27. Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

She hadn’t heard from Ollie all day on Saturday. Lara was finding far too many moments to frown at her phone, increasingly cranky at cockblocking her damn self. Friday was usually their night. For the last handful of Saturdays she’d been on an absolute sex high, mornings in bed with Ollie, drowning in pleasure, before opening the store for a few hours of peak business in the afternoon.

Instead, Sadie had just shrugged and dropped Frankie off to her place on Friday evening, telling Lara there was a good gig on in Silverbloom that she wanted to take Nico to. When she’d arrived back to pick up both girls in time for Lara to open the shop the next morning, Sadie was the one clearly on a sex high.

“You’re a disgrace,” Lara informed her when she burst in Lara’s front door, twenty minutes later than she’d promised, bed hair, shirt inside out, beaming .

“Oh, don’t start with me.” Sadie had just grinned at her. “I have plenty of ammo on you. Didn’t I literally catch you singing along to Taylor Swift at top volume when I dropped the girls back to you last Saturday?”

“No,” Lara refuted succinctly. “I don’t even know her.” She turned away and called down the hall. “Girls! Time to go!”

“Lars,” Sadie suddenly sobered. “What’s the deal? Why are you avoiding hanging out with Ollie? You seemed so… glowing. I liked it.”

“I’m not avoiding her,” Lara lied. Sadie stared her down. “Fine,” she huffed. “Maybe a little.”

“Why?” Sadie looked genuinely curious. “The sex is hot, she makes you laugh and you look so close to whatever I assume your version of happy looks like that I’m worried you’re going to lose your reputation around town as a lethal fucking witch any second now.” She hovered, her expression intensifying as she examined Lara. “What’s got you running? Is it because she’s leaving?”

“I’m not running.” Lara turned back to the hall again. “Girls, come on!”

“Getting too good?” Sadie’s eyes turned into dark laser beams. “Getting too close? Getting too vulnerable? Like it too much? ”

“Tilly Rees and Frankie O’Malley, I said now!”

The two girls finally came thundering up the hall, the two of them lugging a truly outlandish amount of crap they’d deemed necessary, despite the fact Lara was only going in to work for five hours. Lara helped hustle them all out the door. Sadie did not seem to share her urgency, yelling out she needed the bathroom and then fluffing around for what seemed like ten minutes while Lara squinted up into the sunshine, trying not to lose her temper. When Sadie finally emerged, she waited until the last possible second before she pierced Lara with a solid stare.

“Don’t sabotage this because you’re scared,” she warned her, slamming her car door closed before Lara could retort.

That had rung in her ears all afternoon, Lara ruining half a box of avocados by jamming them too forcefully into their tray. She wasn’t sabotaging. And she certainly wasn’t scared. Of someone hot and beautiful and kind and leaving? Lara wasn’t afraid of being alone. She preferred it. This was a little blip in the scheme of her life, a short moment she’d somehow stumbled into where someone could turn her on like crazy while somehow making her feel actually seen. That possibly in future she and Ollie could maybe decide to see each other when Ollie popped home once or twice a year was a bonus. Actually, that was a perfect arrangement when you thought about.

It’s just… why wasn’t Ollie texting her? It had been well over twenty-four hours. Oh for fuck’s sake. Lara put down her phone and refused to be the one to chase if Ollie wasn’t chasing her. That was not her role in this. If Ollie was playing hard to get or being cool then she had no idea who she was dealing with. Lara had made cool and untouchable look good for the better part of the past decade.

Just before she flipped the door sign to closed, her phone pinged. She grabbed her phone so fast she was embarrassed for herself, but it was just Sadie changing plans on her. The kids were driving her nuts so she’d gotten them outdoors, up to the lookout for a picnic. Could Lara please bring some fancy cheese and snacks because she only had pizza shapes in the house.

Lara drove the long winding road to what should have been a tourist attraction, except that the signpost had either fallen down or been sabotaged by locals who wanted one damn pretty place just to themselves. The lookout was perched halfway up the range and was ostensibly a carpark with a view out over Ribbonwood and the valley below. If you squeezed through the gap in the trees there was a small roo track that led you to a little grassy clearing where you could watch the sunset over the rainforest.

When she entered the carpark her gut clenched. Sadie’s station wagon was nowhere to be seen. Instead a distinctively crumbling old farm ute sat in the far corner.

Lara didn’t know whether to laugh or cry - or worse - collapse into a puddle of gooey relief. So instead she got mad. Striding through the little winding track to be confronted with a blazing pink sunset, a picnic rug set with wine and an extremely attractive woman waiting for her, she threw up her hands .

“What the fuck, Ollie?”

Ollie jerked her head up from where she’d been lazily reclining, watching the view.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t like surprises!” Lara felt ambushed. “And I don’t like being tricked! Especially when I just wanted a little bit of space!”

“What are you talking about?” Ollie scrunched up her elegant brow. “You asked me to meet you here!”

“No, I didn’t!”

Ollie loosened her jaw, her head cocked to one side.

“You texted me literally this morning?”

Lara’s mouth stopped halfway through her next retort. Her teeth clenched together.

“Give me your phone,” she said shortly .

Ollie squinted at her like Lara might be losing her damn mind but she handed over the device, opening it to the message thread.

I want to see you, Lara had allegedly said at eleven-forty-five this morning. Meet me at the lookout at 5:15 and bring wine.

Oh I’m in , Ollie had responded within two minutes flat.

Don’t message me for the rest of the day, Lara had - quite rudely - responded. I’m busy. Save it for when I see you.

Ollie had - quite classily, she reflected - taken her at her word and refused to even respond.

Lara started shaking her head. Those messages were conspicuously absent from her own phone.

“Sadie,” she said tightly. “She set us up.”

“Oh fuck.” Ollie’s forehead furrowed, some of the light disappearing from her eyes. “Wait, so you didn’t want to see me? Why is Sadie making you see me?”

“I…” Lara didn’t know where to turn first, her chest tight, her face burning. She was pissed off and exposed, and this was not what she thought she’d be dealing with this evening and- and- wait. She forced herself to step on the brake and take a breath. She fully took in the sight of Ollie, sitting bolt upright now, those dark eyes full of concern and confusion.

Without another second to reconsider, she let her body cumple, dropping down into Ollie’s lap to straddle her thighs and meet her gaze. Oh god, she appreciated the way those eyes stayed locked to hers, as if to Ollie understanding Lara was everything, and not the tits she’d basically just shoved in her face. And then there were Ollie’s hands, already holding her securely. Lara leaned in and kissed her breathless.

“So… do you want me to take my wine and go?” Ollie’s voice was soft but a little wry as she drew back and gazed at her.

Lara rolled her eyes but her smile slipped out anyway.

“Give me one sec,” she said.

She extricated herself from Ollie and headed back up the path to the car park. She rang Sadie to tell her if she ever, ever pulled something like that again, and to check in with Tilly. Then she grabbed the bag of fancy snacks Sadie had annoyingly decided she needed and headed back down the track.

“Wait-” Ollie held her hand up dramatically as Lara reappeared, as if to ward off disaster. “Which one am I getting this time, a telling off or making out?”

Lara shook her head. This was all kind of a clusterfuck. The sunset at least, was perfect.

“Cheese,” she told her, lifting up the brown paper bag with the Ribbonwood General Store logo on the side. “And a whole pile of other crap you tourists like.”

“Don’t even try with me, Lara Bennett. I’ve seen the hipster whisky you drink.”

Lara set out the picnic she’d made for them - or for someone, anyway - and Ollie watched her do it. She poured a glass of wine, but held it back from her fingers just as Lara reached for it.

“Speak,” Ollie denied her, holding her wine hostage.

Lara glared at her. Their fingers tangled together around the stem of the glass until Ollie relented and let her have it. She didn’t stop looking at Lara though.

“Sorry,” Lara sighed eventually. “It’s been a shitty week.”

“One you want to talk about? ”

“Not really.” She took a sip of the wine.

“Okay then.”

Lara looked at the blaze of pink-gold and deep lavender above, the valley sea-green in the light.

“I just thought I should take a minute,” she admitted, on unfamiliar ground now. “This is kind of… intense for me. I haven’t done anything like this before.”

Ollie was quiet, letting her talk. When Lara didn’t go on, she nodded and shifted her gaze to the sunset too.

“You can take all the minutes you need.” Her voice was calm. “I get it. It’s kind of intense for me too.”

“Do you need some space?” Lara quickly offered, a perverse sinking feeling in her chest. “Because it’s fine if you do.” After all, I’m a lot .

Ollie didn’t reply straight away and when Lara finally managed to drag her eyes from the horizon and look at her, she seemed to be struggling with herself, until finally a slightly exasperated smile broke through .

“I don’t,” she said. “I don’t need space. I’m fine with you taking space,” she clarified. “But honestly, if it were all up to me right now I’d have more of you. So much more.” She swallowed and a blaze of heat and warmth hit Lara squarely in the chest. “I know that’s not fair, I mean… I’m the one leaving in six weeks. I’m fine with you setting the pace you’re comfortable with. I just can’t seem to stop wanting more of you.” Her last words came out whisper soft.

Lara let her lashes drop. She’d really thought it was more like eight weeks.

“You’re not the only one,” she confessed.

“Lara, I know. Half of this damn town wants you.” Ollie shook her head, doing her level best to break the moment.

“Hilarious,” Lara said with her best attempt at a reproachful glare. She slipped her fingers into Ollie’s. She knew she was being given an out. She didn’t have to say one single further thing that exposed her; she could simply pull Ollie into a kiss and maybe move things to the point where she slipped her fingers inside Ollie’s pants and made her see stars. Or, they could just picnic and tease each other and everything would feel - mostly - smoothed over. “You’re a lot,” she said instead.

“ You are,” Ollie accused, raising her eyebrows .

“No,” Lara said. “You are. You think you can just swan into town, be so gorgeous it’s actually revolting, throw me into bed where you’re just… I don’t know, averagely good-” Ollie snorted and Lara couldn’t stop her own smile. “Fine, throw me into bed and drive me completely crazy. Make me crave you, make me desperate.” She bit her lip, embarrassed at the words spilling from her now. “And you’re just… fucking sweet to me and to my kid and we’re at Sunday night dinner with your family and movie nights at home with my daughter and-”

“It’s too much. I’m being too much,” Ollie bit out.

Lara stared at her.

“ No. You’re so…” she struggled for the word. “Good. You’re so good . You’re good to me and it feels so good and I am not handling it well.”

“Ah.”

“I don’t let people in my bed,” Lara told her.

Tiny twin sunsets reflecting in the dark of Ollie’s eyes.

“But you let me. ”

“Yeah.”

Ollie contemplated that for a while.

“Do you need us to slow this down, or… stop? Switch things up? Put some boundaries in or something? I don’t want to hurt you here-”

“ No, ” Lara told her, her tone coming out slightly more fiercely than she’d intended. She didn’t want slow. She didn’t want to stop. She had her own damn boundaries she could assert any time she wanted, was asserting right now in fact. “I’m not being hurt,” she denied. “I just needed a minute,” she said, faintly exasperated. Jesus Christ, Sadie.

“I can handle that,” Ollie said matter of factly. “Have a glass of wine with me so we don’t waste this ridiculous sunset and then go have your minute. I’ll still be here. I mean, not here, specifically - I’m pretty sure it’s going to rain tonight - but I’ll be wherever you want me to be when you’re done.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake-” Lara groaned and climbed all the way back into Ollie’s lap. This time Ollie didn’t stop the quick flicker of her eyes over Lara’s body and Lara found she definitely didn’t hate that either. “I’ve had it,” she told her. “I’ve had my minute. Can we get back to making out now?”

They could.

It was a long time before the wine or the cheese got any attention, but Lara already felt drunk just on kissing. Ollie’s hands didn’t even drift anywhere that wasn’t entirely G rated and Lara still felt like she was coming out of her skin. Making out like teenagers was the phrase that hit her mind and she couldn’t stop smiling against Ollie’s lips.

Eventually they picnicked, the sunset fading into night. Lara slowly caught her up on her shitty week and Ollie told her about Brisbane and life at the winery while Lara struggled not to stare as she spoke. Why exactly did she have to be that beautiful? It was so fucking distracting.

The mosquitos arrived and comprehensively ruined the moment. As they hit the parking lot and Lara put the remains of the picnic into the back of her car, Ollie paused and drifted closer.

“So, with this whole Sadie setting us up deal.” She traced her fingers over Lara’s hipbone when she turned back around. “Does that involve any further babysitting?”

Lara smirked at the clear intent in Ollie’s eyes.

“You want to know if Tilly is having a sleepover and if you get to have one too?”

“I really do. ”

“Meet me at mine?”

“Lara.” Ollie grabbed her hand, pulling her back as she turned to go. “I’m going to tell you something.”

“Okay?”

“Last week, on Sunday night, when I stayed over?”

“Mmhm.” Lara grimaced. She didn’t need to be reminded.

“I fucking loved it,” Ollie said. “You looked so cute in your jammies.” She smirked and Lara’s jaw dropped. She shoved Ollie back slightly. Ollie pulled her back in, her face growing slightly more serious. “I liked getting to hold you.” Her voice was low and direct. “I liked that you let me. I liked that you wanted it. I liked every second of it. I kind of figured,” she said as Lara frowned at her, trying extremely hard not to show how annoyingly moved she was by this and by Ollie’s infuriating perceptiveness, “that being that our… situation is what it is, maybe you should hear that.”

“You’re extremely corny,” Lara told her, even though she could feel how damn flushed she was. “Honestly Ollie, why are you like this?” She tugged her down to kiss her again, against the lump in her throat. She felt Ollie’s smirk against her lips and knew she wasn’t hiding anything from her convincingly. “If you play your cards right,” Lara pulled back and fixed her with a look, “I might not take my clothes off tonight either.”

“Is that a challenge?” Ollie ran her finger slowly between Lara’s breasts down to the the button on her shorts where they stayed, just toying gently. “Because you know how I get when you start getting cocky like that.”

Lara did know. Suddenly getting home felt extremely urgent.