Chapter Thirteen
Theo sat next to Olivia in their usual coffee shop.
Between them on the small table was her laptop, the back of the screen littered with meme stickers, beneath the keyboard a series of pink and yellow sticky notes, scribbled scrawl in blue ink noting down comments and words she would use later in her writing.
It was midday, and after receiving a ‘we need to talk’ text from Olivia at lunchtime, he had taken an early lunch to meet her at her writing spot.
He saw her cheeks blossom with red when she noticed his glance move upwards. It was only then that he realised her chest heaved with heavier breaths than moments before. “I just need to start choosing better guys for you. Has your criteria changed since you started the research?”
Olivia folded her laptop closed and reached down into her bag to bring out that green notebook. Flipping it open, she secured the page with the elastic and passed it over to Theo.
Leading Man Attributes:
(The first four are non-negotiable, the others subject to change.)*
Respectable.
Ambitious.
Chivalrous.
Kind.
Tall.
Romantic.
Interested. (NOT looking at the bloody waitress behind me.)
Remembers small details, most importantly my name. (I’M NOT RACHEL!)
*Correction. All are non-negotiable.
Believe it or not, the list was not crazy demanding.
Olivia just wanted a nice, decent guy to be her leading man.
Someone who would respect her, and her leading character.
One thing Theo knew as a man in his early thirties was that what she was asking for, what she expected, was a lot harder to find than she might think.
The men he had set her up with so far, he had thought were all right. Obviously, he was wrong, and that fact left a sour taste in his mouth.
“This doesn’t seem like a lot to ask for.” Theo passed the book back after taking a long glance. “How’s the writing going anyway?”
The café was busier than normal, with office workers seeking a quick midday caffeine and lunch break away from the cold outside.
“Despite being on one bad date, and one mediocre date, at least I’m writing. Given, it’s not good, but it’s something.”
Theo admired how optimistic she was. If he had a deadline for a novel fast approaching and had gone on the dates she had, he wasn’t so sure he’d have the same pep in his step as she did.
He would almost certainly begin to look at other ventures, including other ways of helping.
His friend, Finn, worked as a business analyst not too far from here and Theo had learned a thing or two from him in regard to fixing problems, and Theo liked fixing problems.
Call it selfish, but that might have been the reason he wanted to help her in the first place. He wanted to fix her writer’s block. Allow the gorgeous woman before him to have another bestseller. But she also intrigued him.
Her books were good, great even. Strong characters and solid storylines with erotic love scenes that had made him blush the first time he read them.
He had been on the underground, huddled on an end seat, reading filthy words that had come straight from her mind.
A young woman wearing a daisy sundress had glanced at him from across the train carriage, eyes moving down to the book and back up at him with a wink, and had quipped a flirtatious, “You up to page 160 yet?”
Oh boy, he had passed page one hundred and sixty moments before, and he felt himself grow even more uncomfortable in his extremely public location. He had slapped the book closed and shoved it back in his bag before promptly getting off the train at the next stop.
Embarrassment had never been a problem for Theo, but that woman had clearly read the same book and knew how the two characters hadn’t even managed to make it out of the car park of the diner before they were getting sweaty and naked in the back of the main character’s truck.
The way both characters licked whipped cream off each other’s bodes slowly and sensually behind the tinted windows, excited by the prospect of being caught at any moment.
Olivia’s writing, however, had a way of meshing important messages with a comforting amount of romance and class.
These books were nothing like the Mills the double slash is that I need to add dialogue or expand, and, well, the asterisk leads to my other notebook…
” Olivia paused and reached into her bag, pulling out a small red binder.
“… where I have series of ideas ranging from small colour wheel details to my chapter-planning and inspiration pictures. It all helps me write more cohesively. I know it makes no sense—”
“It makes sense,” Theo interrupted her. “It makes perfect sense. It’s your method.”
Olivia’s cheeks pulled up into a blinding smile, her top teeth showing as the corners of her eyes crinkled slightly. “Exactly,” she breathed. “It’s my method.”
Their coffees had gone cold by now, and Theo knew his lunch hour was almost over. The warmth of her smile, combined with the gentle heat being pushed out by the radiator next to them made him want to stay and talk with her forever.
Closing the notebook in her hand, she leaned forward even further. “Tell me about your sister’s wedding. Her name is Georgia, right?”
Theo took a sip of his coffee, his eyes squinting in disgust over the cooled liquid.
“Yeah, she’s five years younger than me.
Marrying a guy she met in Dublin. He’s a businessman, something to do with property development.
” Theo paused, glancing at her before shifting in his seat.
“I actually wanted to talk to you about that. We’re having a get-together at Finn’s next weekend.
Georgia is coming to visit, and I thought it would be a good time to introduce you. ”
Olivia nodded slowly, her tongue flickering out and licking her bottom lip before she pulled it between her teeth. “Okay, yeah that sounds good. Would we be going as friends or—?”
Theo coughed. “I, um, my family is under the impression the date I am taking to the wedding is something more than a friend.”
“Like a girlfriend?”
“Yeah,” Theo said. “I doubt my sister would let me bring a complete stranger to her wedding. Hence, the agreement.”
“Yeah, no problem. Send me the details and I’ll meet you—”
“I’ll come pick you up, Liv.”
“You don’t have to, it’s quite far.”
“I’m not going to let my date arrive before me, and I am well aware of how much you like to be on time to things, if not at least seven minutes early.”
Olivia flushed once more. She hadn’t been aware that he’d picked up on her tendency to be far too early to everything. She’d rather be early than late. Coffee meet-up or dentist appointment, it didn’t matter. She was there long before she needed to be.
“What’s the rules then?” she asked.
“Rules?” Theo’s long legs stretched beneath the table, knocking against her smooth, tights-clad legs.
When she’d got up for a glass of water twenty minutes beforehand, he’d almost had a heart attack at the way her mini corduroy skirt perfectly hugged her backside.
As his pant leg brushed against the sheer fabric clinging to her shapely legs, he took in a breath. She began speaking.
“Can I touch you?” Olivia blurted. “I mean, at the get together. What are the rules around public displays of affection. Do we have to kiss?”
Theo let out a booming laugh. “If you want to kiss me, Olivia, believe me, I have no objection.”
Olivia opened and closed her mouth, unsure what to say next. He decided right there that he loved making her speechless.
His eyes burned into hers with an unconcealed fire. “To sell the whole relationship thing, don’t get freaked out if I give you a kiss on the cheek, or hold your hand. Subtle touches are what people most often look for. For example, the way your body reacts to mine when we sit next to one another.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, since I stretched my legs out beneath the table, your leg has been gently pushing against mine. We’ve essentially been playing footsie for the past ten minutes.”