she imagining it, or had he moved a little closer again? "I know what it's like to be young and finding your feet in a company, Liv. Earning people's respect. Believe me, you're going to be on Leo's level pretty damn soon."

She finally lifted her gaze, finding him staring down at her. He was serious. He really thought she could be the next best closer in the city.

Her lips parted, but no words came out. They stayed like that for what felt like five minutes, gazing into each others' eyes, trying to decipher what the other person was thinking.

Fitz was wondering how sweet she'd taste if he tried to kiss her right now.

Olivia was praying he would just put her out of her misery and pull her mouth to his own.

Suddenly, his desk speakerphone flashed, and the tension between them snapped like an elastic band.

"Mr Grant, your appointment at twelve is already here. I've sent him to Conference Room Three. Stephen's heading over there in five."

Fitz leaned over and pressed the intercom. "Thank you, Lauren. I won't be long."

Reality hit Olivia like a truck. "I really should be going–"

"Stephen can handle that guy for another ten minutes." He leaned forward, closing the gap between their bodies until there was practically no space left. Her heart rate had sped up so much in that short time that she felt breathless with anticipation.

This is wrong, she thought.

"You want to spend another ten minutes talking to your lawyer?" The corners of her lips turned up as she fought a smile.

"You want to go?" He murmured, his voice low and rough. "Livvie…"

His eyes were dark, burning into her, and she knew that even if she wanted to leave, she couldn't. Not yet.

"I…" She turned away, feeling herself flush under the intensity of his gaze. "I shouldn't even still be here, Mr. Grant, this is–"

"I think we're far past the Mr. Grant bullshit." His hand was suddenly on her jaw, cradling her face to turn it back towards him. Even just that gentle touch was enough to set her body alight. "Just say my name. You've said it before."

That was an ode to the drunk phone call, she realised with a twinge of embarrassment.

"That was unprofessional and we both know it."

"Fuck being professional." His mouth was now dangerously close to hers, his lower lip grazing her top one. "Tell me to stop, and I will."

She shut her eyes. This was ridiculous. She'd never wanted anything in her life more than she wanted him right now, in this moment, in his office.

"No." Her whisper was barely audible, but he heard it.

"What?"

"I said," she swallowed, "no. Don't stop."

With what sounded like a low growl, Fitz finally swallowed the last of the space between them and crushed his lips against hers. Instantly her body reacted to him, her hands moving to bury themselves in his hair.

His tongue slowly parted her lips as he deepened the kiss, and she couldn't help but moan into his mouth. When he slid his hand to her thigh and pulled one of her legs up over his hip, she thought she was about to lose her mind, because he was all she could feel. His hard body, his soft lips, his perfectly tousled hair. That was it - she was ruined, completely, for any other man's touch ever again. She couldn't turn back from this.

When he finally pulled away for air, she groaned in objection, and he smirked.

"Liv…" He swallowed, looking down at her. She was still pressed firmly between the desk and his body, and she had no intention of moving. "I think… You're gonna have to leave before I can't stop myself."

"What do you mean?" She was still distracted by the sight of his kiss-bruised lips. Somehow he was even more attractive now than how he usually looked.

"I mean," he licked his lower lip. "If you stay here I don't trust myself to not rip your clothes off and take you against this door. And I refuse to let the first time I'm inside of you be in my office in the middle of the morning." He kissed her again; softer this time, less urgent. "I'm not rushing that. When it happens, I'll take my time with you."

She shivered at the thought of him taking his time with her. If that was how he kissed, she couldn't even begin to imagine what he'd be like in bed.

"You'd better get to that meeting," she whispered, her cheeks burning. He gently lowered her leg back to the ground and brushed a stray hair from her face. "But you can't go in like this."

He frowned. "Why not?"

"Your tie."

She reached up to fix it for him, and he smiled softly.

"Better," she said, once it was straight.

"Thank you."

Lauren's voice came back over the intercom, telling him he was due in that meeting in three minutes' time, and he rolled his eyes.

"Go, mister," Liv laughed. "I'm not making you late."

"You can make me late anytime." He smirked as he opened the office door. "I'll call you."

Then he was on his way out of the door, giving the nod to Lauren for the glass walls to turn transparent again. Liv felt like she needed a cold shower after that. Or a very strong drink.

On second thought, maybe both.

/

Fitz got through the meeting, but barely. His mind was constantly thinking about his beautiful lawyer, and the way she'd kissed him back like her life depended on it.

He couldn't begin to imagine having her in his bed. The things he'd do to her if she let him.

"Where's your head?" Stephen said, snapping his fingers.

"What?"

"You haven't said anything since that meeting. You should be happy. Fuller just committed to stand by us no matter what happens with Van Hiesen and the DA's office."

"Yeah, well, he was a close friend of my father's, so I didn't expect otherwise. We've been on good terms for years."

"Still," Stephen said. "Hey, didn't he try and set you up with his niece a few years ago?"

Fitz inwardly groaned. He'd almost forgotten about that.

No matter how much William Fuller was a second father figure to him, there was absolutely no chance of that setup being successful. He'd agreed to one date as a favour to William. His niece was nice, pretty, smart…

She had a degree from Stanford, and in the grand scheme of things, she would've been a great pick for a wife. But Fitz had known she wasn't the woman for him. If his mother had still been alive, she would've said the same thing.

"What was her name again?" Stephen asked, twirling a pen between his fingers. "Something pretty weird… unique, I mean."

"Mellie," he replied without thinking. "Short for Melody, I think."

"Well remembered. You don't regret breaking stuff off with her, do you?"

"No." Fitz thought back to that date. It must've been at least four years ago. "I think my grandma was a bit disappointed it didn't work out, though. So was Fuller."

His grandma had always been over-protective of him. Ever since his mother died when he was a kid, she'd worried too much about him; about whether the pressure from his dad to take over the company someday was affecting him. He'd assured her that it was fine; that being CEO was always his dream, but he had to admit he hadn't expected it to come so early in his life.

She'd been upset when he told her he had no time for romantic relationships, and that there was no point in him leading Mellie on. It was true, though. She deserved to find someone who actually had time for her.

"Yeah, I bet. She'd been after you for years." Stephen looked at him pointedly. "Fucking hell, Fitz, do you not remember that company gala five years ago? She wouldn't leave your side."

Fitz shook his head.

"It was the night you ended up going home with the Vogue model. And it ended up front page of most gossip magazines the next day."

Fitz winced. "Shit, yeah. I forgot about that." He rubbed a hand tiredly over his face. "I was a dick."

"You were a young, rich guy who had girls hanging off him," Stephen said. "I'll never forget your expression when I told you you'd won New York's Playboy of the Year."

"That was bullshit."

"It was voted for by the public."

"In a trashy magazine," he scoffed. "And I'm past that now." He smirked, thinking back to Olivia's lips against his. "I'm done sleeping around."

Stephen rolled his eyes. "You say that now. Wait 'til we go to the bar this Friday, see what happens." He got up to leave the conference room.

"I'm serious, Stephen," Fitz shouted at his friend's back. "I'm done!"

Stephen turned around with a knowing grin. "This wouldn't have anything to do with a specific lawyer, would it?"

"Of course not. Jesus."

"You're full of shit, Grant." Just as he said that, Stephen's phone began to ring. "I have to take this. I'll swing by your office to discuss the files, alright?"

Fitz frowned. "What files?"

"The ones Olivia Pope dropped off about half an hour ago."

Fitz was speechless.

"Yeah, don't think I didn't see you take her into your office. Be careful, boss."

Stephen left to take the call, and Fitz leaned back in his chair.

He knew he could trust Stephen with his life, but if word ever got out that he and Olivia were up to something… or even a rumour… it wouldn't be good for either of them. Really, he should care more about that.

He picked up his phone and opened Messages.

Thanks for fixing my tie.

You free tomorrow night?

/