Chapter Seventeen
“W hat is wrong with you, man?” Eli demanded.
“Shut up,” Telfer suggested. He let go of the man’s collar. Physical violence wasn’t part of his normal repertoire, but watching Eli pester Laodice was enough to bring out the bruiser in him. “Where’s the key?”
“What?”
“The spare key she gave you. Hand it over.”
Eli looked like he was thinking about some form of protest, but Telfer took a step closer, and he fished it out of a pocket. “My stuff’s still in there.”
“I’ll have it couriered to you.” Telfer glared at him. “Don’t go near Laodice. She told you to get lost, so you stay lost.”
“What are you, her boyfriend ?”
Telfer wasn’t sure what his face did in response, but Eli actually recoiled. “If you pull this again, she’ll have you arrested for stalking,” he said, in a voice he didn’t quite recognize as his own. “And if that doesn’t stick, I will beat the shit out of you. Understand?”
“You’re welcome to each other,” Eli said. “You’re both fucking crazy.” He took off, not quite running down the stairs, and Telfer sat on the top step and rested his head against the railing. Laodice was back there, hurting because her sister was hurting, and he couldn’t go to her. He’d stumbled at the final hurdle.
“What is wrong with me?” he asked himself.
He didn’t have any answers. After a while, he got up and went home.
***
Laodice was a little surprised by the fuss awaiting her return to the office on Monday morning. Objectively, of course, she’d been through something terrible, and she fully expected to pay for it in therapy bills later, but she hadn’t even made it to her office before she was waylaid by people in the lobby and elevators who wanted to express their sympathy.
Stephanie, the Bridal receptionist, was usually unflappable, but even she gaped at Laodice’s entrance.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“Coming to work?” Laodice said. “My leave is over.”
“Insane,” Stephanie said flatly. “Go home. Sleep. Knit things.”
Laodice sighed. “I guess you read the article?”
“Are you kidding me? Everyone in the building’s read it.”
Laodice’s story had been accepted roughly ten minutes after she’d submitted it on Wednesday evening and published online Thursday afternoon. The New Argus editor had been as unsympathetic as Telfer on the subject of adjectives, but she’d been allowed to keep the monastery metaphor. Laodice had slept most of Friday. She’d heard from most of the other Halcyon attendees over the weekend, via email to her work account—effusive thanks from Patrick and Samuel, a stiff compliment on the article from Yvette, the promised dinner invitation from Alma. That one assumed a double date, and she hadn’t replied yet. Nothing from Britt and Carrick, of course. Nothing from Hazel.
Nothing from Telfer.
Now, Stephanie was staring at her critically. “How are you so calm when someone tried to literally murder you only days ago?”
“I’m screaming inside,” Laodice said, and when Stephanie rolled her eyes, she added, “Honestly, I’ve been a little distracted. I don’t know if you follow my sister Xena—”
“—oh man, yes, how is she?”
Laodice winced. Xena had lost her long-term boyfriend and watched her entire career crumple in about six hours. And then, after she’d cried it out over the phone with Laodice, she’d sniffed and asked, “So, what’s up with you?”
And Laodice had had to tell her. As much as she could, anyway.
The sisters chat had been busy, despite the fact that there wasn’t much to say. She and Cassie had privately agreed that Xena had messed up, but from everything Xena had said, she’d never even imagined Zac turning her down. From her point of view, the engagement had been a foregone conclusion, and one she’d been delighted to share with her fans.
“It’s been a rough couple of days for all of us,” Laodice said. “I’ll tell you over coffee later?”
“It’s a date.”
When Laodice walked past her into the office, her eyes went automatically to Telfer’s desk. He wasn’t there. Instead, her other colleagues greeted her with questions and expressions of concern, and it was twenty minutes before she could sit at her own desk and log in.
And Telfer still hadn’t arrived.
Miriam appeared in her office doorway. “Laodice,” she said, beckoning her in. “A word?”
Laodice sank into the chair she was offered. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you the cover story you wanted,” she began, and Miriam laughed.
“My dear girl, you’ve no need to apologize for that. What a terrible coup you scored.”
“I guess.”
“I wanted to discuss two other things entirely. First, I’m afraid that the Bridal department. will be severing its business relationship with Polyxena.”
“I figured,” Laodice said gloomily. “Thank you for telling me in person.”
“She’s young and determined,” Miriam said. “She’ll work something out. Honestly, if the young man had accepted, her virtual stock would have risen through the roof. Everyone loves a successful romance.”
“Emphasis on successful .”
“Precisely. Which brings me to my second point.” Miriam steepled her fingers and gave Laodice a severe look. “What on earth did you do to our Telfer?”
To her intense embarrassment, Laodice burst into tears.
“My word,” Miriam said, and jumped to her feet. She bustled around, fetching tissues and a glass of water and the whiskey bottle from the bottom drawer of her desk: “Medicinal, you know, drink up.”
“It’s 9 a.m.,” Laodice protested, but she took a cautious sip.
“So,” Miriam said. “From my point of view, this all started when my hardest-working and most reliable journalist asked me if he could swan off to a couple’s retreat with you with no notice.”
Laodice sniffed. “He said he had leave approved.”
“He did not. Though I was curious enough to grant him some. Then, after the ordeal you both went through, he called me in the weekend—and I am not sure how he had my home number—and proffered his resignation.”
“ What ?”
“I refused to accept, of course,” Miriam said airily. “But in the ensuing conversation, I managed to glean that you two had… formed a connection, shall we say?”
Laodice gave her a suspicious look. “We could say that.”
“And what an enormous relief that must have been,” Miriam said. “I have been watching you two spark off each other for four years. I was beginning to think you’d never consummate that attraction.”
“I hoped it was more than attraction,” Laodice said forlornly. “I asked him out. And he said no.”
“Did he?”
“He said he’d have to think about it.”
“Well, that was sensible of him,” Miriam said. “You’d both gone through something terrible together and then you came home to discover your sister’s romance had spectacularly and publicly exploded. A brief time apart to consider the matter is only rational.”
“It didn’t feel rational. He looked scared. It felt like I pushed him too far and he ran. Like I do with everyone, I push them too far, because I want too much, too fast—”
“Stop,” Miriam said sharply. “I will allow for a moderate amount of self-pity, but self-doubt is poison. You are wonderful, Laodice. Telfer is a darling. I cannot think of two people better suited to each other, and I’ll be damned if I let you condemn yourself for taking a risk.”
“But we fight all the time!”
Miriam’s clear blue eyes went misty. “I fought at least once a week with my second husband, and he was the greatest love of my life. Tell me this, and be honest. If Telfer were to walk into this room right now and say that he wanted to be with you, would you tell him to go?”
Laodice straightened. “No.”
“Good. Come with me, please.”
She led a mystified Laodice back through the main office, past reception, and stopped at a small door next to the elevator. “Enter.”
“Enter…the maintenance closet?”
“I wasn’t given sufficient notice to prepare something more suitable,” Miriam said, and sniffed. “Nevertheless.”
Laodice was beginning to form some suspicions. She opened the door, and was largely unsurprised to see Telfer standing between the shelves of cleaning supplies, holding a large bouquet of orchids.
She was surprised by his expression. He looked shocked. Awed, even. And nakedly vulnerable, all of his usual defenses lowered as he stared at her.
“Really?” she said. “You weren’t expecting me?”
Telfer cleared his throat. “I thought you’d be Miriam, telling me that you’d changed your mind.”
Laodice stepped into the closet. “Goodbye, Miriam,” she said over her shoulder.
Miriam let out an unrestrained cackle. “I expect you both back at work tomorrow,” she said blithely, and then Laodice closed the door and stared at Telfer.
He stared back. They were so close she could feel the heat of his body. The sweet, subtle fragrance of orchids rose around them.
“Something to say, Terzi?”
“Do you want to be my girlfriend?”
“ Yes ,” Laodice said, and brought his mouth down to hers. The orchids got a little crushed, until Telfer shelved them so that he could put his arms around her.
“How are you doing?” he asked. “How’s Xena?”
“Fine, not fine, and why didn’t you call me? What were you doing all weekend?”
“Taking stock of myself,” Telfer said. “I had a long talk with my uncle. I visited my parents’ grave and talked to them too.” He shrugged. “That was a one-sided conversation, of course, but it made me feel better.”
“But why the flowers and the closet?”
“I thought you deserved something more romantic than a phone call.”
“That’s sweet,” Laodice said, feeling her throat tighten.
“Plus I’ve never asked anyone to be my girlfriend before,” Telfer added. “I wasn’t really familiar with the protocols.” He looked at her anxiously. “I’m probably going to be pretty bad at this, at least to start.”
“That’s okay,” Laodice assured him. “I have lots of practice. The important thing is, do you like me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want me?”
“Very much.”
“Do you want to be with me?”
“More than anything,” Telfer said, and kissed her again to emphasize the point.
***
After a mutual, slightly regretful decision that while kissing in a supply closet was okay, sex at work in the middle of the day was right out, Telfer successfully argued Laodice into coming back to his place.
He could hardly believe she was there at all. His heart-to-heart with Miriam had been unexpected; that Laodice still wanted him seemed impossible.
But she would never lie about that. It had to be true.
“I have some opinions on your decor,” she said, glaring at his black and chrome furnishings.
“We’ll fight about it later,” Telfer promised, and walked her backwards to his bedroom, getting some decent groping in on the way. She laughed and curved against him, her hair tickling his neck as she kissed him.
“I’m going to buy you an orange shirt,” she said, and tackled his buttons. “That’s boyfriend stuff, if you were wondering.”
“I’ll wear it at least once. Want to listen to my nerdy podcast with me?”
“ One episode, and if I hate it, I’m out,” Laodice said. She yanked her dress over her head in one fluid motion, and bounced backwards onto the bed, in a red bra and black bike shorts. “Get up here.”
“I’m enjoying the view. I’ve been meaning to ask, why the bike shorts?”
“Thigh rub. Chafing’s no fun.”
“Your thighs are perfect,” Telfer said, and proved it by kissing the dimpled flesh as he yanked her shorts and underwear down. Laodice shivered and lay back in the pillows, and Telfer lunged in to taste her, so happy he was nearly blind with it. Laodice’s hands tightened in his hair as he devoted himself to mapping out her path to orgasm. She was so responsive to his mouth and hands, so unashamedly vocal in her pleasure.
He could have stayed there all day, but she pushed him away. “I want you to come with me,” she said, and there was an awkward scramble and a great deal of laughter as they rearranged themselves to lie side by side, Laodice curling up her legs and Telfer curving into her from behind.
“No guarantees,” Telfer warned, and groaned as he sank into her warmth.
Laodice guided one of his hands to her breast, and the other to her clit, intertwining her fingers with his until he got the rhythm. “I’m not going to last long,” she said breathlessly. “Touch me. Oh yes. You’re so good at this. Fuck me, fuck me hard.”
Telfer did his best. His hips thrust furiously as he drove into her, every stroke reaching deeper. She clenched around him, her body and voice both driving him on, demanding more, more, now. At the very end, he lost the rhythm on her clit, but it didn’t matter, she was gone, tightening around him in that delicious squeeze, and he let go, mind and body both emptying out with pure bliss.
They lay there, panting, and then Laodice turned in his arms to face him. “Okay,” she said. “What’s this about you quitting?”
“You’re going to be Bridal editor, and I obviously can’t work for my girlfriend,” Telfer said. “I’m going to transfer, though, not quit. Miriam said Money Matters might be interested, and if not, Odysseus Turner gave me a standing invitation to join the Finance team two years ago.”
“He did? You never mentioned that.”
Telfer kissed the tip of her nose. “I’m mentioning it now. To my girlfriend.”
“You’re not going to resent this?” Laodice said anxiously. “I don’t want to be in the middle of a fight with you in three years, and you suddenly pull out the ‘I could have been Bridal editor if not for you’ line.”
“Nope,” Telfer said. “I won’t say I didn’t want it. I did. But not only do I want you more…”
“Excellent, very hot.”
“… I wouldn’t do a better job than you will. It should be you. I was always going to be the also-ran.”
“You’re definitely starting this boyfriend thing on the right foot.”
“Great, but I have no intention of resting on my laurels,” Telfer said, and wriggled down the bed. “Now, where were we…”
***
“One more thing,” Laodice said, some time later.
“I thought you weren’t good at conversation after sex,” Telfer said sleepily. He was stroking her hair with one hand.
“Too bad, you bring out the best in me,” Laodice said cheerily. “I was thinking that we did all this backwards. We got engaged, then we had sex, then you asked me to be your girlfriend.”
“Huh,” Telfer said. “I suppose our first date is next. Want to go to dinner with me?”
“Yep. And then we should organize some kind of meet-cute. Maybe I’m doing some seasonal decorating and you slip on fairy lights and get amnesia?”
“I don’t want to wait until winter for our meet-cute,” Telfer protested.
“Okay,” Laodice decided. “I’ll be late to an important meeting and you’ll be a busy dog-walker.”
“You get caught in the leashes and your papers go everywhere?”
“Yes. Of course you help me pick them up, and you say ‘I know this is crazy but can I buy you a cup of coffee?’ With a shy smile. Can you do a shy smile?”
“I think the bigger problem is going to be me getting my hands on a dozen dogs. Why don’t we go with the classics? We could take turns driving halfway across the country, arguing about whether men and women can ever be friends.”
“If you spent that long in the Spider you’d ruin your back. And anyway, it took Harry and Sally twelve years to get it together. We managed it in four.”
“Go us,” Telfer said, and pulled her closer. “Now, about this no-conversations-after-sex…”
“How long do you think it took Hildy and Walter?”
“Hm?”
“From His Girl Friday . When we meet them, they’re already divorced and she’s getting married to someone else. How long do you think it took them to realize the first time?”
“Why are we competing with fictional characters?”
“Come on, guess.”
Telfer made a thoughtful sound. “I’d say…about twenty minutes. He made a pass and was terrified when she took him up on it.”
“Terrified? Really?”
“Scared to death.” He rolled Laodice onto her back and hovered over her. “Good thing she knew what she wanted.”
“Smart woman, Hildy,” Laodice said, and pulled him in for a kiss.
“Okay,” Telfer said after a minute. He seemed to be having some trouble breathing. “I think we’re missing one thing from this reverse relationship scenario.”
“Yes?”
Telfer’s voice trembled. “When’s the appropriate time to tell you that I love you?”
Laodice had a moment where her own lungs didn’t seem to be working right. “Well, traditionally, after you run across the city in a rainstorm,” she managed after a moment.
Telfer nodded. “So not right now.”
“No. But soon.” She pushed his hair back and gazed into his eyes, so warm and honest. “I mean it. Very soon.”
“Soon’s good,” Telfer said, and kissed her again. “I can work with that.”