It takes me a moment to open my eyes and orient myself to where I am. But as the scent of Lauren’s perfume hits my nose, I remember everything. The blindfold, the sex, the pizza, the sex, and then I think there was just more sex.

I know I must not have been asleep that long given how hard it is to even open my eyes. But as I reach over to feel Lauren’s warm body, she’s not there. I move my hand over her spot and feel that it’s cold. Lauren must have been up for a while.

I’m still naked so I look around the room for something I can put on and I see Lauren’s folded leggings on her dresser. I pick them up and put them on. I don’t want to put my blouse back on so I look into a couple of her drawers before I find a soft t-shirt that I throw on.

The apartment is quiet as I walk through it and I realize how much of it I missed last night. The kitchen may be empty, but its large size and open area are clearly meant for someone who likes to cook and host, and it’s only now that I realize I don’t know if Lauren does either. There’s a lot I don’t know about Lauren but intend to find out.

I find her on the balcony, sitting on one of the chairs that had been in the living room the night before. She’s wearing a UT sweatshirt and matching sweats with her hair in a messy bun on the top of her head. She has on the glasses I’ve seen her wear at the office and if it wasn’t for the stricken look on her face, I’d think her whole outfit made her look adorable.

“Hey,” I say when I step out fully onto the balcony. “I didn’t hear you get up. Are you ok?”

She looks over at me slowly and I can’t recognize the expression on her face. It’s one I’ve never seen. She looks scared and nervous all at the same time and my stomach instantly tightens at the sight.

“Lauren, what’s up?” I ask when she just sits there looking at me.

Instead of answering, she holds up the phone that had been resting on her lap. I move over to her so I can take her phone, even though by the look on her face, I don’t want to see what it says. And when I look down, I confirm my own suspicion. I don’t want to see it.

I never realized Seattle was so beautiful this time of year. See you soon, the text reads, and I can see from her screen that it's from Olivia.

As I’m staring down at her phone, she moves past me into the apartment and comes out a moment later with the other chair. She sets it down next to the one she had been sitting in and sits back down.

I join her in the other chair and pass her back her phone. For a moment I don’t even know what to say as my mind races in different directions, but the only place I keep coming back to is confusion.

“I don’t understand. Is she here?” I finally ask.

“I don’t know,” Lauren says in a quiet voice that sounds almost shaky.

“Do you think she is?”

“I don’t know,” she says again. We sit there for a few minutes in silence before she speaks again. “It’s hard to tell with her.”

“Why would she text that if she wasn’t here?”

“Emma, I don’t know,” she suddenly snaps.

This morning is the opposite of how I thought it would go, and I automatically scoot back in my chair at her biting tone.

“I’m sorry,” she says quickly, leaning over to take my hand. “I just don’t know anything. It wouldn’t be completely out of character for her to send that just to mess with my head. It also wouldn’t be out of character for her to just show up. Nobody from Austin knows where I live, so she won’t show up here.”

“You don’t know that, Lauren. I should probably go.”

“I don’t want you to leave, Ems. And I don’t want her to have that kind of power over us.”

Part of me wants to respond that she already does, considering we couldn’t even go out together in public last night. But I also know that wasn’t just about Olivia and the truth is, I don’t want to leave Lauren either. There’s more silence before she speaks again.

“Things were a whole lot less complicated for you before I came to Seattle.”

She doesn’t pose it as a question and I can’t disagree with her. Things were so much less complicated before Lauren came to pitch Interplay. But I also don’t know how to go back to that life now that I’ve met her, and I don’t want to.

“True. But I’m still glad you did,” I reply. “And I have an idea.”

“Tell me,” she says, pulling my hand so that I’m forced out of my chair and onto her lap.

As worried as I am about the text from Olivia, I’m also a little relieved to see the small smile on Lauren’s face as she gazes up at me.

“We go to my place. Order that sushi we never got to last night. Watch something on TV and forget about your ex-wife until we know more.”

She tugs on the end of my hair as her smile grows slightly. “You’re pretty hot when you take control.”

“Want to change places?” I ask with a laugh.

“Now you’re pushing it,” she replies with her own laugh. But just as suddenly as it came out, her face turns serious again.

“I’m sorry, Ems. I don’t know what kind of stunt she’s trying to pull. And I’m sorry if you somehow get pulled in. I wish I could say I’d protect you from it all, but I don’t even know what she’s up to.”

“I don’t need your protection. I told you, I’m not looking for a hero. We’ll figure it out."

Lauren puts her arms fully around me and pulls me closer to her. “Probably best that we go to your place anyway. All I have in my fridge is champagne and leftover pizza.”

“I have a lot of food. And furniture.”

“But do you have thirty candles?”

“That, I don’t have. But we can bring a few if that helps things.”

The mood feels instantly lighter and that feeling only increases as I watch Lauren take her phone and turn it off. For someone in the agency world, turning off your phone even on a Sunday is rare. When she looks up from her phone, her gaze drifts down my body.

“I like you in my clothes,” she says.

“Good, because I’ll need to wear them back to mine,” I reply. “But I need a shower before we go. I’m covered in lipstick.”

“I’ll join you. You got that lipstick on me too.”

“I’m not sure you can blame me for that.”

Lauren gives me a mischievous smile for a moment before her face morphs back into the strained look it had when I first came onto the balcony.

“Are you worried?” I ask her quietly, and she responds with just a small nod.

“Maybe one day we’ll have a morning where our exes don’t ruin it,” I say with a shrug.

“Technically it’s the afternoon now. So, she was kind enough to wait until we had slept a couple of hours.”

“You didn’t mention how sweet she is. I’ll send her a thank you note.”

“Maybe wait until after the pitch is over,” Lauren replies sarcastically, and despite our banter, she hasn’t lost the crease worrying her brow.

I wish I could say something that would take that look away, but I feel my own sense of dread from the text. Olivia is now tied to me in more than one way and it’s not just everything I know she’s done to Lauren—I’ve also seen first-hand the ways she’s already manipulated the pitch. The fact that it’s happening in Seattle in three weeks instead of Austin is proof of that.

“Shower?” I ask, not knowing what else we can say about Olivia right now.

“Shower,” she replies with a small smile. “You look like a tomato.”

We both get up from the chairs so we can move back into the apartment. The mood is noticeably heavier than it was last night, but as we head back through the apartment, I feel Lauren slip her hand into mine.

For now, the only thing we can do is focus on each other. And getting this damn lipstick off.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Whatever calm I felt with Lauren during our lazy Sunday at my apartment dissipates the moment I walk into my office on Monday morning.

Without Lauren’s warm body near me, and her intoxicating scent and striking eyes, all I can think about is Olivia. Even if this has nothing to do with Altitude, it’s going to affect Lauren if she really is in town, and Lauren’s happiness is now linked to my own.

Lauren has some furniture being delivered to her apartment this morning, so she’s coming in late. And I can’t shake the feeling that Olivia is just going to turn up at her apartment while she’s there.

All throughout yesterday, I could tell that Lauren was putting on a relaxed air that wasn’t entirely genuine. Our conversation flowed like it normally did, but there was an anxious tension under it all. We didn’t even have sex last night, which isn’t necessary every time I see her, but it is a change. Lauren seemed happy to just spoon me on the couch as we watched movies.

As I sit down in my office chair, I have to squirm a bit to get comfortable. Lauren was right and I can still feel the slight aftereffects of her riding crop, which at the time was a sexy idea, but now the dull sting, mixed with my overactive mind, just adds on to my already growing anxiety.

I’m about to head to the kitchen to get coffee when I hear a knock on my door. It’s only 8am and my team usually gives me the morning hour to settle in and respond to emails and I can’t imagine Jackie would be stopping by for one of our normal morning chats. I call out for the person to come in, and my stomach drops when I see the three people there.

Michelle, Guy and Jackie all come into my office and Michelle closes the door behind her. It’s not unusual for the development team to meet without a scheduled time, but Guy’s presence is telling.

“Morning, Emma,” Michelle says as she moves over to take one of the chairs across from my desk.

Guy leans against the wall on the other side of my office while Jackie takes the other chair.

“Morning,” I reply back tentatively.

I look at Jackie with a question in my eyes, but she doesn’t give me any indication if she knows what this is about. It’s only when I look at Guy’s face that my stomach tightens even more. He has the same worried look he had on his face the day he told us about the Ellison pitch. Michelle is harder to read like she always is, but she definitely looks serious.

“There’s a new development on the Ellison pitch,” Michelle says.

That’s a phrase I probably should be used to by now, but it still makes my heart race knowing there most likely isn’t a huge coincidence between whatever Michelle is about to tell us and the fact that Olivia texted Lauren.

“Ellison is going to allow a round of exploratory questions,” she adds, but it’s obvious there’s more to it.

I can feel my own brow scrunch in confusion, matching the thoughts swirling around my mind. It’s common for a client to offer the participating agencies a chance to ask a handful of exploratory questions that can better hone our pitch. Usually it’s over the phone and all the agencies are on it. Each agency is given a letter designation so you don’t know who is asking what. But it evens the playing field so everyone has the same insights on what the client is looking for in the pitch.

“That’s a good thing, right? I mean, it’s a little late in the process considering our research is done. But it could help with the campaign ideas and the presentation itself,” I offer when Michelle’s face remains stoic.

I can see Guy rubbing his face in his hands and that gesture alone alerts me to the fact that something is off.

“What’s going on, Michelle?” I ask.

I look at Jackie again, but she seems more interested in the buttons on her coat than anything happening in this office. Or she’s intentionally trying to avoid making eye contact with me.

“It seems Ellison’s new CEO is in town. And she would like to do the exploratory questions in person.”

“She’s coming here?” I ask, and I can feel the blood drain out of my face as I ask it.

I shouldn’t be that surprised that this is happening. Olivia’s text to Lauren all but told me what was about to happen. Part of me assumed she was here for Lauren, though, not to further decimate our pitch process. But this seems to be her way of messing with Lauren so really, I should have seen it coming.

Michelle’s revelation seems to be enough to shake Jackie out of whatever indifferent stupor she was living in, and even her eyes have widened.

“Why would she come here when she’s just coming back for the pitch in a couple of weeks? Is she going to the other agencies’ offices?” Jackie asks, sitting up in her chair.

She still hasn’t looked at me, but at least she’s acting like a human again. Michelle turns and gives Guy a quick look and I can see him nod back at her.

“We don’t think so,” she says, turning back to my desk. “I don’t have to tell either of you that it’s unorthodox for a client to come here in person for this kind of thing. Most clients don’t even give us the time for a phone call anymore and exploratory questions are emailed over. At this point, Guy and I want to level with you. Jackie, as you put it in our first meeting about this, we can all see the elephant in the room.”

Michelle lets out a sigh before she continues. “The leadership team isn’t naïve to the fact that this pitch is a long shot. And that Olivia Ellison seems determined to throw a wrench in our way where she can. But as Lauren has outlined, there are ways around her. Ellison’s board is heavily involved in the direction of the company and even more now that there’s a transition of power from Richard to Olivia. We just need to do everything in our power to appeal to them.”

“And do nothing that can give Olivia even more reason to bet against us, which is why the exploratory meeting will be so important,” Guy chimes in.

I can’t help but look at Jackie as the words come out of his mouth and she finally brings her gaze to me. But I wish I hadn’t looked because her eyebrow is quirked and she’s giving me a challenging look. Luckily, Michelle and Guy can’t see her face. The last thing we all need right now is for them to know just how much Olivia would bet against us if she knew I was dating her ex-wife.

“When will she be here?” I ask, trying to do whatever I can to move the conversation away from the thing that’s making my stomach turn into a ball of anxiety.

“Tomorrow,” Michelle says. “Which means, we need to spend today preparing questions. I’ll need you both in Anchor with me all day, so please clear off whatever you have on your schedule. The final research meetings can wait until we’ve gone through the exploratory meeting. It could change our direction anyway.”

“Who will be in the meeting?” Jackie asks.

“From our side, it will just be me and the two of you. Olivia will be in attendance with her new PR lead,” Michelle says as she looks down at her phone to read off a name. “Madeline Rosario. Lauren has told us that she’s Olivia’s senior account lead for her consultancy firm. We don’t know much about her beyond that.”

“Lauren told us that she’s pretty smart. And very loyal to Olivia,” I say.

“Neither of them has experience in sustainability. We won’t push that point tomorrow, but it will be something to keep in mind as we talk to them. We need to gauge their own knowledge,” Michelle adds.

“When are we meeting today?” Jackie asks.

“We’ll meet in Anchor in an hour to give you time to fix your schedules. Emma, please bring all the research we have so far.”

“See you in an hour then,” Jackie says as she gets up from the chair and leaves my office without so much as a glance back to me.

“I’ll be in my office if you all need me,” Guy says and follows Jackie out.

Michelle stays sitting quietly in the chair for a moment as the two of them leave.

“Emma, is everything OK with you and Jackie?” she asks suddenly.

My heart rate picks up at her question and I hope my face isn’t giving me away.

“Everything is fine,” I reply in the steadiest voice I can muster.

She gives me another long look before she responds and I’m instantly reminded that this woman has watched me grow in this company for the past two years and lying to her isn’t as easy as it would be to someone like Guy.

“I thought I noticed it on Friday night. But today I definitely can tell something is off,” she pushes.

“It’s outside of work stuff. And it’s nothing. We’re both professional and will get the job done,” I say as confidently as I can.

“Look, I don’t have to tell you how high the stakes are on this pitch. I know it’s not fair to put you in this situation, but this account is a huge deal for Altitude, especially given the budget for this campaign. We have to show Leadership we did everything to retain it. I need to know now if Jackie needs to come off the account.”

For a moment I don’t even know what to say. It would probably be a relief for Jackie to come off this account. But I also know how it will look to her if Michelle takes her off because I told her to. And I also can’t divulge to Michelle why we’re even in a fight to begin with.

“If we have any chance of winning this, we need Jackie. She’s the best creative mind in the network.”

Michelle gives me one quick nod and gets up from the chair. “I trust your judgment. But please come to me if there are any issues.”

“I will. I’ll see you soon.”

Once Michelle leaves my office and closes the door, I lean back in my chair and close my eyes. For a moment I just breathe and allow my mind to focus on the dull throb coming from my right ass cheek. Somehow centering on that helps to steady my jumbled mind.

I wish I could fast forward the next few weeks and just be done with this drama. But I have a feeling this won’t be the last twist in my Ellison saga. I don’t have much time before I have to be back with Michelle and Jackie, so before I reach out to my team to clear my calendar, I send Lauren a text.

I know why she's in town.