CHAPTER 12
Arwen
Arwen ran her hands over her face as she stared down at the email from the attorney claiming that his clients weren’t interested in including everything about the auditor that she’d requested.
They would only agree to two visits a year instead of four, and they wanted advance warning about them, no surprises. She hit reply and started typing.
“That is not what we agreed to, and I will not agree, nor will my clients, to alerting your clients in advance of the auditor’s arrival.
The point, as I’m sure you’re aware, is to make sure your client is following the law and not merely cleaning up right before the auditor arrives.
If they are only agreeing to two visits, those visits will be random; your client will not receive an advanced notice.
Sincerely, Arwen Lam,” she read the email out loud to herself before sending it.
“Wow. You’re tough. I like it.”
Arwen looked up and smiled when she saw Iro standing in her doorway, holding yet another flower.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in surprise.
“I had a meeting on this side of town, and I was free for lunch. I thought I’d see if you were, too. No pressure if you’re not.”
“You came straight from a meeting?” Arwen asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, I did. But I may have stopped by a florist on the way here and grabbed this for you.” Iro walked over to Arwen’s desk and handed her the yellow tulip. “I hope you like it. I would have gotten you a dozen, but I thought your co-workers might start talking if you received bouquets every day.”
Arwen set the flower on her desk and stood up.
“They will. Thank you. Also,” she said and leaned in to kiss Iro quickly. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Iro replied. “So, any chance you’re free for lunch? It can’t be a very long one because I have a meeting in an hour and a half, but I wanted to see you, and instead of eating in the car on the way to my next meeting, I thought I could take you out.”
“I’d love to. Zara and I were supposed to go to lunch together today, but she hasn’t come into the office yet or replied to my texts.
Honestly, I’ve been a little worried about her.
She’s got a bad cold or something, but she’s being stubborn, refusing to go to the doctor.
I’ll have to stop by her place when I get done here if she doesn’t at least respond to my messages. ”
“I’m sure she’s okay,” Iro said and took Arwen’s hand. “Also, I checked, and there’s not really a vegan place close to here. There’s a bistro with a lot of salad options. Would that be all right?”
Arwen smiled at her and replied, “Yes. But one second, okay?”
She walked around the desk to close the door, and Iro seemed to have guessed what she wanted because she leaned back against it and opened her arms for her. Arwen moved into her, standing between her legs, and wrapped her arms around Iro’s neck.
“I just want this for a minute. Is that okay? Do you have enough time?”
“I can make time for this,” Iro replied as Arwen pressed their foreheads together.
Arwen leaned in and captured Iro’s lips then.
They were so perfectly soft, and she couldn’t resist kissing this woman, even though she was at work and her colleagues were right outside the door.
Yes, they knew she was gay, but they didn’t need to see her making out with the new woman she was seeing.
“Is tomorrow night okay?” Iro asked.
“For what, exactly?”
“Our second date, Arwen,” Iro said with a smile. “This lunch doesn’t count. I really was just in the area and couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
Arwen watched Iro’s hand as it moved down her neck, over her shirt, and rested between her breasts.
“Tomorrow night is good. I would tonight, but I have a mountain of work to do, and I might need to check on that stubborn best friend of mine,” she replied.
“Let’s go get lunch. If you want to do this in the car on the way there, I’m more than fine with that.”
Iro pulled her in closer.
Arwen laughed and said, “I think we’ll be sitting next to each other, with our seatbelts on, so that might be difficult.”
“Well, that’s disappointing,” Iro said before kissing her quickly.
Then, she held out her hand, and Arwen took it, grabbing her purse on their way out.
“Ma’am?” the driver asked once they got into the car.
“The restaurant I mentioned,” Iro told him.
“Yes, Ma’am,” he replied.
Then, Iro’s phone rang.
“I apologize. Just let me see who it is,” Iro said, pulling her phone out of her suit jacket. “Sorry. One moment. Please excuse me.” She put the phone to her ear. “Yes?”
Arwen placed her hand on Iro’s thigh and felt Iro’s free hand in hers a second later.
“I’ll be there at two-thirty, as we discussed.
Please make sure to have everything ready.
I don’t want any delays on this. It’s already cost us millions,” Iro said into the phone.
“Yes. Goodbye.” She disconnected the call and slid the phone back into her pocket.
“My apologies,” she added and brought Arwen’s hand to her lips to kiss.
“Talk about tough. What was that about?”
“A real estate deal,” Iro shared. “I acquired land years ago, and I have been waiting for someone to express interest once the area around it became more desirable. Unfortunately, there have been issues with a city council member, permitting, and more. It has been a wreck, really, but if this meeting goes as planned, I will still make a nice profit despite the unpredicted costs.”
“How much is a nice profit if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I paid three hundred million dollars for it. It’ll sell for four hundred and fifty or thereabout.”
“A hundred and fifty million dollars?” she asked, surprised. “Holy crap, Iro.”
“You knew I had money, Arwen.”
“Yes, but that’s just one deal. God, what are you doing with me? You could easily marry a Vanderbilt or a Kennedy. Are those still the rich people? I don’t know; I don’t keep up with rich people unless I’m going against them on a case.”
Iro chuckled and said, “This is a once-in-a-decade kind of deal, if that makes you feel any better. It’s a waterfront property in a bad part of town that I knew would turn into an up-and-coming good part of town one day, so I bet on it, and I’m about to win.
Not all investing is this lucrative, and not all of it pays off. ”
“Why do I think it probably pays off for you more than it doesn’t?” Arwen asked.
Iro leaned over, kissed her on the temple, and said, “You would be right. I’ve gotten pretty good at it over the years.”
“Years? I’m thirty-six, and you look younger than me.”
“I’m thirty-one years old,” Iro said.
“You’re only thirty-one?”
“I’ll take that as an insult if you’re not careful.”
“No, I just meant that you’re only thirty-one. How are you this well-off if you, well, if you didn’t come from money? Did you make good connections in school or something?”
Iro glanced out the window and said, “We’re here.”
“Iro?” she asked.
“Yes, I did. I made a few connections, got some initial funding, made good business decisions, and paid those investors back. I’ve done very well for myself, Arwen.”
The door was opened for Iro, who got out first and held her hand out for Arwen, palm up as if she was accompanying her to some kind of fancy gala. They went inside and were sat right away.
“Where did you go to school?” Arwen asked once they sat down.
“Oxford.”
“Oxford?” she asked, surprised.
“Yes. I got a scholarship,” Iro said as she took a menu from behind a napkin holder and handed it to her.
“Holy shit. Where did you grow up?”
“All over,” Iro replied.
“All over?”
“Yes, a little here and a little there. I spent some time on the West Coast, some time in the Midwest, and a little on the East Coast before I went off to university, and when I finished there, I decided to stay and live in London for a time. Then, I moved to Paris before I decided to move back here recently.”
“And you’re thirty-one years old? You’ve done more in that time than most people do in a lifetime, I think.”
“What can I get you?” the waitress asked, interrupting their conversation.
Having ordered their drinks, Arwen wanted to ask more questions, but Iro seemed to want to talk about something else.
“How do you feel about heights?” she asked.
“What?”
◆◆◆
“Zara?” Arwen said when she got out of the car and saw her.
“Yes. Hi,” Zara replied, looking concerned that Arwen had just caught her about to walk into their office building at one fifteen in the afternoon.
“Hi? Where have you been? You didn’t take a sick day. I asked. I also texted.”
“Hello, Zara. Good to see you again,” Iro said, buttoning her suit jacket as if Zara were someone important, making Arwen like her just a little bit more because Iro knew that Zara was important to her.
“Iro. Hello,” Zara said tersely. “Where were you two?”
“Iro surprised me for lunch,” she replied, wrapping an arm around Iro’s waist and moving into her side. “We just got back. I’ve been worried about you.”
“Sorry, I… was busy. I went to the doctor, like you asked.”
“You did?” Arwen took her in more closely now. “You look great, actually.”
“Turns out, I wasn’t sick, after all, and you were worried for nothing, like I told you.”
Zara stared at Iro, who stared back at her.
“Well, I’m glad you’re okay, but you could have at least let me know that you’d be late. We have a lot of work to do. They came back with two auditor visits instead of four, and they want to know the dates. I pushed back that it’s surprise visits only.”
“Okay. I should get inside and get to work, then. Are you coming?”
“I’m going to say goodbye to Iro. I’ll be right in.”
“Fine,” Zara said tersely again and walked inside.
“What is up with her?” Arwen asked and let go of Iro in order to face her.
“I don’t know. Maybe she’s upset about something.”
“Like what?”
“Sounds like you were pretty insistent she get checked out, and she did and found out that she’s fine, so maybe she’s mad that she had to spend all morning at the doctor’s office.”
“Could be. She hates doctors and being sick. I think she hates feeling like she has to depend on people to help her, but some people love her and want to help her.”
“You’re a good friend, beautiful Arwen. And I really do not want to have to say goodbye now, but I have to go.” Iro kissed her forehead. “Tomorrow night, I’ll pick you up?”
“I can’t wait,” Arwen replied with a smile. “Can I get a real kiss, though?”
“It would be my pleasure,” Iro said and leaned in.
Arwen knew they couldn’t get away with much out here; people she worked with would be returning from their own lunches. Still, she wasn’t ready to go more than twenty-four hours without kissing this woman now that she knew how good it felt to have their lips pressed together.
“God, maybe I can push my work off until tomorrow. And Zara’s clearly fine, too. Want to go out tonight instead?” she asked with her eyes still closed.
Iro laughed a little and replied, “I’d love to tonight, but I have a work dinner, even if you’re available. Plus, I have that surprise planned for tomorrow night.”
“You know you don’t have to keep surprising me, right?”
“I kind of like the idea of always surprising you,” Iro said and kissed her again. “I have to go, but I’ll text you later.”
“Okay. Drive safe.”
“I will,” Iro said. “Or, he will.”
Iro hooked a thumb at her driver, who had gotten behind the wheel already.
Arwen watched Iro drive off before she actually went inside, and when she didn’t see Zara at her desk, she went into her own office and found the tulip and an empty glass.
Walking into the kitchen to add water to it, she saw her best friend standing there, holding on to the counter and seemingly staring at the cabinets ahead of her.
“Zara?”
“Yes?”
Arwen heard her sigh before she turned around to face her, plastering a clearly fake smile on her face.
“Are you really okay? You seem different today.”
“I’m fine. I told you, I went to the doctor. They checked me for whatever they could without taking my blood and getting the results back, but I even told them they could do that. He said there was no need; clean bill of health.”
“And I’m glad, but that’s not what I meant. In general, are you okay?” she asked as she filled the glass with water and set the tulip in it.
“From Iro, I take it?”
Arwen smiled down and said, “Yes. She’s ridiculously sweet.”
“I can see that.”
“She’s planning some kind of special second date for us tomorrow night. Another surprise, but at least this time, she told me to dress casually, jeans and a coat, which is helpful.”
“You hardly know her,” Zara stated.
Arwen looked over at her and said, “I know we just met, but what I do know, I like so far. God, Zara, she’s the best kisser. You have no idea. It’s like her lips were made for mine.”
“But seriously, Arwen, what do you really know about her?”
“Where is this coming from?”
“You just met her at some bar. Then, you’re on a date with her, and now, you’re going to lunch with her when you usually eat with me at the office or we go out to grab something. You’re even going on another date tomorrow night.”
“Zara, that’s usually how it works,” she argued. “Generally, you meet someone you don’t know yet, and you get to know them over dates. I mean, unless you’re friends with them first, you have to meet and get to know them, right? Do you not like Iro or something?”
“I don’t know her. That’s the point.”
“You can get to know her, too,” Arwen replied. “Want me to see if the three of us can hang out?”
“On your date?” Zara asked.
“No, another night. Maybe this weekend or something.”
“I don’t exactly think it’s time to meet the friends yet. Yes, we already met, but only because I was there with you.”
“Zara, I’m not sure what’s going on right now, but I’m trying, okay? I like her a lot. I think she likes me a lot, too. I plan to see as much of her as I can, so I’d like you two to get along. I know I don’t date all that often, so this is kind of new for us, but I’m serious about her.”
“Serious? It’s been one date and a lunch.”
“I’m serious about trying with her, seeing where it’ll go. That’s all I meant.” She held up the glass. “I’m going to put this on my desk. I’ll see you later. I can handle everything today on my own if you want to work on something else.”
“Okay. Good.”
“Right. Well, I’ll see you later, then.”
Arwen turned and walked back to her office, still not able to shake the feeling that something was wrong with her best friend, who hadn’t ever acted this way before.