Page 36 of Time To Live Again

“I’m sure I can squeeze something in for you between my work hours.”

“I hope so. Since you’ve been good to me, how about I check out your website before you work again tonight? Or has the problem been resolved?”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re not here to work.”

Olive places her hands on her hips. “Come on, show me.”

“All right. Let’s go. We can use my mom’s office.” I lead her there, greeting my coworker manning the front desk along the way.

I unlock the door, and we slip inside. Olive looks around, then says, “Tonya must take after your mom. There’s nothing out of place in here. Sticky notes, empty coffee cups, half empty dishes of candy, and wrappers cover my desk.”

“Oh yeah? What’s your favorite candy?” I ask.

“I love sour gummy things. Such a weakness.”

My mouth tingles thinking about it. “Sour gummy things…like bears, worms, and how about tongues?”

She crinkles her nose. “Tongues?Where do you get those?”

I wave it off. “Sorry. I forgot that you can’t find them here. In Germany, you find gummy everything. I load up whenever I’m there.”

“You’ll have to share some with me one day.” She licks her lips, pulling my attention to her mouth.

Fuck me sideways.

I clench my jaw. Now I’m thinking about her petal-pink tongue and what it tastes like. Definitely not sour. Tingling heat spreads all over my body, landing below the belt. “We’re already getting off topic.”

“You asked,” she says coyly.

I quickly sit in the desk chair, hoping to hide the obvious bulge in my pants. “I know,” I mutter, “and I regret it now.” She covers her mouth, attempting to suppress her laugh. “Give me a second to find the login information.”And to calm down certain body parts.

She stands behind me, her hands resting on the back of the chair. I search through the pile of colorful folders that are stacked in the order of the rainbow. Tonya must’ve been in here. Mom’s a neat freak, but not to this extent. I find the green one and pull it out. Once I’ve logged into everything and Olive tells me what she needs, we switch places.

“This is like a foreign language to me. Go for it, but please be careful.”

“My dad owned a hosting company. I’ve been creating websites for clients since high school. Your website’s in expert hands.” She cracks her knuckles and wiggles her fingers for fun.

I peer over her shoulder, trying to follow what she’s doing. Click here, click there at a rapid speed. Windows pop up and close, making my eyes cross.

Several minutes later, she says, “Okay, I think I figured it out. A widget didn’t update properly.”

“A widget what?”

She giggles. “Forget it. Let’s see how it goes.”

We both look up when there’s knocking on the office door. Tonya pokes her head through. “Hey, guys. Whatcha doing?”

I point to Olive. “I think this website master fixed the reservation system.”

Tonya cocks her hip and crosses her arms. “You only met her yesterday, and you have her working here already?Tsk. Tsk.Don’t you want her to come back?”

“He’s a slave driver.” Olive pouts. “Said he’d never talk to me again if I didn’t do it. He’s so mean.”

I guffaw. “What the hell?” She smirks as Tonya approaches us and gives her a high five. “Two against one. That’s what you call mean.”

“Olive, why don’t you come to dinner at Mom’s tomorrow night? She’s making her famous pot roast,” Tonya says. “One section of the hotel is her house, so you won’t need to go too far. I know she’ll want to meet the person who’s fixed our woes.”

Smooth, Tonya.Meddling always was her thing.

---