Page 30 of All the Right Words
Eventually, Colin released Olivia from the call. ‘Right. Time to give someone in quality control a talking to,’ she smiled, dialling the phone.
Gina sighed. ‘Didn’t you move Vincent there after he couldn’t figure out the phone at reception?’
Olivia waited for a response from the ringing phone. ‘I asked him to assist Doris, but I told her not to let him do anything. I gave her strict instructions to let him bugger about on his phone all day and give him only busy work. How he’s managed to do this has to be a good story,’ she said with a chuckle. Gina was stunned. This was a very embarrassing thing to have happened to Parker Press, and Olivia, who lived and breathed the company, was shrugging it off. ‘Ah, Doris, Olivia here. We’ve got a problem. A pussy problem.’
Gina headed back to her office to a soundtrack of laughter. She was going to have to wait for the story.
***
Gina was bottomless in a long email chain about an author who insisted on being paid in bitcoin when Olivia threw her door open abruptly. Gina shrieked lightly. Olivia didn’t seem to notice. ‘So…’ she said. ‘I thought you might want an update on last night.’
Gina did, but she didn’t want to seem too eager. ‘Sure.’
‘Well,’ she began coyly, ‘I’m not sure if you realised what was happening at the end there. It all went a bit quiet, I’m guessing.’
Gina pretended to agree. ‘Yes, I, I wasn’t sure,’ she stuttered, trying to block the memory of a breathy moan she just knew had come out of Olivia.
‘Well, we kissed!’ Olivia said, unable to contain herself. ‘Then she had to go home to feed her cat.’
Gina listened to Olivia babble about how great the evening was while she thought about what she’d been told. Or rather, how believable it was. Mid kiss, Harper needed to feed her cat? Gina would have been somewhat worried about that were she in Olivia’s position. But Olivia had taken it at face value, talking about a third date.
Whatever. It was high time Gina peeled herself off from the whole situation. She’d had more than enough. ‘Well, that sounds promising. Glad I’ve helped,’ she said. The past tense was right there for Olivia to hear.Glad I’ve helped. Meaning,I am done helping.
‘You’ve been… There aren’t words for how invaluable you’ve been,’ Olivia gushed.Been. Past tense, fabulous, hint received. ‘So, I’m thinking that since you helped so much, it would be great just to get a little more help,’ Olivia continued, and Gina imagined going to the window and jumping out of it without opening it first.
‘Olivia…’
‘I know what you’re gonna say!’ Olivia interrupted. ‘But you have to understand I’m just starting to get somewhere. I just need the teensiest bit of aid to land Harper.’
‘Land her?’ Gina said with a raised eyebrow.
‘You know what I mean. Seal the deal.’
‘You mean… sex?’
‘No! Well, partly. But I guess what I mean is, like, lock her down.’
Gina didn’t even bother trying to push back. Olivia wasn’t going to let up. This was the flip-side of a person with the strength to resurrect a company on the verge of collapse. They were impossible to say no to because they didn’t give up. Olivia would hound Gina until she got what she wanted. Where the hell would it end? Would Gina be giving her instructions on how to pleasure the woman? Would she be prodding Olivia to say her vows?
There was no end in sight. Gina was trapped.
‘What do you want me to do?’ she asked glumly.
‘Actually, she texted me this morning,’ Olivia said, taking her phone out of her pocket. ‘I was kind of… I don’t have time to talk to her this morning. I was wondering if you could do it? Get that third date?’
‘What do you mean, fake your voice?’ Gina asked, horrified.
Olivia laughed. ‘No, no, just text with her for a bit. You know, a bit of banter, some jokes, flirtation. The stuff people, you know,do.’
‘What makes you think I’m any good at that?’ Gina asked. She hadn’t dated in years. Her flirting muscle had more than likely atrophied.
‘Your prompts last night were invaluable.’
‘That’s not the same as doing the actual talkingforyou, Olivia,’ Gina said.
‘Just a little back and forth to warm her up, and then you pull the trigger,’ Olivia said, putting the phone into Gina’s reluctant hand. ‘Last time,’ she vowed, backing out of the office. ‘I swear.’
Gina didn’t believe a word of it.
