Page 100 of She's a Big Deal

“You, obviously.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Olivia caressed her cheek, smiling softly. “The real you certainly does, no matter how high you raise that dubious eyebrow at me. What else did your clever assistant tell you?”

“That we’re incredibly lucky if true love strikes twice in a lifetime.”

“I agree with her.”

“She said I’m a genius when it comes to my job, but that of all the glittering deals I could make, you are the one that really counts. She’s dead right about that.”

It was a good thing, Olivia decided, that she wasn’t hooked up to a heart rate monitor. Or Grace’s words would trigger all the alarms.

“Libby deserves a nice pay rise, I think,” she reflected.

“She does; consider it done. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world right now, Olivia.”

Olivia cupped her face in her hand. “Do you love me? For real?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Even though I’m a baby butch dyke?”

“And so not my type, it’s untrue?” Grace rolled her eyes in pretend disapproval, but she could not keep a straight face. “Yes.”

“Tell me more, Ms. Michaels,” Olivia demanded.

”I am startlingly, delightfully, helplessly in love with you, Liv. And I would not change it for all the riches in the world. You’re a big deal, you know?”

“Well, if you say so.” Olivia pulled her in for a long, deep, and steadying kiss. “I’ll believe you.”

“I had my wonderful assistant pick up the Ferrari I dumped at your hotel and bring it over here. What do you say we get out of this place?”

“You need a coffee, huh?”

“I don’t, actually,” Grace answered with a lingering smile. “Right now, all I need is you.”

“So, are you abducting me?”

“Too right I am.”

“Great!”

*** epilogue ***

Christmas Day. A year later.

Olivia stood next to Charlie in the kitchen. Both observed Grace on the other side, who stood coat-less in several inches of snow and seemed to be barking orders at some unfortunate person on the line.

“Does she always have to work on Christmas Day?” Charlie wondered, shaking her head. “And yell at people?”

“French employment laws are giving her a good run for her money,” Olivia stated, and she chuckled in amusement. “I think she’s having a lot of fun with it, actually.”

Grace strode in on a blast of arctic air and cocked her head at them both.

“Here we are again,” she announced. “I am getting major Déjà-vu vibes.”

Olivia figured it would always be difficult for her to be back in Red Falls. To spend time with the family... And at Christmas, even more so.

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