Chapter Eighteen
The rest of the weekend passed without incident (unless one counted all the times Sammy and Olivia snuck off to make out and have sex). Sammy must’ve scared Edison off for good, because his cousin didn’t so much as glance in his or Olivia’s direction after the hot tub incident.
Good. Sammy hadn’t been kidding—he really would’ve punched Edison’s lights out had he said or done anything untoward.
Did he feel bad about his threat considering Edison was the one bankrolling the weekend? A little, but not enough to take back his words. Edison had the money, and Sammy had put up with him for almost thirty years. Hell, he deserved the whole freakin’ chalet for not snapping earlier.
With the specter of Edison’s snide remarks gone and his relationship with Olivia renewed, Sammy had a blast at Lake Tahoe. He went hiking, fishing, mountain biking, paddle boarding—all the things he couldn’t do in the city. Sometimes Olivia joined him; other times she parked herself lakeside with her latest read and baked herself into a golden bronze color. He didn’t mind—those books always got her going, and they were a source of...interesting scenarios she liked to reenact in the bedroom.
He also won the family bet. Final count for how many times Edison uttered the word “partner” over the weekend? Thirty-six.
It wasn’t all fun and games, though. They had more hard conversations about the future, including what they were going to do when Olivia left for Stanford or if her company turned down her request for a transfer. Although Palo Alto wasn’t far, business school was a killer, so she wouldn’t have much free time once classes resumed.
Unlike in college, these conversations focused on reality, not fantasy. That meant they might not always have the answers, but at least they wouldn’t be blindsided when real life crept up on them as it had a habit of doing.
By the time Sammy and Olivia left Lake Tahoe, it was an open secret they were hooking up again, though they hadn’t told anyone they were officially dating yet. Sammy swore he saw his mother’s eyes mist over with happy tears when she waved goodbye.
“Tip: never give her your number,” Sammy said as they entered his house. It felt good to stretch his legs after four hours of sitting in a car—it would’ve been three, but traffic was hellish on Sunday evenings. “She’ll blow up your phone with ‘subtle’ hints about how she’s getting old and how much she wants to hold her grandchildren before she dies.”
“Ah, Asian mom guilt. I know it well.” Olivia’s eyes sparkled with laughter. “Don’t give her my number. Got it. Except I already did.”
Sammy stared at her in horror.
“She ambushed me,” Olivia said defensively. “She told me she needed an emergency contact in case she couldn’t reach you. She looked so worried...Asian mom guilt, remember?”
“Oh, Liv.” He patted her on the shoulder. “You have no idea what you got yourself into.”
She responded with a puppy dog look. “I don’t. Make me feel better?”
He did. Gladly, and multiple times.
The next two weeks passed in a blur. Sammy and Olivia spent their days texting each other during work breaks, their weekends exploring the city, and their nights doing things that would make a porn star blush.
Sammy had forgotten howgooddating Olivia felt. How much he laughed, how excited he got when her name popped up on his phone or when he finally saw her after work—which, by the way, was a pain in the ass. Not the baking part, but the management part. The paperwork and minutiae that came with the expansions in D.C. and New York made Sammy want to bang his head against the wall, and he would rather eat glass than have to sit through another Zoom call about licenses and tax filings.
“Have you thought about hiring a CEO?” Olivia asked one night after a particularly steamy session between the sheets where Sammy finally divested her of her second anal virginity. Was that a thing? Maybe not, but even after weeks of easing her into it, she’d still been so tight Sammy had resorted to picturing his grandparents’ dentures and mentally reciting the 49ers’ entire roster in order to not blow his load early. “Someone who can run the management side of things while you do what you do best?”
“What’s that?” Sammy asked lazily. He cupped her breast with one hand and swept his thumb over her nipple until it peaked beneath his touch. He lowered his head and flicked his tongue over the hard nub, enjoying the way Olivia’s breath hitched in response.
“Baking,” she breathed. A low moan escaped her throat when he turned his attention to her other breast.
“You sure that’s what I do best?” He tugged gently on her nipple with his teeth and sucked hard before releasing it with a pop.
“At work, at least.” Olivia rolled her hips up to meet his.
“Hmm. I’ll think about it.” Hiring a CEO was a good idea, but Sammy was too distracted to think through the details right now. His hand inched between her legs, where he found her wet and ready for him.
“I can help you look—ohmygod.”
They didn’t speak again for a good half hour, unless you considered screaming and groaning “speaking.”
After the post-coital bliss faded, Sammy draped an arm over Olivia’s shoulder and pulled her close. As much as he loved the sex, this was his favorite part of the night. Just lying next to her, talking to her, knowing she was all his, and he was all hers.
“I wish Kris’s wedding were this weekend.” Olivia switched topics from their earlier discussion and snuggled closer to Sammy, draping one leg over his and one arm over his stomach. “Would give me an excuse to avoid the terror of Tangs.”
“The terror of Tangs?”
“You know how a group of lions is called a pride and a group of wolves is called a pack? Well, a group of Tangs is called a terror. Specifically, if said group includes my mother, sister, and future-brother-in-law.”