Chapter 20
TWENTY
OLIVIA
It was hard to believe that a week and a half ago, I had been feeling so horrible, thinking Taj might leave me or that I’d have to skip town.
Other than the initial meltdown I’d had, I hadn’t experienced any negative side effects from the awful things that had been written in the tabloids. Of course, I kept a low profile, so there hadn’t been much opportunity for anyone to berate me anyway.
But I had seen Savanna. Taj wound up giving me an official tour of the current Blackman Boards office, and Savanna’s office was one of the spots he’d been sure to point out specifically.
At that time, Taj’s sister had been busy working in her office, so we had the chance to chat with her for a few minutes.
Archer and Kingston had both stopped in that same day, to see their closest friend, presumably, and neither one of them had been anything but pleasant and kind to me.
Admittedly, I felt like a bit of a fool for thinking that these people would ever be the kind to turn their backs on someone.
Whether their reason for it was because they actually liked me, or they were doing it for Taj, didn’t necessarily matter.
What mattered was that they weren’t allowing anything but the relationship I had with Taj and them to factor into how they responded to me.
In fact, once Savanna learned that I was going to be handling the interior design for the warehouse project, she told me she wanted the two of us to go out for lunch.
Taj hadn’t shared what his plan was for turning the building into something welcoming—mostly because he didn’t exactly have a plan—so Savanna was curious to know what I had in mind.
It truly surprised me that she hadn’t once questioned her brother about my ability to handle such a project.
Either she trusted him enough to make such a decision, or she genuinely believed I could do a great job.
Either way, I appreciated her giving me the chance.
As excited as she was to hear all about it, Savanna decided it’d be best to give me some time to dive into the project first. And it was safe to say I dove in. Headfirst, if I was honest.
And now, I was tempted to ask someone to pinch me every day because it all felt so much like a dream come true.
Taj was still so worried about my safety after I’d confessed to him about Conrad’s threat. It upset me to know he was so concerned, but I had to admit I loved being able to spend every night wrapped up in him. And switching between my place and his made it feel like even more of an adventure.
Simply having Taj was enough to make me happy. But I got his sister and his friends in my life, too. That was far more than I’d ever had.
And yet, it still wasn’t all that I’d gotten coming to this wonderful town. I’d found something that left me feeling so alive.
Ever since Taj had mentioned me having my own interior design business, I’d been doing all the work.
The research. I didn’t want to miss a single thing, and I was prepared to put in the hours to excel at it.
I’d never felt such excitement over work as I had about this prospect of owning my own business doing something that had come so naturally to me.
It was strange, though, that I hadn’t realized it was an option all on my own. If it hadn’t been for Taj, the reality was that I’d likely still be searching for something to do to make me feel fulfilled. Either that, or I would’ve settled for doing anything just to feel like a productive human.
I had already been so caught up in him, and this only added to the allure.
Because it told me that Taj wasn’t just with me for the sake of being with me.
He paid enough attention to notice what I was good at and that I wouldn’t want to have my professional life tied permanently to the person I was in a romantic relationship with.
Mostly though, it was the faith he had in me to be successful when I’d never done any of this on a professional level.
For that reason alone, I’d spent a lot of time at the old warehouse.
The construction wasn’t fully finished yet, but it was only a couple of weeks away.
I spent time there, going over each and every room, in order to help cast a vision.
I wrote everything down; I saw possibilities in my head.
I even sketched out a few ideas, belatedly realizing I had a talent for that, too.
When I looked at the entirety of my professional life—and there was a lot to look at—it was only the last week and a half of work that left me feeling accomplished and contented.
Sure, I wasn’t quite close to finishing the project, but I suspected that if it felt this good at the start, by the time I made it to the end, I was going to feel tremendous.
In all that I’d done recently, though, nothing compared to the feeling I got when I visited Taj in his office.
It had been my favorite part of all that had happened.
I was always eager to meet with him and discuss my ideas for the warehouse.
He listened, engaged in the conversation, and always made me feel like my thoughts mattered.
Then, I made sure he knew that his thoughts mattered, too. Because Taj had shared a few of his fantasies with me. Fantasies that involved the two of us and his office.
As I made my way there now with those memories lingering in the back of my mind, a shiver ran down my spine.
That was something I was still getting used to—feeling desire and want and need.
But considering Taj was a man who treated me better than I’d been treated my whole life by anyone, I wasn’t surprised how often I wanted to be with him like that.
So, if he had fantasies that involved the two of us and his desk, it wasn’t me who was going to stop us from making them a reality.
I came to a stop in the doorway, tapped my knuckles on the open door, and smiled brightly at the man sitting behind the desk. “Knock, knock?”
His eyes met mine, and he returned the smile. “Who’s there?”
It warmed my heart that he never hesitated to entertain my silliness. “Sherwood.”
“Sherwood?” he mumbled to himself, curiosity shining in his eyes. “Sherwood who?”
I licked my lips in a failed effort to stifle my laughter. “Sherwood like to be your Valentine.”
Taj chuckled and rolled his eyes as he sat back in his chair. “First of all, that’s the cheesiest one you’ve told yet.”
I stepped fully into the room, closed the door behind me, and crossed the space, doing it all with a smile on my face. After I placed my bag on his desk, settled myself in his lap, and draped my arms over his shoulders, I said, “And second?”
His hand squeezed my thigh. “How foolish of me to think the breakfast in bed and dozens of roses I gave you this morning would’ve been enough of an indication that you were my Valentine.”
I gasped. “Were?”
“My apologies. Are. You are my Valentine.”
Giggling, I said, “Well, in that case…” I reached over to my bag, dug my hand inside, and pulled out the heart-shaped box of chocolates. “For my guy who can’t get enough of the sweet stuff.”
His eyes danced with delight. “You got me chocolates?”
“Yes. And it’s okay if you have some now, but I’ll warn you not to have too much.”
“Why is that?”
I leaned close, pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, and whispered in his ear. “Because after you told me you were cooking dinner for us tonight, I decided it was only fair for me to make dessert. Since you loved them so much last time, I thought I’d make some chocolate truffles for us.”
Taj groaned and kissed my mouth. “So, share some of these with me. What’s your favorite?”
“I like dark chocolate best. And if it has nuts, especially almonds, that’s a bonus.”
He unsealed the box, took off the lid, and went for a dark chocolate piece that clearly had some almonds in it.
Holding it up to my lips, Taj’s attention was focused solely on my mouth.
I parted my lips, took a bite, and chewed slowly.
Only after he gave me the second half did he lift his gaze to my eyes.
Smiling, I asked, “And your favorite?”
“It’s chocolate. I’ll eat anything. But my favorites will have chocolate crème or caramel.”
I plucked a chocolate and caramel treat out of the box and offered it to him. Taj took it all in one bite, his tongue licking my fingers as he did.
He hummed his delight at the taste, and I couldn’t stop myself from touching my lips to his.
“How is it?”
“Excellent. Not as good as your truffles, but still enjoyable. Even better that you fed it to me and kissed me afterward. Here, let me feed you another.”
I held my hand up. “I can’t eat too much of this. I’m going to get—”
“It’s Valentine’s Day, and you’re stunning. I don’t want to hear one negative word about the way you look.”
I would’ve closed my mouth to stop any additional words from spilling out, but Taj immediately had another chocolate morsel at my lips. After swallowing it and giving him another, I asked, “Do you still have a lot left to do today?”
“I had a couple of things I wanted to look over and sign, but I can wait until tomorrow to deal with them.”
Shaking my head, I insisted, “No, that’s okay. Do what you need to do. I was going to stop over and give Savanna a small box of treats I picked up for her, too.”
Taj smiled. “You got my sister a Valentine’s Day gift?”
I shrugged. “Well, she’s not dating anyone that I’m aware of, so I didn’t think she’d be receiving any flowers or candy today. And since she’s been nothing but kind and loving toward me, I wanted to do something nice for her.”
“You’re amazing. Do you know that?”