A Heart to Trust A.L. Brooks (romantic story to read .txt) 📖

me a chance at that. I’d like to help you work on this presentation for Derek.” She held up a hand. “In the background. The credit for this is all yours, trust me.”

“Do you think it’s worth doing? How likely is Derek to not only listen to what my idea is but actually make changes this late in the day?” Her skepticism gave her voice a hard edge.

Olivia shrugged. “I have no idea. But my grandmother always used to say, ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get,’ so…”

“Well.” Jenny let out a loud breath. “This is definitely not the start to the week I expected.”

Olivia chuckled. “Then…?”

Jenny looked once more into Olivia’s eyes, searching for anything preventing her from taking the leap. Warmth and honesty were all she saw. “Then I guess we’re working on a presentation together.”

Olivia’s smile lit up the room.

Chapter 18

“I booked the small meeting room for a couple of hours this morning,” Olivia said as soon as Jenny walked into the office on Wednesday morning. “Your calendar was free, so I took the liberty.”

You can take liberties with me any day, Jenny wanted to say, then almost groaned aloud at how truly awful that would sound. “Sure, sounds like a great idea. I mocked up a couple more things last night at home, based on what we talked about in our session yesterday.”

They’d spent their first hour of working together on Catwalk 2.0, as they’d taken to calling it, on Tuesday afternoon. It had got off to a slow start; Jenny was still wary of Olivia, despite all Olivia had said on Monday, and Olivia tried almost too hard to put Jenny center stage. But they’d settled gradually, and the more they talked about Jenny’s concept, the more ideas they threw into the mix to polish it up, the more they relaxed with each other.

“Great!” Olivia’s smile did that tingly thing to Jenny again.

I need to get on top of this. Yes, we’re working on this presentation, and yes, Olivia does seem a very different person from the one I thought she was, but she is still a married woman.

“Hi guys!” Chrissy appeared, beamed at Jenny, then dropped a much lower wattage smile on Olivia. “What are you two up to?”

There was a tightness around her eyes that rang a small alarm bell somewhere in the back of Jenny’s brain. She’d had no opportunity to talk to Chrissy after Olivia’s revelations on Monday. I think I need to find time to do that today. “Nothing much,” Jenny said before Olivia could respond. God knew it would only be something snarky coming from Olivia, and Jenny didn’t have the capacity to deal with a fight between her and Chrissy first thing in the morning. “Catwalk stuff.”

“Oh.” Chrissy didn’t look convinced but dropped the subject. “Coffee?”

“I’m good.” Jenny pointed at the full cup on her desk. “Want some M&Ms to start your day?”

Chrissy laughed. “Always. But after I’ve had my coffee.” She walked off toward the coffee station.

Relief at diverting her washed through Jenny.

Olivia quirked an eyebrow at Jenny. “You didn’t tell her what we’re working on?”

Feeling a little defensive, Jenny shrugged. “Not yet.”

“Oh.”

They held each other’s gaze for a moment or two, then Olivia swung her chair around to face her screen.

“I think it’s ready,” Olivia said after Jenny had scrolled through the presentation once more.

It was Thursday morning, and together they’d worked on Catwalk 2.0 for about fifteen hours total over the last three days. They’d each put in time at home, researching everything and trying to think of all objections Derek might have and their responses.

“Yeah?” Jenny’s nerves had only seemed to increase as the week went on.

Olivia had assumed the more they ironed the plan out, the better Jenny would feel. “You okay?”

Jenny nodded vigorously, but her eyes were wild.

“Hey.” Olivia closed the lid on Jenny’s laptop. “Look at me.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Jenny turned and met Olivia’s gaze.

“It’s a brilliant idea. And we’ve put together a great way to sell it to Derek. It’s time to show him.” Especially as the event’s in ten weeks, and if it is going to change, it needs to start pretty damn quickly. She decided not to share that thought with Jenny; the poor woman was practically hyperventilating as it was.

Jenny’s knee bounced as her foot tapped the floor. “I know. I know. It’s just…” She shook her head. Her hair color this week was purple and, much to Olivia’s annoyance, it suited her. “I never had this problem working with Adrienne. I always knew I could throw my ideas in there and she’d listen to them. She might not have agreed with them, but she always encouraged me to keep coming at her with them.” She blinked rapidly. “With Derek, I… The guy hasn’t exactly gone out of his way to treat us like people with brains, you know?”

Olivia chuckled. “Yes, that is true.” Then she shrugged. “Look, I don’t know how he’s going to react. His business brain might rule, in which case he’ll see what a better prospect it is. Or he might be a complete asshole.”

Jenny snorted with laughter. “Sorry, but somehow you saying asshole in that British accent always makes me laugh. It just sounds wrong somehow.”

Olivia leaned in. “How about wanker? Does that sound better?”

Jenny laughed again. “It certainly sounds more British.”

They smiled at each other, and Olivia’s stomach gave a pleasant little flutter.

Jenny was a lovely woman, and spending all this time together had been wonderful. Although it was hard too. The more she got to know Jenny, the more Olivia liked her and the harder it was to ignore the voice in her head that told her to play it cool, to keep her distance, and to not risk everything. She’d had one close call the night of the party—the last thing she needed was to get herself into another awkward situation that led to, at best, questions from Jenny. At worst, it led to